If the below information does not answer your question, try our article about editing company details— there you'll find information about updating your company name, signatory, account numbers, and more.
As a full-service payroll provider, we take care of your employer federal tax returns and deposits. In order to do this, we need to know your Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), your official company name, and company type. You can find this info on form CP-575 from the IRS.
What's next? Please add your state and local payroll tax account numbers.
Note: We will default your account to a semiweekly deposit schedule and 941 form filing. If you would like to change these settings, you may do so by clicking the Company section and selecting Company details after your account has been set up.
If you need to change your state deposit schedule, head to this article*.
*You may already be in the right spot—if the link takes you to the same article you came from, scroll down and click the Update my state tax deposit schedule dropdown below.
Based on your historical tax payments, the IRS will assign your company a deposit schedule for tax payments (either semi-weekly or monthly) and they'll assign a specific payroll tax return to file–either Form 941 or Form 944.
IRS deposit schedules
We'll default to depositing on the faster semi-weekly schedule in order to prevent late tax payments, penalties, and tax delinquency notices.
Important: If you specifically instructed us to deposit using the monthly schedule, you must contact us from the Help section of your account if the IRS changes your schedule to semi-weekly. If not done immediately, there may be penalties and interest assessed for late tax deposits–these would be the employer's responsibility to pay.
IRS filing form (941 or 944)
In order to prevent late filings, we will file the quarterly Form 941 for:
If you joined us after Q1, confirm which form the IRS assigned and set up your customer account using the IRS-assigned form requirement.
The following year, we'll automatically file a Form 941 and you'll no longer need to confirm the requirement each year.
The IRS allows certain small businesses to file annually on Form 944 instead of quarterly on Form 941. While this may seem like a benefit for small employers, the IRS may change your filing requirement mid-year which could result in notices and penalties if returns are late.
Filing more frequently (on Form 941) is a way to prevent that from happening, and it costs the same no matter how frequently we file (quarterly or annually).
If you need to update your account number, you'll need to contact us from the Help section of your account—there may be tax implications if taxes have already been paid or filed to an incorrect account number.
At the end of the year, state agencies may issue new deposit schedules for the upcoming year, which would require your company to deposit more or less frequently than in prior years depending on your tax liabilities in prior year(s).
If you receive an updated deposit schedule, enter it into your Gusto account using the following steps. You can also follow these steps to review the schedules you've had in your account historically.
If you've entered the wrong deposit schedule, please update this in your Gusto account as soon as possible by selecting Make a correction instead of Add a new schedule. The option to update your schedule will only be available in states where you currently have active employees.
If you don't see an option to update your schedule in Gusto, please send the notice to Gusto to confirm that you're set up correctly.
State agencies send out notices with your assigned State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) tax rates–you'll get one when you first register your company as an employer with the state unemployment insurance agency (may also be referred to as Department of Labor or Workforce agency).
You’ll also receive a new tax rate notice with each new year that includes your rate for the upcoming year. Depending on the state, these are often mailed out between November of the prior year through March of the effective year.
If you get a new rate assigned to you for the current or future periods, update your SUI rate in your company profile by following these steps:1
Some tax agencies provide us rate exchanges and you may receive a notification that we’ve already updated your rate. This is a courtesy and is intended to help you pay the correct taxes each quarter. There may be circumstances when we are unable to confirm your current rate with a tax agency, and so your company must still confirm that the correct rates are in your company tax profile.1
If you realize that you previously entered an incorrect rate, update your SUI rate in your tax in Gusto as soon as you have your correct agency-assigned rate.
If you need assistance adding a rate, please contact customer support from the Help section of your company account.
1 Failure to timely update or confirm your State Unemployment Insurance rate may result in additional taxes and penalties being imposed on the taxpayer by the taxing authority or agency.
Head to the state registration section of the Help Center and click the applicable state.
The electronic federal tax payment system (EFTPS) is the tax payment service provided by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Companies who are enrolled with EFTPS can:
The IRS considers employers responsible for the timely filing of employment tax returns and payment of employment taxes for your employees, even if you have authorized a third party to file the returns and make the payments. Therefore, the IRS and Gusto recommend that you periodically log in to EFTPS to monitor your account and make sure that tax payments are being made on time for you.
If you sign up with Gusto, we'll enroll your company in the EFTPS tax payment service. We use our own EFTPS Personal Identification Number (PIN) to make payments on behalf of your company. You may receive a letter containing a new EFTPS PIN number, which you can use to log into EFTPS and view payments we've made on your behalf at any time.
Gusto will make your federal tax deposits to the IRS based on your company's federal tax deposit schedule, found by clicking the Taxes & compliance section and selecting Tax setup. To see past payments made, run an agency payments report.
If your company deferred taxes through Gusto during 2020:
If you no longer have wages in a city or state, here’s how we’ll handle the filings until we’re notified that you’ve formally closed your account with the tax agency: