15072: 94x - Tax Deposits (DAS)

If you expect to make one or more tax deposits before you actually file a 94x form itself you can use the Tax Deposits screen to create the payment information from payroll in Drake Accounting^®, adjust it for proper taxable and payment amounts, and save it for when you actually make the payment outside of DAS (the Tax Deposits screen records but does not make payments).

If you use the Tax Deposits screen, you should:

• use it for the entire reporting period.
• generate 94X reports using Tax Deposits as the source instead of Payroll.

When a Tax Deposits screen is saved, Drake Accounting^® records the tax deposit as having been made. Be sure to set the default cash account. If the saved Tax Deposits screen included adjusting entries, the recorded deposit and its components may not match what would otherwise be computed from recorded payroll until you adjust payroll to conform. After using the Tax Deposits screen, if you create 94x forms from Employees > Federal Forms > Forms 94x source, discrepancies may appear.

Use the Tax Deposits source to create a 94x form for filing that incorporates the saved tax deposits information.

Tax deposit payments must be made electronically via EFTPS, or another IRS-Approved payment method. Refer to the IRS' web page Depositing and Reporting Employment Taxes or see Related Links below.

Open the Client Setup screen and go to the Business Information tab (Client > Edit > Business Information). Based on how the IRS requires your client to deposit and report employment taxes, select your client’s deposit schedule as Monthly or Semi-Weekly from the Deposit Frequency drop list.

• Generally, for Form 941, a Monthly depositor would make three deposit entries each quarter: either three before the filing of the form itself or two before the filing and the third with the filing.
• Semiweekly depositors generally have 3 days to make a deposit after a payday. Therefore, for Form 941, more deposit entries per quarter probably will be recorded.

If you change anything on this screen, click Save after making the change.

Creating 94x Tax Deposits

Open the Tax Deposits screen for the desired form (go to Employees > Tax Deposit and select the appropriate 94x form).

Until current forms are released for the filing season, deposit calculations for annual 94x forms are based on rates used on previous year forms. The IRS usually finalizes annual forms late in the calendar year, as late as November or December. 

1. Enter the Beginning Check Date (date which will begin the search for pay checks), the Ending Check Date (date which will end the search), and the Payment Date (date the deposit will be paid).
   • It is important to enter the appropriate dates. If, for example, a prior year is entered as part of the Payment Date, the amounts saved for that tax deposit will not be included on the form generated during the current year.
2. Indicate which date will be used for including amounts on the report – Use Beginning Period Date, Use Ending Period Date [recommended], or Use Payment Date (the date the tax deposit will be made).
   • This selection determines where the tax liability will be reported on the Schedule B (if generated). If the Use Beginning Period Date is selected, Drake Accounting^® will print the entire liability amount on the first day of the month. If the Use Ending Period Date is selected, Drake Accounting^® will print the entire liability amount on the last day of the month. If the Use Payment Date is selected, Drake Accounting^® will print the entire liability amount on the date showing as the Payment Date.
   • If you want the Schedule B to show the actual date the liability was incurred, the Tax Deposit source cannot be used to generate the form. Instead, print the form for a reference of the tax deposits entered and generate the Form 94X with the Schedule B using the Payroll source. Before saving the form, use the printed reference of tax deposit data to enter all amounts appropriate to the deposits made. (Saved tax deposit information is not present in a 94X form created this way.)
3. Click Calculate.
   • In the example above, the 941 Tax Deposit Calculation section would show calculated totals from all paychecks with a Check Date on or within the search range from Beginning Check Date to Ending Check Date.
     
4. If using EFTPS to send payment, make sure the Export deposit to EFTPS checkbox is marked. Then you can then set the Tax Deposit account in the Cash Account Numbers grid under Employees > Options > GL Accounts. Ensure that the profile on that same screen is selected as the Tax Deposit Default.
5. Adjust amounts as needed to total the correct Amount Deposited. (Amounts associated with labels displayed in blue can be changed.) Leave the field by pressing Tab (or click the next field) to prompt Drake Accounting^® to recalculate based on the change made.
   • The Federal Wages and Federal Withheld amounts can be changed; but nothing will be recalculated.
   • If you change the Federal Wages and Federal Withheld amounts, the amount(s) no longer reflect what is in payroll. This can prevent you from being able to verify the amounts on a 94x form using other payroll reports, such as the Payroll Journal.
6. Click Save to record the payroll amounts and tax deposit made based on those payroll amounts. Once saved, the deposit will appear as the next entry in the list displayed at the bottom of the screen.
   

Balance Due field - If set up for Online Payments (Client > Edit > Online Payment tab), the amount in Balance Due will be the payment made via the Transmit 94x Forms process (E-Filing > 94x E-Filing > Transmit 94x Forms).

Print button - click to print the deposit document. The printed document is available only from the 941 Tax Deposits screen, not in Report Review.

Reset button - Click to clear the information shown on screen for the tax deposit calculation. To delete a tax deposit entry, follow the instructions in the section, "Editing a 94x Tax Deposit," below.

Quarterly 94x Form button(s) - Note that all the deposits for a quarter saved on the 941 Tax Deposits screen are totaled on the Form 941 for that quarter. Do not save duplicates of the same deposit – any deposit information saved for the quarter you are reporting is added to the totals transferred to the quarterly Form 941.

Editing a 94x Tax Deposit
Select the deposit by double-clicking on it in the list. The totals associated with that deposit appear in the area above the list. Edit and save it again or delete it by clicking the Delete button.

Schedule B
If wage or tax values for a recorded tax deposit were changed, there may be a discrepancy with one or more of these totals on the Schedule B. Totals on the Schedule B come directly from current payroll checks and not from the recorded tax deposit. (To understand this, note the tax deposit entries are totals based on the quarter while Schedule B totals are based on days in the quarter.)

The form and transmission file reflect only wage and tax totals recorded by the tax deposit entries for the quarter. Changes in payroll after the tax deposit entry was made will not necessarily be included and could explain why a Payroll Journal report has different totals than those on the form. ​