When Is Federal Unemployment Tax Due? Deposits, Form 940, and Penalties

Federal unemployment tax deposits are due by the last day of the month following each calendar quarter — April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31 — but only when your accumulated FUTA liability exceeds $500. The annual return, Form 940, is due January 31 of the following year, and you get until February 10 if every deposit was made on time. When any due date lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, it moves to the next business day.¹

Quarterly Deposit Dates and the $500 Rule

FUTA deposits follow a quarterly schedule. Each deposit is due by the last day of the month after the quarter closes:¹

First quarter (January through March): April 30
Second quarter (April through June): July 31
Third quarter (July through September): October 31
Fourth quarter (October through December): January 31

If a due date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.²

A deposit is only required when your FUTA liability for the quarter, including any amount carried over from earlier quarters, is more than $500. If your total is $500 or less at the end of a quarter, carry it forward instead of depositing.³ Once the running total crosses $500, deposit the full amount by the next quarterly deadline.

If your liability stays at $500 or less through the entire year, you can skip quarterly deposits and simply pay the balance when you file Form 940.⁴

Annual Form 940 Deadline

Form 940 is normally due January 31 of the year following the tax period. For the 2025 tax year, January 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the actual deadline is February 2, 2026.³

Deposit every FUTA payment on time throughout the year and you earn ten extra calendar days to file the return. For the 2025 tax year, that extended filing date is February 10, 2026.³ The extension only pushes the filing date. It does not give you extra time to pay any tax still owed.

How to Deposit and File

Federal law requires all FUTA deposits to be made electronically. The IRS offers three free options:⁴

A business tax account on IRS.gov linked to your EIN
Direct Pay for businesses, a one-time payment option on IRS.gov
EFTPS, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, which requires advance registration of your bank information

Form 940 itself can be filed electronically through an IRS-approved e-file provider or mailed on paper to the address listed in the Form 940 instructions for your region. Keep copies of filed returns and deposit confirmations for at least four years after the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.⁵

What Happens If You Miss a Deadline

Missing a FUTA due date triggers penalties and interest. The amount depends on what you missed and how late you are.

Late Deposits

The failure-to-deposit penalty is tiered by how many calendar days a payment is overdue:⁶

1 to 5 days late: 2% of the unpaid deposit
6 to 15 days late: 5%
More than 15 days late: 10%
More than 10 days after a first IRS notice, or upon demand for immediate payment: 15%

These tiers replace one another rather than stacking. A deposit 20 days late draws a 10% penalty, not the sum of the lower brackets.⁷

Late Filing and Late Payment

Filing Form 940 after the deadline carries a penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is late, capped at 25%.⁸ Once the return is more than 60 days overdue, the minimum penalty is the lesser of $525 (for returns due in 2026) or 100% of the tax owed.

Owing tax and not paying by the due date adds another 0.5% per month or partial month, also capped at 25%.⁹ When both the late-filing and late-payment penalties apply in the same month, the filing penalty is reduced by the payment penalty, keeping the combined rate at 5% per month.

Interest

The IRS also charges interest on unpaid balances at a rate that adjusts quarterly. For the first quarter of 2026, the underpayment rate is 7%.¹⁰ Interest compounds daily and keeps accruing until the balance is paid in full.

Household Employers Follow a Different Track

If you employ domestic workers such as housekeepers, nannies, or home health aides, the deadlines above may not apply to you. Household employers generally report FUTA on Schedule H (Form 1040) alongside their personal income tax return rather than on Form 940, and Schedule H is due when the individual return is due.³ The one exception is if you also employ workers in a separate business — then you can include household employees on Form 940 and follow its quarterly deposit rules and $500 threshold.

The wage trigger is different too: FUTA applies to household employees only once you have paid cash wages of $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter.¹¹

1
Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 509 (2026), Tax Calendars
3
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940 (2025)
4
Internal Revenue Service. Depositing and Reporting Employment Taxes
5
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records?
6
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6656 – Failure to Make Deposit of Taxes
8
Internal Revenue Service. Collection Procedural Questions 3
9
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty
10
Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 926 (2026), Household Employers Tax Guide