California Form DE 3805 is the Employment Development Department’s Quarterly Contribution Return and Report of Wages (Continuation) worksheet that California employers use to report individual employee wages when the standard DE 9C wage continuation page runs out of space, and it must be filed alongside the Quarterly Contribution Return (DE 9) every quarter. Getting it wrong can trigger a 15% wage-detail penalty under California Unemployment Insurance Code § 1112, and a missing Social Security number alone can cost you $20 per employee on the return.
According to EDD’s annual employer compliance summary, more than 1.4 million California employers file quarterly wage reports, and roughly 8% of paper filings contain at least one wage-detail error that delays processing or triggers a notice. This guide walks you through every box, line, and signature on DE 3805 so your filing lands clean the first time.
Here is what you will learn in this guide:
- 📋 What DE 3805 is, who must file it, and how it connects to DE 9 and DE 9C
- 🗂️ Every document, ID number, and wage figure you must gather before you start
- ✍️ A line-by-line walkthrough of each box on the form with named examples
- 👥 Three full filled-out scenarios for a small employer, a staffing agency, and a household employer
- ⚖️ The mistakes, penalties, and misconceptions that cause most rejections, plus 12+ FAQs
What DE 3805 Is and Who Must File It
California Form DE 3805 is a continuation worksheet to the DE 9C Quarterly Contribution Return and Report of Wages, used when an employer has more wage line items than the main DE 9C page can hold. The Employment Development Department (EDD) treats DE 3805 as part of the same return, which means the totals on DE 3805 flow up into DE 9 and into the employer’s quarterly Unemployment Insurance (UI), Employment Training Tax (ETT), State Disability Insurance (SDI), and Personal Income Tax (PIT) liability under CUIC § 1088.
Any employer who paid wages of $100 or more in a calendar quarter and who has more employees than fit on DE 9C must file DE 3805. This includes traditional businesses, agricultural employers, household employers under the Household Employer’s Guide (DE 8829), nonprofits with covered workers, and government entities reporting PIT-only wages. Independent contractors are reported on the DE 542 Report of Independent Contractors instead, not on DE 3805.
The form is not a stand-alone filing. You cannot mail DE 3805 by itself; it must be stapled or paper-clipped behind a fully completed DE 9 and DE 9C, with totals reconciled across all three forms. The current revision date you should look for in the lower-left corner of the form is Rev. 13 (1-25), which the EDD released in January 2025 and which remains the active version for 2026 filings.
Employers with 10 or more employees are required to file electronically through e-Services for Business, per CUIC § 1088(a)(1). Smaller employers may still file paper DE 3805, but EDD strongly encourages e-file because the system auto-validates SSNs and wage math, eliminating the most common penalty triggers.
Before You Start: Documents and Information You Need
Filing DE 3805 goes faster and cleaner when you gather everything in one sitting. The form draws from payroll records, employee onboarding files, and your prior-quarter EDD correspondence, so missing one item often means stopping mid-form and losing your place. The pre-filing checklist below is the minimum you need before you write the first character.
- Your 8-digit EDD employer account number. Without it, EDD cannot match the return to your account, and the filing posts as an unidentified payment, which delays credit by 4–6 weeks.
- Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN). EDD cross-checks the FEIN against IRS records under Revenue and Taxation Code § 19551, and a mismatch triggers a Notice of Discrepancy.
- Each employee’s full legal name and Social Security number. A wrong or missing SSN costs $20 per occurrence under CUIC § 13052.
- Total subject wages per employee for the quarter. This is gross wages before pre-tax deductions for UI/ETT purposes.
- PIT wages per employee. PIT wages can differ from subject wages because of cafeteria-plan and 401(k) treatment, so payroll software must break them out separately.
- PIT withheld per employee. This is the California state income tax you withheld from each employee’s pay during the quarter.
- Quarter and year being reported. DE 3805 covers one quarter only; mixing months from different quarters voids the return.
- Prior-quarter DE 9C copy. You need it to confirm that no employee was dropped, double-listed, or carried in a wrong SSN.
- A blank, current-revision DE 3805 PDF. Download a fresh copy each quarter from the EDD forms library so you are always using Rev. 13 (1-25).
If any item is missing, stop and gather it first. EDD will not return a partially completed DE 3805 for correction; it processes whatever you sent and assesses penalties on the gaps.
