Form 941: What to know

cody_a · ‎April 20, 2023

Hi, QuickBooks Community! The deadlines for filing payroll taxes are fast approaching. So I’m here today to talk to you about Form 941, the Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return. If you paid wages subject to employment taxes with the IRS for each quarter by the last day of the month that follows the end of the quarter, you’ll need to file this form. Employers use Form 941 to report income taxes, Social Security tax, or Medicare tax withheld from employee's paychecks. They also use this form to pay the employer's portion of Social Security or Medicare tax.

The April 30th due date is coming up, so it’s important to know what steps of the process Intuit does for you when it comes to filing.

When using QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, or Elite, QuickBooks will automatically handle your payroll taxes unless you choose to disable this feature. You can verify that automatic filing is enabled or disabled by going to your account settings and choosing the Payroll settings tab, and checking the “Automate Texas and Forms” checkbox. QuickBooks Desktop Assisted Payroll also defaults to automatic filing, but QuickBooks Desktop Enhanced Payroll does require that you handle your filing manually.

Automatic and manual filing

So, aside from the 941 Form, what other taxes are taken care of automatically?

Once your payroll is setup, the filing process is automatic for federal, state and local payroll taxes. The one exception to this being that local taxes aren't automated in QuickBooks Online Payroll Core. Learning about the available options for upgrading your payroll service from the Core subscription could be valuable if automatic local tax handling is a significant feature for you.

To those of you who prefer the manual filing system, don’t worry, you won’t be left behind. You will also receive timely reminders and to-do events in your account. These notifications will guide you through the process of filing and paying your quarterly taxes step by step.

If a tax payment or form filing is done via the IRS or States website instead of QuickBooks, you can still save it for reference. To register the payment on QuickBooks, navigate to → Taxes, Payroll Tax, and identify the payment notice under Payments, then label it as Paid. However, to know the status of the external electronic payment or form filing, you’ll need to check the IRS or states website directly.

Although turning on automatic payments can simplify the process, QuickBooks ensures that manual filing remains easy and efficient. It's worth noting that with the exception of January, you can withdraw from automatic filing process whenever you like.

Confirming the amount of your filing

To confirm the tax payment amount that QuickBooks shows is due, you can reference the Payroll Details Report, selecting your tax liability period as the date range. To access this report, follow these steps:

Select Reports, then scroll down to Payroll.
Select Payroll Details.
On the date range, select Custom.
Enter the dates to match your liability period.
After running the report, you can go through it to ensure all paychecks are there and verify tax amounts for both the employers and employees.

Checking the status of your filing

After the filing process is complete, you can check the status or retrieve the filed version of the form through the Payroll Tax Center. Usually, it takes a few days after the filing for the forms to be available. For instance, the forms should be accessible in the Payroll Tax Center by May 5th, for the April 30th deadline.

To check the status of e-filed forms, you can go to the Taxes section, then choose the Payroll Tax option. Here you should see Payments and be able to select Tax Payment History. From there you will see the status showing as one of four options. Not transmitted means that it has been submitted but not yet transmitted to the receiving agency. Transmitted means it has been passed on to the receiving agency, but they have yet to process the form. And after the transmission stage is complete, the status will change to either Accepted or Rejected, depending on the receiving agency’s response to the form.

Dates to be aware of

Ensuring that you’re stay informed about tax deadlines is crucial, even if your filings are automated. This helps guarantee the accuracy of your information and makes certain that your bank account has sufficient funds to pay your taxes. While the upcoming 941 filing deadline is the main focus of this article, you may be curious about other dates that payroll managers need to remember regarding tax filing deadlines.

Firstly, the 941 form has quarterly deadlines on April 30th, July 31st, October 31st, and January 31st of the next year. Additionally, there are annual forms such as Form 944, 940, W-2s, and W-3s that must be filed by January 31st of the following year. Finally, the Annual Reconciliation Report should be submitted by February 28th of the following year.

Make sure to have sufficient funds available for payroll tax payments when submitting them, as the IRS directly withdraws money from your bank account on the payment date. However, bear in mind that the processing times for state tax payments may vary from state to state. You may need to endorse e-payments at least two banking days before the payment date by 5 pm PT in most states, while other states require approval as early as three or five banking days before the payment date. Therefore, it’s recommended to contact your state for proper guidelines regarding payment planning.

Removing a tax payment

Now, let’s walk through the steps to remove tax payments. Normally, this isn’t required, but if the situation comes up where you have to delete a tax payment, there are certain considerations you’ll want to take into account. If the tax payment has been recorded manually or the electronic payment has not yet been processed, you can delete the payment. However, if the tax payment has already been processed electronically, or the form and payment were transmitted or accepted by the agency, or if there was insufficient funds and the payment was rejected - you will not be able to delete the payment.

In terms of timing, if you wish to cancel a Federal tax payment, you can do so two business days before the deadline, provided it is before 5 pm PST. However, it's important to note that states may have varying lead times for processing tax payments, with some taking up to five business days. If your state falls into this category, it would be necessary to cancel the payment five business days prior to the deadline (also before 5 pm PST).

If you handle your taxes manually, then you may be able to delete the payment yourself, but the steps will vary depending on the product you use. Any payments related to automatic filings will need to be handled by our team directly.

Rejected payments and tax notices

In conclusion, if your payment is rejected, or if you receive a tax notice, there’s no need to panic. For a payment rejection regarding a filing handled by Intuit, you’ll want to reach out to us so that we can take a look at what’s going on and help you get squared away with next steps.

If you receive a tax notice, you’ll want to first evaluate what kind of notice it is. Notices for other business taxes, such as sales tax, corporate income tax, and franchise tax, should be directed to your accountant or tax advisor. QuickBooks Payroll handles IRS forms 941, 944, 940, W-2, state unemployment insurance, state withholding tax, and local withholding taxes where applicable, so if the notice is regarding one of these forms and is related to the timeline in which Intuit has been handling your Payroll, then you’ll want to send us your tax notice. Once received and verified, we will provide the required proof of payment, filing, or correction on your behalf.

Well, that covers it today folks. I hope you found this guide on Form 941 helpful. I’ll see you around in the Community.

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