Federal unemployment tax is due quarterly. Deposits are owed by the last day of the month following each quarter’s end — April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31 — and Form 940, the annual reconciliation, is due January 31 of the following year.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6157 – Payment of Federal Unemployment Tax on Quarterly or Other Time Period Basis2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940 Whether you actually deposit every quarter depends on how much you owe: a $500 threshold decides that. State unemployment taxes generally follow the same four-date calendar.
The Four Quarterly FUTA Deadlines
Federal law requires employers to figure their unemployment tax liability at the end of each quarter and deposit it by the end of the following month.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6157 – Payment of Federal Unemployment Tax on Quarterly or Other Time Period Basis The dates are:
- 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
When a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, it moves to the next business day.
The $500 Rule That May Change Your Due Date
You do not have to deposit every quarter if the amount is small. If your FUTA tax for the quarter is $500 or less, you can carry it forward to the next quarter rather than deposit. Once the running total goes over $500, the full accumulated amount must be deposited by the next quarterly deadline.3Internal Revenue Service. Form 940 Employers Annual Federal Unemployment FUTA Tax Return Filing and Deposit Requirements
If you get all the way to the fourth quarter and your total liability for the year is still $500 or less, you have a choice: deposit it by January 31, or just pay it when you file Form 940.3Internal Revenue Service. Form 940 Employers Annual Federal Unemployment FUTA Tax Return Filing and Deposit Requirements Many small employers with only a few workers end up making just one or two deposits a year for this reason.
Because the effective FUTA rate for most employers is 0.6% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages — a maximum of $42 per employee per year — the $500 threshold takes a while to reach if you have only a handful of workers. FUTA also tends to be front-loaded into the first half of the year, since most employees hit the $7,000 wage ceiling early. By late summer, many employers stop accruing new FUTA liability at all.
When Form 940 Is Due
Every employer subject to FUTA must file Form 940 by January 31 of the following year, no matter how the quarterly deposits went. The return reconciles your annual liability against the deposits you already made.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940
There is a built-in extension. If you deposited all your FUTA tax on time during the year, the filing deadline moves automatically to February 10. No application is needed.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940 Weekend rules still apply to the regular January 31 date; for the 2025 tax year, for example, the deadline is February 2, 2026, because January 31 falls on a Saturday.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 940
Who Actually Owes FUTA
You need to file Form 940 and make deposits if either of these tests applies:
- You paid $1,500 or more in wages during any calendar quarter in the current or preceding year.
- You had at least one employee for some part of a day in 20 or more different weeks during the current or preceding year.
Full-time, part-time, and temporary workers all count for the 20-week test. Partners in a partnership do not.3Internal Revenue Service. Form 940 Employers Annual Federal Unemployment FUTA Tax Return Filing and Deposit Requirements Once either threshold is met, FUTA applies to the first $7,000 of wages paid to each employee during the year.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3306 – Definitions
What Missing the Deadline Costs
The IRS treats a late deposit and a late return as two separate problems, each with its own penalty. It is not unusual for an employer who falls behind to owe both.
Late Deposit
The failure-to-deposit penalty scales with how late you are:6Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
- 1 to 5 calendar days late: 2% of the unpaid deposit
- 6 to 15 calendar days late: 5%
- More than 15 calendar days late: 10%
- More than 10 days after the IRS sends a first notice demanding payment: 15%
The tiers do not stack. A deposit 20 days late is charged 10%, not 2% plus 5% plus 10%. The IRS may reduce or remove the penalty for reasonable cause.6Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
Late Filing
Filing Form 940 after the deadline triggers a separate 5% penalty on the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is late, capped at 25%.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6651 – Failure to File Tax Return or to Pay Tax Willful tax evasion is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, or $500,000 for corporations, though criminal prosecution is reserved for the most serious cases.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7201 – Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax
State Unemployment Tax Deadlines
Every state runs its own unemployment tax program, and in most states the quarterly deadlines match the federal calendar: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Unlike federal FUTA, states generally require you to file a quarterly wage report and pay the tax at the same time, regardless of amount. There is typically no carry-forward option at the state level.
Late state payments generally trigger automatic interest charges, at a rate that varies by state. Some states also add a separate penalty when the wage report itself is late. Check with your state’s labor or workforce agency for the current figures.
Household Employers Follow a Different Schedule
If you employ a nanny, housekeeper, home health aide, or other household worker, the quarterly deposit calendar above does not apply to you. You owe FUTA on a household employee’s wages if you pay $1,000 or more in cash wages to all household employees during any calendar quarter, on the first $7,000 per employee.9Internal Revenue Service. Publication 926 Household Employers Tax Guide
Household employers report FUTA on Schedule H, which attaches to the personal Form 1040. That means the tax is due with your individual income tax return, generally April 15, not on the business quarterly schedule. If your total household employment tax liability reaches $1,000 or more during the year, you may need to increase your estimated tax payments or adjust withholding at your own job to cover it.9Internal Revenue Service. Publication 926 Household Employers Tax Guide
How to Pay on Time
Federal tax deposits, FUTA included, must be made electronically. The IRS offers several free options: the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), IRS Direct Pay for businesses, or a business tax account on irs.gov.10Internal Revenue Service. Depositing and Reporting Employment Taxes Your bank can also initiate an ACH credit, and payroll services will handle deposits, sometimes for a fee.
Timing matters if you use EFTPS. Schedule the payment by 8 p.m. Eastern time the day before the due date. Payments scheduled after that cutoff do not post until the next business day, which can make an otherwise on-time deposit late.11EFTPS. Welcome to EFTPS Online Keep the confirmation number the system generates for each payment; that is your proof if the IRS ever questions whether a deposit arrived on time.
State unemployment payments go through your state’s online employer portal, which handles the wage report and tax payment together. Confirmation receipts from the state portal serve the same documentation purpose.