---
updatedAt: 2026-08-26T15:27:09.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.checkhq.com/llms.txt
---

# The document object

A document object represents a tax documents or other payroll document that belongs to a company, an employee, or a contractor.

There are 4 different document categories: company tax documents, company authorization documents, employee tax documents, and contractor tax documents.

Employee tax documents, contractor tax documents, and setup documents all return a machine-readable `document_type` alongside the human-readable `label`. See [Document types](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/document-types) for the full list of values for each category. Company tax documents and company authorization documents do not currently return `document_type`; identify those by `label`, `jurisdiction`, `year`, and `quarter`.

```json Sample document object
{
    "id": "doc_uq8gCZZSxvvz890zRS0g",
    "company": "com_8BDDxUvOZcFVeiuAGne8",
    "category": "company_tax_document",
    "label": "Form 941",
    "description": "Form 941 is filed quarterly to reconcile social security, medicare and federal income tax.",
    "jurisdiction": "FED",
    "year": 2019,
    "quarter": null,
    "filed_on": "2020-01-31",
    "created_at": "2020-01-31T12:00:00.000000Z"
}
```

All document objects include the following fields:

<Table align={["left","left"]}>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        Attribute
      </th>
      <th>
        Description
      </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `id`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Unique identifier for the document
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `category`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        The categorization of the document. One of:

        <ul style={{ lineHeight: "75%" }}>
          <li>company_tax_document</li>
          <li>company_authorization_document</li>
          <li>employee_tax_document</li>
          <li>contractor_tax_document</li>
        </ul>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `label`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Document’s type
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `jurisdiction`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Jurisdiction associated with this document; will be either a two-character state abbreviation or "FED" to represent the federal jurisdiction
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `year`  
        _int_
      </td>
      <td>
        Year that this document was filed for
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `filed_on`  
        _date_
      </td>
      <td>
        Date that this document was filed
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `created_at`  
        _datetime_
      </td>
      <td>
        ISO 8601 UTC timestamp when the document was recorded in Check. For tax and authorization documents, this is when the document was recorded; for setup documents, when Check generated the document. When multiple documents share the same `filed_on` date, compare `created_at` to tell which was recorded later.
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</Table>

Company tax documents can include the following documents as applicable:

* Federal Annual Returns & Docs
* Federal Quarterly Returns
* Federal FUTA Returns
* State Annual Returns & Docs
* State Withholding Returns
* State SUI Returns (or combine into State Quarterly Returns)
* Local Returns
* PFML Docs
* Wage Reports (Payroll Reports)
* New Hire Reporting

Company tax document objects (`/documents/company_tax_documents`) have the following additional attributes:

<Table align={["left","left"]}>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        Attribute
      </th>
      <th>
        Description
      </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `company`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        ID of the company that this document was filed for
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `description`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Description of what this document is used for
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `quarter`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Quarter that this document was filed for; `null` if this document is filed annually
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</Table>

Company authorization documents can include the following documents as applicable:

* Federal Form 8655 Submissions
* State Power of Attorney Documents
* State Filer and Remitter Authorization Documents
* PMFL and L\&I Authorization Forms

Company authorization document objects (`/documents/company_authorization_documents`) have the following additional attributes:

<Table align={["left","left"]}>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        Attribute
      </th>
      <th>
        Description
      </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `company`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        ID of the company that this document was filed for
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</Table>

Employee tax documents can include the following documents as applicable:

* Federal I-9 Submissions
* Federal W-4 Submissions
* Federal W-2 and W-2c Submissions
* State Withholding Form Submissions

Employee tax document objects (`/documents/employee_tax_documents`) have the following additional attributes:

<Table align={["left","left"]}>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        Attribute
      </th>
      <th>
        Description
      </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `employee`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        ID of the employee that this document was filed for
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `document_type`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Machine-readable document type identifier (for example, `fed_w4`, `ca_de4`, or `fed_w2`). See [Document types](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/document-types) for the full list. Filter list results with the same values using the `document_type` query parameter.
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</Table>

Contractor tax documents can include the following documents as applicable:

* 1099 NEC/1099 NEC Correction Submissions
* Federal W-9 Submissions

Contractor tax document objects (`/documents/contractor_tax_documents`) have the following additional attributes:

<Table align={["left","left"]}>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        Attribute
      </th>
      <th>
        Description
      </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `contractor`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        ID of the contractor that this document was filed for
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `description`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Description of what this document is used for
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `document_type`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Machine-readable document type identifier (for example, `fed_1099_nec`, `1099_nec_corrected`, or `fed_w9`). See [Document types](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/document-types) for the full list. Legacy 1099-NEC rows are returned as `fed_1099_nec`. Filter list results with the same values using the `document_type` query parameter.
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</Table>

Setup document objects (`/documents/setup_documents`) have the following additional attributes

<Table align={["left","left"]}>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        Attribute
      </th>
      <th>
        Description
      </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `document_type`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Machine-readable document type identifier (for example, `payroll_journal`, `employee_setup`, or `bank_account_setup`). See [Document types](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/document-types) for the full list.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `description`  
        _string_
      </td>
      <td>
        Description of what this document is
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</Table>