Form 943-A

(Rev. October 2017)

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service 

Agricultural Employer's Record of 

Federal Tax Liability

▶ Go to www.irs.gov/Form943A for the latest information.

▶ File with Form 943 or Form 943-X.

OMB No. 1545-0035 

Calendar Year 

Name (as shown on Form 943) Employer identification number (EIN) 

You must complete this form if you're a semiweekly schedule depositor or became one because your accumulated tax liability during 

any month was $100,000 or more. Show tax liability here, not deposits. (The IRS gets deposit data from electronic funds transfers.) 

Don't change your current year tax liability by adjustments reported on any Forms 943-X. 

January Tax Liability

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A Total liability for month ▶

February Tax Liability

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B Total liability for month ▶

March Tax Liability

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C Total liability for month ▶

April Tax Liability

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D Total liability for month ▶

May Tax Liability

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E Total liability for month ▶

June Tax Liability

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F Total liability for month ▶

For Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see the separate Instructions for Form 943. Cat. No. 17030C Form 943-A (Rev. 10-2017) 
Form 943-A (Rev. 10-2017) Page 2 

July Tax Liability

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G Total liability for month ▶

August Tax Liability

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H Total liability for month ▶

September Tax Liability

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I Total liability for month ▶

October Tax Liability

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J Total liability for month ▶

November Tax Liability

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K Total liability for month ▶

December Tax Liability

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L Total liability for month ▶

M Total tax liability for year (add lines A through L) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▶

Form 943-A (Rev. 10-2017) 
Form 943-A (Rev. 10-2017) Page 3 

Future Developments 

For the latest information about developments related to Form 943-A 

and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they were 

published, go to www.irs.gov/Form943A.

What's New

Adjusting tax liability for the qualified small business payroll tax 

credit for increasing research activities. For 2017 and 

subsequent years, you must account for any qualified small 

business payroll tax credit for increasing research activities that you 

reported on Form 943, line 12, when reporting your liabilities on 

Form 943-A. The total liability for the year must equal Form 943, line 

13. Failure to account for the amount reported on Form 943, line 12, 

may cause Form 943-A to report more than the total taxes after 

adjustments and credits reported on Form 943, line 13. 

The qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing 

research activities applies to the employer share of social security 

tax on wages paid in the quarter that begins after the income tax 

return electing the credit has been filed. In completing Form 943-A, 

you take into account the payroll tax credit against your liability for 

the employer share of social security tax starting with the first 

payroll payment of the quarter that includes payments of wages to 

your employees that are subject to social security tax. Don't reduce 

your daily tax liability reported on Form 943-A below zero. For more 

information, see the line 17 instructions in the Instructions for Form 

943.

Reminders

Reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period adjustments are 

reported on Form 943-X, Adjusted Employer’s Annual Federal Tax 

Return for Agricultural Employees or Claim for Refund, and aren't 

taken into account when figuring the tax liability for the current year. 

When you file Form 943-A with your Form 943, don't change 

your current year tax liability by adjustments reported on any Forms 

943-X. 

Amended Form 943-A. If you have been assessed a 

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

Form 943-A. See Correcting Previously Reported Tax Liability, later. 

General Instructions 

Purpose of form. Use Form 943-A to report your tax liability 

(federal income tax withheld plus both employee and employer 

social security and Medicare taxes). Your tax liability is based on 

the dates wages were paid. Don't show federal tax deposits here. 

Don't report taxes on wages paid to nonfarm workers on this 

form. Taxes on wages paid to nonfarm workers are reported on 

Form 941/941-SS, Employer’s QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, or 

Form 944, Employer’s ANNUAL Federal Tax Return. Don't attach 

Form 943-A to your Form 941/941-SS or Form 944. Instead, use 

Schedule B (Form 941) or Form 945-A, Annual Record of Federal 

Tax Liability (with Form 944). 

Caution: The IRS uses Form 943-A to determine if you have timely 

deposited your Form 943 tax liabilities. If you're a semiweekly 

schedule depositor and you don't properly complete and file 

Form 943-A with Form 943, the IRS may propose an “averaged” 

FTD penalty. See Deposit Penalties in section 7 of Pub. 51, 

Agricultural Employer's Tax Guide, for more information. 

Who must file. Semiweekly schedule depositors must complete 

and file Form 943-A with Form 943. Monthly schedule depositors 

who accumulate $100,000 or more of tax liability on any day of a 

calendar month become semiweekly schedule depositors on the 

next day and remain so for at least the remainder of the year and for 

the next year, and must also complete and file Form 943-A for the 

entire year. Don't file Form 943-A if you were a monthly schedule 

depositor for the entire year or if your total taxes after adjustments 

and credits for the year (Form 943, line 13) are less than $2,500. 

Note: If you use Form 943-A, don't complete Form 943, line 17.

When to file. File Form 943-A with your Form 943 every year when 

Form 943 is due. See the Instructions for Form 943 for due dates. 

Specific Instructions 

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 943 or Form 943-X.

