9. Employer's Returns

General instructions. File Forms 941-SS for nonfarmworkers and 943 for farmworkers.

The IRS sends each employer a form preaddressed with name, address, and EIN. If you use a form that is not preaddressed, enter your name and EIN exactly as they appeared on previous returns.

Nonfarm employers. File your first Form 941-SS return for the calendar quarter in which you pay wages for nonfarm workers.

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 you go out of business, or stop paying wages, mark the final return box and show the date final wages were paid on Form 941-SS for the quarter in which you made the final payment.

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

Employers of farmworkers. Every employer of farmworkers must file a Form 943 for each calendar year beginning with the first year you pay $2,500 or more for farmwork or you employ 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 as farmworkers on Form 943. Do not report wages for farmworkers on Form 941-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 until February 12 to file Form 943.

If you receive a Form 943 for a year in which you are not liable for filing, write "NONE" on 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, mark the box near the top of the form indicating you do not have to file future returns. If you later become liable for any of the taxes, notify your Internal Revenue Service representative.

Adjustments

Generally, you can correct errors on a prior return by making an adjustment on Forms 941-SS or 943 for the tax period (quarter or year) during which the error was discovered. For example, if you made an error reporting social security tax on your second quarter 2000 Form 941-SS and discovered the error during January 2001, correct the error by making an adjustment on your first quarter 2001 Form 941-SS.

The adjustment increases or decreases your tax liability for the period in which it is reported (the quarter or year the error is discovered) and is interest free. The net adjustments reported on Form 941-SS (or Form 943) may include any number of corrections for one or more previous quarters (or years), including both overpayments and underpayments.

You are required to provide background information and certifications supporting prior period adjustments. File Form 941c, Supporting Statement To Correct Information, with Form 941-SS or Form 943, or attach an equivalent supporting statement.

Do not file Form 941c separately from Form 941-SS or 943. Form 941c is not an amended return. It is used to provide necessary certification and background information supporting the adjustments made on Forms 941-SS or 943.

Form 941-SS and the Form 943 instructions explain how to correct mistakes in reporting withheld social security and Medicare taxes, including the use of Form 941c. You may also make an adjustment for overwithheld social security and/or Medicare taxes; you may be able to claim a refund of these taxes on Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement.

If you withhold no social security tax, Medicare tax, or less than the right amount of either tax from an employee's wages, you can make it up from later pay to that employee. But you are responsible for the underpayment. Any reimbursement from the employee's own funds for amounts not collected must be agreed to by you and the employee. (This does not apply to tax on tips. See section 5.)

If you withhold more than the right amount of social security tax or Medicare tax from wages paid, give the employee the amount overcollected. Be sure to keep in your records the employee's written receipt showing the date and amount of the repayment. If you do not have a receipt, you must report and pay any overcollection when you file the return for the return period in which the overcollection was made.

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