Payroll tax deadlines don't announce themselves. There's no warning letter before day one of a missed quarter: the penalty clock starts the moment a deposit or a filing is late, and it compounds from there. For an employer running payroll without a dedicated team watching the calendar, that's the single easiest way to turn a clerical miss into a five-figure problem.
This calendar covers every federal payroll-tax deadline that applies to a typical Florida employer in 2026: the quarterly Form 941, the annual Form 940, deposit schedules, and the January W-2/1099 crunch. Every date below traces to the IRS's own filing rules, not a rounded estimate.
Form 941: the quarterly federal return every employer files
Form 941, the Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return, reports wages paid and the federal income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax withheld from employees, plus the employer's matching share. Nearly every business with employees files it four times a year.
| Quarter | Period covered | 2026 due date |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | January – March | April 30, 2026 |
| Q2 | April – June | July 31, 2026 |
| Q3 | July – September | November 2, 2026 (Oct 31 is a Saturday) |
| Q4 | October – December | February 1, 2027 (Jan 31 is a Sunday) |
Two dates on that table moved from the standard month-end because they land on a weekend, a pattern worth internalizing, not just memorizing for this year. Federal payroll-tax deadlines that fall on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday automatically roll to the next business day.
If you deposited all the taxes you owed for the quarter on time and in full, the IRS gives you an automatic 10 additional calendar days to file the return itself. It's a grace period on the paperwork, not the payment: the deposits still have to be on schedule for it to apply.
Form 940: the once-a-year FUTA return
Form 940 reports and calculates your Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) liability, a federal payroll tax employers pay, not employees. Unlike Form 941, it's filed once a year.
For 2026 wages, Form 940 is due February 1, 2027 (January 31 falls on a Sunday). If every FUTA deposit was made on time throughout the year, that deadline extends to February 10, 2027.
The $7,000 FUTA wage base is a federal figure and hasn't moved in years: it's the effective rate that shifts, and only for employers in states that haven't fully repaid federal unemployment loans. Florida is not currently on that list, but it's worth checking your specific state's status before you finalize a Form 940 filing, since a credit reduction changes the calculation.
Social Security wage base: the number that resets every January
The taxable wage base for Social Security tax increases annually. For 2026, the wage base is $184,500, meaning the 6.2% employee and employer Social Security tax applies only to wages up to that amount per employee. Combined with the 1.45% Medicare tax (which has no wage cap), the standard employer FICA rate remains 7.65%.
Track each employee's year-to-date Social Security wages
Once an employee crosses $184,500 in 2026 wages, stop withholding the 6.2% Social Security portion: Medicare withholding continues on every dollar.
Watch for a mid-year employer switch
If you change payroll providers mid-year, the new provider needs the employee's year-to-date wage totals to apply the cap correctly and avoid over-withholding.
Reconcile at year-end
Confirm total withheld Social Security tax against the wage base before filing W-2s: a mismatch here is one of the most common year-end correction triggers.
The January crunch: W-2s and 1099s
Every W-2 and 1099-NEC carries the same hard deadline: January 31. W-2s go to employees and to the Social Security Administration; 1099-NEC forms go to contractors and the IRS. Neither has an automatic extension the way some other tax forms do: an extension request is possible but isn't granted routinely.
- Final year-to-date payroll totals reconciled against all four quarterly 941 filings
- Every contractor paid $600 or more during the year has a current W-9 on file
- Employee address and Social Security number data verified: a bad SSN is the single most common W-2 rejection reason
- State withholding and unemployment filings for the fourth quarter submitted alongside the federal forms
- Electronic delivery consent collected from employees who want digital-only copies
Start year-end reconciliation in November, not January. Comparing your running payroll totals against your three completed quarterly 941 filings while there's still time to fix a discrepancy is far cheaper than discovering the mismatch after W-2s are already printed.
Florida employers: one more filing on top of the federal calendar
Federal deadlines aren't the whole picture. Florida employers also file quarterly reemployment tax reports with the Florida Department of Revenue, generally on the same quarterly cadence as Form 941. Multi-state employers add a filing for every additional state where they have an employee working, each with its own deadline and its own portal.
Never miss a payroll-tax deadline again
SMAART Payroll files every federal and state deadline on this calendar: reconciled against your books, remitted on time, every quarter.
Get a payroll reviewSources
- IRS: Instructions for Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return
- IRS: Instructions for Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return
- IRS: General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3
- Social Security Administration: 2026 Social Security Changes (taxable wage base)
- IRS: Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide
Frequently asked questions
Form 941 is due quarterly: April 30 for Q1, July 31 for Q2, November 2 for Q3 (October 31 falls on a Saturday), and February 1, 2027 for Q4 (January 31 is a Sunday). If you deposited all taxes owed for the quarter on time, you get an automatic 10 extra calendar days to file.
The annual Form 940, which reports your Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) liability, is due February 1, 2027 for 2026 wages. If you deposited all FUTA tax when due throughout the year, the deadline extends to February 10, 2027.
Both are due by January 31: W-2s to employees and to the Social Security Administration, and 1099-NEC forms to contractors and the IRS. There is no automatic extension for the January 31 deadline the way there is for some other tax forms.
Yes. When a federal payroll-tax deadline lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it automatically shifts to the next business day. That's why the 2026 Q3 Form 941 deadline is November 2 instead of October 31, and the Q4 deadline is February 1, 2027 instead of January 31.
