9. Employer's Returns(p13)

File Form 941-SS (or Form 944-SS) for nonfarm workers and Form 943, for farmworkers. (U.S. Virgin Islands employers may be required to file Form 940 for the combined wages of nonfarm workers and farmworkers.)

If you have both employees who are subject to U.S. income tax withholding and employees who are not subject to U.S. income tax withholding, you must file only Form 941 (or Form 944) and include all your employees’ wages on that form.

File Form 941-SS for the calendar quarter in which you first pay wages for nonfarm workers and for each quarter thereafter unless you are a seasonal employer or file a final return. Due dates for each quarter of the calendar year are as follows.

Quarter	Due
Jan., Feb., Mar.	Apr. 30
Apr., May, June	July 31
July, Aug., Sept.	Oct. 31
Oct., Nov., Dec.	Jan. 31

However, if you deposited all taxes when due for the quarter, you have 10 additional days from the due dates above to file the return. If the due date for filing your return falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, you may file on the next business day.

If you closed your business or stopped paying wages and do not have to file returns in the future, check the box on line 17 of your final Form 941-SS and show the date final wages were paid.

If IRS notified you to file Form 944-SS, file your 2011 Form 944-SS by January 31, 2012, or by February 10, 2012, if you deposited all taxes when due.

If you are a sole proprietor and file Form 941-SS (or Form 944-SS) for business employees, you may include taxes for household employees on your Form 941-SS (or Form 944-SS). Otherwise, report social security and Medicare taxes for household employees on Schedule H (Form 1040), Household Employment Taxes. See Publication 926, Household Employer's Tax Guide, for more information.

Every employer of farmworkers must file a Form 943 for each calendar year beginning with the first year the employer pays $2,500 or more for farmwork or employs a farmworker who meets the $150 test described in section 6.

File a Form 943 each year for all taxable wages paid for farmwork. You may report household workers in a private home on a farm operated for profit on Form 943. Do not report wages for farmworkers on Form 941-SS or Form 944-SS.

Send Form 943 to the IRS by January 31 of the following year. Send it with payment of any taxes due that you are not required to deposit. If you deposited all taxes when due, you have 10 additional days to file.

If you receive a Form 943 for a year in which you are not required to file, write "NONE" on Form 943, line 9, sign the form, and send it back to the IRS. If at that time you do not expect to meet either test in section 6 in the future, check the final return box above line 1. If you later become liable for any of the taxes, notify the IRS.

For each whole or part month that a return is not filed when required (disregarding any extensions of the filing deadline), there is a failure-to-file penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax due with that return. The maximum penalty is generally 25% of the tax due. Also, for each whole or part month that the tax is paid late (disregarding any extensions of the payment deadline), there is a failure-to-pay penalty of 0.5% per month of the amount of tax. For individual filers only, the failure-to-pay penalty is reduced from 0.5% per month to 0.25% per month if an installment agreement is in effect. You must have filed your return on or before the due date of the return to qualify for the reduced penalty. The maximum amount of the failure-to-pay penalty is also 25% of the tax due. If both penalties apply in any month, the failure-to-file penalty is reduced by the amount of the failure-to-pay penalty. The penalties will not be charged if you have a reasonable cause for failing to file or pay. If you receive a penalty notice, you can provide an explanation of why you believe reasonable cause exists.

Make current period adjustments for fractions of cents, sick pay, tips, and group-term life insurance on your Form 941-SS, Form 944-SS, or Form 943. See the Instructions for Form 941-SS, Form 944-SS, or Form 943, for information on how to report these adjustments.

The Internal Revenue Service has developed Form 941-X and Form 944-X to replace Form 941c, Supporting Statement to Correct Information. There are also new Forms 943-X, 945-X, and CT-1X to report corrections on the corresponding returns. Form 941-X and Form 944-X also replace Form 843, Claim for Refund or Request for Abatement, for employers to request a refund or abatement of overreported employment taxes. Continue to use Form 843 when requesting a refund or abatement of assessed interest or penalties.

Treasury Decision 9405 changed the process for making interest-free adjustments to employment taxes reported on Form 941-SS and Form 944-SS and for filing a claim for refund of employment taxes. Treasury Decision 9405, 2008-32 I.R.B. 293, is available at www.irs.gov/irb/2008-32_IRB/ar13.html. You will use the adjustment process if you underreported employment taxes and are making a payment, or if you overreported employment taxes and will be applying the credit to the Form 941-SS or Form 944-SS period during which you file Form 941-X or Form 944-X. You will use the claim process if you overreported employment taxes and are requesting a refund or abatement of the overreported amount. We use the terms "correct" and "corrections" to include interest-free adjustments under sections 6205 and 6413, and claims for refund and abatement under sections 6402, 6414, and 6404 of the Internal Revenue Code.

When you discover an error on a previously filed Form 941-SS or Form 944-SS, you must:

• Correct that error using Form 941-X or Form 944-X,
• File a separate Form 941-X or Form 944-X for each Form 941-SS or Form 944-SS you are correcting, and
• File Form 941-X or Form 944-X separately. Do not file with Form 941-SS or Form 944-SS.

Report current quarter adjustments for fractions of cents, third-party sick pay, tips, and group-term life insurance on Form 941-SS, lines 7–9, or on Form 944-SS, line 6. Report the correction of underreported and overreported amounts for the same tax period on a single Form 941-X or Form 944-X unless you are requesting a refund. If you are requesting a refund and are correcting both underreported and overreported amounts, file one Form 941-X or Form 944-X correcting the underreported amounts only and a second Form 941-X or Form 944-X correcting the overreported amounts.

See the chart on the back of Form 941-X or Form 944-X for help in choosing whether to use the adjustment process or the claim process. See the Instructions for Form 941-X or Instructions for Form 944-X for details on how to make the adjustment or claim for refund or abatement.

A correction will not be eligible for interest-free treatment if:

• The failure to report relates to an issue raised in an IRS examination of a prior return, or
• The employer knowingly underreported its employment tax liability.

A correction will not be eligible for interest-free treatment after the earlier of the following:

• Receipt of an IRS notice and demand for payment after assessment, or
• Receipt of an IRS Notice of Determination of Worker Classification (Letter 3523).

If you withhold no social security tax, Medicare tax, or less than the correct amount of either tax from an employee's wages, you can make it up by withholding from later pay to that employee. But you are the one who owes the underpayment. Reimbursement is a matter for settlement between you and the employee. See section 5 for special rules for tax on tips.

If you withheld more than the correct amount of social security tax or Medicare tax from wages paid, and discover the error before filing Form 941-SS, Form 944-SS, or Form 943, repay or reimburse the employee the amount overwithheld before filing the return.

An employer reimburses an employee by applying the overwithheld amount against taxes to be withheld on future wages.

Be sure to keep in your records the employee's written receipt showing the date and amount of the repayment or record of reimbursement. You must report and pay any taxes overwithheld when you file the return for the return period in which the overcollection was made if you have not repaid or reimbursed the employee.

For an overcollection reported on a previously filed form 941-SS, Form 944-SS, or Form 943, an employer is required to repay or reimburse its employees prior to filing an adjusted employment tax return. Employers filing claims for refund of overpaid social security and Medicare taxes may either repay or reimburse the employees their share of FICA tax first or get employee consents to file the claim for the excess tax on their behalf. Employers must retain the written receipt of the employee showing the date and amount of the repayment, record of reimbursement, or the written consent of the employee.