Employer's Annual Tax Return for Agricultural Employees

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Instructions for Form 943

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2006

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

Instructions for Form 943
Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return for Agricultural Employees
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless
otherwise noted.

General Instructions

What’s New

Purpose of form. Use Form 943 to report federal income
tax withheld and employer and employee social security and
Medicare taxes on wages paid to farmworkers.
If you have household employees working in your private
home on your farm operated for a profit, they are not
considered to be farm employees. To report social security,
Medicare, and federal income tax withholding on the wages
of household employees, you may either:
• File Schedule H (Form 1040), Household Employment
Taxes, with your Form 1040 or
• Include the wages with your farm employees’ wages on
Form 943.
If you paid wages to a household employee in a home
that is not on a for-profit farm, you must report the taxes on
Schedule H (Form 1040). If you paid wages to other
nonfarm workers, do not report these on Form 943. Taxes
on wages paid to nonfarm workers are reported on
Form 941/941-SS, Employer’s QUARTERLY Federal Tax
Return, or Form 944/944-SS, Employer’s ANNUAL Federal
Tax Return. See Pub. 926, Household Employer’s Tax
Guide, for more information about household employees.
Who must file. File Form 943 if you paid wages to one or
more farmworkers and the wages were subject to social
security and Medicare taxes or federal income tax
withholding under the tests discussed below. For definitions
of farmworkers and wages, see Pub. 51 (Circular A),
Agricultural Employer’s Tax Guide.
The $150 test or the $2,500 test. All cash wages that you
pay to farmworkers are subject to social security and
Medicare taxes and federal income tax withholding for any
calendar year that you meet either of these tests:
• You pay an employee cash wages of $150 or more in a
year for farmwork.
• The total (cash and noncash) wages that you pay to all
farmworkers is $2,500 or more.
If the $2,500-or-more test for the group is not met, the
$150-or-more test for an individual still applies.
Exceptions. Special rules apply to certain hand-harvest
laborers who receive less than $150 in annual cash wages.
For more information, see section 4 of Pub. 51 (Circular A).
When to file. For 2006, file Form 943 by January 31, 2007.
However, if you made deposits on time in full payment of the
taxes due for the year, you may file the return as late as
February 12, 2007.
Final return. If you stop paying wages during the year
and do not expect to pay wages again, file a final return for
2006. Be sure to mark the box above line 1 on the form
indicating that you do not have to file returns in the future. If
you later become liable for any of the taxes, notify the IRS.
Forms W-2 and W-3. By January 31, 2007, give Form W-2
to each employee who was working for you at the end of
2006. If an employee stops working for you before the end
of the year, give him or her Form W-2 any time after
employment ends but no later than January 31 of the
following year. If the employee asks you for Form W-2, give

Social security wage base for 2007. Stop withholding
social security tax after an employee reaches the social
security wage base for taxable wages. See What’s New in
Pub. 51 (Circular A), Agricultural Employer’s Tax Guide, for
the 2007 social security wage base.

Reminders
Correcting Form 943. If you discover an error on a
previously filed Form 943, make the correction using
Form 943 for the year in which you discovered the error and
attach Form 941c, Supporting Statement to Correct
Information. For example, in October 2006, you discover
that you underreported $10,000 in social security and
Medicare wages on your 2005 Form 943. Correct the error
by showing $1,530 (15.3% × $10,000) on line 8 of your 2006
Form 943 and attaching a completed Form 941c. For
details, see Line 8 — Adjustment to taxes on page 3.
Electronic payment. Now, more than ever before,
businesses can enjoy the benefits of paying their federal
taxes electronically. Whether you rely on a tax professional
or handle your own taxes, IRS offers you convenient
programs to make paying taxes easier.
Spend less time and worry on taxes and more time
running your business. Use Electronic Federal Tax Payment
System (EFTPS) to your benefit. To learn more about
EFTPS, visit www.eftps.gov or call EFTPS Customer
Service at 1-800-555-4477.
Use the electronic options available from IRS and make
paying taxes easier.
You may be required to use EPTPS. See How To
Deposit — Electronic deposit requirement (EFTPS) in section
7 of Pub. 51 (Circular A).
How to get forms and publications. You can get most
IRS forms and publications by accessing the IRS website at
www.irs.gov or by calling the IRS at 1-800-TAX-FORM
(1-800-829-3676).
Telephone help. You can call the IRS toll free at
1-800-829-4933 to order FTD coupons (Forms 8109) and for
answers to your questions about completing Form 943, tax
deposit rules, or obtaining an employer identification number
(EIN).

