Table of Contents
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless otherwise noted.
For the latest information about developments related to Form 945-A and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they were published, go to www.irs.gov/form945a.
Reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period adjustments are reported on Form 945-X, Adjusted Annual Return of Federal Income Tax or Claim for Refund, Form CT-1 X, Adjusted Employer's Annual Railroad Retirement Tax Return or Claim for Refund, and Form 944-X, Adjusted Employer's ANNUAL Federal Tax Return or Claim for Refund, respectively, and are not taken into account when figuring the tax liability for the current year.
Amended Form 945-A. If you have been assessed a failure-to-deposit (FTD) penalty, you may be able to file an amended Form 945-A. For more information, see Correcting Previously Reported Tax Liability, later.
Purpose of form. top Use Form 945-A to report your federal tax liability (based on the dates payments were made or wages were paid) for the following tax returns.
Forms 944(SP), 944-X (SP), and 944-X (PR). top If you are a semiweekly schedule depositor who files Formulario 944(SP), Declaracion Federal ANUAL de Impuestos del Patrono o Empleador, you should use Formulario 943A-PR, Registro de la Obligacion Contributiva Federal del Patrono Agricola, to report your tax liability. You should also file Form 943A-PR if you file Form 944-X(SP) or Form 944-X(PR) and you need to amend a previously filed Form 943A-PR.
Who must file. top Semiweekly schedule depositors must complete and file Form 945-A with their tax return. Do not file Form 945-A if your tax liability for the return period is less than $2,500. Do not file this form if you are a monthly schedule depositor unless you accumulated a tax liability of $100,000 during any month of the year. Monthly schedule depositors who accumulate $100,000 become semiweekly schedule depositors for the remainder of the year (and the next year) and must complete Form 945-A for the entire year.
Caution! IRS uses Form 945-A to match the tax liability you reported on the returns indicated above with your deposits. The IRS also uses Form 945-A to determine if you have deposited your withholding and employment tax liabilities on time. Unless Form 945-A is properly completed and filed (if applicable) with your tax return, the IRS may propose an "averaged" failure-to-deposit penalty. See Deposit Penalties in section 11 of Pub. 15 (Circular E) for more information.
If you must report your tax liabilities on Form 945-A as discussed above, file it with your tax return. Each numbered space on Form 945-A corresponds to a date during the year. Report your tax liabilities in the spaces that correspond to the dates you made payments, not the date tax deposits were made. For example, if you became liable for a pension distribution on December 31, 2013, but did not make the distribution until January 3, 2014, the federal income tax withholding liability for the distribution must be reported on Form 945-A for 2014, on line 3 under January Tax Liability.
Enter your business information. top 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 the IRS assigned to your business and also agree with the name and EIN shown on the attached Form 945, 945-X, CT-1, CT-1 X, 944, or 944-X.
Calendar year. top Enter the calendar year of the Form 945, 945-X, CT-1, CT-1 X, 944, or 944-X to which Form 945-A is attached.
Form 945 filers. top Do not complete entries A through M of the Monthly Summary of Federal Tax Liability (Form 945, line 7). Be sure to mark the semiweekly schedule depositor checkbox above line 7 on Form 945.
Form CT-1 filers. top Do not complete the Monthly Summary of Railroad Retirement Tax Liability (Form CT-1).
Form 944 filers. top On Form 944, check the box for "Line 7 is $2,500 or more" at line 13, and leave blank lines 13a-13m.
Enter your tax liability by month. top Enter your tax liabilities in the spaces that correspond to the dates you paid wages to your employees or made nonpayroll payments, not the date deposits were made. The total tax liability for the year (line M) must equal net taxes on Form 945 (line 3), Form 944 (line 7) or Form CT-1 (line 13). Report your tax liabilities on this form corresponding to the dates of each wage payment or nonpayroll payment, not to when the liabilities are accrued. 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.
