The IRS has issued the annual deposit schedules in Notice 931. To review, there are two deposit schedules—monthly or semiweekly—for determining when you deposit social security and Medicare taxes and withheld federal income tax. These schedules tell you when a deposit is due after a tax liability arises (for example, when you have a payday). Before the beginning of each calendar year, you must determine which of the two deposit schedules you must use. The deposit schedule you must use is based on the total tax liability you reported during a lookback period. Your deposit schedule isn’t determined by how often you pay your employees or make deposits. These rules don’t apply to federal unemployment (FUTA) tax. See the Instructions for Form 940 for information on depositing FUTA tax.
Your deposit schedule for a calendar year is determined from the total taxes reported on your Forms 941 in a 4-quarter lookback period. The lookback period begins July 1 and ends June 30, as shown in the chart below. If you reported $50,000 or less of Form 941 taxes for the lookback period, you’re a monthly schedule depositor; if you reported more than $50,000, you’re a semiweekly
schedule depositor. The lookback period for a 2022 Form 941 filer who filed Form 944 in either 2020 or 2021 is calendar year 2020.
You’re a monthly schedule depositor for a calendar year if the total tax reported for your lookback period was $50,000 or less. Under the monthly deposit schedule, deposit accumulated taxes on payments made during a calendar month by the 15th day of the following month. New employers. Your tax liability for any quarter in the lookback period before the date you started or acquired
your business is considered to be zero. Therefore, you’re a monthly schedule depositor for the first calendar year of your business. You’re a semiweekly schedule depositor for a calendar
year if the total taxes during your lookback period were more than $50,000. Your deposit schedule is in the chart below:
However, it is possible to have to deposit taxes the next day. If you accumulate a tax liability of $100,000 or more on any day during a deposit period, you must deposit the tax by the close of the next business day, whether you’re a monthly or semiweekly schedule depositor. And If you’re a monthly schedule depositor and accumulate a $100,000 tax liability on any day, you become a semiweekly schedule depositor on the next day and remain so for at least the rest of the calendar year and for the following calendar year.