Federal payroll tax deposit deadlines depend on how much tax you reported during a set lookback period: most employers are either monthly depositors (due by the 15th of the following month) or semi-weekly depositors (due the Wednesday or Friday after payday), and any employer whose liability reaches $100,000 on a single day must deposit by the next business day.1Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates These rules cover federal income tax withheld from wages plus Social Security and Medicare taxes, and the penalties for missing a deadline start at 2% and climb quickly.
Figure Out Your Schedule Before the Year Starts
Your deposit frequency for the coming year is set by what you owed during a lookback period. For employers who file Form 941, that period runs from July 1 two years back through June 30 of the prior year. For 2026, the window is July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide
Add up the total taxes reported on Form 941, line 12, across those four quarters. If the total was $50,000 or less, you deposit monthly. If it was more than $50,000, you deposit semi-weekly.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 941 New businesses start out as monthly depositors because their lookback period shows zero liability. Run the calculation every year; your schedule can change as payroll grows or shrinks.
Monthly Depositor Deadline
Monthly depositors have until the 15th of the following month to deposit all taxes on wages paid the prior month. Taxes on January wages are due February 15, February wages by March 15, and so on down the calendar. When the 15th falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.1Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates
Semi-Weekly Depositor Deadline
Semi-weekly depositors work off two windows tied to payday. Wages paid on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday must be deposited by the following Wednesday. Wages paid on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday must be deposited by the following Friday.1Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates
The label is misleading. “Semi-weekly” does not mean depositing twice a week. If you run a single Friday payroll, you make one deposit that week, due the following Wednesday. The phrase just names the two deadline windows. If a federal holiday falls within the three business days after a semi-weekly period ends, you get one additional business day.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide
The $100,000 Next-Day Rule
If your accumulated tax liability reaches $100,000 or more on any single day, the regular schedule stops applying to that liability. You must deposit the full amount by the next business day, whether you are ordinarily a monthly or a semi-weekly depositor.1Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates
The threshold measures the aggregate liability for one day, not a single check run. Multiple payrolls on the same date combine. And for a monthly depositor, hitting $100,000 has a lasting consequence: it bumps you to a semi-weekly schedule for the rest of the current calendar year and all of the next.4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 757, Forms 941 and 944 – Deposit Requirements
How to Actually Pay: EFTPS Timing
Deposits must be made electronically through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).5U.S. Department of the Treasury. Welcome to EFTPS Online Payments have to be scheduled at least one calendar day before the due date, and the cutoff is 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. A deposit due Friday needs to be scheduled by 8:00 p.m. ET Thursday.6U.S. Department of the Treasury. Your Guide for Paying Taxes
New employers should not wait until their first deposit is due to enroll. EFTPS enrollment can take up to five business days to process.7Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
FUTA Runs on Its Own Schedule
Federal unemployment tax deposits are separate from your regular payroll tax deposits. FUTA is calculated at the end of each quarter. If cumulative liability tops $500 at that point, you deposit by the last day of the following month:8Internal Revenue Service. Depositing and Reporting Employment Taxes
- Q1 (January–March): deposit due April 30
- Q2 (April–June): deposit due July 31
- Q3 (July–September): deposit due October 31
- Q4 (October–December): deposit due January 31
If your liability is $500 or less at the end of a quarter, roll the balance forward and add it to the next quarter. Keep rolling until the total crosses $500, then deposit everything owed. FUTA deposits also go through EFTPS.
One thing to watch: the standard 5.4% state credit that drops the effective FUTA rate to 0.6% is not guaranteed. When a state borrows from the federal unemployment trust fund and fails to repay within two years, employers in that state face a reduced credit, and the reduction grows with each additional year the loan is outstanding. The Department of Labor publishes the affected jurisdictions each November, and the higher cost shows up on your annual Form 940.9Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. FUTA Credit Reductions
Penalties If You Miss
The failure-to-deposit penalty is a flat percentage of the unpaid deposit, not a running stack. A deposit that lands 10 days late is charged the 5% rate, not 2% plus 5%:10Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Deposit Penalty
- 1–5 days late: 2%
- 6–15 days late: 5%
- More than 15 days late: 10%
- More than 10 days after the first IRS notice, or upon a demand for immediate payment: 15%
The percentages sit in the tax code itself, and the IRS can waive them only for reasonable cause, not willful neglect.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6656 – Failure to Make Deposit of Taxes
Interest runs on top of the penalty. For the first quarter of 2026 the underpayment rate is 7% per year, compounded daily; it drops to 6% for the second quarter.12Internal Revenue Service. Interest Rates Remain the Same for the First Quarter of 2026 The rate resets each quarter based on the federal short-term rate and can move in either direction.
You Can Be Personally on the Hook
The taxes you withhold from employee paychecks are trust fund taxes: federal income tax and the employee’s share of Social Security and Medicare. They belong to the government from the moment they leave the paycheck. If those funds are not deposited, the IRS can assess a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty equal to 100% of the unpaid trust fund taxes against any person who was responsible for paying them and willfully failed to do so.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6672 – Failure to Collect and Pay Over Tax, or Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax
“Person” here is not limited to the business entity. It includes owners, officers, directors, and anyone with authority to decide which bills get paid. If you signed checks, had access to the bank account, or directed how company funds were spent, the IRS can pursue you personally even when the business is a corporation or LLC. A narrow exception covers unpaid, honorary board members of tax-exempt organizations who did not participate in daily financial operations and had no knowledge of the failure. Everyone else with control over the money is a potential target.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6672 – Failure to Collect and Pay Over Tax, or Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax