Many employers find that their Forms I-9 are replete with paperwork errors. Fortunately, only one financial penalty for paperwork violations can be assessed per Form I-9. They are not assessed for each mistake on a Form I-9. But that does not mean that paperwork fines aren’t potentially disastrous for employers. The determination as to the amount to assess within the range allowed is made by the agent or auditor, who will divide the number of violations by the number of employees for which a Form I-9 should have been prepared to obtain a violation percentage and determination of amount to fine.

The penalties for knowingly hiring or continuing to employ unauthorized individuals have gone up, too. The “old” penalties for a first violation ranged from $375 to as much as $3,200 for each worker for a first-time offense. Under the new, current protocol, the penalty range is from $539 to as much as $4,313 for a first offense. (Fines are consistent within each government action, so a “first-time offense” rate applies to all fines of that kind assessed in that particular investigation.) The fines can increase each time an employer is cited in a new action, even if no penalty is assessed. An employer that gets audited and cited a third time can be ordered to pay as “little” as $6,469 and as much as $21,563 per unauthorized worker.

These new rates apply retroactively to violations determined to have occurred after November 2, 2015. You can find out more about all penalties and more at the government’s I-9 Central.