How to Fill Out and File Form 941-PR: Deadlines, Deposits, Corrections

If you searched for how to file Form 941-PR, start here: the IRS discontinued Form 941-PR after the fourth quarter of 2023. Puerto Rico employers now file the standard Form 941, or Form 941 (sp) if you want Spanish-language instructions and formatting.¹ The quarterly obligation itself hasn’t changed — you’re still reporting Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from employee wages plus the employer’s matching share. Set any old 941-PR copies aside and download the current Form 941 from IRS.gov.

Who Has to File

Any business operating in Puerto Rico that pays wages subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes files Form 941 quarterly. That covers corporations, partnerships, nonprofits, single-member LLCs, government agencies, and sole proprietors with at least one employee.² Even a business with one part-time worker owes the taxes and files the return.

Most Puerto Rico employees are subject to Puerto Rico income tax rather than federal income tax. Form 941 has a line for federal income tax withheld, but if you don’t withhold any, enter zero. The Social Security and Medicare lines carry the weight of the return.

Agricultural employers in Puerto Rico file Form 943-PR (or its replacement) annually for farmworker wages instead of the quarterly 941.³ Filing the wrong one creates deposit mismatches and IRS notices, so confirm which category your workforce falls into before you start.

What to Pull Together First

Before you sit down with the form, gather the payroll records for the three-month quarter you’re reporting:

Your Employer Identification Number (EIN). It goes at the top of the form and ties every deposit and filing to your business. Apply through IRS.gov if you don’t have one yet.
The number of employees who received wages during the pay period that includes the 12th of March, June, September, or December, depending on the quarter. Don’t count household employees, farmworkers, pensioners, or employees on unpaid leave during that pay period.¹
Total gross wages, tips, and other compensation paid during the quarter, before deductions.
Social Security and Medicare tax amounts — employee withholding and employer match for both — calculated from each payroll run.
Deposit records with dates, amounts, and EFTPS confirmation numbers.

Tax Rates and Wage Bases for 2026

Social Security tax is 6.2% of covered wages for the employee and 6.2% for the employer, a combined 12.4%.⁴ For 2026, the tax applies only to the first $184,500 of each employee’s wages. Once an employee crosses that threshold, you stop withholding and matching Social Security for the rest of the calendar year.⁵

Medicare tax is 1.45% for the employee and 1.45% for the employer, with no wage cap. An additional 0.9% Medicare tax kicks in once an employee’s wages exceed $200,000 for the year. You withhold the extra amount from the employee’s pay but don’t match it.⁴

Line 7 handles the “fractions of cents” adjustment. Rounding differences between individual paychecks and the quarterly total almost always leave a few cents unreconciled, and Line 7 is where you square the math so the return ties out exactly.

How Often You Have to Deposit

Deposit frequency depends on your tax liability during a lookback period. For 2026 Form 941 filers, the lookback period runs from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.⁶

If you reported $50,000 or less in total employment taxes during the lookback period, you’re a monthly depositor: each month’s taxes are due by the 15th of the following month.⁷ More than $50,000 puts you on the semiweekly schedule: wages paid Wednesday through Friday trigger a deposit due the following Wednesday, and wages paid Saturday through Tuesday trigger a deposit due the following Friday. Semiweekly depositors also attach Schedule B, which breaks liability down by day for the quarter.⁸

One rule overrides both schedules. If your accumulated tax liability reaches $100,000 or more on any single day, you deposit by the next business day. A monthly depositor who trips the $100,000 rule becomes a semiweekly depositor for the rest of the calendar year and the following year.⁶

If your total quarterly liability is less than $2,500, skip the deposits and pay the full amount with your return.⁷ The exception does not apply if you tripped the $100,000 next-day rule at any point in the quarter.

When the Return Is Due

Form 941 is due by the last day of the month following the end of each quarter:⁹

Q1 (January–March): April 30
Q2 (April–June): July 31
Q3 (July–September): October 31
Q4 (October–December): January 31 of the following year

If every deposit for the quarter was made in full and on time, you get an extra 10 calendar days to file. That moves the deadlines to May 10, August 11, November 10, and February 10.⁹ The extension covers the paperwork only. Your deposits still had to arrive on schedule.

