What does each employee payroll tax form cover

Get to know the basics of five standard employee payroll tax forms and how you can use them.

They say two things in life are inevitable: death and taxes. If you're running a business or even just the HR department, tax forms may feel just as foreboding as their grim counterpart in that phrase. But chin up, we're here to take the anxiety out of employee payroll tax forms so you can fearlessly face the IRS come tax time.

What are the primary employee payroll tax forms?

The IRS issues five standard employee payroll tax forms. Each one has a different function, and which ones you use will depend on what kind of employees work for your business.

The five most common forms and their functions are:

• Form W-2: This form reports the amount of taxes that you withheld from your employee's wages. This applies to any full-time employees who elect to have taxes withheld from their earnings.
• Form W-3: This form summarizes the information submitted from form W-2. If you submit W-2's for your employees, you will also handle W-3's.
• Form 940: This form reports your Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) liability to the IRS. It tells them how much you should have paid in unemployment tax.
• Form 941: This allows you to report payroll taxes and employee wages. It will enable you to file quarterly taxes with the IRS.
• Form 944: This is for businesses that file annual federal income and FICA taxes.

While this alphabet soup of forms may seem intimidating at first, with some basic organization, you can easily tackle them and keep both your employees and the IRS happy year after year. Discover what more you can do with Acrobat Sign to simplify the hiring process.