Form 940 payments are due on a quarterly schedule whenever your cumulative FUTA liability passes $500, with deposits owed by the last day of the month after each quarter closes: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. The annual Form 940 return itself is due January 31 of the following year. If a due date lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, you get until the next business day.
The Four Quarterly Deposit Deadlines
Form 940 is filed once a year, but you don’t wait until year-end to pay. At the close of each calendar quarter, you look at your undeposited FUTA liability. If it exceeds $500, you deposit the full amount by the last day of the following month.1Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 940
- First quarter (January–March): deposit due by April 30
- Second quarter (April–June): deposit due by July 31
- Third quarter (July–September): deposit due by October 31
- Fourth quarter (October–December): deposit due by January 31 of the following year
If your liability at the end of a quarter is $500 or less, you don’t deposit anything yet. The balance rolls forward and combines with the next quarter’s liability. Once the running total crosses $500, the full cumulative amount is due by that quarter’s deadline.1Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 940
A simple example. Your first-quarter liability is $400, so no deposit is required. In the second quarter you accrue another $400, bringing the cumulative total to $800. Because $800 exceeds $500, you deposit the full $800 by July 31. If the third quarter adds only $300, you carry that into the fourth quarter and deposit it with whatever additional liability accrues.
When a Deadline Falls on a Weekend or Holiday
If any deposit due date is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.1Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 940 For the 2025 tax year, January 31, 2026, is a Saturday, so the fourth-quarter deposit deadline moves to February 2, 2026.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940 (2025) Always check a calendar before the standard date; a one-day slip from assuming the usual deadline can trigger penalties.
When the Annual Form 940 Return Is Due
The Form 940 return is due January 31 of the year after the tax year it covers. The same weekend-and-holiday rule applies. For the 2025 tax year, the filing deadline is February 2, 2026, because January 31 falls on a Saturday.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940 (2025)
If you deposited all your FUTA tax on time throughout the year, you get an automatic extension to February 10 to file the return. No application is needed; the extension applies simply because your deposits were timely.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940 (2025) This extension covers only the return itself. Any tax balance still owed is governed by the original January 31 deadline (or the next-business-day adjustment).
If Your Full-Year Liability Is $500 or Less
There is one case where quarterly deposits don’t apply. If your total FUTA liability for the entire year is $500 or less, you can skip the quarterly deposit cycle and pay the whole balance when you file your Form 940. You can send a check or money order with the return, using Form 940-V as the payment voucher.1Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 940
How to Make the Payment
Federal tax deposits generally must be made electronically. The IRS accepts FUTA deposits through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), IRS Direct Pay for businesses, or your IRS business tax account online.3Internal Revenue Service. Depositing and Reporting Employment Taxes You can enroll in EFTPS on its website or by calling 800-555-4477.4Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System The paper check option described above is only available to employers whose annual liability is $500 or less.
Many employers hand off FUTA deposits to a payroll service provider or reporting agent.5Internal Revenue Service. Reporting Agents File (RAF) Outsourcing the mechanics does not shift the legal obligation. The IRS is clear that using a payroll service or reporting agent does not relieve you of liability for employment taxes, so if your provider misses a deadline, you remain responsible for the tax and any penalties.6Internal Revenue Service. Third Party Payer Arrangements – Payroll Service Providers and Reporting Agents
Penalties for Missing a Deadline
A late deposit triggers a tiered penalty based on how long the payment is overdue:7Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
- 1–5 days late: 2% of the unpaid deposit
- 6–15 days late: 5% of the unpaid deposit
- More than 15 days late: 10% of the unpaid deposit
- More than 10 days after the IRS sends its first notice: 15% of the unpaid deposit
The tiers don’t stack. A deposit 20 days late is a flat 10% penalty, not 2% plus 5% plus 10%. The jump to 15% only happens once the IRS sends a formal notice and the balance still isn’t paid within 10 days.7Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
Filing Form 940 late carries its own penalty: 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is overdue, up to 25%.8Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File Penalty Interest accrues on any unpaid balance at the IRS underpayment rate, which is 7% for the first quarter of 2026.9Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates Interest compounds on the tax plus any assessed penalties, so a short delay gets expensive quickly.
The IRS can waive the failure-to-deposit penalty if you show reasonable cause and the miss wasn’t due to willful neglect. In practice this is a narrow exception; the most common successful argument involves employers unable to obtain the banking services needed for electronic deposits.10Internal Revenue Service. 20.1.4 Failure to Deposit Penalty Forgetting the date or running short on cash won’t qualify.