Form 945-A OMB No. 1545-1430

Annual Record of Federal Tax Liability

(Rev. December 2009)

Name (as shown on Form 945, Form 945-X, CT-1, CT1-X, 944, 944-X, or Form 944-SS) Employer identification number (EIN)

January Tax Liability

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A Total for month 

15

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15

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February Tax Liability March Tax Liability

B Total for month C Total for month 

April Tax Liability

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D Total for month 

15

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15

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15

May Tax Liability June Tax Liability

E Total for month F Total for month 

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File with Form 945, Form 945-X, CT-1, CT1-X, 944, 944-X, or Form 944-SS.

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Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service

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You must complete this form if you are required to deposit on a semiweekly schedule or if your tax liability during any month was $100,000 or

more. Show tax liability here, not deposits. (The IRS gets deposit data from FTD coupons or EFTPS.) DO NOT change your tax liability by

adjustments reported on any Forms 945-X.

What’s New?

Change in reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period

adjustments previously reported on line 3 of Form 945, Annual Return of

Withheld Federal Income Tax, line 12 of Form CT-1, Employer’s Annual

Railroad Retirement Tax Return, lines 6b through 6e of Form 944,

Employer’s ANNUAL Federal Tax Return, and lines 6c and 6e of Form

944-SS, Employer’s ANNUAL Federal Tax Return – American Samoa,

Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S.

Virgin Islands, are no longer reported on Form 945-A.

When you file Form 945-A with your Form 945, CT-1, 944, or 944-SS,

do not change your tax liability by adjustments reported on any Forms

945-X, CT1-X, or 944-X.

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. See

Amending a Previously Filed Form 945-A on page 3.

General Instructions

Purpose of form. 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 945 and 945-X for federal income tax withholding on nonpayroll

payments. Nonpayroll withholding includes backup withholding and

federal income tax withholding on pensions, annuities, IRAs, Indian

Gaming profits, gambling winnings, and military retirement.

● Forms CT-1 and CT-1 X for withheld Tier I and Tier II taxes.

● Forms 944, and 944-X for social security and Medicare taxes.

● Form 944-SS for social security and Medicare taxes.

Forms 944-PR, 944(SP), 944-X (SP), and 944-X (PR). If you are a

semiweekly schedule depositor who files Formulario 944-PR, Planilla para

la Declaración Federal ANUAL del Patrono, or Formulario 944(SP),

Calendar Year

Prior period adjustments are now reported on new 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.
Form 945-A (Rev. 12-2009) Page 2

July Tax Liability

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G Total for month 

15

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15

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August Tax Liability September Tax Liability

H Total for month I Total for month 

October Tax Liability

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J Total for month 

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15

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November Tax Liability December Tax Liability

K Total for month L Total for month 

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M Total tax liability for the year (add lines A through L). This should equal line 3 on Form 945 (line 13

on Form CT-1, line 9 on Form 944, or line 7 on Form 944-SS.) 

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Declaración Federal ANUAL de Impuestos del Patrono o Empleador, you

should use Formulario 943A-PR, Registro de la Obligación Contributiva

Federal del Patrono Agrícola, to report your tax liability.

Who must file. 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 federal income tax

withholding or employment tax return, the IRS may propose an

“averaged” failure-to-deposit penalty. See Deposit Penalties in section 11

of Pub. 15 (Circular E); or section 8 of Pub. 80 (Circular SS) for more

information.

The deposit rules, including the $100,000 Next-Day Deposit Rule, are

explained in section 11 of Pub. 15 (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide;

section 8 of Pub. 80 (Circular SS), Federal Tax Guide for Employers in the

U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of

the Northern Mariana Islands; and in the instructions for your tax return.

Form CT-1 filers. Do not complete the Monthly Summary of Railroad

Retirement Tax Liability (page 2 on Form CT-1).

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, 2008, but did not make the distribution until

January 3, 2009, the federal income tax withholding liability for the

distribution must be reported on Form 945-A for 2009, on line 3 under

January Tax Liability.

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 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, 944-X, or 944-SS.

Calendar year. Enter the calendar year of the Form 945, 945-X, CT-1,

CT-1 X, 944, 944-X, or 944-SS to which Form 945-A is attached.

Form 945 filers. Do not complete entries A through M of the Monthly

Summary of Federal Tax Liability (line 7 on Form 945). Be sure to mark

the semiweekly schedule depositor checkbox above line 7 on Form 945.

Specific Instructions

Form 944 and 944-SS filers. On Form 944, check the box for “Line 9 is

$2,500 or more” at line 15, and leave blank lines 15a–15m and complete

line 16. On Form 944-SS, check the box for “Line 7 is $2,500 or more” at

line 15, and leave blank lines 15a–15m.
Recordkeeping 

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the informa

form to carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United S

required to give us the information. We need it to ensure th

complying with these laws and to allow us to figure and co

amount of tax.

Preparing and sending

the form to the IRS 

If you have comments concerning the accuracy of these 

or suggestions for making this form simpler, we would be h

from you. You can write to the IRS at the address listed in 

Act Notice for your tax return.

The time needed to complete and file this form will vary 

individual circumstances. The estimated average time is:

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 2009. 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), Employer’s Tax Guide, for details).

Since Elm Co. accumulated $101,000 ($2,000 + $99,000) on January 24,

2009, it became a semiweekly schedule depositor on January 25, 2009.

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 line 7 of Form 945 although Elm Co. was a monthly

schedule depositor until January 24.

Tax increase—Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or Form 944-X filed 

are filing a timely Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or Form 944-X show

increase, do not file an amended Form 945-A, unless you w

an FTD penalty caused by an incorrect, incomplete, or miss

945-A. Do not include the tax increase reported on Form 9

or Form 944-X on an amended 945-A you file.

File your amended Form 945-A with Form 945-X, Form C

Form 944-X. The total liability reported on your corrected F

must equal the corrected amount of tax reported on Form 

CT-1 X, or Form 944-X. If your penalty is decreased, the IR

the penalty decrease with your tax decrease.

You are not required to provide the information requeste

that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act unless the f

valid OMB control number. Books or records relating to a f

instructions must be retained as long as their contents may 

material in the administration of any Internal Revenue law. G

returns and return information are confidential, as required 

section 6103.

Learning 

Cedar Co. enters the monthly totals on lines A through L. It adds these

monthly subtotals and enters the total tax liability for the year on line M.

The amount on line M should equal line 3 of Form 945.

For example, if you are a Form 945 filer, your payroll period ended on

December 31, 2008, and you paid the wages for that period on January

6, 2009, you would:

● go to January, and

payroll 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.

● 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 below line

6 of Form 945 to show that you are a semiweekly schedule TIP 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, 2008, 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.

Amending a Previously Filed Form 945-A

Semiweekly schedule depositors. 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 day 1 of January.

However, the liability was actually for March. Prepare an amended Form

945-A showing the $3,000 liability on day 1 of March. 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.

py y

Form 945-A.

Forms 945-X, CT-1 X, and 944-X

Tax decrease. If you are filing Form 945-X, Form CT-1 X, o

you can file an amended 945-A with the form if both of the 

apply.

1. You have a tax decrease AND

2. You were assessed an FTD penalty.

Tax increase—Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or Form 944-X filed 

owe tax and are filing late, that is, after the due date of the 

filing period in which you discovered the error, you must fil

an amended Form 945-A. Otherwise, IRS may assess an “a

penalty.