In general, if you are required to file Form 941 Employer Quarterly Federal Employment Tax Return, you are expected to file it every quarter even if you don’t have payroll tax to report. It is a quarterly tax return filed at the end of every quarter. However, IRS has some exceptions. One exception is for seasonal employers.
If you are a seasonal employer and hire employees some parts of the year only, you could check box 18 on Form 941 every quarter you file Form 941 to let the IRS know you are not going to file that form for quarters you don’t have employees.
You can read more in the IRS instructions for 2023 Form 941 page 5.
Where to find Form 941?
On the IRS website, search Form 941 from their search bar.
irs.gov
Download Form 941 and IRS Instructions for Form 941.
You can also access the links to both forms from our blog page “Federal Tax Forms and Instructions Links” or here:
How do I fill out form 941 for 2023 Q3?
For any line that is 0, leave is blank except Line 1, 2, and 12. IRS Instructions for Form 941 page 7.
Enter your decimal numbers. Don’t round your numbers to whole dollar.
Form 941 Business information.
EIN: Enter your business EIN number (Business Identification Number).
Name: Enter your business legal name as entered on your EIN application form or on Form SS-4 Application for Employer Identification Number.
Trade name: If you have a DBA (Doing Business As) name, enter it here otherwise, leave it blank.
Address: Enter your business address.
Which quarter of 2023 are you filling for?
In the right table next to your business information, check the quarter your Form 941 is for. This example is for quarter 3. Therefore, if you are filling your quarter 3 return, check the box next to 3: July, August, and September.
If your business is a seasonal employer, you need to check the quarter you are filling for and you check box 18 as well to let IRS know you will not file form 941 every quarter.
Form 941 Part 1
Line 1 Number of employees who received wages: enter the number of employees your business paid wages to for the quarter you file for.
Line 2: Total Wages paid: It is the total gross payroll paid during the quarter.
Line 3 Federal income tax withheld: enter the federal income tax withheld from employees’ wages. If you don’t know how to estimate federal income tax, you can use the employee’s W-4 and IRS publication 15-T Federal Income Tax Withholding methods to estimate the federal income tax to withhold. You can use the “Wage Bracket Method for Manual Payroll Systems”. You locate the wage bracket the employee’s wage fits within and based in the employee’s marital status checked on W-4 step 1c, you correspond the wage bracket to that column and use the income tax under the sub column of standard withholding or the sub column of W4 Step 2 box checked.
Line 4 If no wages are subject to social security tax and Medicaid tax: check box 4. Skip line 5s and go to line 6. If you withheld employment taxes, leave line 4 blank, and go to line 5.
Line 5a Taxable social security wages: enter the total wages subject to social security tax in column 1. In Line 5a column 2 enter the total of employees’ social security withheld from employees’ wages and the employer portion of the social security tax. That is 12.4% for both employee and employer portions. You can multiply Line 5a column 1 by 0.124 and enter the result in line 5a column 2 and compare it to your payroll spreadsheet for accuracy.
If an employee wage exceeds $160,200, you do not withhold social security tax and your business doesn’t pay social security tax on wages that exceed that threshold for that employee. But you will continue to withhold Medicare tax and federal income tax. IRS Instructions for Form 941 for 2023 page 10.
If you paid sick leave and family leave, check IRS instructions for Form 941 for 2023 page 10 for more information. If you didn’t pay sick leave or family leave and your employees didn’t have tips, leave these lines blank. Employees and the employer pay social security tax on tips.
Line 5c column 1: Enter total taxable Medicare wages and tips. You withhold 1.45% from employees’ wages and the business pays 1.45% for a total of 2.9% (employee and employer portions combined) up to $200,000 wages by employee. Once an employee wage exceeds $200,000, in addition to 1.45% Medicare tax you withhold from that employee wage, you withhold an additional 0.9%. Your business only pays 1.45% even if the wage exceeds $200,000 for the employee. IRS Instructions for Form 941 for 2023 page 12.
Line 5c column 2: Multiple column 1 by 0.029 and enter the result in column 2.
