How do workers’ comp audits work?

There are a few different kinds of audits the carrier may perform: statement, online, mail-in, telephone, or physical.

Statement: Uses info that we (your broker) send to your carrier. You’ll hear about the results of your statement audit from your carrier. Please note these can only be done for Pay As You Go policies. 

Online: Audit documentation is submitted to the carrier via email or through their online portal. The requested documents will typically include the following: 

• payroll journals/summaries 
• quarterly tax forms (941s) 
• unemployment reports
• 1099 reports

Your payroll provider can help you gather these documents. 

Mail-in: Instead of submitting the documents through an online portal, the documents are mailed directly to the carrier. 

Telephone: This will be an interview with you over the phone. The carrier will probably still ask for the same kinds of documents as with online and mail-in audits.

Physical: Your carrier will schedule one of their agents to come to your workplace and verify that your employees are performing work in accordance with their class codes.