Indiana business insurance requirements

Indiana requires workers' compensation from the first employee, with no small-employer threshold, and it runs its own rating bureau instead of NCCI. Owners are mostly out unless they choose to be in, and construction subcontractors who skip coverage have to carry a state certificate of exemption instead. There is no state disability or paid leave program, auto minimums are 25/50/25, and Indiana's modified comparative fault rule bars a plaintiff who is more at fault than everyone else combined.

Workers' compensation requirements

Every employer bound by the Act must insure its comp liability with an authorized carrier or qualify with the Worker's Compensation Board to carry the risk itself (IC 22-3-2-5 and 22-3-5-1). There is no minimum headcount: one employee is enough. An odd carve-out in 22-3-2-5 excuses banks, trust companies and building and loan associations from the insurance requirement, although they remain liable for benefits.

The exclusions run two ways. Under 22-3-2-9, the Act does not apply to casual laborers, farm or agricultural employees, or household employees, though those employers may accept it voluntarily. Under 22-3-6-1, owners are handled by election. Sole proprietors, partners and LLC members or managers are not employees unless they elect in by written notice to their carrier and the Board. Corporate executive officers are employees by default but may elect out the same way, and the exclusion is not effective until both the carrier and the Board receive the notice. Licensed real estate agents paid on sales volume under a written non-employee agreement are not employees. See can owners and officers exclude themselves from workers' comp?.

Indiana's construction rules turn on paperwork. A sole proprietor or partner in the construction trades who does not elect coverage must get a certificate of exemption: the contractor files a statement with the Department of State Revenue, gets clearance, and files the stamped certificate with the Board for a $20 fee (IC 22-3-2-14.5). A business that hires that contractor must collect a copy, and its own carrier must accept the stamped certificate like a certificate of insurance. Going the other way, IC 22-3-2-14 makes anyone who contracts for work worth more than $1,000 without getting the contractor's compliance certificate from the Board liable to the same extent as the contractor for its employees' injuries. Expect your premium audit to charge for any uninsured sub who cannot produce one; see premium audits: how they work and how to prepare.

On penalties, the Board collects civil penalties online from employers found out of compliance with the duty to carry coverage (WCB), and late injury reports or a missing coverage notice draw civil penalties of up to $50, $150 and $300 for first, second and later violations under IC 22-3-4-15. If the Board asks an employer for current proof of coverage and gets none within 10 days, it sends a violation notice and may assess $100 a day from the date of the request until the employer complies, waived if proof arrives within 20 days of the notice (IC 22-3-5-2.5). We could not confirm a criminal classification for operating uninsured from the official code, so ask the Board's compliance division (317-232-5922) before relying on a figure from a secondary source.

Indiana is not an NCCI rating state. The Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau, an association of all insurers licensed to write comp in the state, files advisory rates and loss costs and produces experience mods. The Department approved its January 1, 2026 filing with a 6.1% decrease in loss costs, 5.8% in advisory rates and 5.8% in assigned risk rates (ICRB Circular 2025-08). There is no state fund. Employers the voluntary market declines apply to the Indiana Workers Compensation Insurance Plan, set up under IC 27-7-2-28.1; the ICRB reviews each application and designates a servicing carrier (ICRB). See assigned risk and residual markets for workers' comp and workers' compensation insurance: how it works.

Disability and paid leave mandates

Indiana has no state temporary disability insurance program and no state paid family or medical leave program as of 2026. Any short-term disability benefit is voluntary; see group short- and long-term disability insurance for employers. Federal FMLA applies at 50 employees, and employers with staff in mandate states should check state disability and paid family leave programs: every mandate in 2026.

Commercial auto requirements

Indiana's financial responsibility minimums are $25,000 for bodily injury to one person, $50,000 for two or more in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage, the last raised from $10,000 on July 1, 2018 (IC 9-25-4-5). They apply to a company van the same as a family car. A contractor's crew truck that causes a multi-car crash on I-65 will exhaust $50,000 quickly, so most commercial accounts carry a $1 million combined single limit. Interstate for-hire carriers of general freight need at least $750,000 under 49 CFR 387.9; see FMCSA insurance requirements and filings for motor carriers and commercial auto insurance: what it covers and what it leaves out.

The business insurance market in Indiana

One Indiana-specific coverage is worth knowing. The Indiana Mine Subsidence Insurance Fund, created by the legislature, covers collapse of underground coal mines in 26 southwestern counties along the Illinois Coal Basin. Standard property policies do not cover it, so it is added to a policy with basic fire coverage, through your agent, and it is open to commercial property owners in those counties. Limits run up to $500,000 per structure, the deductible is 2% (minimum $250, maximum $500), and contents are not covered (IDOI). A building worth more than $500,000 needs the gap addressed another way.

Surplus lines producers collect a 2.5% tax on gross premiums from insureds whose home state is Indiana and remit it to the Department by February 1 for the prior year; the declarations page must itemize taxes and fees (IC 27-1-15.8-4). See surplus lines taxes, stamping fees and diligent search.

Liability law that affects premiums

Indiana's Comparative Fault Act bars a claimant "if the claimant's contributory fault is greater than the fault of all persons whose fault proximately contributed to the claimant's damages" (IC 34-51-2-6). At 50% the claimant still recovers half; at 51% nothing.

Construction and design contracts cannot make a party indemnify the promisee for the promisee's sole negligence or willful misconduct, highway contracts excepted (IC 26-2-5-1). Indemnity for shared fault remains enforceable, which is why Indiana subcontracts still lean on additional insured endorsements explained.

Filing deadlines: two years for injury to the person or to personal property (34-11-2-4); six years for injury to real property (34-11-2-7); 10 years for written contracts other than for the payment of money (34-11-2-11) and six years for written contracts for the payment of money (34-11-2-9).

Insurers based in Indiana

Brotherhood Mutual is headquartered in Fort Wayne. It specializes in churches and other ministries, and its 2025 commercial lines direct premiums written were $918.8 million, based on NAIC 2025 market share data.

Where to get help

• Indiana Department of Insurance (in.gov/idoi): Consumer Services 800-622-4461 or 317-232-2395. Complaints must be in writing; the online portal is preferred, and insurers have 20 business days to respond. The Department does not handle workers' comp claim disputes.
• Worker's Compensation Board of Indiana (in.gov/wcb): 317-232-3811. Coverage verification, compliance certificates, independent contractor exemptions and disputed claims.
• Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau (icrb.net): class codes, experience mods and assigned risk applications.

Confirm your obligations with the Board or a licensed agent, and compare states with the workers' comp and benefits requirements by state.