By Adrian Middleton, Sword & Shield, PLLC · Updated Friday, October 9, 2026
What the request asks for
Rule 69L-6.015, F.A.C. lists the records every employer must maintain for the current year and the preceding two calendar years and produce on request. The Department's request mirrors that list for the penalty period:
- Identity records. FEIN letter (IRS Form 575A), articles of incorporation or organization, fictitious name registration, business tax receipts, trade licenses and certifications.
- Employment records. Names, Social Security numbers, dates of employment, and the amount and method of compensation for every person who worked, including officers, owners and 1099 workers.
- Tax records. Every form filed with the IRS with supporting schedules: 940, 941, W-2, W-3, 1099-NEC, 1096, 1040 Schedule C, 1065, 1120, 1120-S; and the Florida RT-6 reemployment tax reports.
- Financial records. Bank statements, cancelled checks, check registers, cash disbursement journals, ledgers, and records of every disbursement with its date and purpose, including electronic payments.
- Contracts. Every written contract with a general contractor, subcontractor, independent contractor or employee leasing company.
- Coverage records. Workers' compensation policies, declarations, endorsements, certificates of insurance, PEO agreements and exemption certificates.
The 21-day rule
Section 440.107(7)(a) deems failure to produce required business records within 21 days after receipt of the written request a basis for a stop-work order in its own right. Section 440.107(7)(d)1.b gives a first-time employer a 25 percent reduction if the records are produced within that same 21 days. Section 440.107(7)(d)1.a conditions the premium credit on documentation delivered within 21 days. Three separate consequences, one clock, starting the day you receive the request.
What 'sufficient' means
The Department needs records sufficient to determine payroll by worker, by week, by class code. Partial records produce partial relief: the auditor uses what you gave for the weeks and workers it covers and imputes the rest. A bank statement showing checks to a name, without an invoice or contract explaining the payment, is treated as payroll.
Know what is in the records before the state does
This is where a former investigator earns his fee. The records request is not a neutral accounting exercise. The same payroll journal that reduces your penalty from imputed to actual can also show:
- Cash payroll that was never reported to the IRS or on the RT-6.
- Workers paid under names that do not match their I-9s or Social Security numbers.
- Checks cashed at a check-cashing store on a scale that suggests a payroll-concealment scheme, the pattern the Division of Investigative and Forensic Services builds felony cases around.
- Certificates of insurance or exemption that were altered or that name the wrong entity (section 440.105(4)(a)1 and (4)(b)7 make presenting false evidence of compliance a felony).
- Payments to a subcontractor whose officers are your own employees.
Records are not required to resolve a stop-work order. An employer that elects not to produce them accepts an imputed penalty under section 440.107(7)(e), and Rule 69L-6.028 gives a second window of 20 business days after the first penalty assessment to produce them if the imputed number turns out worse. That remedy has to be weighed against what the records would reveal, and against the 25 percent reduction that imputation forfeits. There is no universal answer, and the decision belongs with counsel, not with the investigator asking for the boxes.
Before you produce anything
An audit of your own books before anything is produced tells you the records-based penalty, the imputed alternative, and whether anything in the records creates exposure that should not be volunteered. See the pre-submission records audit.
The client dashboard
Clients of the firm upload each category of records to a private dashboard on this site, organized by the categories on the Department's request. Nothing goes to the state from the dashboard; it is where we do the audit. Create an account to start uploading.
Questions
What happens if I only produce some of the records?+
The auditor uses what you produced for the workers and weeks it covers and imputes payroll at 1.5 times the statewide average weekly wage for everything it does not. Partial production also puts the 25 percent reduction at risk, since the statute conditions it on compliance with the record-keeping rules.
Can the Department subpoena my bank?+
Yes. Section 440.107(3)(f) authorizes subpoenas for business records, and section 440.107(6) lets a court enforce them and tax the Department's attorney's fees against an employer that refuses. A subpoena is a different thing from a voluntary production, and your rights differ. Talk to counsel before either.
Do I have to produce records for workers who had their own exemptions?+
Produce the exemption certificate and the payment records, and the auditor removes that worker from the calculation. Without the certificate, every dollar paid to that worker is uninsured payroll.