Instructions for Schedule B 

(Form 941)

(Rev. March 2024)

Report of Tax Liability for Semiweekly Schedule Depositors

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service

Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code 

unless otherwise noted.

Future Developments

For the latest information about developments related to 

Schedule B and its instructions, such as legislation 

enacted after they were published, go to IRS.gov/

Form941.

What’s New

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 941. Effective for tax 

periods beginning after December 31, 2023, the lines 

used to claim the credit for qualified sick and family leave 

wages have been removed from Form 941 because it 

would be extremely rare for an employer to pay wages in 

2024 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. See the Instructions for Form 941 

if you're eligible to claim the credit for qualified sick and 

family leave wages because you paid the wages in 2024 

for an earlier applicable leave period.

Reminders

Qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing research activities. For tax years beginning 

before January 1, 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 

December 31, 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, line 44, must then be reported 

on Form 8974, Qualified 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 quarter. For more 

information about the payroll tax credit, see IRS.gov/

ResearchPayrollTC. Also see Adjusting tax liability for the 

qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing 

research activities (Form 941, line 11), later.

Reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period 

adjustments are reported on Form 941-X, Adjusted 

Employer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return or Claim for 

Refund, or Form 944-X, Adjusted Employer's ANNUAL 

Federal Tax Return or Claim for Refund, and aren’t taken 

into account when figuring the tax liability for the current 

quarter.

When you file Schedule B with your Form 941, don’t 

change your current quarter tax liability by adjustments 

reported on any Form 941-X or 944-X.

Amended Schedule B. If you have been assessed a 

failure-to-deposit (FTD) penalty, you may be able to file an 

amended Schedule B. See Correcting Previously 

Reported Tax Liability, later.

General Instructions

Purpose of Schedule B

These instructions tell you about Schedule B. 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.

On Schedule B, 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 and employee share of social 

security and Medicare taxes.

Jan 10, 2024 Cat. No. 38683X
Don’t use Schedule B to show federal tax deposits. The 

IRS gets deposit data from electronic funds transfers.

The IRS uses Schedule B to determine if you’ve 

deposited your federal employment tax liabilities 

on time. If you're a semiweekly schedule depositor 

and you don’t properly complete and file your Schedule B 

with Form 941, the IRS may propose an “averaged” FTD 

penalty. See Deposit Penalties in section 11 of Pub. 15.

Who Must File?

File Schedule B if you’re a semiweekly schedule 

depositor. You’re a semiweekly schedule depositor if you 

reported more than $50,000 of employment taxes in the 

lookback period or accumulated a tax liability of $100,000 

or more on any given day in the current or prior calendar 

year. If you became a semiweekly schedule depositor 

during the quarter, you must complete Schedule B for the 

entire quarter. See section 11 of Pub. 15. The $100,000 

tax liability threshold requiring a next-day deposit is 

determined before you consider any reduction of your 

liability for nonrefundable credits.

Don’t complete Schedule B if you have a tax 

liability on Form 941, line 12, that is less than 

$2,500 during the quarter.

When Must You File?

Schedule B is filed with Form 941. Therefore, the due date 

of Schedule B is the same as the due date for the 

applicable Form 941. In some situations, Schedule B may 

be filed with Form 941-X. See Form 941-X, later, for 

details.

Don’t file Schedule B as an attachment to Form 944, 

Employer's ANNUAL Federal Tax Return. Instead, if you’re 

a semiweekly schedule depositor that is required to file a 

report of tax liability with Form 944, use Form 945-A, 

Annual Record of Federal Tax Liability.

Specific Instructions

Completing Schedule B

Enter Your Business Information

Carefully enter your employer identification number (EIN) 

and name at the top of the schedule. 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 941 or 941-X.

Calendar Year

Enter the calendar year that applies to the quarter 

checked.

Check the Box for the Quarter

Under Report for this Quarter at the top of Schedule B, 

check the appropriate box of the quarter for which you’re 

filing this schedule. Make sure the quarter checked on the 

top of the Schedule B matches the quarter checked on 

your Form 941 or 941-X.

CAUTION

!

CAUTION

!

Enter Your Tax Liability by Month

Schedule B is divided into the 3 months that make up a 

quarter of a year. Each month has 31 numbered spaces 

that correspond to the dates of a typical month. Enter your 

tax liabilities in the spaces that correspond to the dates 

you paid wages to your employees, not the date payroll 

liabilities were accrued or deposits were made.

For example, if your payroll period ended on December 

31, 2023, and you paid the wages for that period on 

January 6, 2024, you would:

• Go to Month 1 (because January is the first month of 

the quarter), and

• Enter your tax liability on line 6 (because line 6 

represents the sixth day of the month).

Make sure you have checked the appropriate box 

in Part 2 of Form 941 to show that you’re a 

semiweekly schedule depositor.

Example 1. Cedar Co. is a semiweekly schedule 

depositor that pays wages for each month on the last day 

of the month. On December 24, 2024, Cedar Co. also 

paid its employees year-end bonuses (subject to 

employment taxes). Cedar Co. must report employment 

tax liabilities on Schedule B for the fourth quarter 

(October, November, December) as follows.

Month Lines for dates wages were paid

1 (October) line 31 (payday, last day of the month)

2 (November) line 30 (payday, last day of the month)

3 (December) line 24 (bonus paid December 24, 2024)

3 (December) line 31 (payday, last day of the month)

Example 2. Fir Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor 

that pays employees every other Friday. Fir Co. 

accumulated a $20,000 employment tax liability on each 

of these pay dates: January 5, 2024; January 19, 2024; 

February 2, 2024; February 16, 2024; March 1, 2024; 

March 15, 2024; and March 29, 2024. Fir Co. must report 

employment tax liabilities on Schedule B as follows.

