Statutory filings every US employer must make
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Every US employer has a set of mandatory federal tax filings, and missing them triggers penalties that compound quickly. The core obligations are Form 941 (quarterly), Form W-2 (annual, by January 31), and 1099-NEC for contractors — plus deposit schedules that run on their own separate timeline.
Federal payroll tax deposits
Before you file any return, you have to deposit the taxes you've withheld. The IRS assigns you a deposit schedule — either monthly or semi-weekly — based on your total tax liability from a lookback period. New employers generally start on the monthly schedule.
Regardless of schedule, all federal payroll tax deposits must be made electronically through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). A paper check sent to the IRS is not an acceptable substitute, and late or incorrect deposits attract a failure-to-deposit penalty that scales with how late you are.
The taxes you're depositing cover:
- Federal income tax withheld from employee wages (based on each employee's Form W-4)
- The employee share of Social Security (6.2% up to the annual wage base) and Medicare (1.45%, no cap)
- The employer match of those same Social Security and Medicare amounts
- The 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax withheld from employees whose wages exceed the applicable threshold (there is no employer match on this surcharge)
Form 941: Quarterly federal tax return
Form 941 reports the wages you paid, the taxes you withheld, and the deposits you made during each calendar quarter. It reconciles what you owe against what you've already sent in.
The due dates are:
- Q1 (January–March): April 30
- Q2 (April–June): July 31
- Q3 (July–September): October 31
- Q4 (October–December): January 31
If you deposited all taxes on time and in full, the IRS gives you an extra ten calendar days after each deadline. Very small employers — those whose annual liability is $1,000 or less — may qualify to file Form 944 annually instead, but only if the IRS has explicitly told them to do so.
Form W-2: Annual wage and tax statement
By January 31 each year, you must do two things simultaneously: give each employee their W-2 for the prior tax year, and file copies with the Social Security Administration. The same January 31 deadline applies whether you file the SSA copies on paper or electronically.
The W-2 captures total wages, federal income tax withheld, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and state and local tax information where applicable. Errors on W-2s require a corrected W-2c, so it's worth reconciling your payroll records against your Form 941 totals before you run the forms.
If you have 10 or more W-2s to file with the SSA, federal rules require electronic filing. Below that threshold you can paper-file, but electronic is faster and produces an immediate confirmation.
Form 1099-NEC: Independent contractor payments
If you paid an independent contractor (an individual or certain pass-through entities) $600 or more during the tax year for services, you must issue a Form 1099-NEC. The deadline matches the W-2: January 31 — to the contractor and to the IRS.
This is where misclassification creates serious exposure. If someone you've been treating as a contractor is later reclassified as an employee, you become liable for back payroll taxes, penalties, and interest. The IRS uses a multi-factor behavioral and economic control test; states often apply their own, sometimes stricter, standards.
Contractors do not appear on Form 941 or W-2. They manage their own tax payments through estimated taxes and self-employment tax.
State-level filing obligations
Federal filings are only part of the picture. Every state where you have employees will have its own requirements, which may include:
- State income tax withholding returns (in states that levy income tax — Texas, Florida, and Washington are among those that do not)
- State unemployment insurance (SUI) returns, filed quarterly in most states
- New hire reporting to the relevant state agency, typically required within a few days of a hire date
- Workers' compensation filings, which vary significantly by state
Multi-state employers face a separate set of returns for each state with nexus, along with different deposit frequencies and thresholds. If you're managing payroll across several states, the administrative surface area expands fast. For context on how this looks when you add international hires to the mix, see how Mellow runs payroll across six countries on one platform.
Keeping your filing calendar current
The single most common mistake isn't misunderstanding what to file — it's losing track of when. Build a standing calendar with the quarterly 941 due dates, the January 31 W-2 and 1099-NEC deadlines, and every state-specific return layered on top. IRS penalties for late filing, late deposits, and failure to furnish employee copies each run on separate tracks, so one payroll problem can generate multiple penalty notices at once.
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