Photographs of Missing Children
The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Photographs of missing children selected by the Center may
appear in instructions on pages that would otherwise be
blank. You can help bring these children home by looking at
the photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST
(1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.

Cat. No. 25976L

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Instructions for Form 943

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him or her the completed form within 30 days of the request
or the last wage payment, whichever is later.
Filing on paper forms. By February 28, 2007, send
Copy A of all Forms W-2 with Form W-3 to the Social
Security Administration (SSA) (if less than 250 paper forms).
The address is in the Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3.
Filing electronically. Visit the Social Security
Administration’s Employer Reporting Instructions and
Information website at www.socialsecurity.gov/employer for
information about electronic filing of Forms W-2. If you file
electronically, the due date is April 2, 2007. SSA no longer
accepts any form of magnetic media for wage reporting.
Where to file. Find the state of your legal residence,
principal place of business, office, or agency in the table that
follows. Send your return to the “Internal Revenue Service”
at the address listed for your location. No street address is
needed.
Note. Where you file depends on whether or not you are
including a payment. Be sure to use the correct address.
Without a
payment . . .

If you are in . . .

With a payment . . .

Connecticut
Delaware
District of
Columbia
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Hampshire

New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Internal Revenue
Service
Cincinnati, OH
45999-0008

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Minnesota
Mississippi

Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Washington
Wyoming

Internal Revenue
Service
Ogden, UT
84201-0008

Internal Revenue
Service
P.O. Box 105085
Atlanta, GA
30348-5085

Internal Revenue
Service
P.O. Box 409101
Ogden, UT
84409

Internal Revenue
Service
P.O. Box 105274
Atlanta, GA
30348-5274

No legal residence or principal
place of business in any state:

match. For more information, see section 12 of Pub. 51
(Circular A).
Depositing taxes. If your net taxes (line 11) are less than
$2,500 for the year, you can pay the tax due with your return
if you file on time. If your net taxes are $2,500 or more for
the year, you must deposit your tax liabilities throughout the
year in accordance with your deposit schedule by using the
Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) or by
making a deposit at an authorized financial institution using
Form 8109, Federal Tax Deposit Coupon. There are two
deposit schedules — monthly or semiweekly — for
determining when you must deposit. Before the beginning of
each calendar year, you must determine which of the two
deposit schedules you must use. See section 7 of Pub. 51
(Circular A) for information and rules concerning federal tax
deposits and to determine your status as a monthly or
semiweekly schedule depositor.
Penalties and interest. There are penalties for filing a
return late and for paying or depositing taxes late, unless
there is reasonable cause. There are also penalties for
failure to (a) furnish Forms W-2 to employees and file copies
with the SSA and (b) deposit taxes when required. See
Pub. 51 (Circular A) for more information. In addition, there
are penalties for willful failure to file returns and pay taxes
when due, for filing false returns, and submitting bad
checks. Interest is charged on taxes paid late at the rate set
by law.

Internal Revenue
Service
P.O. Box 1212
Charlotte, NC
28201-1212

If federal income, social security, and Medicare taxes
that must be withheld (that is, trust fund taxes) are
CAUTION not withheld or are not paid to the United States
Treasury, the trust fund recovery penalty may apply. The
penalty is 100% of the unpaid trust fund tax. This penalty
may apply to you if these unpaid taxes cannot be
immediately collected from the employer or business. The
trust fund recovery penalty may be imposed on all persons
who are determined by the IRS to be responsible for
collecting, accounting for, and paying over these taxes, and
who acted willfully in not doing so. See section 7 of Pub. 51
(Circular A) for more information.
Preprinted name, EIN, and address. If your preprinted
name, EIN, or address on Form 943 is not correct, cross it
out and type or print the correct information. However, do
not change any of the preprinted information on your
Form 943-V, Payment Voucher.
Zero Wage return. If you received a preprinted Form 943
in the mail from the IRS and are not required to file because
you paid no wages subject to social security or Medicare tax
and withheld no federal income tax, write “NONE” on
line 11, sign the return, and file it with the IRS. If you will not
have to file Form 943 in the future, also check the box above
line 1 at the left of your name and address.