Month Lines for dates wages were paid

1 (January) lines 5 and 19

2 (February) lines 2 and 16

3 (March) lines 1, 15, and 29

Example 3. Elm Co. is a new business and monthly 

schedule depositor for 2024. Elm Co. paid wages every 

Friday and accumulated a $2,000 employment tax liability 

on January 19, 2024. On January 26, 2024, and on every 

subsequent Friday during 2024, Elm Co. accumulated a 

$110,000 employment tax liability. 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 January 27, 2024, because Elm Co. had a total 

accumulated employment tax liability of $112,000 on 

January 26, 2024. For more information, see section 11 of 

Pub. 15.

Elm Co. must complete Schedule B as shown next and 

file it with Form 941. Elm Co. won’t check the second box 

TIP

2 Instructions for Schedule B (Form 941) (Rev. 3-2024)
on Form 941, line 16, even though Elm Co. was a monthly 

schedule depositor until January 27, 2024. Instead, Elm 

Co. must check the third box on Form 941, line 16.

Month Lines for dates wages were paid Amount to report

1 (January) line 19 $2,000

1 (January) line 26 $110,000

2 (February) lines 2, 9, 16, and 23 $110,000

3 (March) lines 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 $110,000

Total Liability for the Quarter

To find your total liability for the quarter, add your monthly 

tax liabilities.

 Tax Liability for Month 1

+ Tax Liability for Month 2

+ Tax Liability for Month 3

Total Liability for the Quarter

Your total liability for the quarter must equal line 12 

on Form 941.

Adjusting tax liability for the qualified small business 

payroll tax credit for increasing research activities 

(Form 941, line 11). Semiweekly schedule depositors 

must account for the qualified small business payroll tax 

credit for increasing research activities claimed on Form 

941, line 11, when reporting their tax liabilities on 

Schedule B. The total tax liability for the quarter must 

equal the amount reported on Form 941, line 12. Failure to 

account for the qualified small business payroll tax credit 

for increasing research activities on Schedule B may 

cause Schedule B to report more than the total tax liability 

reported on Form 941, line 12. Don't reduce your daily tax 

liability reported on Schedule B 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 Schedule B, 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 Schedule B, 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 

CAUTION

!

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. 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 2023 income tax return on April 

15, 2024. Rose Co. elected to take the qualified small 

business payroll tax credit for increasing research 

activities on Form 6765. The third quarter of 2024 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 2024. 

Rose Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor. Rose Co. 

completes Schedule B by reducing the amount of liability 

entered for the first payroll payment in the third quarter of 

2024 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 2025.

Correcting Previously Reported Tax Liability

Semiweekly schedule depositors. If you’ve been 

assessed an FTD penalty for a quarter and you made an 

error on Schedule B and the correction won’t change the 

total liability for the quarter you reported on Schedule B, 

you may be able to reduce your penalty by filing an 

amended Schedule B.

Example. You reported a liability of $3,000 on day 1 of 

month 1. However, the liability was actually for month 3. 

Prepare an amended Schedule B showing the $3,000 

liability on day 1 of month 3. Also, you must enter the 

liabilities previously reported for the quarter that didn’t 

Instructions for Schedule B (Form 941) (Rev. 3-2024) 3
change. Write “Amended” at the top of Schedule B. The 

IRS will refigure the penalty and notify you of any change 

in the penalty.

Monthly schedule depositors. You can file a 

Schedule B if you have been assessed an FTD penalty for 

a quarter and you made an error on the monthly tax 

liability section of Form 941. When completing Schedule B 

for this situation, only enter the monthly totals. The daily 

entries aren’t required.

Where to file. File your amended Schedule B, or, for 

monthly schedule depositors, your original Schedule B at 

the address provided in the penalty notice you received. If 

you're filing an amended Schedule B, you don’t have to 

submit your original Schedule B.

Form 941-X

You may need to file an amended Schedule B with Form 

941-X to avoid or reduce an FTD penalty.

Tax decrease. If you’re filing Form 941-X for a quarter, 

you can file an amended Schedule B with Form 941-X if 

both of the following apply.

1. You have a tax decrease.

2. You were assessed an FTD penalty.

File your amended Schedule B with Form 941-X. The total 

liability for the quarter reported on your amended 

Schedule B must equal the corrected amount of tax 

reported on Form 941-X. If your penalty is decreased, the 

IRS will include the penalty decrease with your tax 

decrease.

Tax increase—Form 941-X filed timely. If you’re filing a 

timely Form 941-X showing a tax increase, don’t file an 

amended Schedule B, unless you were assessed an FTD 

penalty caused by an incorrect, incomplete, or missing 

Schedule B. If you’re filing an amended Schedule B, don’t 

include the tax increase reported on Form 941-X.

Tax increase—Form 941-X filed late. If you owe tax and 

are filing a late Form 941-X, that is, after the due date of 

the return for the return period in which you discovered the 

error, you must file an amended Schedule B with Form 

941-X. Otherwise, the IRS may assess an “averaged” FTD 

penalty.

The total tax reported on the “Total liability for the 

quarter” line of the amended Schedule B must match the 

corrected tax (Form 941, line 12, combined with any 

correction reported on Form 941-X, line 23) for the 

quarter, less any previous abatements and interest-free 

tax assessments.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the 

information on Schedule B 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 Schedule B will 

vary depending on individual circumstances. The 

estimated burden for employers filing Schedule B is 

approved under OMB control number 1545-0029 and is 

included in the estimates shown in the Instructions for 

Form 941.

4 Instructions for Schedule B (Form 941) (Rev. 3-2024)