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Understand federal forms and tax payments for 941, 943, 944, and 940
If your business has employees, you’ll need to file federal payroll forms. The IRS notice tells you which form or forms you need to file.
Non-agricultural businesses file either Form 941 or Form 944 based on how much they owe in taxes. Agricultural businesses file Form 943. Businesses subject to Federal Unemployment (FUTA) taxes also file Form 940.
We support Forms 941, 944, and 940 in all Intuit QuickBooks Workforce and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll products.
We support Form 943 in all Intuit QuickBooks Workforce products. We support manual filing for Form 943 in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Enhanced, but don’t support it in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Assisted.
What are the federal forms?
Form 941
Most businesses use Form 941. If you run a non-agricultural business that owes more than $1,000 in total federal taxes (Federal withholding, Social Security, and Medicare), you’ll file Form 941 with the IRS quarterly.
For Form 941, the lookback period for Tax Year 2027 is July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
Form 943
If you run an agricultural business, you’ll file Form 943 annually. You may also need to file a Form 941 or 944, depending on your business. 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 don’t support non-cash or commodity wage reporting on the 943.
For form 943, the lookback period for Tax Year 2027 is January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025.
Filing Form 943 in Oregon
In Oregon, the state accepts the quarterly form OR-OQ from agricultural businesses even if you have historically only filed annually. We file the quarterly OR-OQ form for you which reports Withholding, Unemployment, STT, TriMet, LTD, and PFML. You won’t need to also file annual forms OR-WA or OR-STT-A.
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.
For form 944, the lookback period for Tax Year 2027 is July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
Form 940
Form 940 is required for businesses that are subject to the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA). It's filed annually.
Deposit guidelines
Forms 941, 943, and 944
| Deposit schedule | Threshold for each deposit schedule |
| Semi-weekly | Businesses who reported more than $50,000 in taxes during the lookback period |
| Monthly | Businesses who reported less than $50,000 in taxes during the lookback period |
| Annually (Forms 943 or 944 only) | Businesses who reported less than $2,500 during the lookback period. |
Form 940
FUTA is usually paid annually. However, if a company accrues more than $500 during the year, it's due at the end of that quarter.
Change your form filing in your payroll product
If you need to update the form you file, you can change your deposit and filing schedule.
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