Instructions for Form 941›(Rev. March 2026)›General Instructions:
Purpose of Form 941
Instruction 941 — Instructions for Form 941, Employer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return · 2026-10-03 edition · updated 2026-10-04 · United States
These instructions tell you who must file Form 941, how to complete it line by line, and when and where to file it.
If you want more in-depth information about payroll tax topics relating to Form 941, see Pub. 15 or go to IRS.gov/ EmploymentTaxes .
4 Instructions for Form 941 (Rev. 3-2026)
Caution: References to federal income tax withholding don’t apply to employers in American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), and Puerto Rico, unless you have employees who are subject to U.S. income tax withholding. Contact your local tax department for information about income tax withholding.
Federal law requires you, as an employer, to withhold certain taxes from your employees’ pay. Each time you pay wages, you must withhold—or take out of your employees’ pay—certain amounts for federal income tax, social security tax, and Medicare tax. You must also withhold Additional Medicare Tax from wages you pay to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year. Under the withholding system, taxes withheld from your employees are credited to your employees in payment of their tax liabilities.
Federal law also requires you to pay any liability for the employer share of social security and Medicare taxes. This share of social security and Medicare taxes isn’t withheld from employees.
Get a plain-English answer with a citation back to this text.
Ask AI about this code