The IRS places every employer on one of two deposit schedules each year. The placement comes from a 12-month lookback period and a $50,000 threshold. Here is exactly how the determination works and how to read the IRS letter that confirms it.
Your deposit schedule for the current calendar year is set by the total federal employment tax you reported during a 12-month lookback period ending June 30 of the prior year. If that total was $50,000 or less, you deposit monthly. More than $50,000 puts you on the semi-weekly schedule.
Monthly is the simpler schedule. Every payroll run during a calendar month accumulates into one deposit due by the 15th of the following month. Twelve deposit deadlines per year, always on the 15th (or the next business day when the 15th lands on a weekend or holiday).
Most small employers fall here. A team of five at average US wages typically reports under $50,000 in annual federal employment tax. New employers also start on this schedule by default because there is no lookback history yet.
Semi-weekly is not "twice a week" — it is "deadline tied to the payday." A payroll dated Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday triggers a deposit due the following Wednesday. A payroll dated Saturday through Tuesday triggers a deposit due the following Friday.
In practice that means a semi-weekly depositor with weekly payroll has roughly 52 deposit deadlines per year, sometimes more when paydays land on both sides of the split in the same week. This is also the schedule that gets the most penalty exposure simply because of deadline volume.
The IRS does not look at your current year to set your current schedule. That would not give you advance notice. Instead, it looks at the four quarters ending June 30 of the prior year, then sets your schedule for the entire next calendar year starting January 1.
Lookback period: Q3 2024 + Q4 2024 + Q1 2025 + Q2 2025
Dates: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025
Lookback period: Q3 2025 + Q4 2025 + Q1 2026 + Q2 2026
Dates: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026
Add up the total federal employment tax reported on your Forms 941 (or Form 944 if you file annually) across those four quarters. Compare to the $50,000 threshold. That single comparison is what places you.
A bakery with seven employees reported $11,200 of federal employment tax on each of four quarterly Form 941 filings during the lookback window July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025. Total: $44,800.
$44,800 is below the $50,000 threshold, so the bakery is a monthly depositor for all of 2026. It runs payroll every two weeks, but only deposits once a month, on the 15th. Twelve deposit deadlines for the year.
If the bakery hires three more staff in late 2025 and the lookback total for the 2027 schedule climbs to $58,000, it moves to semi-weekly on January 1, 2027. The pace of deposit deadlines jumps from monthly to weekly. The penalty exposure goes up with it.
Each November the IRS mails a notice confirming which deposit schedule applies for the coming calendar year. Two notices to watch for:
Annual notice confirming your deposit schedule for the next calendar year. Sent every year, regardless of whether your schedule changed. Keep it on file.
A more specific reminder that you are a semi-weekly depositor and must deposit twice a week. Sent to semi-weekly depositors as a compliance touchpoint.
If neither notice arrived and you cannot find yours from prior years, you can call the IRS Business and Specialty Tax Line to confirm your schedule. Do not guess.
The lookback and the $50,000 threshold set your default schedule. But there is an override. If any single payday triggers $100,000 or more in tax liability — bonus runs, year-end payouts, large new hires — the deposit for that payday is due the next business day, no matter which schedule the IRS placed you on.
Crossing the $100,000 threshold also flips you to semi-weekly status for the remainder of the current year and all of the next year. See the full $100,000 next-day deposit rule for how the override works and which payrolls typically trip it.
Set a recurring payroll tax deposit reminder for each deposit deadline that applies to you. Monthly depositors set one for the 15th. Semi-weekly depositors set one per payroll cycle. The reminder lands in your inbox without you having to mentally track which schedule you are on this year.
See also: the full schedule of deposit due dates and what missing a deadline actually costs.
Set the reminder once. The deadline comes to you, no calendar math required.
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Add up your reported federal employment taxes during the lookback period — the four quarters ending June 30 of the prior year. If the total is $50,000 or less, you are a monthly depositor for the current year. More than $50,000, and you are semi-weekly. The IRS sends a written notice each November confirming which schedule applies for the coming year.
The lookback period is a 12-month window ending June 30 of the year before the current calendar year. For your 2026 deposit schedule, the lookback period runs July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The IRS uses the total employment tax reported on Forms 941 (or Form 944) during that window.
It is the cutoff between the two main deposit schedules. Lookback-period tax of $50,000 or less puts you on the monthly schedule. More than $50,000 puts you on semi-weekly. The threshold is on total reported employment tax during the lookback, not on a single quarter or single payroll.
Two things. First, the lookback-period total and the $50,000 threshold determine whether you are monthly or semi-weekly for the year. Second, the $100,000 next-day deposit rule overrides both — if any single payday triggers $100,000 in tax liability, that deposit is due the next business day and you may move to semi-weekly for the rest of the year.
Generally no. The schedule is set for the entire calendar year based on the lookback period. The exception is the $100,000 next-day rule, which can move a monthly depositor to semi-weekly status for the remainder of the year once the threshold is hit on any single payday.
New employers start on the monthly schedule because there is no lookback period to evaluate. Once you have a full quarter of employment tax history, the IRS evaluates whether you should remain monthly or shift to semi-weekly the following year.
Each November, the IRS sends written notice of your deposit schedule for the upcoming calendar year. Watch for IRS notice CP136 (your annual schedule confirmation) or CP236 (a reminder that you are a semi-weekly depositor). If you are unsure which schedule applies, that letter is the authoritative answer.
Free reminder email. Monthly or semi-weekly, the deadline lands in your inbox days before it lands on an IRS notice.
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