Payroll penalties are not proportional to the mistake. A deposit that is one day late carries a penalty; a deposit that is sixteen days late carries five times that penalty. Nothing about the underlying liability changed — only the calendar did.
This guide lays out the federal payroll deadlines, the rules that determine which schedule you are on, and the shifts that move a due date off the number printed in the regulation. The rules are permanent; the dated calendar below is refreshed each year.
Two things to verify before relying on this calendar. First, the dates below reflect the weekend-and-holiday shift rule applied against the expected 2027 federal holiday schedule — confirm that schedule before publishing. Second, no state deadlines are included here. Every state sets its own withholding deposit and return schedule, and several differ materially from the federal one.
Your deposit schedule for a calendar year is determined by a lookback period — the 12-month period ending June 30 of the prior year. For 2027, that means July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
[VERIFY the $50,000 threshold against current IRS guidance.]
Determine this once, in the fall, before the year starts — not by carrying forward last year's setting. Employers that grew during the lookback period frequently begin the new year still configured as monthly depositors and accumulate penalties for months before anyone notices.
Semiweekly depositors do not deposit twice a week on fixed days. The deadline is driven by the payday:
Semiweekly depositors also get at least three business days after the end of a semiweekly period; if a federal holiday falls within those days, the deadline extends by one banking day.
If accumulated tax liability reaches $100,000 or more on any day during a deposit period, you must deposit it by the next business day — regardless of your normal schedule. A monthly depositor who triggers this rule immediately becomes a semiweekly depositor for the remainder of the year and for all of the following year.
This catches employers on bonus payrolls, commission settlements, and equity vesting events. If a single payroll could plausibly cross $100,000 in liability, model it before you run it. [VERIFY the $100,000 threshold.]
Federal tax deposits must be made electronically, generally through EFTPS. Same-day wire is available as a backup but carries bank fees. Enrollment takes time — confirm access before you need it.
Deposits are due the 15th of the following month, shifted to the next business day when the 15th falls on a weekend or federal holiday.
The 10-day extension. If you made all required deposits for a quarter in full and on time, you get until the 10th day of the second month following the quarter to file Form 941. Miss a single deposit and the extension is gone.
FUTA deposits are only required when cumulative undeposited liability exceeds $500. Below that, carry it forward to the next quarter. Any remaining balance is paid with the annual Form 940.
The W-2 date has no extension. Since the acceleration of the SSA filing deadline, employers no longer gain a month by filing electronically, and the automatic 30-day extension no longer exists — an extension must be requested on Form 8809 and is granted only for specific hardship reasons. Plan year-end close against February 1, not against a hoped-for extension.
Electronic filing is mandatory once you file an aggregate of 10 or more information returns of any type across all form types combined. [VERIFY the current threshold.] This threshold catches small employers who previously filed a handful of W-2s and a few 1099s on paper.
Deposit penalties escalate by how late the deposit is:
Additional penalties apply for depositing by the wrong method or to the wrong destination.
The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty. Withheld income tax and the employee share of FICA are held in trust for the government. Any responsible person who willfully fails to collect, account for, or pay over those amounts can be assessed a penalty equal to 100 percent of the unpaid trust fund taxes — personally. This liability is not limited to owners and officers. It can reach a controller, a payroll manager, or anyone with authority over which creditors get paid. It survives the dissolution of the business and is generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Information return penalties for late or incorrect W-2s and 1099s scale by how late the filing is and are assessed per return, with separate penalties for the recipient copy and the agency copy — so one missed W-2 generates two penalties. Intentional disregard carries a substantially higher penalty with no cap.
No state deadlines appear in this calendar, and that is deliberate — there are too many and they do not follow the federal pattern.
Each state sets its own:
Build a per-jurisdiction calendar with a named owner. Our When and Where to File resource covers the framework.
Total the employment tax you reported during the lookback period — the 12 months ending June 30 of the prior year. At or below $50,000 you are monthly; above it you are semiweekly. New employers start as monthly depositors.
February 1, 2027 for Q4 2026; April 30, 2027 for Q1; August 2, 2027 for Q2; November 1, 2027 for Q3; and January 31, 2028 for Q4 2027. Add 10 days if all deposits for the quarter were made in full and on time.
February 1, 2027 for both the employee copies and the SSA filing, because January 31 falls on a Sunday. There is no separate later deadline for electronic filing.
Deposit by the next business day, and you become a semiweekly depositor for the rest of the year and all of the following year.
Only when cumulative undeposited FUTA liability exceeds $500. Otherwise carry the balance forward and settle any remainder with Form 940.
Yes. The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty can be assessed personally against any responsible person who willfully fails to pay over withheld taxes, at 100 percent of the trust fund amount.
Set your deposit schedule from the lookback period each fall, model any payroll that might cross the next-day threshold, protect the 10-day filing extension by never missing a deposit, and treat February 1 as a hard wall for year-end. Then build the state layer, because the federal calendar is only part of your obligation.
For structured instruction, explore our Payroll Training Courses and Payroll Certification Programs, or work through the Year-End Checklist.
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