Employer of record in Nevada: PEO rules, payroll registration and what the client still owns (2026)

Nevada does not use the term "employer of record," but it licenses what most EORs do. As of November 2026, a professional employer organization (PEO) needs a license from the Office of the Labor Commissioner under NRS 611.400 to 611.490, costing $500 a year, and the statute's definition reaches any company that provides human resources, benefits, payroll and workers' compensation services for a fee in an ongoing relationship. Nevada also makes the client company, not the PEO, the employer for unemployment insurance, so you keep a Nevada unemployment account and stay jointly liable if the PEO does not pay.

This page is for a company outside Nevada, or a staffing firm, deciding whether to employ someone in Nevada through an employer of record (EOR) or PEO, or to register itself. The general difference between an EOR, a PEO, a staffing agency and payrolling is in what is an employer of record and payrolling services explained. The employment agency license, its residency rule and fee caps are in staffing agency license in Nevada, and the full state checklist is in hiring employees in Nevada. This page adds who reports the wages, who insures the worker, what the Modified Business Tax means for a PEO client, and what stays with you.

Nevada employer of record and PEO rules at a glance

Does Nevada license employer of record companies or PEOs?

Yes, as PEOs. Nevada moved PEO oversight out of its workers' compensation chapter in 2021. The Division of Industrial Relations' PEO page says Senate Bill 55 (2021) transferred oversight of "employee leasing companies" to the Labor Commissioner, replaced that term with "professional employer organization," and turned the registration into a license effective July 1, 2021. The rules now sit in NRS 611.400 to 611.490.

The definition is the part an EOR client should read closely. Under NRS 611.400(4), a professional employer organization is a company which, under "a written or oral agreement intended by the parties to create an ongoing relationship":

• "Provides labor compliance services for a fee, including, without limitation, the management of human resources, employee benefits, payroll and workers' compensation"; or
• "Places any of the regular, full-time employees of a client company on its payroll and, for a fee, leases them to the client company."

An "ongoing relationship" is one in which the employer's rights and duties are split between the PEO and the client "on an ongoing, long-term basis," and it "does not include a temporary or project-specific agreement." A global EOR that runs payroll, benefits and workers' compensation for a permanent Nevada hire, for a fee, fits the first branch even if it never calls itself a PEO. A staffing firm placing its own temporary workers on short assignments fits neither, and its license question is the employment agency license covered in staffing agency license in Nevada.

What the license requires

• Application and fee. A notarized application signed under penalty of perjury by the owners, partners or officers, with each one's name, address and Social Security number, and "An issuance or renewal fee of $500" (NRS 611.430(1)-(2)).
• Proof of compliance. A Nevada state business license under NRS chapter 76, payment of workers' compensation premiums, payment of unemployment contributions, and insurance for any benefit plan the PEO offers (NRS 611.430(1)(g)).
• Financial statements. An audited statement completed within 13 months before a new application, or within 180 days after the fiscal year end for a renewal. It must show positive working capital or come with a bond, irrevocable letter of credit or securities equal to the working capital shortfall "plus $100,000" (NRS 611.430(5)).
• Term. The statute says a license "expires 1 year after it is issued unless renewed" (NRS 611.410(3)); the Labor Commissioner's application checklist says licenses are issued annually, "valid until September 30th," and can take up to 60 days to process.
• Changes and cancellations. Changes go to the Labor Commissioner within 30 days, and an insurer that cancels a PEO's policy must notify the Labor Commissioner (NRS 611.430(3)-(4)).
• Assurance organizations. The Labor Commissioner's licensing page names the Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC) as an approved assurance organization that can complete licensing and renewals for accredited PEOs and keeps their client lists updated monthly.

We did not find a published list of licensed PEOs on the Labor Commissioner's site. Ask the provider for its Nevada license number and expiration date, and confirm it with the Labor Commissioner's licensing unit before the start date.

Penalties

Operating a PEO without complying with the chapter is a misdemeanor (NRS 611.410(2)). The Labor Commissioner can refuse or revoke a license, and NRS 611.490 allows an action for damages against the people who signed the license application plus an administrative penalty "of not more than $5,000 for each such failure."

