Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return

Instructions for Form 943-A
(Rev. December 2025)

Use with the December 2024 revision of Form 943-A
Agricultural Employer’s Record of Federal Tax Liability
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code
unless otherwise noted.

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 IRS.gov/
Form943A.

Reminders
The COVID-19 related credit for qualified sick and
family leave wages is limited to leave taken after
March 31, 2020, and before October 1, 2021, and may
no longer be claimed on Form 943. Effective for tax
years beginning after 2023, the lines used to claim the
credit for qualified sick and family leave wages have been
removed from Form 943, Employer’s Annual Federal Tax
Return for Agricultural Employees, because it would be
extremely rare for an employer to pay wages after 2023 for
qualified sick and family leave taken after March 31, 2020,
and before October 1, 2021. Therefore, the instructions on
adjusting your tax liability for the nonrefundable portion of
this credit have been removed from these instructions. If
you’re eligible to claim the credit for qualified sick and
family leave wages because you paid the wages after
2023 for an earlier applicable leave period, file Form
943-X, Adjusted Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return for
Agricultural Employees or Claim for Refund, to claim the
credit for qualified sick and family leave wages for the year
that you paid the wages after you file Form 943. See the
Instructions for Form 943-X for more information. Also see
the December 2023 revision of these instructions for
information on adjusting tax liability for the nonrefundable
portion of the credit for qualified sick and family leave
wages, which you may need to do when filing Form 943-X.
Qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing research activities. For tax years beginning
before 2023, a qualified small business may elect to claim
up to $250,000 of its credit for increasing research
activities as a payroll tax credit. The Inflation Reduction
Act of 2022 (the IRA) increases the election amount to
$500,000 for tax years beginning after 2022. The payroll
tax credit election must be made on or before the due date
of the originally filed income tax return (including
extensions). The portion of the credit used against payroll
taxes is allowed in the first calendar quarter beginning
after the date that the qualified small business filed its
income tax return. The election and determination of the
credit amount that will be used against the employer’s
payroll taxes are made on Form 6765, Credit for
Increasing Research Activities. The amount from Form
6765 must then be reported on Form 8974, Qualified
Sep 22, 2025

Small Business Payroll Tax Credit for Increasing Research
Activities.
Starting in the first quarter of 2023, the payroll tax credit
is first used to reduce the employer share of social
security tax up to $250,000 per quarter and any remaining
credit reduces the employer share of Medicare tax for the
quarter. Any remaining credit, after reducing the employer
share of social security tax and the employer share of
Medicare tax, is then carried forward to the next quarter.
Form 8974 is used to determine the amount of the credit
that can be used in the current year. For more information
about the payroll tax credit, see the Instructions for Form
8974 and go to IRS.gov/ResearchPayrollTC. Also see
Adjusting Tax Liability for the Qualified Small Business
Payroll Tax Credit for Increasing Research Activities (Form
943, Line 12), later.
Reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period
adjustments are reported on Form 943-X 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 Form 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 943-A
Use Form 943-A to report your tax liability if you’re a
semiweekly schedule depositor. To determine if you’re a
semiweekly schedule depositor, see section 11 of Pub.
15, Employer’s Tax Guide.
Federal law requires you, as an employer, to withhold
certain taxes from your employees’ pay. Each time you
pay wages, you must withhold—or take out of your
employees’ pay—certain amounts for federal income tax,
social security tax, and Medicare tax. You must also
withhold Additional Medicare Tax from wages you pay to
an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year.
Under the withholding system, taxes withheld from your
employees are credited to your employees in payment of
their tax liabilities.
Federal law also requires employers to pay any liability
for the employer share of social security and Medicare
taxes. This share of social security and Medicare taxes
isn’t withheld from employees.

