How Often Do Employers Pay Payroll Taxes: Monthly, Semiweekly, and FUTA

How often do employers pay payroll taxes to the IRS? Most employers deposit federal income tax withholding and FICA either monthly or semiweekly, and the IRS assigns you to one of those two schedules based on your tax history. Very small employers may qualify to pay quarterly or annually with their return, and any employer that accumulates $100,000 or more in liability on a single day must deposit the next business day regardless of their usual schedule.

How the IRS Assigns Your Schedule

You do not pick your deposit schedule. The IRS assigns it each calendar year based on what you reported during a 12-month “lookback period” that runs from July 1 of the second preceding year through June 30 of the prior year.¹ To set your 2026 schedule, for example, the IRS looks at the Forms 941 you filed covering July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.

The threshold is simple. Report $50,000 or less during the lookback period and you are a monthly depositor. Report more than $50,000 and you are a semiweekly depositor.¹ New employers with no lookback history start out as monthly depositors for their first calendar year.²

Monthly Depositors

If you are on the monthly schedule, you total up everything withheld and owed for a calendar month — federal income tax withholding plus both halves of Social Security and Medicare — and deposit it by the 15th of the following month. Taxes on January wages are due February 15. When the 15th lands on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.¹

Semiweekly Depositors

Semiweekly deadlines follow the day you pay wages, not the day they were earned:

Wages paid Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday: deposit due the following Wednesday.
Wages paid Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday: deposit due the following Friday.

You get at least three business days after each payday to make the deposit.³ The name is misleading. “Semiweekly” describes the deadline window, not the frequency; if you only run payroll once a month, you only make one deposit that period.

The $100,000 Next-Day Rule

Any employer, monthly or semiweekly, that accumulates $100,000 or more in tax liability on a single day must deposit that amount by the close of the next business day.² The relevant deposit period is the calendar month for monthly depositors and the shorter Wednesday-through-Friday or Saturday-through-Tuesday window for semiweekly depositors.

If a monthly depositor trips this rule, the consequence lasts. You become a semiweekly depositor for the rest of the calendar year and for the entire following calendar year.²

Quarterly Payment for Small Liabilities

If your total Form 941 tax liability for the current quarter — or the preceding quarter — is under $2,500, you can skip deposits entirely and pay the full amount with the quarterly return.² Form 941 is due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. The option disappears the moment you trigger the $100,000 next-day rule during the quarter, and it has to be re-evaluated each quarter. Qualifying in the first quarter does not excuse deposits later in the year if your liability climbs.

Annual Payment on Form 944

Very small employers whose combined annual liability for Social Security, Medicare, and income tax withholding is $1,000 or less may be eligible to file Form 944, an annual return that replaces the four quarterly Form 941 filings.⁴ You cannot elect this on your own; the IRS notifies you in writing if you qualify. Form 944 filers with annual liability under $2,500 can pay the entire amount with the return instead of making deposits during the year.¹

FUTA Runs on Its Own Calendar

Federal unemployment tax is not part of the schedule above. FUTA is deposited quarterly, and only when your cumulative undeposited liability exceeds $500 at the end of a calendar quarter. When it does, the deposit is due by the last day of the following month. If the balance stays at $500 or below, it rolls into the next quarter.⁵ Many small employers make a single FUTA deposit at year-end. The annual Form 940 is due January 31, with an extension to February 10 if you deposited all FUTA on time.⁶

How to Make the Deposit

Federal employment tax deposits must be made electronically. You can use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), IRS Direct Pay for businesses, or your IRS business tax account.¹ EFTPS is the most common route. New enrollments can take up to five business days to process, so sign up well before your first deposit is due, and schedule each payment at least one business day before the deadline.⁷

What Happens If You Miss a Deadline

Late deposits are penalized on a tiered scale, and the tiers replace each other rather than stack:

1 to 5 calendar days late: 2% of the unpaid deposit.
6 to 15 calendar days late: 5% of the unpaid deposit.
More than 15 days late: 10%.
More than 10 days after the first IRS notice, or on receipt of an immediate-payment notice: 15%.

A deposit 20 days late costs 10%, not 17%.⁸ A safe harbor forgives small shortfalls if the underpaid amount is no more than the greater of $100 or 2% of what you owed, and you make it up by the applicable makeup date — the quarterly return due date for monthly depositors, or for semiweekly depositors the first Wednesday or Friday falling on or after the 15th of the following month, or the return due date, whichever comes first.⁹

The stakes climb sharply when withheld taxes are not paid over at all. The employee-side amounts you withhold — income tax and the employee share of Social Security and Medicare — are trust fund taxes. Under 26 U.S.C. 6672, the IRS can assess a penalty equal to 100% of the unpaid trust fund amount against any responsible person who willfully failed to collect or pay it. “Responsible person” reaches beyond the owner to officers, partners, and employees with authority over which bills get paid. The penalty is personal and follows the individual. A narrow exception protects unpaid volunteer directors of tax-exempt organizations who serve in an honorary capacity, take no part in daily financial operations, and had no actual knowledge of the failure.¹⁰

1
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 757, Forms 941 and 944 – Deposit Requirements
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Internal Revenue Service. Notice 931 – Deposit Requirements for Employment Taxes
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Internal Revenue Service. What Are FTDs and Why Are They Important?
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 944, Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return
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Internal Revenue Service. Depositing and Reporting Employment Taxes
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940
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Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
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Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
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eCFR. 26 CFR 31.6302-1 – Deposit Rules for Taxes Under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and Withheld Income Taxes
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6672 – Failure to Collect and Pay Over Tax, or Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax