IRS Form 941 2011, 2012

The IRS Form 941 is also known as the “Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return”. All employers are required to withhold federal taxes from their employees’ compensation, including Social Security tax, income tax, and Medicare tax.

The payments that are made by the employers are credited to the tax liabilities of the employees, and they are reported on the W-2 tax form, which is issued annually. Furthermore, employers also have to pay their portions of Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes that are not withheld from their employees. The Form 941 is the form that is used for reporting and paying all these taxes to the IRS.

All employers who are withholding taxes from their employees are legally required to complete a form 941. The information that must be provided in the form includes all the wages that are paid to employees; amounts of income taxes withheld from employees; employers and employees’ share of Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes; payments of advanced earned income credit, or EIC; adjustments to Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes for sick pay, tips, term-life insurance, and fractions of cents; and COBRA premium assistance credit.

The Form 941 is not meant for reporting backup withholding and non-payroll income tax withholding payments, such as annuities, pensions, and gambling winnings. These payments have to be reported in the annual Form 945.

There are a number of situations that exempt employers from having to submit Form 941. Firstly, if they are hiring seasonal employees, they are not required to file Form 941. If they do not pay wages in certain quarters, they do not have any tax liability, and therefore, there is no need to file. However, the next time they file Form 941, they have to report to the IRS that they were exempt from filing in those quarters. Those who have household employees are mostly exempt from filing Form 941, but they have to provide information about their employees in Schedule H of Form 1040. Additionally, employers of farm workers are not required to complete Form 941. Instead, they have to provide a report in Form 943.

Being a quarterly report, Form 941 has to be filed once every three months. Employers are required to submit their forms by the final day of the month that follows the end of a quarter. Since the end of the first quarter is the 31st of March, they have to file by the 30th of April. Due dates for the remaining quarters are the 31st of July, 31st of October, and the 31st of January. Those who manage to make payments of taxes owed promptly will receive a 10-day extension for submitting their forms.

Completing Form 941 can be a daunting and confusing task, and many employers have to leave the job in the hands of professional tax preparers.

Instead of spending so much money to hire a professional, you should consider the QuickBooks online payroll service. Their program will help you with your quarterly & year-end tax filings and guarantee accurate tax calculations.