Line 5d: If no employees’ wages exceed $200,000, leave Line 5d blank. But if you withheld additional Medicare tax, enter the salary that is subject to that additional Medicare tax in column 1 and the tax in column 2.
If you know you or any officer will make more than $200,000 a year in your business, you should track the wages paid to each employee and the cumulative income by employee to know when the $200K threshold is reached and start withholding additional Medicare tax from that employee’s salary.
Similarly, when the Social Security Taxable income threshold is reached for an employee or an officer, you will be able to stop withholding Social Security Tax on that employee’s wages and your business will stop paying that tax on that employee’s wage as well.
Line 5e: total social security tax and Medicare tax in column 2 and enter the amount here.
Line 6 total taxes before adjustments: Total Line 3 Federal income tax withheld from employees’ wages and line 5e total social security and Medicare taxes. Enter the amount on this line.
Line 7 quarterly adjustments for fractions of cents: If you have adjustment to make because there is a difference between the amount withheld from employees’ wages and the amount calculated on Form 941 due to rounding enter the adjustment here to reconcile both. Otherwise, leave it blank. Some adjustments might be negative amounts, and some might be positive.
Line 8 quarterly adjustment for sick pay: leave it blank if it is not related to your business.
Line 9 quarterly adjustments for tips and insurance: leave it blank if not applicable.
Line 10 Total taxes after adjustments: total line 6 total taxes before adjustment and adjustment made on line 7, line 8, and line 9.
Line 11a and Line 11b: leave them blank if not applicable. If your business qualified for a credit, read more about additional forms and worksheets to complete, and calculate the refundable credit and the nonrefundable portion of the credits. IRS Instructions for Form 941 for 2023 page 13.
Form 941 Part 1 Page 2
Name and EIN: enter your business legal name and EIN on the top of Form 941 page 2.
Line 11d: Nonrefundable credit: Leave it blank.
Line 11g: Total nonrefundable credits: leave it blank if the total is $0.
Line 12 Total taxes after adjustments and nonrefundable credits: Subtract Line 11g nonrefundable credit from total tax after adjustment line 10. If the result is $0, enter 0.
Line 13a: Enter the total amount deposited for the quarter you are filling for or any overpayment you want to use for this quarter. If you didn’t make any deposit, leave it blank.
Line 13b to Line 13f Refundable credits: leave them blank if not applicable.
Line 13g: Total deposits and refundable credits: Total all the amount deposited Line 13a and refundable credit Lines and enter the total on this line. If it is $0, leave it blank.
Line 14: Balance due: Compare both line 12 total tax liability for this quarter and line 13g total deposits and refundable credits. If line 12 is more than line 13g, you owe payroll tax. Enter the difference between Line 12 and Line 13g here.
Line 15 overpayment: If line 13g is more than line 12, you have a refund to claim. Enter the result between Line 13g and Line 12 here. Check the box to receive the refund or to be put toward a future tax liability.
Form 941 Part 2 Your deposit schedule.
Line 16: If Line 12 total tax is less than $2,500, check the 1st box and go to Line 17.
If Line 12 total tax is $2,500 or more, you will need to specify whether you chose monthly deposit schedule for the year or semiweekly deposit schedule.
If you choose monthly deposit, check the 2nd box of line 16. Then enter your monthly tax liability for every month of the quarter. The total quarter liability should match Line 12.
If you need a payroll spreadsheet to track your payroll, you can download one for free from our website under free download.
If you have semiweekly deposit schedule, you need to complete Schedule B Form 941 and attach it to your form 941. Schedule B Form 941 has lines or boxes for you to enter daily tax liability for every month of the quarter. If you are a semiweekly schedule depositor, you might design your payroll workbook to track your payroll daily.
The link for Schedule B (Form 941) can be found on our page “Federal Tax Forms and Instructions Links” or here:
How to choose your payroll tax deposit schedule?
If your business is new this year, you can choose a monthly deposit schedule.
If on any day of the year you incur $100,000 tax liability, you deposit it the next day and switch to semiweekly deposit schedule for the rest of the year.
