Does Gusto Do E-Verify? Yes, but Only on One Path (2026)

Yes, as of October 2026, but only on one path. Gusto now submits E-Verify cases for employers who are already enrolled, at $5 per case on top of its $20 remote I-9 add-on on the Simple and Plus plans, and included on Premium. That E-Verify option sits on the path where the new hire picks their own reviewer. When a manager checks documents in person, those cases still go through e-verify.gov by hand.

Gusto's pricing page lists the new E-Verify add-on, though its Help Center article on I-9 and E-Verify still tells employers to enroll at e-verify.gov and doesn't describe the in-app submission yet. Its Florida payroll article also says "We do not file the RT-E Verify Form," the annual E-Verify certification on the state reemployment tax return. So Gusto customers in mandatory-E-Verify states now have three choices. They can pay per hire for Gusto's bundled path, run in-person hires through e-verify.gov by hand, or move Form I-9 and E-Verify to a system that includes E-Verify on every hire.

Gusto runs payroll, benefits, and onboarding. We only handle the I-9 and E-Verify, and we get those right.

The Compliance Map (2026)

Twenty-one states require E-Verify for at least some private employers or public contractors, and Ohio, Iowa, and Indiana all added new rules in 2026. The map matters because it shows exactly which Gusto customers are carrying compliance risk they may not know about.

All or most private employers have to use it in Alabama, Arizona, Florida (25+ employees per SB 1718, eff. Jul 1, 2023), Georgia (10+), Louisiana (all employers must use E-Verify or keep photocopies of the List B ID from the I-9), Mississippi, North Carolina (25+), South Carolina, Tennessee (35+ or all with federal contracts), Utah (15+).

Only public contractors and government agencies are covered in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.

Iowa's SF 2218 is new in 2026 and close to a mandate. It was signed Jun 2, 2026, took effect Jul 1, 2026, and requires E-Verify for public sector employees, schools, and licensing boards. It doesn't require E-Verify for private employers directly, but it adds a $10,000 civil penalty for knowingly hiring someone who provided a false Social Security number, enforced by Iowa Workforce Development. That pushes private employers toward E-Verify as the obvious way to show they didn't knowingly hire an unauthorized worker, the same safe-harbor logic as Indiana's FAIRNESS Act, which took effect the same day and treats E-Verify use as reasonable diligence without requiring it. Ohio's Workforce Integrity Act (Mar 2026) already added an E-Verify mandate for nonresidential construction contractors, subcontractors, and labor brokers.

Our E-Verify requirements by state reference has the full breakdown, including thresholds and enforcement, and the What Is E-Verify pillar covers the basics.

What the In-Person Path Still Costs an HR Team

Here's the workflow for a Gusto customer in a mandatory state whose manager reviews documents in person, the path where Gusto's onboarding screen doesn't offer E-Verify.

1. The employee completes Section 1 in Gusto.
2. HR completes Section 2 in Gusto within 3 business days of the start date.
3. HR opens another browser tab, signs in to e-verify.gov with a separate account, and creates a new case.
4. HR retypes the employee's name, date of birth, Social Security number, citizenship status, document type, document number, and expiration date from the Gusto I-9 into the E-Verify case form, every field of it.
5. E-Verify returns a case result. For a Tentative Nonconfirmation, HR prints the Further Action Notice from E-Verify, gives it to the employee, tracks the 10-federal-working-day clock outside Gusto, and closes the case at e-verify.gov once it's resolved.
6. HR writes the E-Verify case number on the I-9 or attaches a printed copy of the case details page, since Gusto doesn't store either, and keeps it with the I-9 for as long as the I-9 is retained. E-Verify itself deletes case records once they're more than 10 years old.

Every in-person hire in Gusto still means two compliance workflows in two systems that don't share any data. The employee's information gets typed twice, the 3-day clock gets watched in two places, and an error in one system, like a mistyped document number or a missing citizenship code, never shows up in the other. Then ICE sends a Notice of Inspection and HR is stuck reconciling two sets of records by hand.

At 100 hires a year the retyping adds up to real time, and by 400 it's usually the reason HR teams start looking outside Gusto.

Gusto's New E-Verify Doesn't Fix the I-9s Already on File

The add-on helps with hires going forward. It doesn't reach back. Gusto customers in mandatory-E-Verify states who didn't run cases themselves at e-verify.gov have every hire before this month with no E-Verify case behind it. Except for federal contractors with the E-Verify contract clause, E-Verify doesn't let employers run cases on people who were already employed before they enrolled, so those gaps can't be closed by turning the add-on on now.

