New Form I-9 Effective 8/1/2023

All U.S. employers must properly complete Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States.  This includes citizens and noncitizens.  

Effective August 1, 2023, a new Form I-9 is available.  The prior version of Form I-9 will be obsolete and no longer valid for use after October 31, 2023.  Starting November 1, 2023, employers who fail to use the August 1, 2023 version of the Form may be subject to penalties. 

New Form I-9

The new form provides an optional alternative procedure to the in-person physical examination of the documentation presented by individuals seeking to establish identity and employment authorization through E-Verify.  This alternative procedure is currently only available to qualified employers who are participating in E-Verify.  If a qualified employer chooses the alternative procedure, it must use it consistently for all employees but can choose to offer the alternative procedures for remote hires only but continue to apply physical examination procedures to all employees that work onsite or in a hybrid manner.

Certain employers who choose to remotely examine the employee’s documentation under a DHS-authorized alternative procedure rather than via physical examination must indicate they did so by checking the box provided.  

The form is used for employees to attest to their employment authorization.  The employee must also present the employer with acceptable documents as evidence of identity and employment authorization.  The employer must examine these documents to determine whether they reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the employee, then record the document information on the employee’s Form I-9.  A list of acceptable documents can be found on the last page of the form.  

Employers do not actually file the Form with any agency but must have a completed Form I-9 on file for each person on their payroll who is required to complete the form.  The Form must be maintained for three years after the date of hire, or for one year after employment is terminated, whichever is later.  Employers must also make the forms available for inspection if requested by authorized U.S. government officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, or Department of Justice.  Best practice is to maintain all Form I-9s for employees in one file.  

Contributed by: Carrie Minnich, MAcct, CPA | Partner | DWD CPAs & Advisors