How to Follow the EFTPS Semi-Weekly Deposit Schedule
Navigate the EFTPS semi-weekly deposit schedule. Understand the key thresholds, payment deadlines, and procedural steps for making timely federal tax payments.
The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is a U.S. Treasury service for businesses to remit federal tax payments. Employers must deposit federal income taxes withheld from employee pay, along with both the employer and employee shares of Social Security and Medicare taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) establishes deposit schedules that dictate when these payments are due.
Determining Your Deposit Schedule
An employer’s deposit schedule for a calendar year is determined by the total employment tax liability reported during a specific lookback period. For employers filing Form 941, the lookback period is the four quarters from July 1 of the second preceding year through June 30 of the prior year. For example, to determine the 2025 deposit schedule, an employer reviews the total taxes on Forms 941 from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
If an employer reported more than $50,000 in taxes during the lookback period, they are assigned a semi-weekly deposit schedule for the current calendar year. If the reported tax liability was $50,000 or less, the employer follows a monthly deposit schedule.
New employers have no tax history, so their liability for any quarter before the business began is considered zero. They start as monthly depositors for their first year of operation unless they trigger a rule requiring a faster deposit.
The Semi-Weekly Deposit Rules
For semi-weekly depositors, the payment schedule is not based on payroll frequency but on the day of the week wages are paid. The schedule is divided into two periods.
For paydays on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, the payroll tax deposit is due by the following Wednesday. For paydays on a Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, the deposit must be made by the following Friday. This gives employers at least three business days after the semi-weekly period ends to make a deposit.
A federal banking holiday can alter these deadlines. If a holiday occurs after the end of a semi-weekly period but before the due date, the employer has an additional business day to make the deposit. For instance, if a deposit is due on a Wednesday but the preceding Monday was a federal holiday, the due date shifts to Thursday. Only federal holidays affect the deposit due date.
Under the $100,000 Next-Day Deposit Rule, if an employer accumulates a tax liability of $100,000 or more on any day, the deposit is due by the close of the next business day. This rule applies to both monthly and semi-weekly depositors, and triggering it makes the employer a semi-weekly depositor for the rest of that year and for the entire following year.
Making Payments Through EFTPS
To make a payment, log into the EFTPS website using the business’s Employer Identification Number (EIN), a Personal Identification Number (PIN), and a password. The initial enrollment must be completed in advance, as it can take several business days to receive the PIN by mail.
You must select the appropriate tax form, which for payroll taxes is Form 941. Next, the system prompts for the tax period (e.g., the second quarter ending June 30), the total payment amount, and the settlement date. The settlement date is when funds will be withdrawn from the business bank account.
To be timely, a payment must be scheduled in EFTPS no later than 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time the day before the deposit is due. The system will generate an EFT Trace Number, which serves as a receipt and proof of payment that should be saved for your records.