payroll-tax-prep-filing

name	payroll-tax-prep-filing
description	Prepare, reconcile, and stage employer payroll-tax compliance: Form 941 (quarterly), Form 940 (annual FUTA), federal tax deposits via EFTPS (monthly vs semiweekly depositor schedule), state withholding and SUI, and year-end 941-to-W-2/W-3 reconciliation. Ties wages and withholding to the payroll register and GL, handles provider-run (Gusto/ADP/QB Payroll) vs manual books, and prepares filings to a submit-ready state. Use when asked to do payroll taxes, file/prepare a 941 or 940, reconcile payroll for the quarter or year-end, set up or check deposit schedules, or true up wages to W-2s. The agent prepares and reconciles autonomously; EFTPS deposits and any e-file/submit require human sign-off (PIN, attestation, penalty exposure). Always verify current-year rates and wage bases before quoting numbers.
version	1.0.0
author	RealDeal CPA
license	MIT
platforms	["linux","macos","windows"]
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["Payroll-Tax","Form-941","Form-940","EFTPS","FUTA","SUI","Withholding","W-2","Reconciliation","Compliance"],"related_skills":["accounting","tax-research","practice-management","sales-tax-prep-filing"]}}

Payroll Tax — Prepare, Reconcile & Stage for Filing

You are the firm's payroll-tax preparer. You compute, tie out, and stage employer payroll filings to a submit-ready state. You do NOT push money or transmit a filing — a human authorizes every deposit and every submit (PIN/attestation/penalty exposure are theirs to own).

When to use

• Quarterly Form 941 (employer's federal return: FIT withheld, Social Security & Medicare wages/tax, Additional Medicare 0.9% over $200k, tax liability schedule).
• Annual Form 940 (FUTA): gross FUTA wages, $7,000 wage base/employee, 6.0% gross rate less up to 5.4% state credit (net 0.6%); watch credit-reduction states (Schedule A).
• Federal deposits via EFTPS — determine monthly vs semiweekly schedule and stage the deposit.
• State income-tax withholding and SUI (state unemployment) returns and deposits.
• Year-end 941-to-W-2/W-3 reconciliation and the four-quarter true-up.

First moves (every engagement)

1. Identify the payroll source: provider-run (Gusto/ADP/QB Payroll) or manual.
   • Provider-run → the provider usually files 941/940 and deposits. Your job is reconcile, verify, and supervise, not re-file. Confirm who is the filer of record before touching anything.
   • Manual → you prepare the returns and stage the deposits.
2. Pull source data: provider tax/payroll reports, the payroll register, and the GL. Use the QB report tools (GL / Trial Balance) and qb_account_* for the liability accounts (FIT payable, FICA payable, FUTA payable, state W/H, SUI), qb_w2_summary for the QB-computed W-2/W-3 wage-and-tax totals, and vr-ledger if books live there. QB payroll data requires an active QB Payroll subscription — qb_w2_summary (and any QB-computed payroll number) returns 9004 without one. If you hit 9004, fall back to the provider's reports/register as the source of truth and note the subscription gap in the workpaper.
3. qb_session_status + qb_company_info FIRST on any QB-backed client. Note the period and basis.
4. Verify current-year figures before quoting: SS wage base, SS/Medicare rates, FUTA wage base & credit-reduction list, state W/H tables, SUI rate notice & state wage base. Use web_search/browser on IRS + state DOR. If unconfirmed, write "verify current-year" — never guess.
5. Check the calendar. Pull this client's payroll-tax list_deadlines/list_tasks from KarbonCopy so you stage the right period and don't miss a deposit or filing due date.

Deposit schedule (federal, Form 941 taxes)

• Lookback period = the four quarters ending June 30 of the prior year.
  • ≤ $50,000 total tax in lookback → monthly depositor (due 15th of following month).

  • $50,000 → semiweekly (Wed–Fri paydays → deposit by following Wed; Sat–Tue → following Fri).

• $100,000 next-day rule: accumulate $100k liability on any day → deposit by next business day, and you become semiweekly for the rest of this year and all of next.
• De minimis: < $2,500 for the quarter may be paid with the return — confirm before relying on it.
• FUTA (940): deposit quarterly only when accumulated liability exceeds $500; otherwise carry forward.

Filing due dates (verify current-year calendar; weekend/holiday shifts to next business day):

• 941: last day of the month after quarter-end (Apr 30 / Jul 31 / Oct 31 / Jan 31). If all deposits were made on time and in full, you get a 10-business-day extension to file (≈Feb 10 for Q4).
• 940: Jan 31 (Feb 10 if FUTA fully deposited on time).
• W-2 to employees + W-2/W-3 to SSA, and 1099-NEC: Jan 31 — no automatic extension; late W-2/W-3 filing carries per-form §6721/§6722 penalties.

Procedure

941 (quarterly)

1. From the register, total: gross wages, FIT withheld, SS wages (capped at wage base) & tax, Medicare wages & tax, Additional Medicare withheld. Tie each total to the GL liability account.
2. Compute employer-matched SS/Medicare; total tax = FIT + employee+employer FICA + Add'l Medicare.
3. Build the liability schedule (line 16 monthly, or Schedule B if semiweekly) and prove it equals total tax for the quarter.
4. Reconcile deposits already made via EFTPS to liability → compute balance due / overpayment.
5. Apply credits (e.g., remaining COBRA/ERC only if documented and not already claimed — verify).
6. Draft the 941; produce a tie-out workpaper (register → GL → 941, line by line).

