What are the Form 941 changes in the 3rd quarter of 2020?
1.2k views | Last modified 9/9/2020 2:41:34 AM EST

The IRS has announced a few changes in Form 941 for the third quarter (July - September) in the current year. These changes allow the filers to report deferrals of the employee portion of the Social Security taxes.

Because of the introduction of these changes in Form 941, the revised Form 941 for the 3rd quarter will have changes in the following lines.

Line 1 - Since the change in Form 941 are applicable only for the 3rd and 4th quarter that particular pay period alone has been mentioned in the return. You must enter the number of employees that are being paid in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2020.

Line 13b - "Deferred amount of employer share of social security tax" is now changed to "Deferred amount of social security tax" as the filers can now report both the employee's and employer's share of the social security tax also.

Line 24 and 25 were used to report the qualified wages and health plan expenses for the period March 13 - March 31 in the 2nd quarter.  In the 3rd quarter:

Line 24 - This line is now used to report the employee's share of social security taxes.

Line 25 - Reserved for future use.

The lines 13b, 24, and 25 are not usually a part of Form 941. The IRS has introduced these lines due to the COVID-19 changes in the 2nd quarter of 2020.