VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Veterans' Employment Report
VETS-4212 is an annual report that federal contractors and subcontractors must file, showing how many protected veterans they employ and hired, broken down by job category and hiring location. The filing window runs 1 August to 30 September every year.
There is no employee-count threshold. Coverage is determined entirely by contract value - which is where the confusion starts.
Who has to file?
Any contractor or subcontractor holding a single federal contract or subcontract of $200,000 or more.
No minimum employee count. A ten-person firm with a qualifying contract files. A ten-thousand-person firm without one does not.
The threshold confusion - and what the number actually is
If you look this up, you will find three different figures, all on official sources, all live right now:
| Source | Says |
|---|---|
| The agency's program page | $200,000 |
| Federal Acquisition Regulation | $200,000 |
| The jurisdictional thresholds page | $200,000 |
| The current filing form itself (PDF) | $150,000 |
| The federal contractor program fact sheet | $150,000 |
| The regulation as codified | $100,000 |
The operative figure is $200,000. The threshold was raised from $150,000 during 2025 as part of a periodic inflation review of acquisition thresholds. The $100,000 in the codified regulation is the original unadjusted statutory figure. The $150,000 appearing on the form and the fact sheet is simply stale text that hasn't been updated.
If you are determining coverage, do not use the form PDF as your source for the threshold. It is the most natural place to look and it is wrong.
When is it due?
1 August to 30 September, annually. The 2026 window is open now and closes 30 September 2026.
Two things worth knowing:
- No extensions. The window is fixed.
- No reminders. The agency does not notify filers that the platform has opened or that the deadline is approaching. Tracking the date is entirely on you.
What data does the report require?
Four protected veteran categories, aggregated into a single protected-veteran count on the form:
- Disabled veterans
- Recently separated veterans - within three years of discharge
- Active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans
- Armed Forces service medal veterans
Ten job categories: executive or senior level officials and managers; first or mid-level officials and managers; professionals; technicians; sales workers; administrative support workers; craft workers; operatives; laborers and helpers; service workers.
Four count columns:
| Column | What it captures |
|---|---|
| A | Protected veterans among employees |
| B | Total employees |
| C | Protected veterans among new hires |
| D | Total new hires |
Plus the maximum and minimum number of permanent employees during the period covered.
Employee counts are broken out by job category. The hiring breakdown does not need to be split by occupational category.
What counts as an employee, and what counts as a new hire?
An employee is anyone on your payroll for Social Security tax purposes - including part-time and leased employees. Casual laborers and temporary workers supplied through referral arrangements are excluded.
A new hire is someone hired and placed on payroll for the first time during the 12-month reporting period.
What's the reporting period?
You choose an ending date between 1 July and 31 August of the current year that coincides with the end of a payroll period. The preceding twelve months is your new-hire window.
If you have written approval to use 31 December for your federal demographic reporting, you may use 31 December here instead.
This is a different clock from every other workforce filing you run, most of which use an October-to-December snapshot. Unless you have that approval, the veterans data comes off a separate cycle, and the two populations will not reconcile to each other.
How is it filed?
Through the agency's online reporting application. Batch upload is available for filers with ten or more hiring locations, and paper submission by email or mail is still accepted.
Reporting is by hiring location, with a consolidated path available for employers operating across many states.
One practical warning: the batch upload path has failed during a recent filing cycle, and no extension was granted. If you're a batch filer, don't leave it to the final week.
What happens if you don't file?
There's no published flat fine, but the consequences are real and they're procurement-side.
Every federal offer you submit contains a representation that, if you're subject to this reporting requirement, you have filed the most recent report required. A contractor that hasn't filed cannot truthfully make that representation - which puts award eligibility and false-claims exposure in play.
The report is also checked during compliance evaluations.
And filings are now public. Employer names and filing information have been published on an open data portal covering recent cycles. Non-filing is externally checkable by anyone - including competitors and contracting officers.
Where teams actually lose time
A separate reporting clock. The July-to-August period end doesn't align with the Q4 snapshot used elsewhere, so this is a standalone data pull.
Maximum and minimum permanent employee counts across a twelve-month window. Most HR systems produce point-in-time headcount, not period minimum and maximum. This usually means either a monthly history table or a reconstruction from payroll records.
Veteran status depends on voluntary self-identification. Declining self-ID rates degrade the accuracy of columns A and C, and there is no alternative source.
Hiring-location granularity. Reporting is by hiring location, not legal entity or cost centre - a mapping most HR systems don't hold cleanly.
Job category mapping. The same ten-category reconciliation used in other federal workforce reporting. Worth noting: if other federal demographic reporting requirements are reduced or eliminated, the internal job-category crosswalk that was maintained for those filings may stop being maintained - while this report still needs it.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a minimum number of employees?
No. Coverage depends only on contract value.
What is the current contract threshold?
$200,000. Note that the filing form and the program fact sheet still show $150,000 - those are out of date.
When is the deadline?
30 September, every year. The window opens 1 August.
Can we get an extension?
No.
Will we get a reminder?
No. The agency does not send platform-opening or deadline notifications.
What period does the data cover?
Twelve months ending on a date you select between 1 July and 31 August that coincides with the end of a payroll period.
Do subcontractors file?
Yes, if they hold a qualifying subcontract at or above the threshold.
Are filings public?
Yes. Employer names and filing information for recent cycles are published on an open data portal.
What if we miss the window entirely?
You cannot truthfully make the required representation in federal offers until you've filed the most recent required report, which affects award eligibility.
This guide is general information about reporting requirements, not legal advice. Verify current deadlines, thresholds and penalty amounts against the issuing agency before you file.