NYC employers have filing obligations at two levels: federal and New York State. There is no separate New York City payroll tax filing, which is one less thing to worry about.

At the federal level, your main quarterly filing is Form 941. This reports the income tax you withheld from employee paychecks along with Social Security and Medicare taxes for both the employer and employee portions. Form 941 is due by the last day of the month following each quarter, so April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. You also need to deposit the actual tax payments on a schedule determined by your total tax liability. Smaller employers deposit monthly while larger employers deposit semi-weekly.

Form 940 is your annual federal filing for FUTA, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act. This is an employer-only tax that funds the federal unemployment system. It’s due by January 31 of the following year, though you may need to make quarterly deposits during the year if your FUTA liability exceeds $500.

At the New York State level, the main filing is Form NYS-45. This is a quarterly return that combines two things into one form: your state unemployment insurance contributions and the state income tax you withheld from employees. It follows the same quarterly schedule as the federal 941. The NYS-45 also includes a wage reporting supplement where you list each employee’s earnings for the quarter.

At year end, you have additional obligations. W-2 forms go to every employee showing their total wages and all taxes withheld for the year. The W-3 is a summary transmittal that accompanies the W-2s when filed with the Social Security Administration. Both are due by January 31. If you paid any independent contractors $600 or more during the year, you also need to file 1099-NEC forms by the same deadline. Getting the payroll filings right on the contractor side matters because misclassifying employees as contractors is one of the most common and expensive mistakes employers make.

The good news is that most modern payroll services handle all of these filings automatically. If you’re using a platform like Gusto, ADP, or similar, the software calculates withholdings, makes the tax deposits, and files the returns on your behalf. What you still need to do is make sure the underlying data is correct. Wrong employee addresses, incorrect Social Security numbers, or misclassified workers create problems that automated filing won’t catch.

One thing that trips up newer employers is the timing difference between filing and depositing. Filing the 941 is quarterly, but the actual tax deposits happen more frequently. Missing a deposit deadline results in penalties even if your quarterly return is filed on time. The IRS takes deposit deadlines seriously and the penalties escalate quickly.

If you’re running payroll for the first time or switching from doing it manually, having your Bronx bookkeeping services provider review your setup can prevent costly errors. Getting the filings wrong in the first year often means paying penalties and spending time on corrections that could have been avoided with a proper setup from the start.