Form 941 Instructions and Tax Reporting Pointers

What You Need to Know About Form 941

Form 941 Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return is used to report an employer's quarterly payroll tax liabilities and payments, including:

• Wages paid by the employer
• Employee reported tips
• Federal income tax withheld by employer
• Employer and employee share of Social Security and Medicare taxes
• Additional Medicare tax withheld from employees
• Current quarter adjustments to Social Security and Medicare taxes for fractions of cents, sick pay, tips, and group-term life insurance
• Qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing research activities

Applicable businesses: Employers who pay wages subject to federal income tax withholding or Social Security and Medicare taxes need to file Form 941.

When to file: File your initial Form 941 for the quarter in which you first paid wages that are subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes or subject to federal income tax withholding. After you file your first Form 941, you must file a return for each quarter, every 3 months, even if you have no taxes to report, unless you filed a final return or meet the conditions to be eligible for an IRS exception.

Form 941 is due by the last day of the month that follows the end of the quarter. If you made timely deposits in full payment of your taxes for the quarter, you may file by the 10th day of the 2nd month that follows the end of the quarter. Many states and some cities have an Employer's Tax Return filing requirement that is separate from any federal filing requirement.

All of the following may NOT be reported on Form 941:

• Don't use Form 941 to report backup withholding or income tax withholding on non-payroll payments such as pensions, annuities, and gambling winnings. Report these types of withholding on Form 945, Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax.
• Don't use Form 941 to report unemployment taxes. Report unemployment taxes on Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return.
• Employers of household employees don't usually file Form 941. See Pub. 926 and Schedule H (Form 1040) for more information.
• Don't use Form 941 for wages paid for agricultural labor to farm employees. See Form 943 and Pub. 15 for more information.