Purpose of Form 944

Form 944 is designed so the smallest employers (those whose annual liability for social security, Medicare, and withheld federal income taxes is $1,000 or less) will file and pay these taxes only once a year instead of every quarter. These instructions tell you who must file Form 944, 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 944, see Pub. 15 and go to IRS.gov/EmploymentTaxes .

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 tax and Medicare tax. This share of social security tax and Medicare tax isn’t withheld from employees.

For more information about annual employment tax filing and tax deposit rules, see Treasury Decision 9566, 2012-8 I.R.B. 389, at IRS.gov/irb/2012-08_IRB#TD-9566 .