How to Submit

The IRS encourages e-filing. You can file through tax preparation software or a payroll service provider, and if you owe a balance, pay at the same time through Electronic Funds Withdrawal.¹ Certified Professional Employer Organizations are generally required to e-file.

Paper filers send the return to different addresses depending on whether a payment is included:¹⁰

Without payment: Internal Revenue Service, PO Box 409101, Ogden, UT 84409
With payment: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 932100, Louisville, KY 40293-2100

Certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of timely filing if the envelope is delayed. Include Form 941-V, the payment voucher, with any check or money order. Make the payment to “United States Treasury” and write your EIN, “Form 941,” and the tax period on the check.

Who Signs

The IRS is specific about the signer depending on the business type:¹

Sole proprietorship: the owner.
Corporation or LLC taxed as a corporation: the president, vice president, or another principal officer authorized to sign.
Partnership or LLC taxed as a partnership: a responsible partner or member with knowledge of the business’s affairs.
Single-member LLC (disregarded entity): the owner or a principal officer authorized to sign.
Trust or estate: the fiduciary.

An agent with a valid power of attorney on file can also sign. If you want a payroll provider, CPA, or other person to discuss the return with the IRS on your behalf, complete the Third-Party Designee section in Part 4. That authorization lets the designee answer IRS questions about processing the return and respond to math-error notices. It does not give them power to represent you in an audit or bind you to additional liability, and it expires automatically one year after the return’s due date.¹

Fixing a Mistake After You File

If you find an error on a return already filed, use Form 941-X. It covers errors in reported wages, Social Security and Medicare tax amounts, and federal income tax withholding.¹¹

You pick one of two correction methods on the form. The adjustment process applies when you’re correcting underreported taxes (you owe more) or when you want an overreported amount credited against a future Form 941. You must use the adjustment process if you’re correcting both underreported and overreported amounts on the same form. The claim process applies only when you overreported and want a refund or abatement, and it can’t be used if any underreported amounts appear on the same form.

The filing deadline is generally three years from the date you filed the original return, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.¹¹ File a separate 941-X for each quarter that needs correcting. Don’t bundle multiple quarters on one form.

Closing a Business or Filing Seasonally

If you permanently stop paying wages, check the box on Line 17 to mark the return as final and enter the last date wages were paid. Attach a statement identifying who will keep the payroll records and where they’ll be stored.¹ Without the final-return designation, the IRS will keep expecting quarterly filings and may flag your account for non-filing.

Seasonal employers — businesses that only operate part of the year — check the box on Line 18 instead. That tells the IRS not to expect four returns per year. You must check the seasonal box on every return you file, not just the first one. As long as you file at least one taxable return per year with the box checked, the IRS won’t send delinquency notices for the quarters you skipped.¹

What Happens If You File or Deposit Late

A late-filed return draws a failure-to-file penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is overdue, up to 25%.¹² Late deposits carry their own separate penalties: 2% if 1 to 5 days late, 5% if 6 to 15 days late, 10% if more than 15 days late, and 15% if the deposit isn’t made within 10 days of the first IRS notice or on the day you receive a demand for immediate payment.¹³ These stack across quarters quickly, which is why deposit timing matters as much as the return itself.

Keep the Records

Hold all employment tax records for at least four years after filing the fourth-quarter return for the year. That means copies of every Form 941 you filed, EFTPS deposit confirmations, payroll registers, and any Forms 941-X.¹⁴ Four years is the floor; keeping them longer costs nothing and covers you if an examination stretches beyond the standard window.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 941 (03/2026)
2
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 941 (PR), Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return (Puerto Rican Version)
3
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 943 (PR), Employer’s Annual Tax Return for Agricultural Employees (Puerto Rican Version)
4
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates
5
Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide
7
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 757, Forms 941 and 944 – Deposit Requirements
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule B (Form 941) (06/2025)
9
Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates
10
Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Your Taxes for Form 941
11
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 941-X (Rev. April 2026)
12
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File Penalty
13
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
14
Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Recordkeeping