!

Exception for exempt organizations and government
entities. If you are filing Form 943 for an exempt
organization or government entity (federal, state, local, or
Indian tribal government), use the following addresses
regardless of your location:
• Return without payment: Ogden, UT 84201-0008
• Return with payment: P.O. Box 105085, Atlanta, GA
30348-5085
Reconciliation of Form 943 to Forms W-2 and W-3.
Certain amounts reported on Form 943 for 2006 should
agree with the Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, totals
reported on the 2006 Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and
Tax Statements. The amounts from Form 943 that should
agree with the related boxes on Form W-3 are: federal
income tax withheld (line 6 versus box 2), social security
wages (line 2 versus box 3), Medicare wages and tips (line 4
versus box 5), and advance earned income credit payments
(line 10 versus box 9). If the totals do not agree, the IRS or
SSA may require you to explain any differences and correct
any errors. Keep all records that show why the totals do not

Specific Instructions
State code. If you made your deposits by FTD coupon
(Form 8109) or by using an EFTPS bank account in a state
other than that shown in your address on Form 943, enter
the state code for the state where you made deposits or
initiated EFTPS transfers in the box provided in the
upper-left corner of Form 943. Use the Postal Service
two-letter state abbreviation as the state code. Enter the
code “MU” in the state code box if you deposit in more than
one state. If you deposit in the same state as shown in your
address, do not make an entry in this box.
Line 1 — Number of agricultural employees. Enter the
number of agricultural employees on your payroll during the
pay period that included March 12, 2006. Do not include
household employees, persons who received no pay during

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Instructions for Form 943

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the pay period, pensioners, or members of the Armed
Forces.

Employer’s Record of Federal Tax Liability. For details on
how to report adjustments on the Monthly Summary of
Federal Tax Liability, see the instructions for line 15, later, or
the instructions for Form 943-A.

An entry of 250 or more on line 1 indicates that you must
file Forms W-2 electronically. Call the SSA at
1-800-772-6270 or access the SSA’s Employer Reporting
Instructions and Information website at
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer for more information on
electronic filing requirements. SSA no longer accepts
magnetic media submissions of wage information.
Line 2 — Total wages subject to social security tax.
Enter the total cash wages subject to social security tax that
you paid to your employees for farmwork during the
calendar year. Enter the amount before deductions. Cash
wages include checks, money orders, etc. Do not include (a)
the value of noncash items such as food or lodging, or (b)
pay for services other than farmwork. See section 3 of
Pub. 51 (Circular A) for more information. Do not report an
employee’s social security wages over $94,200 for 2006. If
you, as a qualifying employer, receive an approved
Form 4029, Application for Exemption From Social Security
and Medicare Taxes and Waiver of Benefits, from one or
more of your employees, write “Form 4029” to the right of
the entry space.
Line 4 — Total wages subject to Medicare tax. Enter the
total cash wages subject to Medicare tax that you paid to
your employees for farmwork during the calendar year.
Enter the amount before deductions. Do not include (a) the
value of noncash items such as food or lodging, or (b) pay
for services other than farmwork. There is no limit on the
amount of wages subject to Medicare tax. If you, as a
qualifying employer, receive an approved Form 4029,
Application for Exemption From Social Security and
Medicare Taxes and Waiver of Benefits, from one or more of
your employees, write “Form 4029” to the right of the entry
space.
Line 6 — Federal income tax withheld. Enter federal
income tax withheld on wages paid to your employees.
Generally, you must withhold federal income tax from
employees from whom you withhold social security and
Medicare taxes. See sections 5 and 13 of Pub. 51
(Circular A) for more information on withholding rules.
Line 8 — Adjustment to taxes. Use line 8 to:
• Adjust for rounding of fractions of cents,
• Correct errors in social security and Medicare taxes
reported on a prior year return, and
• Correct an administrative error in reporting federal income
tax withholding on a prior year return. See section 9 in
Pub. 51 (Circular A).
• Use a minus sign (if possible) to show a decrease to the
amounts reported on lines 3 or 5. Otherwise, use
parentheses.
Fractions of cents. If there is a small difference
between net taxes (line 11) and total deposits (line 12), it
may be caused by rounding to the nearest cent each time
you computed payroll. This rounding occurs when you figure
the amount of social security and Medicare tax to be
withheld from each employee’s wages. See Pub. 51
(Circular A) for details. If the fractions of cents adjustment is
the only entry on line 8, write “Fractions Only” in the margin
of Form 943.
Prior year adjustments. Prior year adjustments include
errors in social security and Medicare taxes reported on
earlier returns. If you report both an underpayment and an
overpayment, show only the difference.

