Form 945-A

(Rev. October 2011)

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service

Annual Record of Federal Tax Liability

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

OMB No. 1545-1430

Calendar Year

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

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 electronic funds transfers.) DO NOT change your tax liability by adjustments 

reported on any Form 945-X, 944-X, or CT-1 X.

January Tax Liability

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A Total for month ▶

February Tax Liability

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B Total for month ▶

March Tax Liability

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C Total for month ▶

April Tax Liability

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D Total for month ▶

May Tax Liability

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E Total for month ▶

June Tax Liability

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F Total for month ▶

Reminders

Reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period adjustments are reported 

on 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.

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 Form 945-X, 

CT-1 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. For more 

information, see Amending a Previously Filed Form 945-A, later.

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 both employee and employer Tier I taxes and 

employer Tier II taxes.

• Forms 944 and 944-X for federal income tax withheld plus both employee 

and employer social security and Medicare taxes.

• Form 944-SS for both employee and employer 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), Declaración 

Cat. No. 14733M Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2011)
Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2011) Page 2

July Tax Liability

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G Total for month ▶

August Tax Liability

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H Total for month ▶

September Tax Liability

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I Total for month ▶

October Tax Liability

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J Total for month ▶

November Tax Liability

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K Total for month ▶

December Tax Liability

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L Total for month ▶

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 7 on Form 944, or line 7 on Form 944-SS.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▶

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.

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.

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 tax liabilities on time. Unless Form 945-

A is properly completed and filed (if applicable) with your 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.

Specific Instructions

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, 2010, but did not make the distribution until January 3, 2011, 

the federal income tax withholding liability for the distribution must be 

reported on Form 945-A for 2011, 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.

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

Retirement Tax Liability (Form CT-1).

Form 944 and 944-SS filers. On Form 944, check the box for “Line 7 is

$2,500 or more” at line 13, and leave blank lines 13a–13m and complete line 

14. On Form 944-SS, check the box for “Line 7 is $2,500 or more” at line 13, 

and leave blank lines 13a–13m.

Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2011)
Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2011) Page 3

Enter your tax liability by month. Enter your tax liabilities in the spaces that 

correspond to the dates you paid wages to your employees or made 

nonpayroll payments, not the date deposits were made. The total tax liability 

for the year (line M) must equal net taxes on Form 945 (line 3), Form 944 (line 

7), Form 944-SS (line 7), or Form CT-1 (line 13). Report your tax liabilities on 

this form corresponding to the dates of each wage payment or nonpayroll 

payment, not to when the 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.

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

December 31, 2011, and you paid the nonpayroll payments for that period 

on January 6, 2012, you would:

• Go to January (on Form 945-A filed with your 2012 return), and

• Enter your tax liability on line 6 (because line 6 represents the sixth day of 

the month).

TIP

Make sure you have checked the appropriate box below line 6 

of Form 945 to show that you are a semiweekly schedule 

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, 2011, 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.

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.

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 2011. 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) for details). Since Elm Co. accumulated 

$101,000 ($2,000 + $99,000) on January 24, 2011, it became a semiweekly 

schedule depositor on January 25, 2011. 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.

Amending a Previously Filed Form 945-A

Semiweekly schedule depositors. If you have been assessed a failure-todeposit (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 January 1. However, the 

liability was actually for March. Prepare an amended Form 945-A showing 

the $3,000 liability on March 1. 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.

Monthly schedule depositors. You can also file an amended Form 945-A if 

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

monthly tax liability section of Form 945. When completing Form 945-A, only 

enter the monthly totals. The daily entries are not required.

Where to file. File your amended Form 945-A at the address provided in the 

penalty notice you received. You do not have to submit your original Form 

945-A.

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

Tax decrease. If you are filing Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X, you can file an 

amended Form 945-A with the form if both of the following apply.

1. You have a tax decrease. 

2. You were assessed an FTD penalty.

File your amended Form 945-A with Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X. The 

total liability reported on your corrected Form 945-A must equal the 

corrected amount of tax reported on Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X. If your 

penalty is decreased, the IRS will include the penalty decrease with your tax 

decrease.

Tax increase—Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X filed timely. If you are filing a 

timely Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X showing a tax increase, do not file an 

amended Form 945-A, unless you were assessed an FTD penalty caused by 

an incorrect, incomplete, or missing Form 945-A. Do not include the tax 

increase reported on Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X on an amended Form 

945-A you file.

Tax increase—Form 945-X, CT-1 X, or 944-X filed late. If you owe tax and 

are filing late, that is, after the due date of the return for the filing period in 

which you discovered the error, you must file the form with an amended 

Form 945-A. Otherwise, IRS may assess an “averaged” FTD penalty.

The total tax reported on line M of Form 945-A must match the corrected 

tax (line 3 of Form 945 (line 7 (line 9 for years before 2011) of Form 944; line 7 

of Form 944-SS; line 13 of Form CT-1) combined with any correction 

reported on line 5 of Form 945-X (line 16 of Form 944-X minus any advance 

EIC reported on line 17 of Form 944-X; line 18 of Form CT-1 X)) for the year, 

less any previous abatements and interest-free tax assessments.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the information on this form 

to carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United States. You are required 

to give us the information. We need it to ensure that you are complying with 

these laws and to allow us to figure and collect the right amount of tax.

You are 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 this form will vary depending on 

individual circumstances. The estimated average time is:

Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 hr., 27 min.

Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 min.

Preparing and sending 

the form to the IRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 min.

If you have comments concerning the accuracy of these time estimates or 

suggestions for making this form simpler, we would be happy to hear from 

you. You can write to the IRS at the address listed in the Privacy Act Notice 

for your tax return.