How Do I Find My Company Tax Deposit Frequencies?

How to Find Your Federal Tax Deposit Frequencies

Your company’s federal payroll tax deposit frequency (how often you have federal tax deposit due dates) depends on the amount of federal taxes you owe.  Federal taxes include employee federal income tax, employer and employee Social Security, and Medicare taxes.  

Federal Income Tax, Social Security, Medicare

1. Use Semi-weekly deposit as default – There’s no penalty for depositing early, but late deposits can result in penalties and interest. Because of this, Patriot defaults new Full service payroll accounts to the semiweekly deposits selection. Only change this setting if you know the amount of federal tax your business owed during the IRS lookback period, which runs from July 1 to June 30 of the previous year.
   • If you have a monthly frequency set in the software, before the beginning of each calendar year, you must determine which of the two deposit schedules you are required to use based on your lookback period.
   • Patriot does not allow “quarterly” deposits as an option. If your business has less than $2500 in federal taxes in a quarter, even though the IRS allows you to deposit quarterly, select monthly or semi-weekly. This is a built-in safeguard in case your tax liability increases in the future.
   • Please check out our other articles, “When are Federal Payroll Taxes Due? Deadlines and Form Types” and “Payroll Deadlines, Deadlines for Semi-weekly Depositors.“
2. Find your federal tax liabilities using the IRS lookback period.
   • For 2025, your “lookback period” is from 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2024.  The IRS defines your lookback period as July 1 through June 30 ending the previous calendar year.
   • If you owed $50,000 or more during the lookback period, your deposit schedule is semi-weekly.
   • If your total federal tax liability during the lookback period was less than $50,000, you may qualify for a monthly deposit schedule.
3. Log into EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) for your payment history.
4. Ask your accountant or previous payroll provider.
5. Call the IRS if unsure 800-829-4933 Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM local time (except national holidays)

For further reading about making federal tax deposits, visit the IRS website, and “What Is a Lookback Period?“

Federal Unemployment Tax

1. The FUTA tax deposit frequency will default to “Annual due 01/31”. In most cases, you should keep this default setting. Only change this if:
   • You are a Full-Service Payroll customer and have already filed your FUTA taxes for previous quarters on your own.
   • Your total FUTA liability for the calendar year has exceeded $500, which requires earlier deposits per IRS rules.
   • Patriot will calculate all FUTA collected for the year each quarter and deposit quarterly if liabilities exceed $500.

How to Find Your State Deposit Frequencies

State Income Tax

1. Check with your state tax agency. You can look for information online, or reach out to the state directly. Check out our, “State Department Contact Information,” help.
2. Look at your registration letter or account notice
   • When you register for state withholding or unemployment accounts, many states assign a deposit frequency and include it in your approval letter or portal account.
3. Review past payment patterns
   • Some states determine frequency based on your historical liability, similar to the IRS.
   • If your business grows or your payroll increases, you may be notified by the state your frequency has changed. Be sure to update this in the software accordingly.
   • As always, when it doubt, call the tax agency.

State Unemployment Tax

1. Unemployment tax deposits default to a quarterly schedule, and no additional entry is required.

How to Find Local Tax Deposit Frequencies

Not every state has local taxes, however, if yours does and you don’t know what to choose, you can use the following resources:

1. Review your state registration documents or mailed deposit frequency update documents.
2. Log into your local tax agency portal (if available).
3. Call the local agency directly. You will need your account number or EIN.
4. Review your past tax filings for payment frequencies to local government agencies.
   • Even though past filings are a good indicator, if your payrolls have increased over the past year, be sure to call the local tax agency to ensure you have not been assigned to a more frequent deposit.

Also see our help article, “ How to Enter Your Tax Deposit Frequencies,” for help on adding deposit frequencies in your software account.

If you’re a full-service payroll customer, we will collect your payroll taxes as you run payroll. Typically tax collections are the first banking day before the pay date.

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