If your business is not new, look back to your form 941 filed between July 1st, 2021, to June 30, 2022. If the quarterly Form 941 during that time frame line 12s total to less than $50,000, you choose monthly deposit schedule. If they total to more than $50,000, you choose semiweekly deposit schedule.
If in 2021 or 2022 you file Form 944 Employer Annual Federal Employment Tax Return, you look back at Form 944 for 2021 Line 9 total tax after adjustments and nonrefundable credits. If the total tax liability is less than $50,000, you choose a monthly deposit schedule. If it is more than $50,000, you choose a semiweekly deposit schedule.
Form 941 Part 3 Page 3
Name and EIN: enter your business legal name and EIN on the top of Form 941 page 3.
Line 17: If your business is not closed, leave that line blank.
Line 18: If your business is not a seasonal employer, leave it blank.
Line 19 to Line 28: If they are not related to your business, leave them blank.
Form 941 Part 4 Page 3
You can check “No” if you want IRS to contact you in case, they have a question.
Form 941 Part 5 Page 3
Who must sign Form 941?
If you are the sole proprietor, you the owner of the business will sign.
If the business is LLC taxed as a S corporation, the president, vice president, or any officer can sign.
If your business is an LLC that files Form 1065 partnership tax return, any member of the business that is acknowledgeable of the business activities can sign.
You read more in the IRS instructions form 941 for 2023 page 20.
Type your name and your title.
After you print Form 941, you sign and date. Then you make a copy of the return for your business record.
Paid preparers use only.
Leave the paid preparer use only section blank if you are filling form 941 for your own business.
Form 941-V Payment voucher.
You only complete Form 941-V if you want to add payment to Form 941.
If line 12 of Form 941 is $2,500 or more, you are required to make a deposit of your tax liability.
If line 12 total tax is less than $2,500, you can make deposit of the amount, or you can make payment with form 941. In that case you complete Form 941-V.
You write a check as instructed on the Form 941-V page.
If you have no employee or didn’t pay any wages, and your Form 941 line 12 is $0, do not complete form 941-V.
Review your return and print it out. Sign and date.
Make a copy of the return for your business record.
How to assemble your form 941?
Staple your first 3 pages of Form 941.
Add form 941-V if completed but don’t attach it to Form 941.
Write the check as instructed in the Form 941-V Instructions under the Form 941.
Enclosed in an envelope are the following: form 941, form 941-V, and the check.
Mail to IRS.
Where to mail Form 941 with payment for 2023?
On the IRS instructions for form 941 for 2023 page 7, locate your state in the address table.
The address in the column “with payment” that corresponds to the row your state is, is the address to mail your Form 941, Form 941-V, and the check payment for 2023.
Mail your return via USPS certified mail and keep the receipt and tracking number with your business copy of the tax return.
Where to mail Form 941 without payment for 2023?
On the IRS instructions for form 941 for 2023 page 7, locate your state in the address table.
The address in the column “without payment” that corresponds to the row your state is, is the address to mail your Form 941 for 2023.
Mail your return via USPS certified mail and keep the receipt and tracking number with your business copy of the tax return.
When is Form 941 due?
The 3rd quarter Form 941 is due by October 31 and includes July, August, and September payroll tax reports.
Track your payroll.
When you start paying wages and would like to track your payroll manually, you could design a payroll spreadsheet in a layout that will help you gather your payroll to file Form 941, Form 940 FUTA tax, and W2/W3 with SSA. If you do not have time to design your own, you can download a payroll spreadsheet for free from our blog under “Free Download”. There are few to choose from but the “Free Payroll Spreadsheet-Form 940-B22F2” could be a good one to give it a try. We have a video and an article on how to use it.
Conclusion: How to fill out Form 941 for 2023 Q3 Employer Quarterly Federal Employment Tax Return
The video explains step by step how to fill out IRS Form 941 for the third quarter of 2023.
Federal Tax Forms and Instructions Links: https://ninasoap.com/federal-tax-forms-and-instructions/federal-tax-forms-and-instructions-links/
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