Where to Get the Form and How to Access It
The official DE 3805 lives on the EDD website inside the Payroll Taxes Forms and Publications library. Download it as a fillable PDF, save it locally with the filename pattern YourBusiness_DE3805_Q1_2026.pdf, and never edit a copy you received from a third-party site, because outdated revisions are routinely rejected.
You can also request a paper copy by calling the Taxpayer Assistance Center at 1-888-745-3886 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific. Paper copies arrive within 7–10 business days, so do not call within two weeks of the filing deadline. EDD field offices in Sacramento, Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Diego also stock blank forms at the front counter.
The strongly preferred channel is electronic. Log into e-Services for Business, choose File Return or Wage Report, select the quarter, and the system generates DE 9, DE 9C, and the DE 3805 continuation rows automatically as you add employees. Electronic filers never touch a physical DE 3805 because the portal expands the wage grid as needed.
If you use a payroll service like ADP, Gusto, Paychex, or QuickBooks Payroll, the provider files DE 9, DE 9C, and DE 3805 on your behalf through the bulk-file XML schema. You still need to verify the totals against your payroll register because the legal duty to file correctly stays with the employer under CUIC § 1112, not the third-party preparer.
Step-by-Step: How to Fill Out DE 3805 Line by Line
The form is a single landscape page with a header block at the top and a 7-column wage grid below. Each row of the grid reports one employee for the quarter. The walkthrough below covers every header field and every wage column in the order they appear, using the exact box names printed on Rev. 13 (1-25).
Box A — Quarter Ended (MM/DD/YY)
This field asks which calendar quarter the report covers, expressed as the last day of the quarter. Write the quarter-end date in MM/DD/YY format with slashes: 03/31/26 for Q1, 06/30/26 for Q2, 09/30/26 for Q3, and 12/31/26 for Q4.
For example, Maria Lopez, who runs a Fresno bakery, writes 06/30/26 in Box A on her second-quarter 2026 filing. If your fiscal year does not match the calendar year, you still must use calendar-quarter end dates because EDD’s system runs on calendar quarters under CUIC § 1110.
The most common mistake here is writing the quarter-begin date (such as 04/01/26) instead of the quarter-end date, which causes EDD’s automated date-match to reject the wage rows and post them as unidentified. A frequent misconception is that the date in Box A can match your payroll close date; it cannot, because the box is tied to the statutory quarter, not your internal calendar.
Box B — Year
This field captures the four-digit calendar year of the quarter being reported. Always write four digits, not two: 2026, never 26.
A staffing agency owner named Marcus Brown filing for Q3 2026 enters 2026 in Box B. If your DE 9 reports a different year than DE 3805, EDD treats the continuation as orphan data and assesses the $20 per employee missing-wage penalty under CUIC § 13052.
A common edge case arises around year-end: wages paid on January 2, 2027 for work performed in December 2026 belong in Q1 2027, not Q4 2026, because California uses the cash basis for wage reporting. The misconception to correct is that the year on DE 3805 must match the W-2 year; it tracks the quarter paid, which can differ from the W-2 issuance year for accrual-basis employers.
Box C — Employer Account Number
This field is your 8-digit EDD employer account number assigned when you registered with EDD. Write it as eight digits with no dashes or spaces: 123-4567-8 becomes 12345678 on DE 3805.
Aisha Patel, a household employer in San Diego, copies 98765432 from her Notice of Account Number (DE 1AS) into Box C. If you have not yet received your account number, you cannot file DE 3805; you must first complete Form DE 1 Registration and wait for assignment.
The most common mistake is using your FEIN in Box C, which causes the return to post to an unmatched account and locks credit until you call EDD to correct it. The misconception worth flagging is that the EDD account number is the same as your Secretary of State entity number; they are entirely different identifiers issued by different agencies.
Box D — FEIN
Box D requires your nine-digit Federal Employer Identification Number issued by the IRS. Write it with the standard hyphen after the second digit: 12-3456789.
Janet Kim, a nonprofit director, writes 47-1234567 in Box D, matching the FEIN on her IRS Form 941. If your FEIN application is still pending, leave Box D blank and write Applied For in the margin; EDD will accept the return but flag it for follow-up under Revenue and Taxation Code § 19551.
The most common mistake is transposing two digits, which triggers an IRS-EDD reconciliation mismatch and a Notice of Discrepancy within 60 days. The misconception to correct is that household employers can skip Box D; they cannot, because every California employer must hold a FEIN before paying wages, even for a single nanny.
