Make federal payroll tax payments
About filing taxes with Square Payroll
Square Payroll is a full service payroll provider, handling your federal and state tax filings and payments on your behalf at no additional charge. Square Payroll calculates and withholds all federal payroll taxes. These amounts are then debited from your bank account and used to pay taxes on your behalf. You can find specific tax amounts due per run in the Withdrawal Summary.
Square Payroll is an IRS-certified reporting agent that follows industry-leading data security and privacy standards including HIPAA and PCI compliance. Using the information you provide us, we ensure the accuracy of our tax calculations, payments, and filings so you don’t have to worry about the details. If you receive a notice from a tax agency due to an error made by Square Payroll, we will cover any associated penalties and fines.
Square Payroll generates Form W-2 or Form 1099-NEC for each employee or contractor that you paid in the past year. Square Payroll handles the following tax forms:
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Quarterly: Form 941
IRS Annual: Form 940, Form 944, Form 1099-NEC (Contractors only)
Social Security Administration (SSA) Annual: Form W-2, Form W-3
Before you begin
Federal payroll tax payments are processed through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). You can update your federal filing frequency from your Square Dashboard.
Payroll taxes are withheld each time you process payroll. This ensures that we have the correct amounts when we make tax payments on your behalf. You are required to provide your team members with a physical copy of their Form W-2 or Form 1099-NEC unless they consent to electronic-only delivery. Alternatively, you can Square Payroll mail your team's W-2s and 1099-NECs.
Make federal payroll tax payments
Square Payroll deposits all federal tax payments using EFTPS on a semi-weekly deposit schedule, with the exception of Federal Unemployment Tax payments that are deposited on a quarterly basis. Semi-weekly tax payments are made within three days of your pay date. For more information, visit irs.gov.
You can make federal payroll tax payments on your own.
- Sign in to EFTPS using your EIN, PIN, and password.
- Select Make a Tax Payment.
- Under Select a Tax Form, choose the applicable payment type:
a. If you are submitting a withholding tax payment, choose 941 Employers Federal Tax.
b. If you are submitting an unemployment tax payment, choose 940 Employers Annual Unemployment Tax. - For Tax Type Selection, select the applicable payment type:
a. If you are submitting a withholding tax payment, choose Federal Tax Deposit.
b. If you are paying tax after receiving a notice, choose Balance due on return or notice. - Follow the instructions on the screen to enter the Payment Amount, Tax Period, and Settlement Date to submit your tax payment.
If you are unable to set up EFTPS in time for a payment deadline, you can arrange an electronic same-day federal tax payment.
- Sign in to EFTPS using your EIN, PIN, and password.
- Select Make a Tax Payment.
- Under Select a Tax Form, choose the applicable payment type.
- Download the Same Day Payment Worksheet.
- On line 1, enter your total tax payment, including any applicable penalty and interest.
- On line 2, enter your EIN (you can find this in your Square Dashboard).
- On line 3, enter the first four letters of your taxpayer name (the name that you used to register your EIN).
- On line 4, enter your full taxpayer name.
- On line 5, enter the applicable tax type by following the legend on the form (a federal withholding tax deposit towards Form 941, for example, would have type of 94105).
- On line 6, enter the tax year.
- On line 7, enter the tax month/quarter.
- On lines 8 to 10, enter a breakdown of the tax, interest, and penalty, if applicable.
- Deliver the completed form to your bank.
You can view your payment history by signing in to EFTPS and selecting Payments > Check Payment History.
Update your federal filing frequency
Quarterly federal tax filings are due on the last calendar day of the month following the end of the quarter. Square Payroll files either a Quarterly Form 941 or Annual Form 944 based on the federal filing frequency provided. If the federal filing frequency on your Square Payroll account does not match the frequency assigned by the IRS, update your filing frequency from your Square Dashboard.
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Staff > Payroll > Tax info.
Select your filing frequency for the current tax year from the drop-down list.
If you were notified that your filing frequency is changing for the upcoming tax year, select Add Filing Frequency to schedule a new filing frequency effective January 1 of next year.
Select Save.
If you make any changes for the current year, we retroactively file any outstanding tax forms due on or after January 1 of the current year.
Review the Square Payroll Guarantee
Square Payroll is a full service payroll provider. We are an IRS-certified reporting agent that follows industry-leading data security and privacy standards including HIPAA and PCI compliance. Using the information you provide us, we ensure the accuracy of our tax calculations, payments, and filings so you don’t have to worry about the details. If you receive a notice from a tax agency due to an error made by Square Payroll, we will cover any associated penalties and fines.
Square Payroll is an IRS-certified reporting agent and follows industry-leading standards. We use all the information you’ve provided — from your tax identification numbers to employee Form W-4 and year-to-date payroll data — to ensure that we withhold, pay, and file taxes correctly on your behalf. If you incur a penalty due to erroneous or late reporting by Square Payroll, we will correct the issue for you and pay any associated penalties.
If you happen to be audited, we are here for you. Contact Square Support at any time.