When Is Form 940 Due? Filing, Deposits, and Penalties

Form 940 for the 2025 tax year is due Monday, February 2, 2026. The Form 940 due date is normally January 31 of the following year, but January 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the IRS moves the deadline to the next business day.¹ Employers who deposited every dollar of FUTA tax on time during the year get an extra eight days and can file by February 10, 2026 instead.

The 2026 Filing Deadline

The standard deadline for Form 940 is January 31 following the close of the calendar year being reported.² When that date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the IRS pushes it to the next business day.³ For the return covering wages paid in 2025, that next business day is Monday, February 2, 2026.¹

Paper returns are treated as filed on the date they’re postmarked, so certified mail with a return receipt is a reliable way to lock in proof if you’re not filing electronically.⁴

The February 10 Extended Deadline

If you made every required FUTA deposit on time throughout the year, the IRS gives you until February 10, 2026 to file the return.¹ The extension applies to the paperwork, not the deposits themselves. One late deposit during the year cancels the extra time, and you’re back to the February 2 deadline.

Quarterly Deposit Deadlines

The return is annual, but the money is not. At the end of each quarter, check whether your cumulative FUTA liability (carrying over anything from earlier quarters) exceeds $500. If it does, deposit the full balance by the last day of the following month.²

First quarter (January through March): deposit due April 30
Second quarter (April through June): deposit due July 31
Third quarter (July through September): deposit due October 31
Fourth quarter (October through December): deposit due January 31, or the next business day

When your quarter-end balance sits at $500 or less, roll it into the next quarter. If the fourth-quarter total is still $500 or under, you can pay it with Form 940 and skip a separate deposit.⁵

Deposits must be made electronically, most commonly through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. New enrollments can take up to five business days to activate, so start the process well before a deposit deadline if you haven’t used EFTPS before.⁶

What a Missed Deadline Costs

Filing Late

Miss the Form 940 deadline and the IRS charges 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is late, capped at 25%.⁷ The penalty is calculated on tax still owed after credits and timely payments, so if your deposits already covered the liability, the dollar amount can be small or nothing at all. The IRS may waive the penalty if you can show reasonable cause.

Depositing Late

Late deposits carry their own tiered penalty:⁸

One to five calendar days late: 2% of the unpaid deposit
Six to 15 calendar days late: 5%
More than 15 calendar days late: 10%
More than 10 days after the IRS sends a first notice: 15%

The tiers replace each other rather than stacking. A deposit 16 days late is charged 10%, not a running total.⁸

State Unemployment Tax and the Filing Deadline

The Form 940 due date matters for a second reason: to claim the full 5.4% FUTA credit for state unemployment contributions, those state taxes must be paid in full by the same date the return is due, whether that’s February 2, 2026 or the February 10 extended date.³ Paying state unemployment tax late doesn’t just draw state consequences; it shrinks the federal credit and raises the FUTA bill on the same return.

Employers in credit reduction states have a related fourth-quarter obligation. For 2025, California carries a credit reduction of 1.2% and the U.S. Virgin Islands 4.5%. The additional FUTA tax from a credit reduction is treated as a fourth-quarter liability and is due by the Form 940 filing deadline, reported on Schedule A.⁹

Who These Deadlines Apply To

You’re on the Form 940 calendar if either test is met in the current or prior year: you paid $1,500 or more in wages in any calendar quarter, or you had at least one employee for part of a day in 20 or more different weeks.³ Meeting either test triggers the filing requirement even if credits reduce the tax to zero.

Two groups have different thresholds. Agricultural employers file if they paid $20,000 or more in cash wages to farmworkers in any calendar quarter, or employed 10 or more farmworkers for part of a day in 20 or more different weeks. Household employers file only if they paid $1,000 or more in cash wages for domestic work in any calendar quarter.³ Household employers who report domestic wages elsewhere may not need Form 940 at all.

Final Return Timing

If your business closes or you permanently stop paying wages, the next Form 940 you file is your final return, and it follows the same calendar. Check box d (“Final: Business closed or stopped paying wages”) in the Type of Return section and attach a statement with the name and address of the person keeping your payroll records.³ The return is still due by January 31, or the next business day, following the last calendar year you paid wages.

1
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 940 – Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return
2
Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates
3
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940 (2025)
4
Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Your Taxes for Form 940
5
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 759, Form 940, Employers Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return – Filing and Deposit Requirements
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Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
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Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File Penalty
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Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
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Internal Revenue Service. FUTA Credit Reduction