Form 943-A (Rev. 10-2017)
Page 3
Future Developments
For the latest information about developments related to Form 943-A
and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they were
published, go to www.irs.gov/Form943A.
What's New
Adjusting tax liability for the qualified small business payroll tax
credit for increasing research activities. For 2017 and
subsequent years, you must account for any qualified small
business payroll tax credit for increasing research activities that you
reported on Form 943, line 12, when reporting your liabilities on
Form 943-A. The total liability for the year must equal Form 943, line
13. Failure to account for the amount reported on Form 943, line 12,
may cause Form 943-A to report more than the total taxes after
adjustments and credits reported on Form 943, line 13.
The qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing
research activities applies to the employer share of social security
tax on wages paid in the quarter that begins after the income tax
return electing the credit has been filed. In completing Form 943-A,
you take into account the payroll tax credit against your liability for
the employer share of social security tax starting with the first
payroll payment of the quarter that includes payments of wages to
your employees that are subject to social security tax. Don't reduce
your daily tax liability reported on Form 943-A below zero. For more
information, see the line 17 instructions in the Instructions for Form
943.
Reminders
Reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period adjustments are
reported on Form 943-X, Adjusted Employer’s Annual Federal Tax
Return for Agricultural Employees or Claim for Refund, and aren't
taken into account when figuring the tax liability for the current year.
When you file Form 943-A with your Form 943, don't change
your current year tax liability by adjustments reported on any Forms
943-X.
Amended Form 943-A. If you have been assessed a
failure-to-deposit (FTD) penalty, you may be able to file an amended
Form 943-A. See Correcting Previously Reported Tax Liability, later.
General Instructions
Purpose of form. Use Form 943-A to report your tax liability
(federal income tax withheld plus both employee and employer
social security and Medicare taxes). Your tax liability is based on
the dates wages were paid. Don't show federal tax deposits here.
Don't report taxes on wages paid to nonfarm workers on this
form. Taxes on wages paid to nonfarm workers are reported on
Form 941/941-SS, Employer’s QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, or
Form 944, Employer’s ANNUAL Federal Tax Return. Don't attach
Form 943-A to your Form 941/941-SS or Form 944. Instead, use
Schedule B (Form 941) or Form 945-A, Annual Record of Federal
Tax Liability (with Form 944).
Caution: The IRS uses Form 943-A to determine if you have timely
deposited your Form 943 tax liabilities. If you're a semiweekly
schedule depositor and you don't properly complete and file
Form 943-A with Form 943, the IRS may propose an “averaged”
FTD penalty. See Deposit Penalties in section 7 of Pub. 51,
Agricultural Employer's Tax Guide, for more information.
Who must file. Semiweekly schedule depositors must complete
and file Form 943-A with Form 943. Monthly schedule depositors
who accumulate $100,000 or more of tax liability on any day of a
calendar month become semiweekly schedule depositors on the
next day and remain so for at least the remainder of the year and for
the next year, and must also complete and file Form 943-A for the
entire year. Don't file Form 943-A if you were a monthly schedule
depositor for the entire year or if your total taxes after adjustments
and credits for the year (Form 943, line 13) are less than $2,500.
Note: If you use Form 943-A, don't complete Form 943, line 17.
When to file. File Form 943-A with your Form 943 every year when
Form 943 is due. See the Instructions for Form 943 for due dates.
Specific Instructions
Enter your business information. Carefully enter your employer
identification number (EIN) and name at the top of the form. Make
sure that they exactly match the name of your business and the EIN
that the IRS assigned to your business and also agree with the
name and EIN shown on the attached Form 943 or Form 943-X.
Calendar year. Enter the calendar year of the Form 943 or Form
943-X to which Form 943-A is attached.
Enter your tax liability by month. Enter your tax liabilities in the
spaces that correspond to the dates you paid wages to your
employees, not the date payroll liabilities were accrued or deposits
were made. The total tax liability for the year (line M) must equal
total taxes after adjustments and credits on Form 943 (line 13).
Enter the monthly totals on lines A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L.
Enter the total for the year on line M.
For example, if your payroll period ended on December 31, 2016,
and you paid the wages for that period on January 7, 2017, you
would:
• Go to January on Form 943-A filed with your 2017 Form 943, and
• Enter your tax liability on line 7 because line 7 represents the
seventh day of the month.
TIP
Make sure you have checked the appropriate box
below line 16 of Form 943 to show that you're a
semiweekly schedule depositor.
Here are some additional examples.
• Cedar Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor. Cedar Co.
accumulated a federal tax liability of $3,000 on its January 11 and
January 25 paydays. In the January column, Cedar Co. must enter
$3,000 on lines 11 and 25.
• Fir Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor who paid wages in
October, November, and December on the last day of the month.
On December 24, 2017, Fir Co. also paid its employees year-end
bonuses (subject to employment taxes). Because Fir Co. is a
semiweekly schedule depositor, it must record employment tax
liabilities on Form 943-A.
Month Lines for dates wages were paid
October line 31 (payday, last day of the month)
November line 30 (payday, last day of the month)
December
lines 24 (bonus paid) + 31 (payday, last day of the
month)
• Elm Co. is a new business and monthly schedule depositor for
2017. Elm Co. pays wages every Friday. Elm Co. incurred a $2,000
employment tax liability on October 6, 2017. Elm Co. incurred a
$110,000 tax liability on October 13, 2017, and on every
subsequent Friday during 2017. Under the deposit rules, employers
become semiweekly schedule depositors on the day after any day
they accumulate $100,000 or more of tax liability in a deposit
period.
Because Elm Co. had an accumulated tax liability of $112,000 on
October 13, 2017, it became a semiweekly schedule depositor on
October 14, 2017, and must complete Form 943-A and file it with
Form 943. No entries should be made on Form 943, line 17, even
though Elm Co. was a monthly schedule depositor until October 14,
2017.
Month Lines for dates wages were paid Amount to record
October
line 6 $2,000
October lines 13, 20, 27 $110,000
November lines 3, 10, 17, 24 $110,000
December lines 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 $110,000
See section 7 of Pub. 51 for more information.
