Payroll Tax Payments made In Time

Many business owners don’t realize how important it is to get payroll tax payments made on time. If a late payment is made, once the IRS catches up to it, the penalties are quite stiff: 10% off the top, plus interest. Try earning that at a bank today! Resist the temptation to pay late, because it’s not a money saver, it’s a money loser. Plus, penalties are not deductible.

Quick Tip: the IRS uses the term “tax deposit” to mean “tax payment”, and uses the term “monthly depositor” or “semi-weekly depositor” to mean “monthly payer” or “semi-weekly payer”, respectively.

Determine Your Payment Schedule

Before you can determine when the tax payment is due, you must first determine if you are a monthly depositor, or a semi-weekly depositor. Which type you are has nothing to do with when or how often you pay your employees. In order to determine which schedule you are on, examine the payroll records during the “lookback period”. This period always runs from July 1 to June 30. For 2006, the “lookback period” runs from July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2005. If the amount you withheld for 941 taxes is $50,000 or less, you are a monthly depositor. If the amount during that period is more than $50,000, you are a semi-weekly depositor.

Monthly Depositor

If you are a monthly depositor, you will pay the taxes by the 15th of the next month. For example, for 941 taxes withheld during August 2006, the payment was due on Friday, September 15. If the 15th falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the payment is due the next business day.

Semi-Weekly Depositor

• If the payday falls on a Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Friday, the deposit is due on or before the following Wednesday.
• If the payday falls on a Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and/or Tuesday, the deposit is due on or before the following Friday.

The $100,000 Rule

Regardless of which type of depositor you are, if 941 withholdings reach $100,000 or more, a payment is due the next business day, and the semi-weekly deposit rules are in effect going forward.

Payment Methods

You may make payments one of three ways:

• The IRS will send you a yellow booklet containing coupons. Fill one out, and take a check to your bank. Be sure to fill out the top stub of the coupon for your records.
• Use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. Visit www.eftps.com for more information and to sign up. Allow about two weeks for the enrollment process to complete. Other types of taxes can be paid as well, using this system.
• Find a payroll provider who offers electronic payment of employment taxes, and enroll in that service.

Avoid Costly Penalties

• Don’t pay late
• Pay using the correct method
• Pay the correct amount

These guidelines are for Federal 941 payments only, and are intended for small businesses who have under $100,000 in Federal 941 payroll liabilities. See the Instructions for Form 941, and Circular E, for more detail and information.

IRS Tax Refund

Every year American’s scramble to get their taxes done to see if they are going to get an IRS tax refund. This money is often a welcome relief, and many use it to put away for savings, or to get larger ticket items for their homes that they may have been putting off. Each year I would look forward to this, as it meant that I could do a little guilt-free shopping. This year, however, that is going to change. For the first time in my life, I have to pay in. I guess it’s good that we are making so much more money, but having to pay in really isn’t fun.

For a long time our IRS tax refund was smaller, but still welcome. Once we added a child to our home, our refund got much bigger. I really didn’t give it much thought, but I thought it would be the same every year. It was always nice to get the IRS tax refund because I could use it for things my little girl needs. I thought this year I would get her a new bed and dresser, and put some of it away for her school clothes next fall. That was not meant to be.

My husband was always in a hurry to get our IRS tax refund back, so we always did our taxes in January, or at least as soon as we both had our tax information together. This year when he did the taxes on our software to get an idea of what we might expect to get back, he was puzzled. Though we knew we might have to pay some in because of my income, we had no idea how much it would be. He had a rather large refund coming from his income, but my tax ate that up, and I still owe quite a bit more. It was something of a shock, and we have delayed doing our taxes until we have to.

Normally, we would have already filed our taxes and we would have gotten our IRS tax refund back by now. This year we haven’t filed yet. I know we are coming up on the deadline, but it’s much harder to part with my hard earned money than I thought it would be. I know I have to pay taxes, and I know that there is no way around it, but that doesn’t make it any easier to do.