But, still no answer to my question. So, I went to Texas law. And, here’s what I’ve found, under Section 201 of the Texas Labor Code: “In this subtitle, ‘employer’ means an employing unit that: 1) paid wages of $1,500 or more during a calendar quarter in the current or preceding calendar year: or 2) employed at least one individual in employment for a portion of at least one day during 20 or more different calendar weeks of the current or preceding calendar year.”

Whew. That’s still a bit to chew on, but I think it is worded more clearly than question 17 on that form. So, what I read into this is that, if you recently became an employer and haven’t employed anyone for 20 weeks yet, then there is no date to enter.

I’m not a lawyer, so my opinion doesn’t count for much, but given that the state is most likely going to subtract 20 weeks from the date you give, I’d assume you should write the correct year (the “calendar year” qualification doens’t seem very useful).