Instructions for Form 943-A (Rev. 12-2025) Catalog Number 74487J
Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov

On Form 943-A, list your tax liability for each day. Your
tax liability is based on the dates wages were paid. Your
liability includes:

• The federal income tax you withheld from your

employees’ pay, and
• Both the employer share and employee share of social
security and Medicare taxes.
Don’t use Form 943-A to show federal tax deposits.
The IRS gets deposit data from electronic funds transfers.
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, 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 or
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’ve
deposited your Form 943 tax liabilities on time. If you’re a
semiweekly schedule depositor and you don’t properly
complete and file your Form 943-A with Form 943, the IRS
may propose an “averaged” FTD penalty. See Deposit
Penalties in section 11 of Pub. 15 for more information.

Who Must File?
File Form 943-A if you’re a semiweekly schedule
depositor. 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. The $100,000 tax liability
threshold requiring a next-day deposit is determined
before you consider any reduction of your liability for
nonrefundable credits.
The deposit rules, including the $100,000 Next-Day
Deposit Rule, are explained in section 11 of Pub. 15 and in
the Instructions for Form 943.
Caution: Don’t complete Form 943-A if your net tax
liability for the year (Form 943, line 13) is less than $2,500.
Tip: If you use Form 943-A, don’t complete Form 943,
line 17.

When Must You File?
Form 943-A is filed with Form 943. Therefore, the due date
of Form 943-A is the same as the due date for the
applicable Form 943. See the Instructions for Form 943 for
due dates. In some situations, Form 943-A may be filed
with Form 943-X. See Form 943-X, later, for details.

Specific Instructions
Completing Form 943-A
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

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the IRS assigned to your business and also agree with the
name and EIN shown on the attached Form 943 or 943-X.

Calendar Year

Enter the calendar year of the Form 943 or 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
dates payroll liabilities were accrued or deposits were
made. The total tax liability for the year (line M) must equal
total taxes after adjustments and nonrefundable 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, 2024, and you paid the wages for that period on
January 6, 2025, you would:
• Go to January on Form 943-A filed with your 2025 Form
943, and
• Enter your tax liability on line 6 (because line 6
represents the sixth day of the month).
Tip: Make sure you have checked the appropriate box
above line 17 of Form 943 to show that you’re a
semiweekly schedule depositor.
Example 1. Fir Co. is a semiweekly schedule
depositor. Fir Co. accumulated a federal tax liability of
$3,000 on its January 11 and January 25 paydays. In the
January column, Fir Co. must enter $3,000 on lines 11
and 25.
Example 2. Cedar Co. is a semiweekly schedule
depositor that paid wages in October, November, and
December on the last day of the month. On December 25,
2025, Cedar Co. also paid its employees year-end
bonuses (subject to employment taxes). Because Cedar
Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor, it must record
employment tax liabilities on Form 943-A.
Month
October
November
December
December

Lines for dates wages were paid
line 31 (payday, last day of the month)
line 30 (payday, last day of the month)
line 25 (bonus paid December 25, 2025)
line 31 (payday, last day of the month)

Example 3. Elm Co. is a new business and monthly
schedule depositor for 2025. Elm Co. paid wages every
Friday and accumulated a $2,000 employment tax liability
on October 3, 2025. Elm Co. incurred a $110,000 tax
liability on October 10, 2025, and on every subsequent
Friday during 2025. Under the deposit rules, employers
become semiweekly schedule depositors on the day after
any day they accumulate $100,000 or more of
employment tax liability in a deposit period.
Elm Co. became a semiweekly schedule depositor on
October 11, 2025, because Elm Co. had a total
accumulated employment tax liability of $112,000 on
October 10, 2025. Elm Co. 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 11, 2025.
Instructions for Form 943-A (Rev. 12-2025)

Month
October
October
November
December

Lines for dates wages were paid
line 3
lines 10, 17, 24, and 31
lines 7, 14, 21, and 28
lines 5, 12, 19, and 26

Amount to report
$2,000
$110,000
$110,000
$110,000

Caution: Your total liability for the year must equal line 13
on Form 943.

