Form 943-A Agricultural Employer's Record of Federal Tax Liability

Form

943-A

Agricultural Employer’s Record of
Federal Tax Liability

(Rev. June 2009)
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

©

File with Form 943 or Form 943-X.

OMB No. 1545-0035

Calendar Year
Employer identification number (EIN)

Name (as shown on Form 943)

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 FTD coupons or EFTPS.) DO
NOT change your tax liability by adjustments reported on any Forms 943-X.
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January Tax Liability
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A Total liability for month

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April Tax Liability
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D Total liability for month

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February Tax Liability
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B Total liability for month

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May Tax Liability
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E Total liability for month

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March Tax Liability
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C Total liability for month

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June Tax Liability
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F Total liability for month

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What’s New?

General Instructions

Change in reporting prior period adjustments. Prior period
adjustments previously reported on line 8 of Form 943,
Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return for Agricultural Employees,
are no longer reported on Form 943-A. Prior period adjustments
are now reported on new Form 943-X, Adjusted Employer’s
Annual Federal Tax Return for Agricultural Employees or Claim for
Refund, and are not taken into account when figuring the tax
liability for the current year.
When you file Form 943-A with your Form 943, do not change
your tax liability by adjustments reported on any Forms 943-X.
Amended Form 943-A. If you have been assessed a
failure-to-deposit (FTD) penalty, you may be able to file an
amended Form 943-A. See Amending a Previously Filed Form
943-A on page 3.

Purpose of form. Use this form to report your tax liability (federal
income tax withheld plus both employee and employer social
security and Medicare taxes minus any advance earned income
credit (EIC)). Do not show federal tax deposits here.
Do not report taxes on wages paid to nonfarm workers on this
form. 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.
Do not attach Form 943-A to your Form 941/941-SS or Form
944/944-SS. Instead, use Schedule B (Form 941) or Form 945-A.
Caution. IRS uses Form 943-A to determine if you have timely
deposited your Form 943 tax liabilities. If you are a semiweekly
schedule depositor and you do not properly complete and file
Form 943-A with Form 943, the IRS may

For Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see the separate Instructions for Form 943.

Cat. No. 17030C

Form

943-A

(Rev. 6-2009)

Form 943-A (Rev. 6-2009)

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G Total liability for month

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July Tax Liability
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October Tax Liability
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J Total liability for month

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August Tax Liability
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H Total liability for month

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I Total liability for month

November Tax Liability
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K Total liability for month

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When to file. File Form 943-A with your Form 943 every year
when Form 943 is due. See the Instructions for Form 943 for due
dates.

Specific Instructions
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 943.

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December Tax Liability
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L Total liability for month

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M Total tax liability for year (add lines A through L)

propose an “averaged” failure-to-deposit penalty. See Deposit
Penalties in section 7 of Pub. 51 (Circular A) for more
information.
Who must file. Semiweekly schedule depositors are required to
complete and file Form 943-A with Form 943. Monthly schedule
depositors who accumulate $100,000 or more during any month
become semiweekly schedule depositors on the next day and
must also complete and file Form 943-A. Do not file this form if
you were a monthly schedule depositor for the entire year or if
your net taxes for the year (line 11, Form 943) are less than
$2,500.
Note. If you use this form, do not complete line 17 on Form 943.

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September Tax Liability
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Calendar year. Enter the calendar year of the Form 943 or Form
943-X to which Form 943-A is attached.
Enter your tax liability by month. Enter your tax liabilities in the
spaces that correspond to the dates you paid wages to your
employees, not the date payroll deposits were made. The total
tax liability for the year (line M) must equal net taxes on Form
943 (line 11). Report your tax liabilities on this form
corresponding to the dates of each wage payment, not to when
payroll 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 your payroll period ended on December 31,
2008, and you paid the wages for that period on January 6, 2009,
you would:
● go to January, and
● enter your tax liability on line 6 (because line 6 represents the
sixth day of the month).

TIP

Make sure you have checked the appropriate box
below line 16 of Form 943 to show that you are a
semiweekly schedule depositor.

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Form 943-A (Rev. 6-2009)

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Here are some additional examples:
● Employer A is a semiweekly schedule depositor. Employer A
accumulated a federal tax liability of $3,000 on its January 11
and January 25 paydays. In the January column, Employer A
must enter $3,000 on lines 11 and 25.
● Employer B is a semiweekly schedule depositor who paid
wages in October, November, and December on the last day of
the month. On December 22, 2009, Employer B also paid its
employees year-end bonuses (subject to employment taxes).
Because Employer B is a semiweekly schedule depositor,
Employer B must record employment tax liabilities on Form
943-A.
Month

Lines for dates wages were paid

October
November
December

line 31 (pay day, last day of the month)
line 30 (pay day, last day of the month)
lines 22 (bonus paid) + 31 (pay day, last
day of the month)

● Employer C is a new business and monthly schedule
depositor for 2009. Employer C pays wages every Thursday.
Employer C incurred a $2,000 employment tax liability on
10/15/09. Employer C incurred a $110,000 liability on 10/22/09
and on every subsequent Thursday during 2009. Under the
deposit rules, employers become semiweekly schedule
depositors on the day after any day they accumulate $100,000
or more of tax liability in a deposit period.
Because Employer C accumulated $112,000 on 10/22/09,
Employer C became a semiweekly schedule depositor on the
next day and must complete Form 943-A and file it with Form
943.
Month

Lines for dates wages were paid Amount to record

October
October
November
December

line 15
lines 22, 29
lines 5, 12, 19, 26
lines 3, 10, 17, 24, 31

$2,000
$110,000
$110,000
$110,000

See Depositing Taxes in Pub. 51 (Circular A), Agricultural
Employer’s Tax Guide, for more information.

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Amending a Previously Filed Form 943-A
Semiweekly schedule depositors. If you have been assessed a
failure-to-deposit (FTD) penalty AND you made an error on Form
943-A AND the correction will not change the total liability you
reported on Form 943-A, you may be able to reduce your
penalty by filing a corrected Form 943-A.
Example. You reported a liability of $3,000 on January 1.
However, the liability was actually for March. Prepare an
amended Form 943-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 943-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 943-A if you have been assessed an FTD penalty and you
made an error on the monthly tax liability section of Form 943.
When completing Form 943-A for this situation, only enter the
monthly totals. The daily entries are not required.
Where to file. File your amended Form 943-A at the address
provided in the penalty notice you received. You do not have to
submit your original Form 943-A.

Form 943-X
Tax decrease. If you are filing Form 943-X, you can file an
amended 943-A with Form 943-X if both of the following apply.
1. You have a tax decrease AND
2. You were assessed an FTD penalty.
File your amended Form 943-A with Form 943-X. The total
liability reported on your corrected Form 943-A must equal the
corrected amount of tax reported on Form 943-X. If your penalty
is decreased, the IRS will include the penalty decrease with your
tax decrease.
Tax increase—Form 943-X filed timely. If you are filing a timely
Form 943-X showing a tax increase, do not file an amended
Form 943-A, unless you were assessed an FTD penalty caused
by an incorrect, incomplete, or missing
Form 943-A. Do not include the tax increase reported on Form
943-X on an amended Form 943-A you file.
Tax increase—Form 943-X filed late. If you owe tax and are
filing Form 943-X late, that is, after the due date for Form 943 for
the year in which you discovered the error, you must file an
amended Form 943-A with the Form 943-X. Otherwise, IRS may
assess an “averaged” FTD penalty.