Understand federal forms and tax payments for 941, 944, 943, and 940

Learn about the different federal payroll forms, and how our payroll products support them.

The IRS requires businesses with employees to file federal payroll forms. There are 4 different federal payroll forms: 941, 944, 943, and 940. The IRS determines which forms you file based on the amount of federal taxes you accrue each year and if you’re an agricultural business.

We explain each form and how we support them in our QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll products.

Form 941

Form 941 is required for non-agricultural businesses that owe more than $1,000 in total federal taxes (Federal Withholding, Social Security, and Medicare). Most businesses use this form.  You’ll file this form with the IRS quarterly.  

This form is available and supported by all of our QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll products.

Lookback period for Tax Year 2023: July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022 

See the table to know whether you are semi-weekly or monthly depositor.

Form 944

Form 944 is required for non-agricultural businesses that owe $1,000 or less in total federal taxes (Federal Withholding, Social Security, and Medicare).  The IRS notifies you by letter if you’re required to file this form instead of the 941.  You’ll file this form with the IRS annually. 

This form is available and supported by all of our QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll products. 

Lookback period for Tax Year 2023: July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022 

See the table to know whether you are semi-weekly, monthly, or annual depositor.

Form 943

Form 943 is required for agricultural businesses with farmworkers.  You’ll file this form with the IRS annually.  Some businesses may be required to file both a 943 and a 941 or a 944. 

How we support Form 943:

• If you use QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, or Elite
  • This form is available to both Automate taxes and forms On or Off options.
  • Select Form 943 when you set up payroll, or from the Federal tax menu in Payroll Settings.
  • We don’t support filing both a 943 and a 941 or 944.  We can only file one federal tax form per business.  
  • We also don’t support non-cash/commodity wage reporting on the 943. 
  • If you're in Oregon:
    • The state will accept the quarterly form OR-OQ from agricultural businesses without needing to also file the annual forms. We support this quarterly OR-OQ form which reports Withholding, Unemployment, STT, TriMet, LTD, and PFML.
    • If you prefer to file the annual OR-WA and OR-STT-A forms, you'll need to turn off automate taxes and forms in QuickBooks Online and file these forms manually.  You will also need to manually file the quarterly form OQ outside of QuickBooks to report only Unemployment, TriMet, LTD, and PFML.
• If you use QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Enhanced, you can get the form in your product and file it manually with the IRS. 
• If you use QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Assisted, we don’t support Form 943. 

Lookback period for Tax Year 2023: January 1, 2021-December 31, 2021 

See the table to know whether you are semi-weekly, monthly, or annual depositor.

Form 940

Form 940 is required for businesses who are subject to Federal Unemployment (FUTA). The 940 is an annual federal tax form used to report wages subject to and taxes paid for FUTA.  This form is separate from the 941, 944, and 943 forms.  

This form is available and supported by all of our QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll products. 

Find which form you’re required to file

You can find which form you’re required to file on the notice from the IRS.  

Change your form filing in your payroll product

If you need to change the form you file, see Change your deposit and filing schedule.

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