TIP. Make sure you have checked the appropriate box below line 7 of Form 945 to show that you are a semiweekly schedule depositor.
Example 1. Cedar Co., which has a semiweekly deposit schedule, makes periodic payments on gambling winnings on the 15th day of each month. On December 24, 2013, in addition to its periodic payments, it withheld from a payment on gambling winnings under the backup withholding rules. Since Cedar Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor, it must record these nonpayroll withholding liabilities on Form 945-A. It must report tax liabilities on line 15 for each month and line 24 for December.
Example 2. Fir Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor. During January, it withheld federal income tax on pension distributions as follows: $52,000 on January 10; $35,000 on January 24. Since Fir Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor, it must record its federal income tax withholding liabilities on Form 945-A. It must record $52,000 on line 10 and $35,000 on line 24 for January.
Example 3. Because Elm Co. is a new business, it is a monthly schedule depositor at the beginning of 2014. During January, it withheld federal income tax on nonpayroll payments as follows: $2,000 on January 10; $99,000 on January 24. The deposit rules require that a monthly schedule depositor begin depositing on a semiweekly deposit schedule when a $100,000 or more tax liability is accumulated on any day within a month (see section 11 of Pub. 15 (Circular E) for details). Since Elm Co. accumulated $101,000 ($2,000 + $99,000) on January 24, 2014, it became a semiweekly schedule depositor on January 25, 2014. Elm Co. must complete Form 945-A and file it with Form 945. It must record $2,000 on line 10 and $99,000 on line 24 for January. No entries should be made on Form 945, line 7, although Elm Co. was a monthly schedule depositor until January 25.
Semiweekly schedule depositors. top If you have been assessed a failure-to-deposit (FTD) penalty AND you made an error on Form 945-A AND the correction will not change the total liability you reported on Form 945-A, you may be able to reduce your penalty by filing a corrected Form 945-A.
Example. You reported a liability of $3,000 on January 1. However, the liability was actually for March. Prepare an amended Form 945-A showing the $3,000 liability on March 1. Also, you must enter the liabilities previously reported for the year that did not change. Write "Amended" at the top of Form 945-A. The IRS will refigure the penalty and notify you of any change in the penalty.
Monthly schedule depositors. top You can also file an amended Form 945-A if you have been assessed an FTD penalty and you made an error on the monthly tax liability section of Form 945. When completing Form 945-A, only enter the monthly totals. The daily entries are not required.
Where to file. top File your amended Form 945-A at the address provided in the penalty notice you received. You do not have to submit your original Form 945-A.
Tax decrease. top If you are filing Form 945-X, Form CT-1 X, or Form 944-X, you can file an amended 945-A with the form if both of the following apply.
Tax increase-Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X filed timely. top If you are filing Form 945-X, Form CT-1 X, or Form 944-X showing a tax increase, do not file an amended Form 945-A unless you were assessed an FTD penalty caused by an incorrect, incomplete, or missing Form 945-A. Do not include the tax increase reported on Form 945-X, Form CT-1 X, or Form 944-X on an amended Form 945-A you file.
Tax increase-Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X filed late. top If you owe tax and are filing late, that is, after the due date of the return for the filing period in which you discovered the error, you must file the form with an amended Form 945-A. Otherwise, IRS may assess an "averaged" FTD penalty.
The total tax reported on line M of Form 945-A must match the corrected tax (Form 945, line 3; Form 944, line 7; Form CT-1, line 15 (line 13 for years before 2013)) combined with any correction reported on Form 945-X, line 5 (Form 944-X, line 17; Form CT-1X, line 19) for the year, less any previous abatements and interest-free tax assessments.
Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. top We ask for the information on this form to carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United States. You are required to give us the information. We need it to ensure that you are complying with these laws and to allow us to figure and collect the right amount of tax.
| Recordkeeping | 6 hr., 27 min. |
| Learning | 6 min. |
| Preparing and sending the form to the IRS | 12 min. |