Report and submit your federal payroll taxes with IRS Form 941, if you are a small business with paid employees.
See what this form is used for and when you should submit your 941s.
Form 941 is used to report to the IRS:
- number of employees
- total wages paid during the quarter
- withholdings and total payroll taxes paid during the quarter (Federal income tax and Social Security payroll tax – FICA)
See this page to calculate federal payroll taxes.
Note: This quarterly form must be filed by all employers subject to income tax withholding,Social Security and Medicare (FICA)taxes, or both, (unless otherwise instructed by the IRS) that pay wages even if no tax was withheld.
You must submit a Form 941 Employers Quarterly report to the IRS according to the following schedule:
- First quarter ends March 31…report due April 30
- Second quarter ends June 30…report due July 31
- Third quarter ends Sept 30…report due Oct 31
- Fourth quarter ends Dec 31…report due Jan 31
Preparing Form 941:
Form 941 may be filed electronically or mailed. If you are using an accounting software package, see if there is an efile option.
Instructions for manually completing and mailing the 941:
- Summarize all your payroll information for the entire quarter.
- Enter payroll information gathered into the Form 941.
- Sign the Form 941.
- Make a copy of it before you mail it to the IRS.
- Mail in the preprinted envelope the IRS provided with your Form 941 package. Or if you don’t have a preprinted envelope, look up the mailing address you need to send to on page 4 of the Form 941 instructions booklet.
Notice there are different address for different states and if you are sending a payment in or not.
You can also submit your 941 electronically. See this IRS page for details: Efile Forms 940, 941, …
*Important: Most states have their own state payroll taxes form due in the same month as the form 941. Oklahoma’s form is aWTH 10001 (Oklahoma Wage Withholding Tax Return) and is due by the 20th of the month following the close of the quarter (April 20, July 20, Oct. 20, and Jan. 20).
Note: All withheld taxes must now be paid to the IRS electronically, using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS.gov).
Some smaller businesses can still pay their payroll tax quarterly; however, most businesses must pay their payroll taxes by the 15th day of each month. How often you must electronically pay your payroll taxes depends on whether your payroll tax liability is determined to be small, medium, or large by the IRS.
Your tax liability is considered small if, for the entire quarter, your tax liability is less than $2,500.
Your tax liability is considered large if for the previous two years, the average payroll tax liability is more than $50,000 per year.
If your tax liability is more than $2,500 per quarter and less than $50,000 per year, you fall into the medium category.
See section 11 of Pub 15 (Circular E) for information and rules about federal tax deposits.
Remember the IRS is very strict with their due dates and can charge your small business some hefty penalties for late payments!