Calendar year. Enter the calendar year of the Form 943 or Form 

943-X to which Form 943-A is attached. 

Enter your tax liability by 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. The total tax liability for the year (line M) must equal 

total taxes after adjustments and credits on Form 943 (line 13). 

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. 

For example, if your payroll period ended on December 31, 2016, 

and you paid the wages for that period on January 7, 2017, you 

would: 

• Go to January on Form 943-A filed with your 2017 Form 943, and 

• Enter your tax liability on line 7 because line 7 represents the 

seventh day of the month. 

TIP

Make sure you have checked the appropriate box 

below line 16 of Form 943 to show that you're a 

semiweekly schedule depositor. 

Here are some additional examples. 

• Cedar Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor. Cedar Co. 

accumulated a federal tax liability of $3,000 on its January 11 and 

January 25 paydays. In the January column, Cedar Co. must enter 

$3,000 on lines 11 and 25. 

• Fir Co. is a semiweekly schedule depositor who paid wages in 

October, November, and December on the last day of the month. 

On December 24, 2017, Fir Co. also paid its employees year-end 

bonuses (subject to employment taxes). Because Fir Co. is a 

semiweekly schedule depositor, it must record employment tax 

liabilities on Form 943-A. 

Month Lines for dates wages were paid 

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

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

December lines 24 (bonus paid) + 31 (payday, last day of the 

month) 

• Elm Co. is a new business and monthly schedule depositor for 

2017. Elm Co. pays wages every Friday. Elm Co. incurred a $2,000 

employment tax liability on October 6, 2017. Elm Co. incurred a 

$110,000 tax liability on October 13, 2017, and on every 

subsequent Friday during 2017. Under the deposit rules, employers 

become semiweekly schedule depositors on the day after any day 

they accumulate $100,000 or more of tax liability in a deposit 

period. 

Because Elm Co. had an accumulated tax liability of $112,000 on 

October 13, 2017, it became a semiweekly schedule depositor on 

October 14, 2017, and must complete Form 943-A and file it with 

Form 943. No entries should be made on Form 943, line 17, even 

though Elm Co. was a monthly schedule depositor until October 14, 

2017.

Month Lines for dates wages were paid Amount to record 

October line 6 $2,000 

October lines 13, 20, 27 $110,000 

November lines 3, 10, 17, 24 $110,000 

December lines 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 $110,000 

See section 7 of Pub. 51 for more information. 
Form 943-A (Rev. 10-2017) Page 4 

Correcting Previously Reported Tax Liability

Semiweekly schedule depositors. If you have been assessed an 

FTD penalty and you made an error on Form 943-A and the 

correction won't change the total liability you reported on Form 

943-A, you may be able to reduce your penalty by filing an 

amended Form 943-A. 

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

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

Form 943-A showing the $3,000 liability on March 1. Also, you must 

enter the liabilities previously reported for the year that didn't 

change. Write “Amended” at the top of Form 943-A. The IRS will 

refigure the penalty and notify you of any change in the penalty. 

Monthly schedule depositors. You can file Form 943-A if you have 

been assessed an FTD penalty and you made an error on the 

monthly tax liability section of Form 943. When completing Form 

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

entries aren't required. 

Where to file. File your amended Form 943-A, or, for monthly 

schedule depositors, your original Form 943-A at the address 

provided in the penalty notice you received. If you're filing an 

amended Form 943-A, you don't have to submit your original 

Form 943-A. 

Form 943-X 

You may need to file an amended Form 943-A with Form 943-X to 

avoid or reduce an FTD penalty.

Tax decrease. If you're filing Form 943-X, you can file an amended 

Form 943-A with Form 943-X if both of the following apply. 

1. You have a tax decrease. 

2. You were assessed an FTD penalty. 

File your amended Form 943-A with Form 943-X. The total liability 

reported on your amended Form 943-A must equal the corrected 

amount of tax reported on Form 943-X. If your penalty is decreased, 

the IRS will include the penalty decrease with your tax decrease. 

Tax increase—Form 943-X filed timely. If you're filing a timely 

Form 943-X showing a tax increase, don't file an amended Form 

943-A, unless you were assessed an FTD penalty caused by an 

incorrect, incomplete, or missing Form 943-A. Don't include the tax 

increase reported on Form 943-X on an amended Form 943-A you 

file. 

Tax increase—Form 943-X filed late. If you owe tax and are filing 

Form 943-X late, that is, after the due date for Form 943 for the year 

in which you discovered the error, you must file an amended Form 

943-A with the Form 943-X. Otherwise, the IRS may assess an 

“averaged” FTD penalty. 

The total tax reported on line M of Form 943-A must match the 

corrected tax after adjustments and credits (Form 943, line 13 (line 

11 for calendar years 2013–2016)), combined with any correction 

reported on Form 943-X, line 15 for the year, less any previous 

abatements and interest-free tax assessments.

Note: Form 943-X, line 15, which is referenced above, will change 

to line 16 on the February 2018 revision of Form 943-X.