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What Are Quarterly Payroll Taxes?
Quarterly payroll taxes are the federal employment taxes an employer reports on Form 941 four times a year, covering withheld income tax plus both halves of Social Security and Medicare. The return is quarterly. The deposits usually aren't. Once your payroll passes a fairly low threshold, you have to deposit the money monthly or semiweekly, well before the return is filed.
That distinction is worth getting right, because waiting until the filing deadline to pay is fine for some employers and a penalty for others, and the line between them isn't obvious.
Key Takeaways from this Article
- Form 941 is filed quarterly, but deposits are due monthly or semiweekly depending on your lookback period.
- Report $50,000 or less in the lookback period and you're a monthly depositor. More than that makes you semiweekly.
- You don't choose your schedule. The IRS assigns it based on what you reported.
- Employers with under $2,500 of liability for the quarter can pay with the return instead of depositing.
- Deposits have to be made electronically. Mailing a check for a federal tax deposit isn't an option.
What Are Quarterly Payroll Taxes?
Quarterly payroll taxes are the employment taxes you report to the IRS on Form 941, the Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return. Every business with employees files one, four times a year.
The return covers the wages you paid, tips your employees reported, the federal income tax and FICA you withheld from their pay, and your matching share of Social Security and Medicare. State income tax and state unemployment follow separate rules and separate forms, which vary by state.
Form 941 reports what you actually owed for the quarter. It isn't an estimate, and there's no year-end reconciliation return that trues it up.
When Are Payroll Tax Deposits Due?
Filing quarterly does not mean paying quarterly. The IRS assigns most employers a deposit schedule, and for the majority of small businesses that means depositing monthly.
Your schedule comes from your lookback period, which for Form 941 filers is the four quarters running from July 1 two years back through June 30 of last year. For 2026, that's July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.
| Lookback period total | Your schedule | When to deposit |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 or less | Monthly | By the 15th of the following month |
| More than $50,000 | Semiweekly | Payday Wed, Thu, or Fri: deposit by the following Wednesday. Payday Sat through Tue: deposit by the following Friday. |
You don't get to pick. The schedule is determined by what you reported, and it can change from year to year as your payroll grows.
Three exceptions worth knowing:
- Under $2,500 for the quarter. If your total liability for the current and preceding quarter is under $2,500, you can pay with the return instead of depositing. A business with one or two employees may well sit here.
- The $100,000 next-day rule. Accumulate $100,000 of liability on any single day and it's due the next business day, whatever your normal schedule. A monthly depositor who triggers this becomes semiweekly for the rest of the year and all of the next.
- New employers. With no lookback history you start as a monthly depositor, unless the $100,000 rule catches you.
When Is Form 941 Due?
The return itself is due the last day of the month after each quarter closes. If that lands on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the next business day.
| Quarter | Period covered | Return due |
|---|---|---|
| First | January 1 to March 31 | April 30 |
| Second | April 1 to June 30 | July 31 |
| Third | July 1 to September 30 | October 31 |
| Fourth | October 1 to December 31 | January 31 |
If you're a depositor, the money should already be in by the time the return is due. The filing reconciles what you deposited against what you owed.
What About Unemployment Taxes?
Federal unemployment tax works the other way around from Form 941. The return, Form 940, is filed once a year. The deposits are quarterly, and only once your accumulated liability passes $500. If you stay under $500 for the year, you can pay the whole thing with the annual return.
State unemployment tax is set by each state, with its own rate, wage base, forms, and deadlines. Maine has its own filing schedule, and if you have employees in more than one state you're managing several sets of rules at once.
How Do You Make a Payroll Tax Deposit?
Electronically. Federal tax deposits go through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, and enrollment takes a few days, so don't leave it until a deposit is already due.
Mailing a check is not a substitute for a deposit. You can pay a balance due with your return by mail in limited circumstances, but a required deposit made by check is a late deposit, and the penalty applies whether or not the money arrived on time.
Failure to deposit penalties run on a sliding scale based on how many days late the deposit is, and interest accrues on top. The percentages are modest on a small deposit and considerably less so on a large one.
FAQs: Quarterly Payroll Taxes
-
They're the federal employment taxes reported on Form 941 each quarter: federal income tax withheld from employee pay, plus the employee and employer shares of Social Security and Medicare. The return is filed four times a year, though the underlying deposits are usually due monthly or semiweekly rather than quarterly.
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Form 941 is due the last day of the month after each quarter ends: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Deposits are a separate matter and generally come earlier. Monthly depositors pay by the 15th of the following month, and semiweekly depositors pay within days of each payday.
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Add up the tax you reported on Form 941 across the four quarters from July 1 two years ago through June 30 of last year. Report $50,000 or less and you're a monthly depositor. More than $50,000 makes you semiweekly. New employers with no history start out monthly. The IRS assigns this rather than letting you choose.
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Yes, if your total liability for the current and preceding quarter is under $2,500. That threshold puts some very small employers outside the deposit rules entirely. Above it, you deposit on your assigned monthly or semiweekly schedule and the return simply reconciles what you already paid.
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No. Federal tax deposits have to be made electronically, generally through EFTPS. Mailing a check for a required deposit counts as a late deposit and triggers a penalty even if it arrives before the deadline. Paying a small balance due with the return by mail is allowed in limited cases, but that's different from making a deposit.
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Form 940 for federal unemployment is filed annually, not quarterly. The deposits are quarterly though, due once your accumulated FUTA liability passes $500 for the year. Stay below $500 and you can pay it all with the annual return in January.
Keeping the Two Deadlines Straight
The confusion here is understandable. One form, two sets of dates, and the more frequent one isn't printed on the form.
A payroll provider handles this by depositing on your schedule as each payroll runs, so the return becomes a reconciliation rather than a bill. That's part of what we do with payroll and tax services, along with the state filings that come with employing people in Maine or across New England. Pricing is on our pricing page if you want to see it before talking to anyone.
Updated: September 2026
Written by: Jon Portanova
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