Who pays Nevada unemployment tax on an EOR or PEO worker?

The client, under its own account. NRS 611.460(1) says "A client company of a professional employer organization ... shall be deemed to be the employer of the employees it leases for the purposes of chapter 612 of NRS," which is Nevada's unemployment compensation law. The Labor Commissioner's PEO application backs this up: for each client listed, the PEO must include a Nevada Employment Security Division "Notice of Contribution or Wage Report," or for a new company a confirmation that an account number has been assigned.

Three practical consequences follow:

• You need a Nevada unemployment account. Under NRS 612.055, an employing unit becomes an employer once it pays $225 or more in wages in a calendar quarter. The PEO may file the reports, but the account and the experience rating are yours.
• You stay on the hook. If the PEO fails to pay contributions, premiums, forfeits or interest, or to submit required reports, "the client company is jointly and severally liable" for the amounts attributable to your leased employees' wages (NRS 611.460(4)). Ask for proof each quarter that the reports were filed and paid.
• Your experience builds on your account. Because the client is the employer under chapter 612, benefits charged on these wages show up in your own record, not the PEO's, which differs from states such as Alabama where the PEO reports under its own number and rate.

Who pays the Modified Business Tax on PEO wages?

Nevada has no payroll income tax, but it taxes wages through the Modified Business Tax. Under NRS 363B.030, an "employer" for the tax is "any employer who is required to pay a contribution pursuant to NRS 612.535," that is, Nevada's unemployment contributions, and NRS 363B.110 taxes wages above $50,000 in a calendar quarter, with the return due when the unemployment report is due. The Department of Taxation's MBT page says the rate for most general business employers fell "to 1.17% from 1.378%" on July 1, 2023, that "The first $50,000 of wages remains non-taxable," and that "All employers must file a tax return regardless of tax due."

Read together with NRS 611.460, that ties the MBT on your Nevada workers to the unemployment account in your name. We found no Department of Taxation guidance written specifically about PEO clients, so put the question to the provider in writing: who files the quarterly MBT return for our account, whose $50,000 quarterly exclusion applies, and who claims the deduction for health insurance the PEO's plan provides.

Who carries workers' compensation in Nevada?

Someone must, from the first employee: NRS 616B.633 makes the industrial insurance chapters "conclusive, compulsory and obligatory" wherever an employer has any employee under a contract of hire. NRS 616B.692 then lists the ways a PEO can meet its obligation for leased workers:

1. confirming that the client has its own policy covering "all of the employees of the client company," leased ones included;
2. confirming the client belongs to a certified association of self-insured employers, or is itself a certified self-insured employer, covering all its employees;
3. buying a policy on a "multiple coordinated policy basis," with a separate policy issued for each client and the PEO controlling payments; or
4. buying a "master policy" covering some or all of its employees leased to one or more clients.

If the PEO's services do not include workers' compensation, it must give the client written notice before signing that the client "will remain responsible" for covering all its employees, and the agreement must say so (NRS 616B.692(4)). If the PEO provides a coordinated or master policy, coverage does not start until the client signs the written agreement, and that agreement must state, among other things, that the client's loss experience "will continue to be reported in the name of the client company" and that the client covers any employees it does not lease (NRS 616B.692(5)). The Labor Commissioner's application adds that "Each client must have Nevada Specific coverage or Nevada must be listed in 3A of the Declaration page of the Master policy."

Two more rules matter. The exclusive remedy of NRS 616A.020 covers the PEO, the client and all the client's employees "whether the professional employer organization or the client company provides the coverage" (NRS 616B.692(7)). And a PEO may not act as a self-insured employer or offer leased employees a self-funded insurance program (NRS 611.460(3)). Every employer must also post a notice naming its industrial insurer and nearest Nevada adjuster under NRS 616A.490; ask whose insurer the notice names and how a remote worker gets it.

Which Nevada registrations, reports and notices still apply?