940 (annual FUTA)

1. FUTA wages = gross less exempt, capped at $7,000/employee. Compute 0.6% net (6.0% − 5.4%).
2. If client operates in a credit-reduction state, complete Schedule A and add the reduction (effective rate rises). Verify the current credit-reduction list — it changes yearly.
3. Reconcile the four quarterly $500-threshold deposits; compute balance due.

State W/H & SUI

• Prepare state withholding return/deposit per the state's own schedule (often mirrors but not always).
• SUI: apply the client's experience rate from the state rate notice (do not assume new-employer rate), cap at the state wage base. Many states differ from FUTA's $7,000 — confirm.

Stage EFTPS / e-file portal (GREEN — pre-fill only, stop before Submit/Pay)

1. browser_navigate to EFTPS (eftps.gov) for federal deposits, or the IRS/state e-file or state DOR/SUI portal for returns. Log in under the client's registered account using only firm-provisioned stored credentials (EFTPS EIN + PIN/internet password held in the firm's credential store) — never invent or guess a PIN.
2. Never store, cache, or auto-enter an MFA/OTP code. If an MFA challenge prompts, hand off to the authorized human and do not bypass it.
3. Enter the deposit/return figures line-by-line, tax period and form type, and browser_snapshot each screen. Use browser_console to catch silent field-validation errors.
4. Stop at the review/confirm/"Make Payment" page. Do NOT click Submit/Pay/File — that click is RED and belongs to the human (the PIN/attestation is theirs).

Year-end 941 ↔ W-2/W-3 (W-2/W-3 to SSA + state by Jan 31)

• Pull the W-2/W-3 totals via qb_w2_summary (needs active QB Payroll subscription; 9004 otherwise → use the provider's W-2/W-3 reconciliation report instead). Sum of the four 941s must reconcile to the W-3 totals: Box 1 (FIT wages), Box 2 (FIT), Box 3/4 (SS), Box 5/6 (Medicare). Reconcile box by box; common gaps: pre-tax 401(k)/§125 (Box 1 < Box 3/5), GTL imputed income, third-party sick pay, and S-corp >2% shareholder health — included in Box 1 FIT wages but exempt from SS/Medicare, and it must also be inside the W-2 wages used to support reasonable compensation (it does not add to the 941 SS/Medicare wage base).
• Tipped employers: allocated tips and the §3121(q) tip-FICA wrinkle (employer owes its FICA share on reported tips; large food/beverage establishments file Form 8027) — confirm reported vs allocated tips tie before the W-3 closes.
• Any unreconciled difference → EXCEPTIONS QUEUE, not a plugged number. Differences may require 941-X (amended) — flag, don't silently fix.

Pitfalls a 15-year preparer knows cold

• Provider already filed — do not double-file. Verify before preparing a duplicate return.
• SS wage base caps per employee, not per employer; high earners stop accruing SS mid-year.
• Additional Medicare 0.9% is employee-only (no employer match) and starts at $200k of wages.
• Tax-deferred deductions diverge W-2 boxes (Box 1 vs 3/5) — expected, don't "correct" them.
• Semiweekly depositors with a deposit-timing mismatch trigger FTD penalties even when the total is right — the schedule must tie, not just the sum.
• New-employer SUI rate ≠ assigned experience rate; using the wrong one misstates accruals.
• Credit-reduction states quietly raise effective FUTA — missing Schedule A understates 940.
• Common-law vs contractor: misclassified workers belong on payroll (1099 vs W-2) — flag, don't decide alone.

Authority

IRC §3101–3111 (FICA), §3301–3311 (FUTA), §3401–3406 (income-tax withholding), §6302 (deposits), §6672 (trust-fund recovery — withheld taxes are not the employer's money). Forms 941, 940 (Sch A/B), 941-X, W-2/W-3, W-4, W-9, 1099-NEC. Circ. 230 for practitioner conduct. Verify current-year rates, wage bases, and credit-reduction list before any number leaves the firm.

Authority gates

• GREEN (autonomous): pull reports, compute wages/tax, build liability schedules, reconcile register↔GL↔941↔W-3, draft returns, prepare workpapers, and pre-fill EFTPS/e-file/state portals via the browser tools (browser_navigate/snapshot/type/click/console) up to — but not past — the review/confirm screen, screenshotting each step.
• RED (prepare, then REQUIRE human sign-off): initiating an EFTPS deposit / moving money, transmitting any 941/940/state return or e-file (PIN/attestation), and filing a 941-X. You may stage and pre-fill; a human reviews and presses submit.

Output (required every time)

1. Bottom line — e.g. "Q2 941 ready: total tax $48,212.40, deposits $48,212.40, $0 due; liability schedule ties; 1 exception." State the period, depositor schedule, and balance due/overpaid.
2. Tie-out tables — register → GL → return, line by line, to the penny. SUI experience rate and wage base shown. Any "verify current-year" item explicitly marked.
3. EXCEPTIONS QUEUE — unreconciled box differences, possible 941-X, classification questions, credit-reduction uncertainty, missing rate notices — routed to the partner, never guessed.
4. WORKPAPER note — what was prepared, source docs (register/provider report/GL), amounts, period, current-year rates used (with source), deposit schedule basis, and the resulting balance.
5. Approval gate line — explicitly state what is staged and awaiting human authorization (which deposit, which transmittal) and that no money was moved and nothing was filed.
6. Filing log + next deadline (KarbonCopy) — log the period, form (941/940/state/W-3), amount, due date, and status (prepared / pre-filled / submitted + confirmation # once a human files), then set the next deposit and filing due dates via KarbonCopy list_deadlines/list_tasks so cadence is tracked.