Explain any prior year adjustments on Form 941c,
Supporting Statement To Correct Information, or attach a
statement that shows the same information. Enter on
Form 941c or include in the statement the total wages for all
of your employees as previously reported and as corrected.
Do not file Form 941c (or statement) separately from
Form 943.
If you are adjusting an employee’s social security or
Medicare wages for a prior year, you must also file Form
W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement, and Form W-3c,
Transmittal of Corrected Wage and Tax Statements, with
the Social Security Administration. You can get these from
the IRS by calling 1-800-829-3676.
Federal income tax adjustments. Generally, you
cannot adjust amounts reported as federal income tax
withheld in a prior calendar year unless it is to correct an
administrative error. An administrative error occurs if the
amount that you entered on the return is not the amount that
you actually withheld. See section 9 of Pub. 51 (Circular A)
for details.
Line 9 — Total taxes. Combine lines 7 and 8; enter the
result on line 9.
Line 10 — Advance earned income credit (EIC) payments
made to employees. Employees who are eligible can
receive advance earned income credit (EIC) payments with
their wages by giving you Form W-5, Earned Income Credit
Advance Payment Certificate, annually. For more
information, see sections 6 and 14 of Pub. 51 (Circular A).
Line 12 — Total deposits. Enter the total amount deposited
for the year, including any overpayment from 2005, as
shown in your records.
Line 13 — Balance due. You do not have to pay if line 13 is
under $1.
Generally, you should show a balance due on line 13
only if your net tax liability for the year (line 11) is less than
$2,500. However, see section 7 of Pub. 51
(Circular A) regarding payments made under the “accuracy
of deposits” rule.

!

CAUTION

If you fail to make deposits as required and instead
pay the taxes with Form 943, you may be subject to
a penalty.

Line 14 — Overpayment. If you deposited more than the
correct amount for the year, you can have the overpayment
refunded or applied to your next return.
If line 14 is under $1, we will send you a refund or

TIP apply it to your next return only on written request.
Line 15 — Monthly Summary of Federal Tax Liability.
This is a summary of your yearly tax liability, not a summary
of deposits made. If line 11 is less than $2,500, do not
complete line 15 or Form 943-A.
Complete line 15 only if you were a monthly schedule
depositor for the entire year and line 11 is $2,500 or more.
The amount entered on line 15M must equal the amount
reported on line 11. See section 7 of Pub. 51 (Circular A) for
details on the deposit rules. You are a monthly schedule
depositor for the calendar year if the amount of your
Form 943 taxes (line 9) reported for the lookback period is
not more than $50,000. The lookback period is the second
calendar year preceding the current calendar year. For
example, the lookback period for 2007 is 2005.

Because any amount shown on line 8 increases or
decreases your tax liability, the adjustment must also be
included on your Monthly Summary of Federal Tax Liability
on Form 943 (line 15) or Form 943-A, Agricultural

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Instructions for Form 943

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!

CAUTION

• Partnership (including an LLC treated as a partnership)
or unincorporated organization — A responsible and duly
authorized member or officer having knowledge of its affairs.
• Single member limited liability company (LLC) treated
as a disregarded entity — The owner of the limited liability
company (LLC).
• Trust or estate — The fiduciary.
Form 943 may also be signed by a duly authorized agent
of the taxpayer if a valid power of attorney has been filed.
Alternative signature method. Corporate officers or
duly authorized agents may sign Form 943 by rubber stamp,
mechanical device, or computer software program. For
details and required documentation, see Rev. Proc.
2005-39. You can find Rev. Proc. 2005-39 on page 82 of
Internal Revenue Bulletin 2005-28 at www.irs.gov/pub/
irs-irbs/irb05-28.pdf.

If you were a semiweekly schedule depositor during
any part of the year, do not complete line 15.
Instead, complete Form 943-A.