Those same I-9s were completed in a system where, by Gusto's own help center, corrections happen outside the product and the fixed form gets uploaded. That matters more after ICE's August 31, 2026 fact sheet, covered below. If this describes your company, start by finding out what's actually in the file. A compliance call with our team is free, and an I-9 audit shows which forms need corrections before ICE finds them.

The March 16, 2026 Reclassification Puts Teeth on the Gap

ICE's March 16, 2026 Form I-9 inspection fact sheet moved several common errors from technical (usually 10 business days to fix) to substantive (fined immediately at the per-form rate), and three of them sit right in a Gusto customer's path.

• A missing alternative-procedure checkbox is now substantive when remote examination was used, with no cure window.
• Using the alternative procedure without active E-Verify enrollment is substantive, since the alternative procedure is only available to employers enrolled in E-Verify in good standing at that hiring site.
• Gaps in an electronic system's audit trail, electronic signatures, or security documentation are substantive. A stored, signed PDF isn't the same thing as an electronic I-9 system under 8 CFR § 274a.2.

ICE revised the fact sheet again on August 31, 2026 without announcement, and the new version says employers must be able to produce electronic I-9s "with a compliant audit trail." Paperwork penalties run $288 to $2,861 per Form I-9 under 8 CFR § 274a.10(b)(2), assessed per form (January 2025 Federal Register adjustment, unchanged for 2026 per DOJ notice 2026-14236). Our pieces on how ICE redefined substantive I-9 violations and the 2026 I-9 penalty ranges have the full picture.

In practice, that means any I-9 a Gusto customer completed through remote examination without checking the alternative-procedure box, without active E-Verify enrollment, or in an electronic system whose audit trail can't be reproduced on inspection is now a substantive finding.

What E-Verify Looks Like When It's Included on Every Hire

An I-9 platform that runs E-Verify natively takes e-verify.gov out of the workflow entirely, which is how it works on i9 Intelligence.

• Section 1 arrives in the new hire's inbox as a magic link with a one-time passcode, so there's no account or password, and most people finish it on their phone. Fields are checked as they're typed, including date format, document-number length, and document type against citizenship status.
• Section 2 is completed by the employer, an authorized representative (friends-and-family, included in the platform fee), or our trained Remote Verification team (US-based, E-Verify photo match). The alternative-procedure checkbox is its own step with an audit trail.
• E-Verify is submitted automatically from the completed I-9, in the same system and session with the same audit trail. A Tentative Nonconfirmation generates the Further Action Notice in the platform, the 10-day clock tracks itself, and the case closes to the same record.
• You get unlimited E-Verify accounts, a designated-agent setup if you want us to run cases for you, and no second login. E-Verify doesn't depend on which Section 2 path you pick, and there's no per-case fee.

Gusto customers who switch keep Gusto for payroll, benefits, tax filings, and the rest of onboarding, and move Form I-9 and E-Verify to a system that treats them as one workflow.

"The Gusto customers we hear from in E-Verify states did not know they were running two compliance workflows until they added up the time and the risk," says Patricia Duarte, Director of Compliance at i9 Intelligence. "The 3-day E-Verify clock is the same 3-day clock as the I-9 clock. Watching it in two systems is where the misses happen."

The Pricing Story (Because It Comes Up)

The other thing we hear from Gusto customers looking at us is a plan-upgrade quote. Gusto's remote-verification tool, where an employee-chosen reviewer completes Section 2 in person, is $20 per verification on Simple and Plus, and E-Verify submission adds $5 per case on top of it. That's $20 for a reviewer the new hire found themselves, which is included on every i9 Intelligence plan. At 100 hires a year, that's $2,500 on top of payroll. i9 Intelligence costs less than half of that, with E-Verify and friends-and-family verification included. Premium includes both, but it costs $100 more in base and $10 more per employee per month than Plus, so a Gusto customer pushed to Premium because of I-9 is paying a per-head payroll upcharge for a form workflow.

Premium adds a dedicated advisor, priority support, and certified HR advice, and it now covers both the remote tool and E-Verify submission. Both still run through one Section 2 workflow, where the employee picks the reviewer. Hires your managers verify in person stay on e-verify.gov, whatever plan you're on.

