IRS Releases 2020 941-SS Instructions, Draft of Form 941-PR

Finalized instructions for Form 941-SS, the employer’s quarterly federal tax return for four U.S. territories, and the draft of Form 941 for Puerto Rico were released by the Internal Revenue Service.

Changes to Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, which required new instructions, were made to accommodate reporting data on employment tax relief related to the new coronavirus under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The additional lines expanded the form to three pages from two. The finalized revised Form 941 and finalized revised instructions have been released by the IRS.

The revised Forms 941 must be used starting with the second quarter of 2020 for reporting information related to three new refundable employment tax credits.

The IRS said Form 941 filers should not use the April 2020 revision of the form to report employment taxes for the first quarter of 2020. Instead, filers should use the January 2020 revision of Form 941 to report employment taxes for the first quarter of 2020.

Form 941-SS: The instructions for the revised 2020 Form 941-SS, which were released June 29, are to be used for American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A finalized version of the revised 2020 Form 941-SS, the quarterly federal tax return for employers in those territories, was released by the IRS. The revised three-page form incorporates the changes made to Form 941.

Lines 2 and 3 of the revised Form 941 do not to appear on Form 941-SS because wages, tips, and other compensation generally are not subject to federal income tax withholding in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Form 941-PR: The draft of Form 941-PR for 2020, which is in Spanish, was released June 30. The draft incorporates the changes made to Form 941. However, Lines 2 and 3 of the revised Form 941 do not to appear on Form 941-PR because wages, tips, and other compensation generally are not subject to federal income tax withholding in Puerto Rico.

Finalized instructions for the 2020 revised Form 941-PR have not been released.

Draft forms and instructions are not final and may be updated.