Part 1: Answer These Questions for This Year

Caution: Employers in American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI, the USVI, and Puerto Rico must skip lines 1 and 2, unless you have employees who are subject to U.S. income tax withholding.

1. Wages, Tips, and Other Compensation Enter amounts on line 1 that would also be included in box 1 of your employees’ Forms W-2. See Box 1—Wages, tips, other compensation in the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 for details. Include sick pay paid by your agent. Also include sick pay paid by a third party that isn’t your agent (for example, an insurance company) if you were given timely notice of the payments and the third party transferred liability for the employer’s taxes to you.

If you’re a third-party payer of sick pay and not an agent of the employer, don’t include sick pay that you paid to policyholders’ employees here if you gave the policyholders timely notice of the payments. See section 6 of Pub. 15-A, Employer’s Supplemental Tax Guide, for more information about sick pay reporting and the procedures for transferring the liability to the employer.

2. Federal Income Tax Withheld From Wages, Tips, and Other Compensation Enter the federal income tax that you withheld (or were required to withhold) from your employees on this year’s wages, tips, taxable fringe benefits, and supplemental unemployment compensation benefits. Don’t include any income tax withheld by a third-party payer of sick pay even if you reported it on Forms W-2. You will reconcile this difference on Form W-3. For information on the employment tax treatment of fringe benefits, see Pub. 15-B. For information about supplemental unemployment compensation benefits, see section 5 of Pub. 15-A.

If you’re a third-party payer of sick pay, enter the federal income tax you withheld (or were required to withhold) on third-party sick pay here.

Caution: References to federal income tax withholding don’t apply to employers in American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI, the USVI, and Puerto Rico, unless you have employees who are subject to U.S. income tax withholding.

3. If No Wages, Tips, and Other Compensation Are Subject to Social Security or Medicare Tax... If no wages, tips, and other compensation on line 1 are subject to social security or Medicare tax, check the box on line 3 and go to line 5. If this question doesn’t apply to you, leave the box blank. For more information about exempt wages, see section 15 of Pub. 15. For religious exemptions, see section 4 of Pub. 15-A. For information on the employment tax treatment of fringe benefits, see Pub. 15-B.

4a–4e. Taxable Social Security and Medicare Wages and Tips

4a. Taxable social security wages. Enter the total wages, sick pay, and taxable fringe benefits subject to social security taxes that you paid to your employees during the year. For this purpose, sick pay includes payments made by an insurance company to your employees for which you received timely notice from the insurance company. See section 6 of Pub. 15-A for more information about sick pay reporting. See the instructions for line 6, later, for an adjustment that you may need to make on Form 944 for sick pay.

Enter the amount before payroll deductions. Don’t include tips on this line. For information on types of wages subject to social security taxes, see section 5 of Pub. 15.

For 2025, the rate of social security tax on taxable wages is 6.2% (0.062) each for the employer and employee. Stop paying social security tax on and entering an employee’s wages on line 4a when the employee’s taxable wages and tips reach $176,100 for the year. However, continue to withhold income and Medicare taxes for the whole year on all wages and tips, even when the social security wage base limit of $176,100 has been reached.

line 4a (column 1) x 0.124

line 4a (column 2)

4b. Taxable social security tips. Enter all tips your employees reported to you during the year until the total of the tips and taxable wages, including wages reported on line 4a, for an employee reaches $176,100 for the year. Include all tips your employees reported to you even if you were unable to withhold the 6.2% employee share of social security tax. You will reduce your total taxes by the amount of any uncollected employee share of social security and Medicare taxes on tips later on line 6; see Adjustments for tips and group-term life insurance, later. Don’t include service charges on line 4b. For details about the difference between tips and service charges, see Rev. Rul. 2012-18, 2012-26 I.R.B. 1032, available at IRS.gov/irb/2012-26_IRB#RR-2012-18 .

Your employee must report cash tips to you by the 10th day of the month after the month the tips are received.

8 Instructions for Form 944 (2025)

Cash tips include tips paid by cash, check, debit card, and credit card. The report should include charged tips (for example, credit and debit card charges) you paid over to the employee for charge customers, tips the employee received directly from customers, and tips received from other employees under any tip-sharing arrangement. Both directly and indirectly tipped employees must report tips to you. No report is required for months when tips are less than $20. Employees may submit a written statement or electronic tip record.

line 4b (column 1) x 0.124

line 4b (column 2)

For more information on tips, see section 6 of Pub. 15. 4c. Taxable Medicare wages and tips. Enter all wages, tips, sick pay, and taxable fringe benefits that are subject to Medicare tax. Unlike social security wages, there is no limit on the amount of wages subject to Medicare tax. See the instructions for line 6, later, for an adjustment that you may need to make on Form 944 for sick pay.