• No state income tax withholding. The Department of Taxation's income tax page says the state "does not impose a state income tax on individuals," so there is no withholding account and no state W-4. Federal withholding still applies.
• New-hire reporting. Each new or rehired employee must be reported to the Employment Security Division "within 20 days of hire/re-hire OR twice per month if reporting electronically," per the Division of Social Services. Agree which party files.
• Paid leave. NRS 608.0197 requires private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada to provide "at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave for each hour of work performed." Ask whose headcount the provider uses for the 50-employee line and whose policy the worker accrues under. We found no Nevada paid family leave or disability insurance program that needs a separate employer registration.
• Notice to the worker. The PEO must give "written notice of the employment relationship to each leased employee" (NRS 611.450).
• Other notices at hire. The pregnancy accommodation notice for employers with 15 or more employees and the Labor Commissioner's bulletins, listed in the Nevada hiring checklist.
• E-Verify. No state mandate; see E-Verify requirements in Nevada.

What does the client company still own in Nevada?

Nevada's PEO law splits a few employer functions and leaves the rest where they were. The PEO is "deemed to be an employer of its leased employees for the purposes of offering, sponsoring and maintaining any benefit plans," but that "do[es] not affect the employer-employee relationship that exists between a leased employee and a client company" (NRS 611.460(2)). Everything else about who you hire, and how, stays with you:

• Unemployment and MBT exposure. As above, the account and the joint liability are yours.
• Pay questions. Nevada bars seeking or relying on pay history and requires the wage or salary range to go to every applicant who completes an interview, and the statute names employment agencies as well as employers; see Nevada pay transparency law and Nevada salary history ban.
• Screening. Credit checks only where reasonably related to the job, and no refusing to hire over a marijuana-positive screen outside the listed safety roles; see Nevada background check laws, Nevada drug testing laws and ban the box in Nevada.
• Interviews. Recording a phone interview needs everyone's consent; see Nevada recording consent law for interviews.
• Restrictive covenants. Non-competes are barred for hourly workers and limited for others; see Nevada non-compete law. Check whose name is on the agreement.
• Co-employment liability. Wage and discrimination claims can name both parties; see joint employer liability for staffing agencies.
• Federal payroll taxes. The IRS says the client "generally remains responsible" for employment taxes unless the PEO is IRS-certified; check the CPEO public listings.

When is registering your own company in Nevada the better route?

In Nevada the gap between the two routes is smaller than usual, because a PEO client already holds its own unemployment account and carries the MBT exposure. Registering yourself adds a workers' compensation policy from the first employee, the 20-day new-hire report and payroll you run directly; there is no state income tax account to open. That route tends to win when:

• you plan more than one or two Nevada hires and already run multi-state payroll;
• the provider cannot show a current Nevada PEO license, which leaves you with the employer's duties anyway;
• you mainly wanted an EOR to keep the unemployment account off your books, which Nevada does not allow for a PEO arrangement.

A licensed PEO still makes sense for a small team that wants payroll, benefits and workers' compensation handled together. A staffing firm on its own payroll fits a genuinely temporary or project-specific need.

Questions to ask an employer of record or PEO before signing for Nevada

1. Do you hold a Nevada PEO license from the Labor Commissioner? What is the license number, and does it run to this September 30?
2. If you say you are not a PEO, why does NRS 611.400 not cover the payroll, benefits and workers' compensation you provide us?
3. Will you register our Nevada unemployment account or use our existing one, and how will you prove each quarter that contributions were paid, given our joint liability under NRS 611.460?
4. Who files the Modified Business Tax return on these wages, and who claims the health benefit deduction?
5. Which of the NRS 616B.692 methods covers our workers' compensation, and does the policy list Nevada and our company name?
6. If workers' compensation is not part of your service, where is the written notice and contract term that says so?
7. Who reports the hire within 20 days, and whose headcount sets the NRS 608.0197 paid leave line?
8. Do you also run a temporary staffing business, and do you keep separate payroll records and workers' compensation policies for it, as NRS 611.440 requires?
9. Are you an IRS-certified PEO, and who is liable for federal employment taxes if you miss a deposit?
10. Can we move the worker to our own payroll later, and is there a fee?

Employer of record rules in other states: Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah and Texas.