Book a Compliance Call Before You Sign Another Gusto Year

We should talk if you're on Gusto in a mandatory-E-Verify state and haven't enrolled at e-verify.gov, or you're running E-Verify by hand alongside Gusto, or paying Gusto per hire to do it, and want it included on every hire. Book a free compliance call, or run the numbers first with our I-9 Risk Calculator.

When Gusto's I-9 Workflow Is Enough

To be fair, there's a case where none of this matters, and it's fine to keep I-9 in Gusto when all of the following are true.

• You have no employees working in a mandatory-E-Verify state (see the map above and our state reference).
• You don't hold federal contracts subject to the FAR E-Verify clause.
• Every new hire presents documents in person, at one office, to someone on your payroll.
• You're comfortable with the electronic-system audit trail Gusto provides holding up on an ICE inspection in year seven of storage.
• Nothing in Gusto's product is being sold to you as a plan upgrade to keep the I-9 process you already had.

Small, single-state, in-person teams without federal contracts meet that bar. Once a hire lands in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, or another state that requires or rewards E-Verify, or a federal contract comes into play, or hiring goes remote, Gusto's Form I-9 workflow either leaves E-Verify to you or charges per hire for it.

Common Questions

Does Gusto submit E-Verify cases?

Yes, since October 2026, for employers already enrolled in E-Verify. On Simple and Plus it's $5 per case on top of the $20 remote I-9 add-on, and Premium includes it. Gusto's onboarding screen offers E-Verify on the path where the new hire picks their own reviewer, so hires a manager verifies in person still go through e-verify.gov by hand.

Does Gusto Premium include E-Verify?

Yes, as of October 2026. Premium ($180 base plus $22 per employee per month) includes Gusto's remote I-9 tool and E-Verify submission, along with a dedicated advisor, priority support, and certified HR advice. Simple and Plus customers pay $20 per remote verification plus $5 per E-Verify case. On every plan, E-Verify in Gusto sits on the path where the employee picks the reviewer.

Which states require E-Verify for private employers on Gusto?

Alabama, Arizona, Florida (25+ employees), Georgia (10+), Louisiana (all, or keep List B document copies), Mississippi, North Carolina (25+), South Carolina, Tennessee (35+ or federal contracts), and Utah (15+). Indiana's FAIRNESS Act makes E-Verify the safe harbor for every Indiana employer, so treat it as required there too. Eleven more states require it for public contractors or government agencies only. Iowa's 2026 SF 2218 adds a $10K false-SSN penalty for private employers, which makes E-Verify the obvious safe harbor even without a formal mandate. The full reference is our E-Verify requirements by state page.

Is Gusto's remote I-9 tool the same as the DHS alternative procedure?

No. Gusto's remote-verification tool has the employee pick their own authorized representative to complete Section 2. The DHS alternative procedure (88 FR 47749) has the employer, or a trained agent, examine the employee's documents over a live video interaction, and it's only available to employers actively enrolled in E-Verify in good standing at that hiring site. Gusto now submits E-Verify cases for enrolled employers, but it doesn't enroll you, and its remote tool uses an in-person reviewer instead of the live-video review the alternative procedure allows.

What happens if we don't use E-Verify in a state that requires it?

Penalties vary by state, and FloridaCommerce (formerly the Department of Economic Opportunity) can fine $1,000 per day after three noncompliance findings in 24 months and revoke licenses. In Indiana, the FAIRNESS Act lets the Attorney General ask a court to suspend a business's Indiana licenses for knowingly employing unauthorized workers, and E-Verify is the defense the law was written around. Under ICE's March 2026 fact sheet, using the DHS alternative procedure for remote I-9 examination without E-Verify enrollment is a substantive violation at the per-form penalty rate ($288 to $2,861 per Form I-9).

Do we have to migrate the I-9s already in Gusto?

No, recent and clean records can stay where they are. Migrating and auditing older records is optional, and most teams just start fresh with new hires and leave the archive alone.

Can we keep Gusto for payroll and add a separate I-9/E-Verify system?

Yes, and that's the usual path. Gusto keeps payroll, benefits, tax filings, and the rest of onboarding, while Form I-9 and E-Verify move to a system built for the compliance workflow. Both systems can take hire data at the same time, and a Gusto API integration that starts the I-9 automatically when a new employee is created in Gusto is a common near-term add. For how the two split the work side by side, see i9 Intelligence vs. Gusto.

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