Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) is required by federal law for every new hire in the United States. It confirms that each employee is authorized to work in the country. Because I-9 verification has specific legal requirements around timing, document inspection, and recordkeeping, it works differently from the tax forms Freedom files automatically on your behalf.
What Freedom does
When you add a new employee, or convert a contractor to an employee, Freedom shows a note titled "Complete Form I-9 outside Freedom" once you finish adding the employee. It gives the dates for Section 1 and Section 2, a button to download a blank Form I-9 (PDF), and a link to the Form I-9 instructions on USCIS.gov.
Freedom shows this note once for each new hire. It doesn't appear when the start date is more than a week in the past. In that case, you can get the blank form from USCIS.gov.
What Freedom does not do
Freedom does not complete, verify, or store your I-9s for you. That means Freedom does not:
Collect the form or track whether it is completed
Review or verify the identity and work-authorization documents your employee presents
Store or keep your completed I-9s
Form I-9 verification requires an authorized representative of the employer to physically or virtually examine the employee's original documents.
What you need to do
As the employer, you are responsible for the full I-9 process:
Have the employee complete Section 1 no later than their first day of work.
Complete Section 2 (employer verification) within three business days of the employee's start date, after examining their original identity and work-authorization documents.
Retain the completed I-9 for the required period: three years from the date of hire, or one year after employment ends, whichever is later.
Where to keep your I-9s
Because Freedom does not store completed I-9s, keep them in your own secure records system, separate from other personnel files. Storing I-9s separately makes it easier to produce them if you're ever audited without exposing unrelated employee information.
Questions
If you have questions about the Form I-9 note in Freedom, email us at [email protected]. For legal questions about I-9 compliance specific to your business, consult a qualified employment attorney.