Adjusting Tax Liability for the Qualified Small
Business Payroll Tax Credit for Increasing
Research Activities (Form 943, Line 12)

Semiweekly schedule depositors must account for the
qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing
research activities claimed on Form 943, line 12, when
reporting their tax liabilities on Form 943-A. The total tax
liability for the year must equal the amount reported on
Form 943, line 13. Failure to account for the qualified small
business payroll tax credit for increasing research
activities on Form 943-A may cause Form 943-A to report
more than the total tax liability reported on Form 943,
line 13. Don’t reduce your daily tax liability reported on
Form 943-A below zero.

Beginning with the first quarter of 2023, the qualified
small business payroll tax credit for increasing research
activities is first used to reduce the employer share of
social security tax (up to $250,000) for the quarter and any
remaining credit is then used to reduce the employer
share of Medicare tax for the quarter until it reaches zero.
In completing Form 943-A, you take into account the
payroll tax credit against the liability for the employer
share of social security tax starting with the first payroll
payment of the quarter that includes payments of wages
subject to social security tax to your employees until you
use up to $250,000 of credit against the employer share of
social security tax and you then take into account any
remaining payroll tax credit against the liability for the
employer share of Medicare tax starting with the first
payroll payment of the quarter that includes payments of
wages subject to Medicare tax to employees. Consistent
with the entries on Form 943-A, the payroll tax credit
should be taken into account in making deposits of
employment tax. If any payroll tax credit is remaining at
the end of the quarter that hasn’t been used completely
because it exceeds $250,000 of the employer share of
social security tax and the employer share of Medicare tax
for the quarter, the excess credit may be carried forward to
the succeeding quarter and allowed as a payroll tax credit
for the succeeding quarter. The payroll tax credit may not
be taken as a credit against income tax withholding, the
employee share of social security tax, or the employee
share of Medicare tax.
Also, the remaining payroll tax credit may not be carried
back and taken as a credit against wages paid from
preceding quarters that are reported on the same Form
943 or on Forms 943 for preceding years. If an amount of
payroll tax credit is unused at the end of the calendar year
because it is in excess of the applicable employer share of
social security tax and employer share of Medicare tax on
wages paid during the applicable quarters in the calendar
year, the remaining payroll tax credit may be carried
Instructions for Form 943-A (Rev. 12-2025)

forward to the first quarter of the succeeding calendar
year as a payroll tax credit against the applicable
employer share of social security tax and employer share
of Medicare tax on wages paid in that quarter. For more
information about the payroll tax credit, go to IRS.gov/
ResearchPayrollTC.
Example. Rose Co. is an employer with a calendar tax
year that filed its timely 2024 income tax return on April
15, 2025. Rose Co. elected to take the qualified small
business payroll tax credit for increasing research
activities on Form 6765. The third quarter of 2025 is the
first quarter that begins after Rose Co. filed the income tax
return making the payroll tax credit election. Therefore, the
payroll tax credit applies against Rose Co.’s share of
social security tax (up to $250,000) and Medicare tax on
wages paid to employees in the third quarter of 2025.
Rose Co. completes Form 943-A by reducing the amount
of liability entered for the first payroll payment in the third
quarter of 2025 that includes wages subject to social
security tax by the lesser of (1) its share of social security
tax (up to $250,000) on the wages, or (2) the available
payroll tax credit. If the payroll tax credit elected is more
than Rose Co.’s share of social security tax on the first
payroll payment of the quarter, the excess payroll tax
credit would be carried forward to succeeding payroll
payments in the third quarter until it is used against up to
$250,000 of Rose Co.’s share of social security tax for the
quarter. If the amount of the payroll tax credit exceeds
Rose Co.’s share of social security tax (up to $250,000) on
wages paid to its employees in the third quarter, any
remaining credit is used against Rose Co.’s share of
Medicare tax on the first payroll payment of the quarter
and then the excess payroll tax credit would be carried
forward to succeeding payroll payments in the third
quarter until it is used against Rose Co.’s share of
Medicare tax for the quarter. If Rose Co. still has credit
remaining after reducing its share of social security tax (up
to $250,000) and Medicare tax for the third quarter, the
remainder would be treated as a payroll tax credit against
its share of social security tax (up to $250,000) and
Medicare tax on wages paid in the fourth quarter. If the
amount of the payroll tax credit remaining exceeded Rose
Co.’s share of social security tax (up to $250,000) and
Medicare tax on wages paid in the fourth quarter, it could
be carried forward and treated as a payroll tax credit for
the first quarter of 2026.