The rate of Medicare tax is 1.45% (0.0145) each for the employer and employee. Include all tips your employees reported during the year, even if you were unable to withhold the employee tax of 1.45%.

line 4c (column 1) x 0.029

line 4c (column 2)

4d. Taxable wages & tips subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding. Enter all wages, tips, sick pay, and taxable fringe benefits that are subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding. You’re required to begin withholding Additional Medicare Tax in the pay period in which you pay wages in excess of $200,000 to an employee and continue to withhold it each pay period until the end of the calendar year. Additional Medicare Tax is only imposed on the employee. There is no employer share of Additional Medicare Tax. All wages that are subject to Medicare tax are subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding if paid in excess of the $200,000 withholding threshold.

For more information on what wages are subject to Medicare tax, see section 15 of Pub. 15. For more information on Additional Medicare Tax, go to IRS.gov/ ADMTfaqs . See the instructions for line 6, later, for an adjustment that you may need to make on Form 944 for sick pay.

Once wages and tips exceed the $200,000 withholding threshold, include all tips your employees reported during the year, even if you were unable to withhold the employee tax of 0.9%.

4e. Total social security and Medicare taxes. Add the column 2 amounts on lines 4a–4d. Enter the result on line 4e.

5. Total Taxes Before Adjustments Add the total federal income tax withheld from wages, tips, and other compensation from line 2 and the total social security and Medicare taxes before adjustments from line 4e. Enter the result on line 5.

6. Current Year’s Adjustments Enter tax amounts that result from current period adjustments. Use a minus sign (if possible) to show an adjustment that decreases the total taxes shown on line 5. Otherwise, use parentheses.

In certain cases, you must adjust the amounts you entered as social security and Medicare taxes in column 2 of lines 4a–4d to figure your correct tax liability for this year’s Form 944. See section 13 of Pub. 15.

Adjustment for fractions of cents. Enter adjustments for fractions of cents (due to rounding) relating to the employee share of social security and Medicare taxes withheld. The employee share of amounts shown in column 2 of lines 4a–4d may differ slightly from amounts actually withheld from employees’ pay due to rounding social security and Medicare taxes based on statutory rates. This adjustment may be a positive or a negative adjustment.

Adjustment for sick pay. If your third-party payer of sick pay that isn’t your agent (for example, an insurance company) transfers the liability for the employer share of the social security and Medicare taxes to you, enter a negative adjustment on line 6 for the employee share of social security and Medicare taxes that were withheld and deposited by your third-party sick pay payer on the sick pay. If you’re the third-party sick pay payer and you transferred the liability for the employer share of the social security and Medicare taxes to the employer, enter a negative adjustment on line 6 for any employer share of these taxes required to be paid by the employer. The sick pay should be included on line 4a, line 4c, and, if the withholding threshold is met, line 4d.

No adjustment is reported on line 6 for sick pay that is paid through a third party as an employer’s agent. An employer’s agent bears no insurance risk and is reimbursed on a cost-plus-fee basis for payment of sick pay and similar amounts. If an employer uses an agent to pay sick pay, the employer reports the wages on line 4a, line 4c, and, if the withholding threshold is met, line 4d, unless the employer has an agency agreement with the third-party payer that requires the third-party payer to do the collecting, reporting, and/or paying or depositing employment taxes on the sick pay. See section 6 of Pub. 15-A for more information about reporting sick pay. Adjustments for tips and group-term life insurance. Enter a negative adjustment for:

• Any uncollected employee share of social security and Medicare taxes on tips, and

• The uncollected employee share of social security and Medicare taxes on group-term life insurance premiums paid for former employees.

line 4d (column 1) x 0.009

line 4d (column 2)

Instructions for Form 944 (2025) 9

See the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 for information on how to report the uncollected employee share of social security and Medicare taxes on tips and group-term life insurance on Form W-2.

Prior year’s adjustments. If you need to adjust any amount reported on line 6 from a previously filed Form 944, complete and file Form 944-X. Form 944-X is an adjusted return or claim for refund and is filed separately from Form 944. See section 13 of Pub. 15.

7. Total Taxes After Adjustments Combine the amounts shown on lines 5 and 6 and enter the result on line 7.

8. Qualified Small Business Payroll Tax Credit for Increasing Research Activities Enter the amount of the credit from Form 8974, line 12 or, if applicable, line 17. If you enter an amount on line 8, you must attach Form 8974.

more under the instructions for line 9, earlier, for exceptions.

If you were required to make federal tax deposits, pay the amount shown on line 11 by EFT. If you weren’t required to make federal tax deposits (see the Federal Tax Deposit Requirements for Form 944 Filers chart, earlier) or you’re a monthly schedule depositor making a payment under the accuracy of deposits rule, pay the amount shown on line 11 by EFT, credit card, debit card, check, money order, or EFW. For more information on electronic payment options, go to IRS.gov/Pay .

