Form 941, the Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, is how most employers report each quarter’s wages, federal income tax withheld, and both shares of Social Security and Medicare tax. Its job is to make the quarter’s tax liability match the deposits already made.
| Part | What goes in it | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Wages, tips and other compensation | Total pay for the quarter | Pay dates, not work dates, decide the quarter |
| Federal income tax withheld | From employees’ pay | Must match payroll registers |
| Social Security and Medicare | Taxable wages and both shares of tax | Social Security stops at the yearly wage base |
| Deposits | What was already paid during the quarter | The balance due should be small or zero |
See employer payroll taxes for the rates, Form 940 for federal unemployment tax, and the payroll year end checklist for matching 941s to W-2s.
EZTime digital HR forms let you send, sign and file employee documents online.
A small HVAC company with 12 employees pays $150,000 in wages in the first quarter of 2027. No one is near the Social Security wage base. It withheld $15,000 of federal income tax.
Social Security tax, employee and employer shares together, is 12.4% of $150,000 = $18,600. Medicare, both shares, is 2.9% of $150,000 = $4,350. The total liability for the quarter is $15,000 + $18,600 + $4,350 = $37,950.
The company deposited $37,950 during the quarter on its monthly schedule, every deposit on time. Its Form 941 is due Friday, April 30, 2027, but because all deposits were made on time and in full, it may file by Monday, May 10. The payroll person checks that the wages on the return match the payroll register before filing, because a mismatch now becomes a W-2 problem in January.
How often an employer deposits the taxes reported on Form 941 depends on its lookback period, the four quarters from July 1 two years ago to June 30 of last year. If the total tax reported in that period was $50,000 or less, the employer is a monthly depositor; if it was more, a semiweekly depositor. For 2027, the lookback period is July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
Semiweekly depositors also file Schedule B with Form 941, which shows the tax liability for each payday. And any employer that builds up $100,000 or more of tax liability on any day must deposit it by the next business day, whatever its usual schedule.
The HVAC company reports about $37,950 a quarter. Its total for the lookback period is more than $50,000, so it must make semiweekly deposits, not monthly ones.
Its payroll provider sets the deposit schedule to semiweekly and files Schedule B with each Form 941. Payroll checks each quarter that the deposits on Schedule B add up to the quarter’s total liability on the return, so the two never disagree.
By the last day of the month after the quarter ends: April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31. If all deposits were on time and in full, by the 10th day of the second month after the quarter.
Form 941 is quarterly and covers income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare. Form 940 is yearly and covers federal unemployment tax.
Most employers that pay wages subject to income tax withholding, Social Security or Medicare, unless the IRS has told them to file Form 944 instead.
No. Most of the tax is paid through deposits during the quarter. Form 941 reports the liability and the deposits.
The four quarters from July 1 two years before to June 30 of the prior year. For 2027, it runs from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
A report of tax liability for each payday, filed with Form 941 by semiweekly depositors.
EZTime turns clock-ins and approved corrections into signed monthly reports you can export to PDF or Excel for payroll.