Federal Employment Tax Deadlines for October

This article provides the October payroll tax deposit deadlines for semi-weekly and monthly depositors below.

Semi-weekly depositors.

Semi-weekly depositors must deposit the income tax they withheld from employee wages, and both the employee and employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA taxes), by the end of Wednesday if the payday was on the previous Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday; or by the end of Friday if the payday was on the previous Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.

A due date that falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday is postponed until the next business day. Semi-weekly depositors must have at least three business days after the end of a semiweekly period to deposit their taxes.

The October deposit deadlines for semi-weekly depositors are as follows:

• October 2 – deposit the taxes for payments made September 25-27
• *October 4 – deposit the taxes for payments made September 28-30
• *October 4 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 1
• October 9 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 2-4
• October 11 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 5-8
• October 17 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 9-11
• October 18 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 12-15
• October 23 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 16-18
• October 25 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 19-22
• October 30 – deposit the taxes for payments made October 23-25

*These deposits need to be made separately because the pay dates fall within different calendar quarters (see Payroll Guide ¶4285).

Tips.

Employees must report tips of $20 or more earned during September to employers by October 10.

Form 941 for Third Quarter.

Employers need to file Form 941 for the third quarter of 2024 by October 31. If tax liability is less than $2,500, it can be paid in full with a timely filed return. Note that if the employer deposited the tax for the quarter timely, properly, and in full, the due date to file the return is November 12.

Holidays.

Monday, October 14 (Columbus Day) is a federal holiday.

Monthly depositors.

Filers who have a monthly deposit frequency must deposit the tax for September by October 15.

See Payroll Guide ¶4205 for some general employment tax deadlines and Payroll Guide ¶4210 for a month-to-month calendar of federal employment tax deadlines.