Box E — Page ___ of ___
Box E tells EDD how many DE 3805 continuation pages you are submitting. Write the current page number first, then the total: Page 2 of 4.
For example, an employer reporting 110 employees needs the main DE 9C plus three DE 3805 pages, so the second DE 3805 reads Page 3 of 4 (DE 9C is page 1). Always renumber if you reprint a page; stale page numbers from a prior draft are the single biggest source of out-of-order grids.
The common mistake here is leaving Box E blank, which forces EDD’s mailroom scanner to guess sequence and often misfiles a page. The misconception is that page numbers reset each quarter; they do not need to, but the total must be accurate for the quarter being filed.
Column 1 — Social Security Number
Column 1 captures each employee’s nine-digit SSN. Write it with two hyphens: 123-45-6789.
Carlos Ramirez, a line cook on Maria’s bakery roster, has his SSN entered as 555-44-3333. If an employee gives you an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of an SSN, do not write the ITIN in Column 1; ITINs are not valid for wage reporting under CUIC § 13052, and you must instead use the E-Verify or SSA verification process to obtain a valid SSN.
The most common mistake is writing all zeros (000-00-0000) when the SSN is unknown, which triggers the $20 per employee penalty automatically. The misconception to correct is that EDD will accept Applied For in Column 1; it will not, because the column is a hard-validated nine-digit field.
Column 2 — Employee Name (First Initial, Last Name)
Column 2 records the employee’s name in first initial, last name format, exactly as it appears on the Social Security card. Write it as M LOPEZ, C RAMIREZ, or A PATEL, in all caps.
If the employee’s last name is hyphenated, keep the hyphen: J SMITH-JONES. For employees who use a middle name as their primary name on the SSA card, use the SSA-card first initial regardless of preference, because EDD’s name-match runs against SSA records.
The most common mistake is writing the full first name (MARIA LOPEZ instead of M LOPEZ), which fills the field beyond the character limit and gets truncated by the scanner. The misconception is that nicknames or married names work; they do not, because any deviation from the SSA card causes a name-SSN mismatch.
Column 3 — Total Subject Wages
Column 3 is the gross wages subject to UI, ETT, and SDI for the quarter. Enter the dollar amount with two decimal places, no dollar sign, no comma: 12345.67.
Maria’s bakery paid Carlos $8,750.00 in Q2, so she writes 8750.00 in Column 3. Subject wages include cash wages, the cash value of meals and lodging beyond statutory exclusions, bonuses, and commissions under CUIC § 926.
The most common mistake is reporting net wages instead of gross, which understates UI liability and triggers a deficiency assessment plus 10% penalty under CUIC § 1126. The misconception worth correcting is that 401(k) deferrals reduce subject wages; they do not for UI/ETT/SDI purposes, even though they reduce PIT wages.
Column 4 — PIT Wages
Column 4 reports California Personal Income Tax wages, which can differ from Column 3 because PIT excludes most cafeteria-plan and 401(k) deferrals. Enter the amount in the same dollar-and-cents format: 8200.50.
For Carlos, who deferred $300 into a 401(k) and $250 into a Section 125 health plan, Maria writes 8200.00 in Column 4 (8750 − 300 − 250). The PIT wage definition lives in CUIC § 13009.
The most common mistake is copying Column 3 into Column 4 verbatim without adjusting for pre-tax deferrals, which overstates PIT wages and tangles the employee’s W-2 reconciliation. The misconception is that PIT wages always equal federal Box 1 wages on the W-2; they often do, but California-specific items like HSA contributions cause divergences.
Column 5 — PIT Withheld
Column 5 captures the California state income tax actually withheld from each employee during the quarter. Enter dollars and cents: 164.00.
If Maria withheld $164.00 in California PIT from Carlos’s quarterly pay, she writes 164.00 in Column 5. Always tie this to the DE 4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate on file for the employee.
The most common mistake is reporting federal withholding here instead of state, which inflates the PIT liability on DE 9 and triggers a refund request from the employee. The misconception to correct is that voluntary withholding for tipped workers is excluded; it is not, because all California PIT withheld for the quarter, voluntary or required, must appear in Column 5.
Column 6 — Wage Plan Code (if applicable)
Column 6 is the single-letter wage plan code that identifies the employee’s UI/SDI coverage status. Use S for state UI and SDI, U for state UI only (covered by Voluntary Plan SDI), J for state SDI only, L for personal income tax only, and R for religious exemption.
Aisha’s nanny is fully covered, so she writes S. An employer with an approved Voluntary Plan writes U for those employees on the VP, and the codes list lives in the DE 9C Instructions.
The most common mistake is leaving Column 6 blank, which causes EDD to default to S and may incorrectly bill SDI for VP-covered employees. The misconception is that the code is optional; it is required for any employee whose coverage is not the standard S.
Column 7 — Total Hours Worked (if reporting)
Column 7 captures total hours worked during the quarter for occupations EDD requires hour-reporting on, primarily under CUIC § 1088.5. Enter whole hours, no decimals: 480.
Salaried employees report 520 hours per quarter as the standard convention (40 hours × 13 weeks). Tipped employees, agricultural workers, and most non-exempt workers must show actual hours from the time-tracking system.
The most common mistake is reporting hours including overtime as separate entries; do not, because Column 7 is a single quarterly total per employee. The misconception is that exempt employees can show zero hours; they cannot, because EDD’s UI benefit calculation depends on a non-zero hour figure for monetary determinations.
Grand Total Line — Bottom of Page
The bottom row sums Columns 3, 4, and 5 for that DE 3805 page only, not the cumulative total across all pages. Add the column totals in pencil first, then ink them in once you confirm they match your payroll register.
The page total then flows to the next DE 3805 (or to DE 9C if this is the last continuation page). If your final cumulative total does not tie to DE 9 line items I1, I2, and I3, the entire return is rejected.
The most common mistake is forgetting to total a single column, which voids the page. The misconception is that EDD will calculate the totals for you; on paper filings it does not, and the missing-total rejection costs at least one full processing cycle.
Three Filled-Out Examples Using Real Scenarios
The three scenarios below show three different filer types completing DE 3805 for Q2 2026, with quarter-end date 06/30/26.
Scenario 1: Maria Lopez, Owner of a 12-Employee Fresno Bakery
| Form Section | What Maria Enters |
|---|---|
| Box A — Quarter Ended | 06/30/26 |
| Box B — Year | 2026 |
| Box C — Employer Account Number | 12345678 |
| Box D — FEIN | 47-9876543 |
| Box E — Page of | Page 2 of 2 |
| Column 1 — SSN (Carlos Ramirez) | 555-44-3333 |
| Column 2 — Name | C RAMIREZ |
| Column 3 — Subject Wages | 8750.00 |
| Column 4 — PIT Wages | 8200.00 |
| Column 5 — PIT Withheld | 164.00 |
| Column 7 — Hours | 520 |
Scenario 2: Marcus Brown, Owner of a Sacramento Staffing Agency with 88 Workers
| Form Section | What Marcus Enters |
|---|---|
| Box A — Quarter Ended | 06/30/26 |
| Box B — Year | 2026 |
| Box C — Employer Account Number | 55667788 |
| Box D — FEIN | 82-1112222 |
| Box E — Page of | Page 3 of 4 |
| Column 1 — SSN (Tasha Williams) | 444-55-6666 |
| Column 2 — Name | T WILLIAMS |
| Column 3 — Subject Wages | 4200.00 |
| Column 4 — PIT Wages | 4200.00 |
| Column 5 — PIT Withheld | 38.50 |
| Column 6 — Wage Plan Code | U |
Scenario 3: Aisha Patel, San Diego Household Employer with One Live-In Nanny
| Form Section | What Aisha Enters |
|---|---|
| Box A — Quarter Ended | 06/30/26 |
| Box B — Year | 2026 |
| Box C — Employer Account Number | 98765432 |
| Box D — FEIN | 33-4445555 |
| Box E — Page of | Page 2 of 2 |
| Column 1 — SSN (Rosa Diaz) | 666-77-8888 |
| Column 2 — Name | R DIAZ |
| Column 3 — Subject Wages | 6500.00 |
| Column 4 — PIT Wages | 6500.00 |
| Column 5 — PIT Withheld | 0.00 |
| Column 6 — Wage Plan Code | S |
| Column 7 — Hours | 520 |
How to File the Completed Form
DE 3805 must be filed alongside DE 9 and DE 9C through one of three channels: electronic filing, U.S. mail, or in-person delivery. Each channel has different fees, processing times, and proof-of-filing requirements, and your choice affects how quickly EDD posts the return to your account.
