IRS payroll tax deposit schedule (semi-weekly vs. monthly)
How the IRS classifies you as a monthly or semi-weekly depositor, the lookback period rule, and the exact deposit deadlines for each pay date.
Every U.S. employer who withholds federal income tax, Social Security, or Medicare from employee wages has to deposit those amounts into the federal Treasury on the IRS's schedule — not the employer's. This guide explains how the IRS classifies you, when each deposit is due, and what happens when you miss one.
The two main classifications
Monthly depositors deposit each month's accumulated payroll taxes by the 15th of the following month. Semi-weekly depositors deposit by Wednesday for pay dates falling on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, and by Friday for pay dates falling on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Whichever deposit deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline shifts forward to the next banking day per IRS regulation §31.6302-1(c)(2).
The lookback period rule
Your classification for a given calendar year is determined by your total federal payroll tax liability during the lookback period — July 1 of the second prior year through June 30 of the prior year. If your lookback total is $50,000 or less, you're a monthly depositor for the upcoming year. If it's more than $50,000, you're semi-weekly. New employers without a lookback period default to monthly until they cross the threshold. The IRS notifies you of any change in classification by mail in the fall of each year, so check your mail in October–November.
The next-day deposit rule
Regardless of classification, if a single payroll triggers $100,000 or more of accumulated federal tax liability, the deposit is due the next banking day. This rule catches small businesses scaling for the first time — for example, a startup that runs a one-time bonus payroll funded from a Series A close. The rule applies to the accumulated liability at the moment it crosses $100,000, not just to single paychecks. A monthly depositor whose accumulated unpaid tax liability hits $100,000 mid-month converts to next-day for the rest of that deposit period and to semi-weekly for the rest of the calendar year. See the next-day deposit rule guide for the full mechanics.
How to deposit
All federal payroll tax deposits must be made electronically via the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) or by initiating an ACH credit through your bank. Paper checks are not accepted for federal payroll deposits and trigger automatic 10% penalties. Most modern payroll software (Gusto, Rippling, ADP, Paychex, QuickBooks Payroll, Justworks) initiates the deposits on your behalf. Enroll in EFTPS personally even if your software handles deposits, so you have direct visibility into what the IRS has actually received.
Penalties for missing a deposit
The Failure to Deposit (FTD) penalty stacks based on lateness: 2% if 1–5 days late, 5% if 6–15 days, 10% if 16+ days, and 15% if not paid within 10 days of the IRS's first notice. The penalty applies to the entire deposit, not just the late portion. A semi-weekly depositor who misses a $20,000 Friday deposit and pays it the following Monday owes $400; the same employer who pays it 16 days later owes $2,000. The penalty is non-deductible.
The deposit calendar columns on this site
Every state-level calendar page on this site (e.g., California 2025 biweekly) includes two columns showing the IRS semi-weekly deposit deadline and the IRS monthly deposit deadline for each pay date. Use the column that matches your classification. Both columns already account for weekend and federal holiday banking-day shifts.
Form 941 reconciliation
Each quarter, your deposits are reconciled against the wages and taxes reported on Form 941 (or Form 944 for very small annual filers). If the deposits and the 941 don't match, the IRS issues either a refund (overdeposit) or a balance-due notice (underdeposit). The balance-due is much more common and costs more to resolve, so reconcile internally before filing the 941 — most payroll software does this automatically. Compare full-service payroll providers if you're filing 941s by hand and want the reconciliation handled for you.
State payroll tax deposits
State withholding tax has its own deposit schedule, set by each state revenue department, and SUTA has its own quarterly schedule set by each state labor department. The federal deposit calendar on this site does not cover state deposits — check with each state agency for its specific rules. The state pages on this site link out to the relevant statute for context.