Correcting Previously Reported Tax Liability
Semiweekly schedule depositors. If you’ve been
assessed an FTD penalty and you made an error on Form
943-A and the correction won’t change the total liability for
the year you reported on Form 943-A, you may be able to
reduce your penalty by filing an amended Form 943-A.
Example. You reported a liability of $3,000 on January
1. However, the liability was actually for March. Prepare an
amended Form 943-A showing the $3,000 liability on
March 1. Also, you must enter the liabilities previously
reported for the year that didn’t change. Write “Amended”
at the top of Form 943-A. The IRS will refigure the penalty
and notify you of any change in the penalty.
Monthly schedule depositors. You can file a Form
943-A if you have been assessed an FTD penalty and you
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made an error on the monthly tax liability section of Form
943. When completing Form 943-A for this situation, only
enter the monthly totals. The daily entries aren’t required.
Where to file. File your amended Form 943-A or, for
monthly schedule depositors, your original Form 943-A at
the address provided in the penalty notice you received. If
you’re filing an amended Form 943-A, you don’t have to
submit your original Form 943-A.

Form 943-X

You may need to file an amended Form 943-A with Form
943-X to avoid or reduce an FTD penalty.

Tax decrease. If you’re filing Form 943-X, you can file an
amended Form 943-A with Form 943-X if both of the
following apply.
1. You have a tax decrease.
2. You were assessed an FTD penalty.
File your amended Form 943-A with Form 943-X. The total
liability reported on your amended Form 943-A must equal
the corrected amount of tax reported on Form 943-X. If
your penalty is decreased, the IRS will include the penalty
decrease with your tax decrease.
Tax increase—Form 943-X filed timely. If you’re filing a
timely Form 943-X showing a tax increase, don’t file an
amended Form 943-A, unless you were assessed an FTD
penalty caused by an incorrect, incomplete, or missing
Form 943-A. If you’re filing an amended Form 943-A, don’t
include the tax increase reported on Form 943-X.
Tax increase—Form 943-X filed late. If you owe tax and
are filing a late Form 943-X, that is, after the due date of

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the Form 943 for the year in which you discovered the
error, you must file an amended Form 943-A with Form
943-X. Otherwise, the IRS may assess an “averaged” FTD
penalty.
The total tax reported on line M of the amended Form
943-A must match the corrected tax (Form 943, line 13,
combined with any correction reported on Form 943-X,
line 20) for the year, less any previous abatements and
interest-free tax assessments.
Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the
information on Form 943-A to carry out the Internal
Revenue laws of the United States. You’re required to give
us the information. We need it to ensure that you’re
complying with these laws and to allow us to figure and
collect the right amount of tax.
You’re not required to provide the information requested
on a form that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act
unless the form displays a valid OMB control number.
Books or records relating to a form or its instructions must
be retained as long as their contents may become
material in the administration of any Internal Revenue law.
Generally, tax returns and return information are
confidential, as required by Code section 6103.
The time needed to complete and file Form 943-A will
vary depending on individual circumstances. The
estimated burden for employers filing Form 943-A is
approved under OMB control number 1545-0029 and is
included in the estimates shown in the Instructions for
Form 943.

Instructions for Form 943-A (Rev. 12-2025)