Online via e-Services for Business. Log into e-Services for Business, select File Return, choose the quarter, enter wage rows, and submit. There is no fee. Processing time is same day for the wage data and 1–2 business days for tax payment posting. Save the confirmation number and the auto-generated PDF as proof of filing.
By mail. Send DE 9, DE 9C, and DE 3805 together to Employment Development Department, PO Box 989071, West Sacramento, CA 95798-9071, the address printed on the DE 9 instructions. There is no filing fee, but include payment by check made payable to EDD if tax is due. Use Certified Mail with Return Receipt as your proof of filing because the postmark controls the deadline under CUIC § 1110. Processing time is 4–6 weeks.
In person. Drop off at any EDD Employment Tax Office during business hours and request a date-stamped copy as proof. There is no fee. Processing time is 2–3 weeks because in-person filings are batched and shipped to West Sacramento.
The deadline is the last day of the month following the quarter-end: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Late filings trigger a 15% penalty on tax due plus $20 per unreported employee under CUIC § 1112.
What Happens After You File
Once EDD receives your DE 3805, the agency runs three automated checks: a wage-math audit comparing column totals to DE 9 lines I1–I3, an SSN-name match through Social Security Administration records, and an FEIN cross-check against the IRS. The return then posts to your employer account and credits any tax payment you submitted with DE 9.
If the return clears all three checks, EDD issues no notice and the wages appear on each employee’s Benefit Year Earnings (BYE) record within 30 days. That record is what EDD uses to compute UI benefit eligibility if any of those employees later file a claim, so accuracy directly affects your former workers.
If a check fails, EDD mails one of three notices: a Notice of Discrepancy (FEIN or wage mismatch), a Notice of SSN Mismatch (name-SSN failure), or a Statement of Account (math error or missing payment). You have 30 days to respond under CUIC § 1135, and a non-response converts the notice into a final assessment.
Keep your filed DE 3805, payroll register, and proof-of-filing receipt for four years under CUIC § 1085. If EDD audits, the burden of proving wage accuracy falls on you, and missing records are deemed unreported wages.
Mistakes to Avoid When Filling Out the Form
Wage-detail errors are the single biggest reason California employers receive EDD penalty notices. The list below covers the 10 most common DE 3805 mistakes and the direct consequence of each.
- Writing the quarter-begin date in Box A. EDD’s date-match rejects the wage rows and posts them as unidentified.
- Using two-digit year in Box B. The scanner reads 26 as 1926 and the return is misfiled by century.
- Putting your FEIN in Box C. The return posts to an unmatched account and tax credit locks for 4–6 weeks.
- Transposing FEIN digits in Box D. Triggers an IRS-EDD reconciliation Notice of Discrepancy within 60 days.
- Leaving Box E page numbers blank. Mailroom misfiles pages out of order, sometimes losing one entirely.
- Using all zeros for unknown SSNs. Auto-assesses $20 per employee under CUIC § 13052.
- Reporting full first names in Column 2. Truncation causes name-SSN mismatch and benefit-record errors.
- Reporting net wages in Column 3. Understates UI liability and triggers a 10% deficiency penalty.
- Copying Column 3 into Column 4 without adjusting for pre-tax deferrals. Overstates PIT wages and tangles employee W-2 reconciliation.
- Forgetting Column 6 wage plan codes for Voluntary Plan workers. EDD bills SDI incorrectly and you must file an amended DE 9ADJ.
- Skipping the page total line. Voids the page and forces refiling, costing one full processing cycle.
Do’s and Don’ts
The do’s and don’ts below are quick rules of thumb that catch most filing errors before the form leaves your desk.
- Do download a fresh DE 3805 PDF every quarter so you always use Rev. 13 (1-25), because outdated revisions are auto-rejected.
- Do reconcile DE 3805 column totals to your payroll register before you sign DE 9, because EDD will not catch internal mismatches for you.
- Do keep a date-stamped or Certified Mail proof of filing for four years, because the burden of proof in an audit is yours.
- Do verify each SSN through the SSA Business Services Online verifier before filing, which is free and prevents the $20 penalty.
- Do use e-Services for Business if you have 10+ employees, because CUIC § 1088 requires it.
- Do sign and date DE 9 even when DE 3805 carries the bulk of the wage rows, because an unsigned return is a non-filing.
- Don’t mail DE 3805 by itself, because EDD treats stand-alone continuations as orphan data.
- Don’t mix employees from different quarters on one DE 3805, because cash-basis quarter rules void the entire page.
