Form W-3 is a cumulative annual payroll report that tallies the entire payroll for the company; this information is reported to the Social Security Administration. It includes the reconciliation report of the Form W-3 along with the individual W-2’s supporting the entire payroll for the company.
Form 941 is the employer’s quarterly federal tax return. It reports how much federal income taxes were withheld; Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes that are due and how much was paid in deposits to the Internal Revenue Service. The report is filed every three months for each of the four calendar quarters.
I dread January of every year. I have to spend so much time preparing the year-end payroll reports prior to the January 31 deadline. Not only must your quarterly’s and monthly’s tie together, but it has to match the general ledger at year-end.
