How to File Your VETS-4212 Report
The filing window runs 1 August to 30 September every year. The form itself is not difficult — most of the pain comes from gathering the numbers by hiring location. Here is what is required, what trips people up, and what the numbers mean.
Filing window
1 Aug – 30 Sep
every year
Reporting threshold
$150,000
in covered federal contracts
Authority
41 CFR 61-300
under 38 U.S.C. 4212
Who has to file
Contractors and subcontractors who enter into — or modify — a contract with the federal government meeting the criteria in 38 U.S.C. 4212, codified at 41 CFR 61-300. The current reporting threshold is $150,000. DOL publishes an elaws VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Reporting Advisor that walks you through whether you are covered; if there is any doubt in your case, use it.
The deadline, and what happens either side of it
The official cycle is 1 August to 30 September. DOL’s guidance notes that reports filed outside the official cycle are treated as part of the currently active cycle — so a late filing does not vanish, it lands in the current year’s bucket.
Expect slow support in September. DOL warns of extreme call volume during the cycle and asks contractors to use the FAQs rather than the phone. If you are going to need a human, needing one on 3 August is far more comfortable than needing one on 29 September.
Three ways to file
- The VETS-4212 Reporting Application — the online tool, and the method DOL recommends. It requires registration: you supply your contact and company details, the request goes to your company’s primary point of contact for approval, and you get a confirmation email once approved. Start this early. That approval step is human, and it is the most common reason a first-time filer misses the window.
- Batch upload — DOL encourages this for companies with more than 10 hiring locations, and it is far faster than keying locations in one at a time.
- Paper — download the PDF form (a standard version and an EEO-1 aligned version both exist) and return it by email or post to the DOL National Contact Center. Slowest route; use it only if you must.
What you are actually reporting
For each hiring location: your total employees and your total new hires, and how many of each self-identified as protected veterans, broken out by job category. The form no longer asks you to split veterans into the individual protected categories — aggregate protected-veteran figures are what VETS-4212 wants, though OFCCP’s separate self-identification rules still permit you to invite the individual categories if you prefer.
Where filings actually go wrong
- Copying a total into the veteran column. We pulled every 2025 filing from DOL’s public API to build our employers that hire veterans list, and found filings reporting 100% of new hires as protected veterans at companies whose overall workforce is around 5% veteran. That is a column error, and it is visible to anyone who looks.
- Wrong or nonsense NAICS codes. In the same data, one major university’s filings come through coded as beet sugar manufacturing.
- Treating the self-identification invitation as optional. Employees may decline to answer. You may not decline to ask.
- Leaving registration until September. See above.
This is not legal advice. LockLeed International is a veteran-owned staffing agency — not a law firm, not a compliance consultancy, and not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Labor or OFCCP. Everything here is summarised from public DOL and OFCCP guidance and was checked against those sources on 1 August 2026. Regulations change: the Department published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 1 July 2025 proposing modifications to the VEVRAA regulations, so confirm anything that matters with your own counsel or with OFCCP before acting on it.
Common Questions
When is the VETS-4212 filing deadline?
The official filing cycle runs from 1 August to 30 September each year. Reports filed outside the cycle are treated as part of the currently active filing cycle.
What is the VETS-4212 reporting threshold?
$150,000 in covered federal contracts. OFCCP's regulations at 41 CFR 60-300 still state $100,000, but the FAR Council adjusted acquisition thresholds for inflation and OFCCP has adopted the adjusted figure.
Can I file VETS-4212 for many locations at once?
Yes. DOL encourages companies with more than 10 hiring locations to submit via batch upload rather than entering each location in the online application.
Do I report veterans by individual protected category on VETS-4212?
No. The VETS-4212 form asks for aggregate protected-veteran counts — the number newly hired and the number employed — rather than a breakdown by individual category.
The Rest of the Picture
VEVRAA Compliance
What VEVRAA requires of federal contractors: the $150,000 threshold, mandatory job listing, self-identification, the hiring benchmark, and annual documentation.
VEVRAA Hiring Benchmark
What the VEVRAA hiring benchmark is, the current 5.1% national figure, the five-factor alternative, and why it applies to each establishment separately.
Below the Benchmark
Coming in under the 5.1% VEVRAA benchmark is not a violation — but it does trigger a documented obligation. What OFCCP expects, and how to close the gap.
We Don't Do Paperwork. We Do Candidates.
Filing the form is your job, and it is not the hard part. Hiring enough qualified veterans to move the number is what most contractors struggle with — and that is the only part we do. Veteran-owned, nationwide, fee only on a hire.