Form I-9

Form I-9 paystub meaning: The federal form documenting your identity and permission to work in the US — it takes nothing from your pay and never goes to the...

The federal form documenting your identity and permission to work in the US — it takes nothing from your pay and never goes to the IRS.

Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, records that an employer checked your identity and your authorization to work. It is a Department of Homeland Security form, not a tax form. It produces no deduction, no line on your stub and no number on your W-2. Everyone hired in the United States after November 6, 1986 completes one — citizens included. In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands the date is November 27, 2011. The timing is specific. You complete and sign Section 1 no later than your first day of employment, meaning the day you begin performing labor or services in the United States in return for wages. You may do it earlier, but not before you have accepted an offer of employment. Your employer completes Section 2 within three business days after your first day; if you are hired for less than three business days, Section 2 is due no later than the first day. You choose the documents. One item from List A proves identity and work authorization together. Otherwise you present one from List B, which proves identity, plus one from List C, which proves work authorization. Your employer examines them physically, or under a DHS-authorized alternative procedure, and must accept documentation that reasonably appears to be genuine and to relate to you. Your Social Security number in Section 1 is voluntary unless your employer participates in E-Verify. An ITIN does not go in that field. The form also carries Supplement A, for a preparer or translator, and Supplement B, for reverification and rehire. Your employer keeps the form — it is never mailed to USCIS or ICE — for three years after the date of hire, or one year after employment is terminated, whichever is later.

Tax-form labels must be interpreted using the form for the correct year and its official instructions. A paystub draft is not a filed tax form and does not replace an employer, payer, payroll provider, or agency record.

When this term appears on a statement, read its label, current amount, year-to-date amount, pay-period context, and any adjacent rate or hours together. Resolve a mismatch with the original issuer or the cited authority rather than changing a record to force a preferred result.