Form 945-A

(Rev. October 2012)

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service

Annual Record of Federal Tax Liability

▶ Information about Form 945-A and its instructions is at www.irs.gov/form945.

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

OMB No. 1545-1430

Calendar Year

Name (as shown on Form 945, 945-X, CT-1, CT-1 X, 944, or 944-X) 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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2

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5

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31

A Total for month ▶

February Tax Liability

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29

B Total for month ▶

March Tax Liability

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31

C Total for month ▶

April Tax Liability

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D Total for month ▶

May Tax Liability

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31

E Total for month ▶

June Tax Liability

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30

F Total for month ▶

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see page 4. Cat. No. 14733M Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2012)
Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2012) Page 2

July Tax Liability

1

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G Total for month ▶

August Tax Liability

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31

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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31

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.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▶

Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2012)
Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2012) Page 3

Future Developments

For the latest information about developments related to Form 

945-A and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they 

were published, go to www.irs.gov/form945. 

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, or 944, 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.

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

semiweekly schedule depositor who files Formulario 944(SP), 

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. You should also file Form 943A-PR if you file 

Form 944-X(SP) or Form 944-X(PR) and you need to amend a 

previously filed Form 943A-PR.

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, 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) 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, 2011, but 

did not make the distribution until January 3, 2012, the federal 

income tax withholding liability for the distribution must be reported 

on Form 945-A for 2012, 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, or 944-X.

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

CT-1, CT-1 X, 944, or 944-X 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 (Form 945, line 7). 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 filers. On Form 944, check the box for “Line 7 is $2,500 

or more” at line 13, and leave blank lines 13a–13m. 

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) 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).

Make sure you have checked the appropriate box below 

line 6 of Form 945 to show that you are a semiweekly 

schedule depositor.

TIP

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, 2012, 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 Form 945, line 3. 

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.
Form 945-A (Rev. 10-2012) Page 4

Example 3. Because Elm Co. is a new business, it is a monthly 

schedule depositor at the beginning of 2012. 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, 2012, it became a semiweekly 

schedule depositor on January 25, 2012. 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 Form 945, line 7, although Elm Co. was a monthly schedule 

depositor until January 25.

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 an amended 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 amended 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 (Form 945, line 3; Form 944, line 7 (line 9 for years 

before 2011); Form CT-1, line 13) combined with any correction 

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

advance EIC reported on Form 944-X, line 17; Form CT-1X, line 18) 

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.