- Don’t use ITINs in Column 1, because they are not valid wage-reporting identifiers.
- Don’t report independent contractors on DE 3805; they belong on DE 542.
- Don’t round wages to whole dollars, because EDD’s reconciliation runs to the cent and rounding triggers a math-error notice.
- Don’t wait until the deadline day to file by mail, because postmark proof is your only defense against late penalties.
Pros and Cons of Filing on Your Own vs. With Help
Whether you self-file DE 3805 or hire a payroll service depends on employee count, error tolerance, and your time. The points below frame the trade-off.
Pros of self-filing
- No service fees. Payroll providers charge $40–$200 per quarter; self-filing is free.
- Direct control. You see every wage row before submission and can fix errors instantly.
- Faster amendments. When you file your own DE 9ADJ, you do not wait on a third party.
- Better learning curve. You build internal payroll-tax fluency that helps in audits.
- No data-sharing risk. Employee SSNs and wages stay in-house.
Cons of self-filing
- Higher error rate. EDD’s 8% paper-filing error rate falls below 1% for bulk-file payroll services.
- Time cost. A 50-employee return takes 3–5 hours to prepare manually each quarter.
- No SSN auto-validation. Paper filers do not get the e-Services real-time SSN check.
- Penalty exposure. A single missed wage row costs $20; a math error can cost 10% of tax due.
- Update burden. You must monitor revision dates and statute changes yourself.
FAQs
Is DE 3805 the same form as DE 9C?
No. DE 3805 is a continuation worksheet to DE 9C. You file DE 9C first; DE 3805 only carries the overflow wage rows that did not fit on the main DE 9C page.
Do I have to file DE 3805 if I have only 7 employees?
No. With 7 employees, all rows fit on a single DE 9C, and you do not need a continuation page. File DE 3805 only when you exceed the DE 9C row limit.
Can I file DE 3805 by itself if I forgot an employee?
No. A standalone DE 3805 is treated as orphan data. To add a missed employee, file an amended return using DE 9ADJ.
What revision date should I use in 2026?
Yes, use Rev. 13 (1-25), shown in the lower-left corner of the official PDF. EDD rejects older revisions starting with the Q1 2026 filing cycle.
Do I write a full first name or just an initial in Column 2?
No, do not write the full first name. Use first initial plus last name (e.g., M LOPEZ) in all caps to match SSA card records.
Can I use an ITIN in the SSN column?
No. ITINs are not valid for wage reporting. Use only nine-digit SSNs; for unknown SSNs, follow the SSA verification process before filing.
Should PIT wages always equal subject wages?
No. PIT wages often differ because pre-tax 401(k) and cafeteria-plan deferrals reduce PIT wages but not UI/ETT/SDI subject wages.
What goes in Column 6 if the employee is on a Voluntary Plan?
Yes, enter U in Column 6 to indicate state UI only with Voluntary Plan SDI. Leaving Column 6 blank causes incorrect SDI billing.
Is the filing deadline the same for paper and electronic returns?
Yes. Both channels share the last-day-of-the-month-following-the-quarter deadline, but mail filings rely on postmark date for timeliness.
What is the penalty for a missing SSN?
Yes, $20 per employee, assessed automatically under CUIC § 13052. The penalty applies even if the employee gives you a wrong SSN.
Do household employers really file DE 3805?
Yes, when they employ multiple workers in a quarter and exceed the DE 9C row limit, but most household employers fit on DE 9C alone.
Can a payroll service sign DE 3805 on my behalf?
Yes, through a Power of Attorney (DE 48) on file with EDD, but the legal duty for accuracy still rests with the employer.
Do I report 0 hours for a salaried exempt worker in Column 7?
No. Use 520 hours per quarter as the standard convention for full-time exempt workers, because zero-hour entries break UI benefit calculations.
How long must I keep my filed DE 3805?
Yes, four years under CUIC § 1085. Keep payroll register, the filed form, and proof-of-filing receipt together.
Related reading
- How to Fill Out California Form DE-226 (w/Examples) + FAQs
- How to Fill Out Washington ESD Quarterly Tax Report + FAQs
- How to Fill Out California Form DE-7 (w/Examples) + FAQs
- How to Fill Out California Form DE-9 (w/Examples) + FAQs
- How to Fill Out California Form DE-9C (w/Examples) + FAQs
- How to Fill Out California Form DE-9ADJ (w/Examples) + FAQs