Tax setup

Tax Setup is where you tell Bokapsys who your business is for tax purposes and which tax accounts it holds with the federal government and each state. Everything else in Tax depends on it: the forms are filled with your business details, the calendar is built from your registrations, and your state unemployment tax is calculated from the rate you enter here.

1. 1Add your taxpayer
2. 2Register federal payroll tax
3. 3Register each state
4. 4Build the calendar
5. 5Confirm your deposit schedule

Do these once, then update them when a notice changes a figure.

You find it under Tax → Tax Setup. It has two tabs: Taxpayers and Jurisdictions.

Before you start

Gather these first. Most come from letters the IRS and your state sent when you registered, and from the notices they send each year.

• Your business’s legal name, exactly as the IRS has it (it is on your EIN confirmation letter, IRS notice CP 575).
• Your EIN (Employer Identification Number), the nine-digit number on the same letter, written like 12-3456789.
• Your business address: street, city, state and ZIP code.
• For each state where you have employees: your state withholding account number and your state unemployment (SUI) account number, from the state’s registration letters.
• Your SUI rate and taxable wage base for this year, from the rate notice your state unemployment agency sends each year (often in December or January).
• How often the state wants withholding paid, and the day of the month it is due, from your state withholding registration notice.
• Your state’s tax portal web address (the https page where you sign in to pay and file).
• Optional, for filing W-2 and 1099 files yourself: your SSA Business Services Online (BSO) user ID and your IRS 1099 code (TCC), if you already have them.
• Your role must allow tax setup. If you don’t see Add taxpayer or Register jurisdiction, ask the person who manages your team. See Team and roles.

Add your taxpayer

A taxpayer is the legal entity that files the returns: usually your business. Every form Bokapsys prepares uses the details of the taxpayer marked as the one that files your returns.

1. In the sidebar, open Tax → Tax Setup. The Taxpayers tab opens. If you have no taxpayer yet you see No taxpayer set up yet.

2. Click Add taxpayer. The Add taxpayer window opens.

3. Fill in the fields described in the table below. Only Legal name is required to save, but the forms and files need the rest.

4. Leave This is the entity that files your returns ticked for your main business.

5. Click Save. You see Taxpayer added, and your business appears in the table.

Taxpayer fields

Field	What it means	Required?	Example	Where to find it
Legal name	Your business’s legal name as the IRS records it.	Yes	Riverside Plumbing LLC	IRS notice CP 575 (your EIN letter), or any IRS letter addressed to the business.
Trading name (optional)	A shorter or trading name, if you use one.	No	Riverside Plumbing	Your own choice.
Entity kind	What kind of taxpayer this is: Business, Individual, Trust, Estate, Non-profit or Government.	Yes (defaults to Business)	Business	Your formation documents.
Business structure	How the business is set up for income tax: for example Sole proprietorship, Single-member LLC, Multi-member LLC, Partnership, S corporation or C corporation. Not shown for an individual. The tax estimate uses it.	Recommended	S corporation	Your formation documents, or the return the business files (Schedule C, 1065, 1120-S or 1120).
Tax ID type	The kind of tax identification number: EIN, SSN or ITIN. A business with employees uses EIN.	Yes (defaults to EIN)	EIN (Employer Identification Number)	Your EIN letter.
Employer Identification Number (shown as Tax ID number for other types)	The full nine-digit number. Type it with or without the dash.	Needed for W-2 and 1099 files	12-3456789	IRS notice CP 575, or the top of any Form 941 you have filed.
Street address, Address line 2, City, State, ZIP code	Your business address, printed on the forms and written into the W-2 file.	Needed for the W-2 file	400 Main St, Austin, TX, 78701	The address the IRS has on file.
State employer account number	Your state unemployment account number. It goes on the W-2.	Recommended	12-345678-9	Your state unemployment registration letter.
Social Security BSO user ID	Your user ID for SSA Business Services Online, where you upload W-2s. Social Security uses it as your signature on the file.	Only for the W-2 file	ABCD1234	Your BSO account at ssa.gov/bso.
Employer signature PIN	The 8 to 10 letter or digit PIN shown in Business Services Online. It signs your W-2 file.	No		Business Services Online.
Kind of employer	For the W-2 file. Most businesses keep None of the below (most businesses).	Yes (has a default)
Employment type	For the W-2 file. Most businesses keep Regular (files Form 941).	Yes (has a default)
IRS 1099 code (TCC)	The Transmitter Control Code the IRS gave you for its free 1099 filing site (IRIS).	Only for the 1099 file	ABC12	Your IRIS application approval from the IRS.
Contact name, Contact phone, Contact email	The person the agency should contact about these files.	Recommended for the files	Ana Ortiz, 512 555 0100	Your choice.
This is the entity that files your returns	Tick for the entity whose details go on your forms. If another taxpayer already files your returns, the window warns you that saving this one replaces it.		Ticked

