Overview
If your child has been hired to work on a production that uses Wrapbook, you'll need to complete their Wrapbook account information and onboarding on their behalf. This article walks you through what to prepare and how to set things up correctly — so your child can get paid without delays.
Each child must have their own separate Wrapbook account. Even if you're onboarding multiple children to the same project, each one needs their own unique email address and their own tax information.
Before You Begin: What You'll Need
Have the following ready for each child before you start:
A unique email address that belongs to that child's Wrapbook account (see note below)
The child's legal name as it appears on their Social Security card
The child's Social Security Number (SSN) — not a parent's or guardian's
The child's date of birth
A Coogan account (if required in your state — see more below)
Your information as the parent or legal guardian
Important note: Every child must have their own unique email address in Wrapbook. You cannot use the same email address for more than one account. If you have multiple children being onboarded, each child needs a separate email — for example, child1@email.com and child2@email.com. Using your own email address for multiple children will cause account conflicts, payment delays, and higher tax deductions to be withheld from payment.
Step-by-Step: Onboarding Your Child to Wrapbook
Open the project invitation sent to your child's unique email address by the production company
If the invitation is sent to your personal email address, contact the production and ask them to resend it to your child’s email address
Follow the prompts for Wrapbook onboarding using that child's unique email address
Enter the child's legal name and date of birth when prompted
Enter the child's SSN in the tax information fields — not your own. Wrapbook uses this to generate your child's tax documents, including their W-2 at year end.
Enter your information as the parent or legal guardian where prompted
Add the child's Coogan account as their payment method, if required in your state
Review all information for accuracy, then submit
Note: Each step of this process must be completed separately for each child. There is no way to link or copy one child's account information to another.
Tax Information: Use Your Child's SSN, Not Yours
This is one of the most common mistakes during minor onboarding. Wrapbook requires each worker's own Social Security Number and tax information to ensure accurate IRS reporting.
Using a parent's SSN or tax information will cause your child's W-2 to be generated incorrectly, and may result in tax reporting errors that are difficult to correct after the fact.
If you're unsure whose information to use at any point during onboarding, use your child's information — not yours.
Coogan Accounts and Payment Setup
If your child is working in California, New York, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Illinois, a Coogan account is legally required. Wrapbook cannot release payments to minors in these states without a valid Coogan account on file.
For full details on what a Coogan account is, which states require one, and how to add it to Wrapbook, see our related article: Coogan accounts
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Using one email address for multiple children. Each child must have their own unique email address. Sharing an email across accounts will prevent onboarding from completing correctly.
Using a parent's SSN instead of the child's. Wrapbook requires the child's own SSN for payroll and tax reporting. Using your SSN will result in incorrect W-2s and IRS reporting issues.
Skipping the Coogan account setup. If your child is working in a state that requires a Coogan account, you must add it to Wrapbook before payments can be released. Don't wait until after the job wraps to set this up.
Using the parent's name in the child's account. The account should reflect the child's legal name as it appears on their Social Security card — not the parent's name.