Entering Your Tax Deposit Frequency in Patriot Software

Background

Each type of payroll tax has its own deposit frequency, which is how often the taxes are due to the tax agency, such as monthly, quarterly, etc. If you are a Full Service Payroll Customer, you will need to enter the tax deposit frequency for each type of tax that Patriot is depositing on your behalf, so that we can ensure your taxes are deposited on time.

To Enter Tax Deposit Frequencies in Patriot Software

If this is your first time entering tax deposit frequencies, you’ll enter this in the setup wizard. Once you are through the setup wizard, you can revisit your tax deposit frequencies under Settings > Tax Service Settings > Tax Deposit Frequencies.

For the IRS deposit frequency, we default new users to semiweekly to avoid tax penalties. However, for all other taxes, you’ll need to select the correct tax deposit frequency from the drop-down list. If you are unsure, refer to either a letter or a coupon booklet showing the frequency of the tax payment due dates. If you don’t know your deposit frequency, contact your tax agency or check with your previous payroll provider. For more information, see How Do I Know My Company Tax Deposit Frequency?

Federal Income Tax: Patriot defaults new accounts to this selection. There are no penalties for depositing taxes early, only depositing taxes late. If you are thinking of changing this selection keep in mind, that your deposit frequency will depend on how much federal tax your business owed during the IRS-defined lookback period of July 1 through June 30 ending the previous year. If your business owed less than $50,000 in federal tax during this period, your deposit frequency is monthly. If you owed more than $50,000, your deposit frequency is semi-weekly. There is no penalty for depositing money early, but late deposits can assess penalties and interests.
Your Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) deposit frequency will be pre-set to “Annual due 01-31.”
- Change to “Quarterly” if your FUTA tax liability is more than $500 for the calendar year or, if you have already made deposits so far this year. Check out our help article, What Is My FUTA Tax Deposit Frequency?
Your State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) will also be pre-set to the correct frequency for your state. You will not need to edit or change this.
If you have any city or local income taxes, enter the frequency for each.

When you’ve finished entering the tax deposit frequencies, click Save Settings.

Patriot helps you avoid late deposits

If you are a Full Service payroll customer, and you have completed your Full Service setup, the software will warn you if you try to run a payroll that will not allow enough time to make a timely deposit. When this happens, you will want to adjust your pay date to avoid penalties and late fees. You will be unable to select a pay date before the date displayed in the warning.

Please check out our other articles, “When are Federal Payroll Taxes Due? Deadlines and Form Types” and “Payroll Deadlines, Deadlines for Semi-weekly Depositors in Patriot.”