If you pay by EFT, credit card, or debit card, file your return using the Without a payment address under Where Should You File, earlier. Don’t file Form 944-V, Payment Voucher.

If you pay by check or money order, make it payable to “United States Treasury.” Enter your EIN, “Form 944,” and the tax year on your check or money order. Complete Form 944-V and enclose it with Form 944.

Caution: If you’re required to make deposits and instead pay the taxes with Form 944, you may be subject to a penalty.

9. Total Taxes After Adjustments and Nonrefundable Credits Subtract line 8 from line 7 and enter the result on line 9. The amount entered on line 9 can’t be less than zero.

• If line 9 is less than $2,500, you may pay the amount with Form 944 or you may deposit the amount.

• If line 9 is $2,500 or more, you must generally deposit your tax liabilities by EFT. However, if you deposited all taxes accumulated in the first 3 quarters of the year and your fourth quarter liability is less than $2,500, you may pay taxes accumulated during the fourth quarter with Form

944. Also, see section 11 of Pub. 15 for information about payments made under the accuracy of deposits rule. The amount shown on line 9 must equal the amount shown on line 13m or the “Total tax liability for the year” shown on line M of Form 945-A, Annual Record of Federal Tax Liability. For more information, see the line 13 instructions, later.

What if you can’t pay in full? If you can’t pay the full amount of tax you owe, you can apply for an installment agreement online. You can apply for an installment agreement online if:

Under an installment agreement, you can pay what you owe in monthly installments. There are certain conditions you must meet to enter into and maintain an installment agreement, such as paying the liability within 24 months, and making all required deposits and timely filing tax returns during the length of the agreement.

• You can’t pay the full amount shown on line 11,

• The total amount you owe is $25,000 or less, and

• You can pay the liability in full in 24 months. To apply using the Online Payment Agreement Application, go to IRS.gov/OPA .

For more information and rules about federal tax deposits, see Must You Deposit Your Taxes, earlier, and section 11 of Pub. 15.

Caution: If you’re a semiweekly schedule depositor, you must complete Form 945-A. If you fail to complete and submit Form 945-A, the IRS may assess deposit penalties based on available information.

10. Total Deposits for This Year Enter your deposits for this year, including any overpayment that you applied from filing Form 944-X, 941-X, or 941-X (PR) in the current year. Also include in the amount shown any overpayment from a previous period that you applied to this return.

11. Balance Due If line 9 is more than line 10, enter the difference on line 11. Otherwise, see the instructions for line 12a, later. Never make an entry on both lines 11 and 12a.

You don’t have to pay if line 11 is less than $1. Generally, you should have a balance due only if your total taxes after adjustments and nonrefundable credits (line 9) are less than $2,500. However, see If line 9 is $2,500 or

If your installment agreement is accepted, you will be charged a fee and you will be subject to penalties and interest on the amount of tax not paid by the due date of the return.

12a. Overpayment If line 10 is more than line 9, enter the amount on line 12a. Never make an entry on both lines 11 and 12a.

12b. Choose to have your overpayment applied to your next return or refunded. If you deposited more than the correct amount for the year, you can choose to have the IRS either refund the overpayment or apply it to your next return. Check only one box on line 12b. If you don’t check either box or if you check both boxes, we will generally apply the overpayment to your next return. Regardless of any boxes you check or don’t check on line 12b, we may apply your overpayment to any past due tax account that is shown in our records under your EIN. If you check the box to have your overpayment refunded but you don’t complete lines 12c–12e for direct deposit, your refund may be delayed.

If line 12a is less than $1, we will send a refund or apply it to your next return only if you ask us in writing to do so.

10 Instructions for Form 944 (2025)

Direct Deposit

The benefits of a direct deposit include a faster refund, the added security of a paperless payment, and the savings of tax dollars associated with the reduced processing costs. To have your refund direct deposited, you must complete lines 12c–12e.

12c. Routing number. The routing number must be nine digits. The first two digits must be 01 through 12 or 21 through 32. Verify that your financial institution will accept a direct deposit.

Ask your financial institution for the correct routing number to enter on line 12c if:

• The routing number on a deposit slip is different from the routing number on your checks,

• Your deposit is to a savings account that doesn’t allow you to write checks, or

• Your checks state they’re payable through a financial institution different from the one at which you have your checking account.

12d. Type of account. Check the appropriate box for the type of account. Don’t check more than one box. You must check the correct box to ensure your deposit is accepted. If you’re unsure which box to check for the account you wish the deposit to be applied to, consult your financial institution.

12e. Account number. The account number can be up to 17 characters (both numbers and letters). Include hyphens but omit spaces and special symbols. Enter the number from left to right and leave any unused boxes blank.

If the direct deposit to your account is different from the amount you expected, you’ll receive an explanation in the mail about 2 weeks after your refund is deposited.

Reasons Your Direct Deposit Request Will Be Rejected