Your full EIN and PIN are stored encrypted

Bokapsys stores the full number encrypted and only ever shows its last four digits. You need the full number on file before Bokapsys can build your W-2 file for Social Security and your 1099 file for the IRS. When you edit a taxpayer later, the EIN box shows On file, ending 6789; leave it empty to keep the number you saved, or type a new one to replace it. If you change the Tax ID type, type the full number again. The signature PIN works the same way: leave it blank to keep the one on file.

Reading the taxpayers table

Column	Meaning
Tax ID	The type and last four digits, for example EIN ending 6789, or Not added.
Full EIN	On file when the full nine-digit number is saved; Needed when only the last four digits are, or none.
Address	Complete when street, city, state and ZIP are all filled in; otherwise Missing.
Files returns	Filing entity for the taxpayer whose details go on your forms; Other entity for any other.

How to check it worked: the taxpayer shows Filing entity, On file and Complete. On Tax Dashboard, Add a taxpayer is ticked (it needs the full EIN and the address). On the Payroll dashboard, the Enter your employer tax number step is done once the full EIN is saved.

To change it later: click the pencil icon at the end of the row, change what you need and click Save. If you see an error that the record was changed by someone else, close the window, reopen it and make your change again.

Register your jurisdictions

A registration records a tax account your business holds with one jurisdiction (a government that taxes you) for one purpose. Bokapsys uses registrations to build your calendar, to calculate state unemployment tax in payroll, and to lay out state deposit dates.

Most employers need:

Registration	Where you are registered	Registered for	What it gives you
Federal payroll tax	United States - Federal	Payroll withholding	The four quarterly Form 941s, Form 940, W-2s and 1099-NECs on your calendar.
State income tax withholding	Your state, for example Georgia	Payroll withholding	The state’s quarterly wage report on your calendar, and the state’s deposit periods on Deposits Due.
State unemployment (SUI)	Your state	State unemployment (SUI)	The state quarterly wage report on your calendar, and state unemployment tax in every pay run.

Register each state you employ people in. If a state has no state income tax (Texas, for example), you only need its unemployment registration there. The Payroll dashboard warns you if an employee works in a state you have not registered, because nothing is withheld or charged there until you do.

1. Open Tax → Tax Setup and click the Jurisdictions tab. At the top is Your registrations; below it is the full list of jurisdictions Bokapsys knows, which you can search by name or code and filter by Federal or State.

2. Click Register jurisdiction, or click Register on a row of the list. The Add a registration window opens.

3. In Where you are registered, choose federal or a state.

4. In Registered for, pick what the account is for. For federal you can choose Payroll withholding, Federal unemployment (FUTA) or Business income tax; for a state, the options include Payroll withholding, State unemployment (SUI) and Sales tax permit. Extra fields appear depending on what you choose (see the table below).

5. Fill in the fields and click Register. You see Registration added, and the registration appears under Your registrations with its details, what it is for and an Active badge. In the list below, that jurisdiction now shows Registered.

6. Repeat for each registration: the federal one, then each state’s withholding and unemployment accounts.

Registration fields

Field	Shown for	What it means	Required?	Example	Where to find it
Where you are registered	All	The government you are registered with.	Yes	Texas
Registered for	All	The tax this account is for.	Yes	State unemployment (SUI)	Your registration letter says which tax it covers.
How often you file	All	How often you file returns for this account: Monthly, Quarterly or Annually. For a sales tax permit, this decides how the calendar splits your return periods.	No (defaults to Quarterly)	Quarterly	The registration letter or your state portal.
Account number, last 4 digits	All	The last four digits of your account number with this agency, so you can tell accounts apart.	No	4821	The agency’s registration letter.
Full state account number	State payroll withholding	The full account number from your state notice. It goes in box 15 of each W-2 and is stored encrypted.	No	12-345678-9	Your state withholding registration notice.
Your unemployment tax rate (%)	State unemployment	The rate the state assigned you this year, as a percentage: type 3.4 for 3.4%.	Yes, for unemployment tax to be calculated	2.7	Your state’s annual unemployment rate notice.
Taxable wage base per employee	State unemployment	The amount of each employee’s wages per year that the state taxes for unemployment. Wages above it are not taxed.	Yes, for unemployment tax to be calculated	9000 (Texas’s figure)	The same annual rate notice, or your state’s unemployment agency website.
How often the state wants withholding paid	State payroll withholding	Your state’s deposit schedule: next day, semi-weekly, weekly, eighth-monthly, twice a month, monthly, quarterly or annually.	No, but needed for deposit periods	Monthly	Your state withholding registration notice.
Day of the month it is due	State payroll withholding	The day of the month after each period ends when the state wants the payment.	No, but needed for deposit dates	15	The same notice.
State website you sign in to	State registrations	The https address of the site where you sign in to pay and file. Bokapsys links to it from your state deposits and filings.	No	https:// followed by your state’s sign-in page	Your state’s registration email or website. Must start with https://.

