What Form 944 is for
Form 944 reports the wages you paid, the tips your employees reported to you, the federal income tax you withheld, and both the employer and employee share of social security and Medicare tax. It covers one whole calendar year on a single return. The IRS built it so the smallest employers, those whose annual liability for these taxes is $1,000 or less, file and pay once a year instead of every quarter.
You use it only if the IRS notified you in writing to file it. Every other employer files quarterly Forms 941. Employers with only household workers or only farm workers use different forms. You fill out both pages of Form 944 and sign page 2, and you break your tax out month by month in Part 2 if your total tax after credits reaches $2,500 for the year.
Who has to file Form 944?
You file Form 944 only if the IRS notified you in writing to file it. It takes the place of the four quarterly Forms 941 you would otherwise send. The form exists for the smallest employers, meaning those whose annual liability for social security, Medicare, and withheld federal income tax is $1,000 or less. Once the IRS has notified you, you file Form 944 for 2025 even if your tax liability for the year turns out to be more than $1,000.
Some employers cannot use the form at all. If you are unsure what your current filing requirement is, the instructions say to call 800-829-4933, or 267-941-1000 if you are outside the United States.
- Employ only household workers: see Pub. 926 and Schedule H (Form 1040) instead
- Employ only agricultural workers: see Pub. 15 and Form 943 instead
- Employers the IRS notified to file quarterly Forms 941
- Employers the IRS never notified to file Form 944
When is Form 944 due?
For 2025, file Form 944 by February 2, 2026. If you made your deposits on time and in full for the taxes due for the year, you get until February 10, 2026. File the form only once for each calendar year, and if you filed it electronically, do not also mail a paper copy.
A paper return that arrives after the due date still counts as filed on time if the envelope is properly addressed, carries enough postage, and was postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service on or before the due date. Sending it through an IRS-designated private delivery service by the due date works the same way.
Do you have to deposit your taxes during the year?
Filing once a year does not always mean paying once a year. Your deposit duty depends on the size of your tax bill, and the $2,500 deposit threshold is not the same as the $1,000 annual liability that makes you eligible for Form 944. A business that grows during the year can owe deposits and still file Form 944 for that year. All federal tax deposits must be made by electronic funds transfer, either through EFTPS or your IRS business tax account.
- Less than $2,500 for the year: no deposit required, you may pay the tax with your return
- $2,500 or more for the year but less than $2,500 for the quarter: you can deposit by the last day of the month after the quarter ends
- $2,500 or more for the quarter: deposit monthly or semiweekly, based on your schedule
- $100,000 or more of taxes accumulated on any day: deposit by the next business day and file Form 945-A
Where do you send Form 944?
Paper filing addresses depend on your state and on whether you enclose a payment. Returns sent with a payment go to Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 932100, Louisville, KY 40293-2100, no matter where you are. Returns sent without a payment go to Kansas City, MO 64999-0044 or Ogden, UT 84201-0044 depending on your state, using the table in the instructions.
Employers with no legal residence or principal place of business in any state, including those in American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI, the USVI, and Puerto Rico, mail returns without a payment to Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 409101, Ogden, UT 84409. Exempt organizations and federal, state, local, and Indian tribal governmental entities use the Ogden address regardless of location. Your address may have changed since prior years. Never send Form 944 or a payment to the SSA.
What changed for 2025?
The social security tax rate is 6.2% each for the employee and employer, and the wage base limit is $176,100. The Medicare rate is 1.45% each, unchanged from 2024, with no wage base limit. Social security and Medicare taxes apply to household workers you pay $2,800 or more in cash wages in 2025, and to election workers paid $2,400 or more.
Refunds have gone electronic. Under Executive Order 14247, issued March 25, 2025, the IRS now issues Form 944 refunds by direct deposit, so you complete lines 12c through 12e. You can still apply an overpayment to your next return by checking the box on line 12b. The same order means you should pay any balance due electronically. Form 944 return transcripts for tax years 2023 and later are available through your IRS business tax account.
Can you switch between Form 944 and Form 941?
Yes, but only by contacting the IRS, and only inside a set window. To ask to file Form 944 for 2026 when you have not been notified, call 800-829-4933 between January 1, 2026, and April 1, 2026, or send a written request postmarked between January 1, 2026, and March 16, 2026. The same dates apply if you currently file Form 944 and want quarterly Forms 941 instead. Written requests go to the IRS in Ogden, UT 84201-0038 or Cincinnati, OH 45999-0038, matching the address you would use for a return filed without a payment.
The IRS then sends a written notice that your filing requirement changed. If that notice never arrives, you keep filing the way you file now. As a rough gauge, the instructions say that paying $5,000 or less in wages subject to social security and Medicare taxes and federal income tax withholding during the year generally means $1,000 or less in employment taxes.
Form 944 line by line
| Line | What goes there |
|---|---|
| 1 | Wages, tips, and other compensation you paid, matching what goes in box 1 of your employees' Forms W-2. |
| 2 | Federal income tax you withheld, or were required to withhold, from wages, tips, taxable fringe benefits, and supplemental unemployment benefits. |
| 4a | Taxable social security wages before payroll deductions, with no tips. Stop entering an employee's wages once they reach $176,100 for the year. |
| 4b | Taxable social security tips your employees reported, up to the $176,100 total per employee. Service charges do not belong here. |
| 4c | Taxable Medicare wages and tips. There is no limit on the amount of wages subject to Medicare tax. |
| 4d | Wages and tips subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding, which starts in the pay period you pay an employee more than $200,000. |
| 6 | Current year's adjustments for fractions of cents, sick pay, tips, and group-term life insurance. Use a minus sign for an adjustment that lowers your tax. |
| 8 | Qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing research activities, taken from Form 8974, line 12 or line 17. Attach Form 8974. |
| 9 | Total tax after adjustments and credits. Subtract line 8 from line 7. It cannot be less than zero, and it must match line 13m. |
| 11 | Balance due when line 9 is more than line 10. You do not have to pay if it is less than $1. Never enter amounts on both line 11 and line 12a. |
| 12a | Overpayment when line 10 is more than line 9. Then check one box on line 12b to get a refund or apply it to your next return. |
| 13 | Check the box for under $2,500 or $2,500 and over. At $2,500 or more, enter your tax liability for each month in 13a through 13l. |
| 14 | Check this only if your business closed or you stopped paying wages, then enter the final date you paid wages and attach a statement. |
| Part 5 | Sign and date the return. Sole proprietors, corporate officers, partners, LLC owners, and fiduciaries each have their own signing rules. |
Penalties and withholding
100%
Trust fund recovery penalty on withheld income, social security, and Medicare taxes never paid over
Source: IRS, Form 944 (Rev. 2025) and Instructions for Form 944, Employer's Annual Federal Tax Return. This page explains the form in plain English. It is not tax advice.