Paid nonprofit’s 941 late

@becky2836  Whether the disaster area extension of time applies depends on the timing of it and your late payment.

Regardless, although it's not an absolute rule, the IRS tends to forgive the first mistake for any given company. They'll send a letter automatically once they process the relevant 941 report saying something to the effect of 'We could have smacked you, but we chose not to this time.'

So, if I were you, I'd wait for the letter before I lose any sleep over it.

I can see how you want to pay your 941 forms without incurring any penalty charges. Allow me to provide details on this and guide you on what you can do, Becky2836.

The penalty for failing to pay the full amount owed by the due date is generally a percentage of the unpaid taxes and can increase over time if the payment remains outstanding. Nonprofit organizations are not exempt from these penalties, even operating for charitable purposes.

However, if you have a reasonable cause for the late payment, you'll want to reach out to the IRS to confirm if they can waive the charge This is especially applicable in situations like natural disasters or other major issues that affect your ability to pay on time. They have specific procedures or criteria for waiving penalties related to disaster relief and contacting them ensures you receive the most accurate and relevant information.

To ensure that federal payments are made on time, read this article for more information: E-File and E-Pay Federal Forms and Taxes in QuickBooks Desktop.

Furthermore, you may want to check out the status of the payroll tax forms and payments you sent electronically and handle e-file and e-pay rejection, see the articles below for your guide:

• Handle Payroll E-file and E-Pay Rejections
• Check the Status of your Payroll Tax Payments or Filings Sent Through QuickBooks Payroll

You can always let us know if you have any other questions or concerns about penalties for paying payroll forms. The Community team is always here to help.

Unfortunately, by the time I discovered it it was already January. This would have been November‘s payment that I was late on. Will that affect the W-2s for the employees? God this year off to a great start

@becky2836  "Will that affect the W-2s for the employees?"

No; the W-2s are not dependent on you actually paying the taxes associated with their paychecks.

Late payments do not directly impact the W-2 forms for employees in the QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Payroll, @becky2836. With the information below, you'll be able to learn more about the W-2.

The W-2 form reflects the total wages paid to employees and taxes withheld within the fiscal year. However, late 941 payments, which are used to report federal income tax withheld and both the employer and employee portions of Social Security and Medicare taxes, might lead to penalties or interest charges for the organization, but these do not change the W-2 information.

With this, we recommend reaching out to the IRS to confirm if they can waive the charge if you have a reasonable cause for the late payment.

Find out more about verifying the status of payroll tax forms and payments electronically submitted via QuickBooks to the IRS or state agencies by checking out this article: Check the status of your payroll tax payments or filings sent through QuickBooks Payroll.

Moreover, this handy resource can help you have a paper copy of your W-2s for your records: Print your W-2 and W-3 forms.

If you need further queries about 941 and W-2 payroll forms in QBDT, you can leave a message below. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Many thanks for your helpful answers!

One more question. The 941 report that I filed for the fourth quarter has not been accepted by agency yet. It usually is processed and accepted the same day. I used the totals that should have been paid in the fourth quarter. Perhaps that flagged the report?

Should I have used only the dollar amount that l actually paid in the fourth quarter?

Or could it be that the IRS is recognizing there was a late payment and that is causing a delay in acceptance? I'm going to ask our CFO to reach out to the IRS more than likely.

But I'm just trying to be well armed with information. Thank you so much for all your helpful answers so far! I think this is my last one. 

@becky2836  What you're describing is an issue with QuickBooks, not the IRS.

From their perspective, the only consequence the dollar amount paid has is on the letter they send out calling you out on it; it won't affect processing time.

If you look around this community, you'll find many people encountering the issue you describe.

@becky2836  The above being said, your statement is a bit confusing.

The amount showing as paid on the 941 report should be the amount you paid in relation to the same 941 report; it doesn't matter if it was on time, and it certainly isn't the amount you paid during the quarter in question; the last payment is normally made after the quarter is fully over.

Our monthly payroll is submitted by the 7th of the following month, so the payroll submitted on December 8th would have been the final payroll of the year. It was really hard to wrap my mind around doing quarters this way. Our CFO did our payroll before she resigned, and she reported based on the actual dates she submitted the payroll taxes to the IRS. So the first quarter report of 2025 will include the payroll taxes calculated for the month of December 2024, January 2025, and February 2025. 

That should have been 7th business day The following month

@becky2836  "So the first quarter report of 2025 will include the payroll taxes calculated for the month of December 2024, January 2025, and February 2025."

I can honestly say I've never encountered that concept. Guess I'm out.

@Rainflurry  @BigRedConsulting  Thoughts?

It’s possible l'm being as clear as mud. Our former CFO would report based on the actual dates payroll taxes were submitted, not the month they were tied to. So our December payroll taxes were actually submitted on January 8th. She would have considered that payment a part of the first quarter.

That is also how the QuickBooks report sweeps the information up based on the date the payment was submitted.

Thoughts:

Yes, payroll taxes are due to be remitted based on the payroll dates, not the pay periods - not when the work happened but when you paid the employee for it.

Because most pay dates happen at some point after the pay period ends, such as the following Friday, the pay period and the pay dates can fall in different reporting periods, such as different quarters or even different years.

Does that make sense?

Yes, it sure does. Thank you!