Reporting adjustments on line 15. If your net adjustment
during a month is negative (for example, correcting an
overreported liability in a prior period) and it exceeds your
total liability for the month, do not enter a negative amount
for the month. Instead, enter “-0-” for the month and carry
over the unused portion of the adjustment to the next month.
For example, Pine Tree Farm discovered on February 6,
2006, that it overreported social security tax on its 2005
Form 943 by $2,500. Its Form 943 taxes for the first 3
months of 2006 were: January — $2,000; February — $2,000;
and March — $2,000. Pine Tree Farm should complete
line 15 by entering “2,000” on line A, “-0-” on line B, and
“1,500” on line C.
The prior period adjustment ($2,500) offsets the $2,000
liability for February and the excess $500 must be used to
offset the March liabilities. Since the error was not
discovered until February, it does not affect January
liabilities reported on line A.
Additional information. Pub. 51 (Circular A) has
information that you may need about social security,
Medicare, federal unemployment (FUTA), withheld federal
income taxes, and the advance earned income credit. It
includes tables showing the federal income tax to withhold
from an employee’s wages.
Third-Party Designee. If you want to allow any individual,
corporation, firm, organization, or partnership to discuss
your 2006 Form 943 with the IRS, check the “Yes” box in the
Third-Party Designee section of the return. Also, enter the
name, phone number, and any five numbers that the
designee chooses as his or her personal identification
number (PIN). The authorization applies only to the tax form
upon which it appears.
By checking the “Yes” box, you are authorizing the IRS to
speak with the designee to answer any questions relating to
the information reported on your tax return. You are also
authorizing the designee to:
• Exchange information concerning your tax return with the
IRS and
• Request and receive written tax return information relating
to your tax return including copies of specific notices,
correspondence, and account transcripts.
You are not authorizing the designee to receive any
refund check, bind you to anything (including additional tax
liability), or otherwise represent you before the IRS. If you
want to expand the designee’s authorization or desire
automatic issuances of copies of notices, see Pub. 947,
Practice Before the IRS and Power of Attorney.
The Third-Party Designee authorization is substantially
equivalent to Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, but
automatically expires one year from the due date (without
regard to extensions) for filing your 2006 Form 943. If you or
your designee desire to terminate the authorization, a
written statement conveying your wish to revoke the
authorization should be submitted to the IRS service center
where the return was processed (see Where to file (without
a payment) on page 2).
Who must sign. Form 943 must be signed as follows:
• Sole proprietorship — The individual who owns the
business.
• Corporation (including an LLC treated as a
corporation) — The president, vice president, or other
principal officer.

Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We
ask for the information on Forms 943, 943-A, and 943-V to
carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United States.
We need it to figure and collect the right amount of tax.
Subtitle C, Employment Taxes, of the Internal Revenue
Code imposes employment taxes on wages, including
income tax withholding. These forms are used to report the
amount of taxes that you owe. Section 6011 requires you to
provide the requested information if the tax applies to you.
Section 6109 requires you to provide your employer
identification number (EIN). If you fail to provide this
information in a timely manner, you may be subject to
penalties and interest.
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. However,
section 6103 allows or requires the Internal Revenue
Service to disclose or give the information shown on your
return to others as described in the Code. For example, we
may disclose your tax information to the Department of
Justice for civil and criminal litigation, and to cities, states,
and the District of Columbia for use in administering their tax
laws. We may also disclose this information to federal and
state agencies to enforce federal nontax criminal laws, or to
federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to
combat terrorism.
The time needed to complete and file these forms will
vary depending on individual circumstances. The estimated
average time for Form 943 is: Recordkeeping, 10 hr., 31
min.; Learning about the law or the form, 40 min.; Preparing
the form, 1 hr., 47 min.; Copying, assembling, and sending
the form to the IRS, 16 min. The estimated average time for
Form 943-A is: Recordkeeping, 8 hr., 22 min.; Preparing
and sending the form to the IRS, 8 min. The estimated
average time for Form 943-V is 20 min. If you have
comments concerning the accuracy of these time estimates
or suggestions for making these forms simpler, we would be
happy to hear from you. You can write to the Internal
Revenue Service, Tax Products Coordinating Committee,
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW,
IR-6406, Washington, DC 20224. Do not send Form 943 to
this address. Instead, see Where to file on page 2.

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