When you enter both an unemployment rate and a wage base, the window shows what that comes to per employee, for example At 2.7% on the first $9,000.00 each employee earns, that is up to $243.00 per employee per year. If the rate you type is below 0.1%, the window warns you that you have probably typed a fraction: a notice that says 0.027 usually means 2.7%.

A federal registration has no deposit fields: your federal deposit dates come from your IRS deposit schedule, shown on Deposits Due.

Without the SUI rate and wage base, unemployment tax is zero

Bokapsys never guesses your unemployment rate or wage base: every state sets its own and they change every year. If you leave either blank, payroll charges no state unemployment tax for that state, each pay run shows a warning saying so, and the registration shows No unemployment tax rate, so none is calculated or No taxable wage base, so none is calculated. Enter both from your state’s notice, and update them when the new notice arrives.

How to check it worked:

• Your registrations lists each one with what it is for and Active, and no amber warning lines.
• Tax Dashboard shows the count under Active registrations, and Register jurisdictions is ticked.
• On the Payroll dashboard, Register for federal payroll tax, Register in each state you employ people and Enter your unemployment rate and wage base are done.

Change a registration

When a figure changes, for example when next year’s unemployment rate arrives:

1. Under Your registrations, click the pencil icon on the registration. The Edit … registration window opens with the saved figures filled in.
2. Change what you need. Where you are registered and what it is registered for cannot be changed; to change those, close this registration and add a new one.
3. Click Save. You see Registration updated.
4. Rebuild your calendar if you changed how often you file, the deposit frequency or the due day.

If someone else changed the registration while you had it open, you are asked to reopen it and make your change again.

Close a registration

When you close an account with a tax authority, close it in Bokapsys too: click the red cross icon on the registration and confirm with Close registration. No new deadlines are created for it, and past filings and payments stay on record.

Common problems

What you see	What it means	How to fix it
Choose where you are registered.	You clicked Register without choosing a jurisdiction.	Choose one from the list.
Enter the full address starting with https://	The website address does not start with https://.	Copy the full address from your browser’s address bar.
Enter a day between 1 and 31.	The due day is out of range.	Enter a number from 1 to 31.
The rate must be more than 0% and no more than 20%.	The unemployment rate is outside the range states use.	Check the rate on your notice.
No deposit due day, so payments show without a date.	A state withholding registration has no due day.	Edit the registration and add the day from your notice.
Payroll warns Not registered in US-XX, so nothing will be withheld or charged there	An employee works in a state you have not registered.	Register that state for payroll withholding (and unemployment).
Payroll warns No rate or wage base for US-XX - unemployment tax will be charged as zero	The unemployment registration is missing a rate or wage base.	Edit the registration and enter both figures.

Build your tax calendar

Once your registrations are in, build the calendar of due dates for the current year.

1. On Tax → Tax Setup → Jurisdictions, click Rebuild calendar at the top of Your registrations.

2. You see Filing calendar rebuilt.

3. Open Tax → Tax Calendar to see every due date.

You can also rebuild it from the calendar page itself, for any year. Rebuild it whenever you add, change or close a registration. See Tax calendar for what each registration adds.

Confirm your federal deposit schedule

The IRS decides whether you pay payroll tax monthly or semi-weekly, and tells you in a notice each year. Bokapsys works it out from your payroll history, but that is only a best guess until you confirm it. You set it on Tax → Deposits Due → Federal with Set what the IRS told you. See Deposits due for the step-by-step.

Related

Tax calendar

Deposits due

Set up payroll

State coverage