Form 944 is the IRS's annual employment tax return for the smallest employers. You file it once a year instead of quarterly Form 941, and only if the IRS notified you in writing. To reuse your employer details each year, upload last year's Form 944 and this year's blank, then review.
Tested with the irs.gov edition dated 2025
irs.gov says Form 944 is designed so the smallest employers, those whose annual liability for social security, Medicare and withheld federal income taxes is $1,000 or less, will file and pay these taxes only once a year instead of every quarter. The form is the Employer's ANNUAL Federal Tax Return. RepeatForm does not work out any amount on it.
The IRS says who: the form's own heading reads "You must file annual Form 944 instead of filing quarterly Forms 941 only if the IRS notified you in writing." The instructions add that if the IRS notified you in writing to file Form 944, you file it, and not quarterly Forms 941, even if your tax liability for 2025 exceeds $1,000. If you are unsure which return you must file, the instructions give a number to call (800-829-4933). They also describe how an employer can ask the IRS to change which return it files, with a call or written request in a window set each year, and say the IRS confirms a change in writing. Read those instructions before you switch: do not switch on your own. RepeatForm cannot tell you which return applies to you.
Form 944 reports social security, Medicare and withheld federal income taxes once a year. Form 941, the Employer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, reports the same kinds of tax every quarter; an employer the IRS has notified to file Form 944 does not file it. Form 940 is a different return again: annual federal unemployment (FUTA) tax, which the IRS says only employers pay. Each has its own page: see the links below. One does not replace the others.
The Form 944 instructions say "You're encouraged to file Form 944 electronically" and point to IRS.gov/EmploymentEfile. If you file a paper return, where it goes depends on whether you include a payment, and the instructions have the address table. RepeatForm does not file anything: it prepares the PDF; e-filing is done in your own filing or payroll software or through a tax professional.
Upload a Form 944 you completed and this year's blank; RepeatForm carries the matching answers across; you review them, then preview the PDF before you export. Bookkeepers can do the same for each client's own prior-year copy.
Part 5 says you must complete both pages of Form 944 and sign it. The Form 944 PDF has no signature or date field, so nothing is carried and both stay blank for you to complete by hand on the printed form. The instructions say a paid preparer must also sign and fill in the Paid Preparer Use Only section, and that paid preparers must sign paper returns with a manual signature.
The IRS publishes a Form 944 for each year. Carrying a prior year's copy into the new one works for many answers, but some fields are renamed or moved and match only partly, so check every line on the new year's form in Review before you export.
Upload the two versions, check what matched, then inspect the finished PDF before paying.
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According to the IRS, Form 944 is the Employer's ANNUAL Federal Tax Return, designed so the smallest employers (annual liability for social security, Medicare and withheld federal income taxes of $1,000 or less) file and pay these taxes once a year instead of every quarter. You file it only if the IRS notified you in writing. RepeatForm prepares the PDF; it does not file for you.
Form 941 is the employer's quarterly return for social security, Medicare and withheld income tax. Form 944 reports the same taxes once a year, for employers the IRS has told in writing to file it instead of Form 941. Form 940 is annual federal unemployment (FUTA) tax, which the IRS says only employers pay. RepeatForm has a page for 941 and for 940.
Not on your own. The IRS instructions say that if the IRS notified you in writing to file Form 944, you file it and not quarterly Forms 941, and describe how to ask the IRS to change which return you file. The IRS confirms a change in writing. If you are unsure of your filing requirement, the instructions give an IRS number to call.
Yes. The IRS instructions say you are encouraged to file Form 944 electronically and point to IRS.gov/EmploymentEfile. You can also file on paper, mailed to the address in the instructions. RepeatForm does not file for you.
The 2025 instructions say "For 2025, file Form 944 by February 2, 2026. However, if you made deposits on time in full payment of the taxes due for the year, you may file the return by February 10, 2026." Check the instructions for the year you are filing.
You can reuse the employer details that stay the same, such as EIN, name and address. The wages, tax and deposits are different each year, so enter them again and check every line on the new year's form in Review. Sign and date it by hand.
