Federal Tax Reports

Previous Top Next


If you are not sure which apply to you, consult IRS Publication 15, and/or a local payroll tax expert.

 

Form 941

Filed quarterly (most employers).

Also prints the payment voucher, if there is a balance due.

Can be printed on plain paper and submitted in place of pre-printed forms.

Includes input and printing of preparer and other information.

Before this report is printed, you will have a chance to set/confirm the number of employees, the total deposits for the quarter, third party designee, paid preparer, and a few other bits of information.

S Corp 2% Shareholder Insurance

If using the Professional Edition, you can create zero wage forms, or fill in blank forms.

Part 2 of Form 941

The IRS is asking about your tax liabilities, not deposits.

When you made your deposits is not an issue in this section of Form 941.

From the IRS instructions: 'The amounts entered in Part 2 are a summary of your monthly tax liability, not a summary of deposits you made.'

If your liability for the CURRENT quarter is less than $2,500, the first box is checked.

If your liability for the current quarter is $2,500 or more, we ask (a yes/no message box) if you are a semiweekly depositor.

If you select no, you are indicating you are a monthly depositor - the second box is checked and the monthly and total liabilities are filled in.

If you select yes, you have indicated you are a semiweekly depositor, which causes the third box to be checked.

If you are a semiweekly depositor, make sure to also print Form 941B.

If you are a SEASONAL employer, remember to manually (with a pen) check the seasonal employer box.

This tells the IRS you may not send a 941 every quarter.

Refer to the IRS Form 941 instructions for more detail.

Form 941-B

Prints if needed, and should be filed with Form 941.

Can be printed on plain paper and submitted in place of pre-printed forms.

Prints the Form 941, Schedule B 'Record of Federal Tax Liability' on plain paper.

This report covers the quarter which includes the date in the period/month/quarter/year ending list.

If the figures on the report are too low - there is a missing check, or a check with an incorrect date.

If the figures on the report are too high - there is an extra check or a check dated with the wrong month.

 

Form 940

Filed once a year, in January.

Prints the payment voucher, if needed.

Can be printed on plain paper and submitted in place of pre-printed forms.

This report covers the tax year printed on the report no matter what report period you select.

Pay careful attention to the printed report to make sure you are submitting the correct year's form.

Before this report is printed, you will have a chance to enter/confirm the total FUTA deposits for the year, third party designee, and a few other bits of information.

To include the third party information, be sure to fill in both the designee name and PIN.

Medlin Payroll does not create Form 940 if you are a multi-state employer and/or have active employees who do not all use the same State Tax calculation.

 

Form 943

Filed once a year, in January.

Also prints Form 943-A and the payment voucher, if needed.

Can be printed on plain paper and submitted in place of pre-printed forms.

This report covers the tax year printed on the report no matter what report period you select.

Pay careful attention to the printed report to make sure you are submitting the correct year's form.

Before this report is printed, you will have a chance to enter/confirm the total deposits for the year, third party designee, and a few other bits of information.

To include the third party information, be sure to fill in both the designee name and PIN.

NOTE:  If you have some agricultural employees, and some who are not; you will need to treat them as different sets of data.

 

Form 944

Filed once a year, in January.

Also prints Form 945-A and the payment voucher, if needed.

Can be printed on plain paper and submitted in place of pre-printed forms.

This report covers the tax year printed on the report no matter what report period you select.

Pay careful attention to the printed report to make sure you are submitting the correct year's form.

Before this report is printed, you will have a chance to enter/confirm the total deposits for the year, third party designee, and a few other bits of information.

To include the third party information, be sure to fill in both the designee name and PIN.

 

NOTES

Calculating the employer portion of Social Security when the employee and employer calculations are different

To calculate the employer portion of Social Security, we first look at the amount actually withheld on the employee paychecks (in case the amount was manually edited/entered).

We divide the employee amount by the employee percent, which gives us a 'taxable' amount to base the employer contribution on.

We then multiple the 'taxable' amount by the employer percentage to get the employer contribution.

We cannot base the employer Social Security on the gross pay, because we do allow you to edit the Social Security amount on the paychecks (although you should not).

Calculating the employer portion of Medicare when the employee and employer calculations are different

To calculate the employer portion of Medicare, we use the proper calculation, whether or not the employee amount was correctly entered.