Form 941 fillable

[sandigi]

In the past, I have been able to find a 941 pdf fillable on irs.gov. I can't find one for 2018. Anyone know how I can access one?

Thank you!

[sandigi]

never mind

I downloaded a 941 from irs.gov and it magically turned into a fillable form!

[JohnH]

I wish they would provide one that calculates. Or at least one that accepts the entry with making you jump over the decimal with a second entry before completing it. I'd even pay a reasonable amount for a simple software package that would perform that simple task.

[kathyc2]

I wish they would provide one that calculates. Or at least one that accepts the entry with making you jump over the decimal with a second entry before completing it. I'd even pay a reasonable amount for a simple software package that would perform that simple task.

Check out https://www.timevalue.com/tax941. I've used it for years, and at a $69 annual renewal that hasn't increased for ages, it's the best value around IMO. Very simple to use and it holds the company info and paid preparer info so you don't have to type it in every quarter.

[JohnH]

Thanks Kathy - that appears to be exactly what I'm looking for. Their video and brochure are a little unclear on this, so I'll ask you. Is the 941 a direct-entry form or does it populate from a worksheet? That isn't a deal-breaker for me but I'm curious about the specifics. I'd like something very simple and obvious, or at least easy to toggle back & forth between the worksheet and form. Price seems very reasonable, especially after the first year.

[kathyc2]

Thanks Kathy - that appears to be exactly what I'm looking for. Their video and brochure are a little unclear on this, so I'll ask you. Is the 941 a direct-entry form or does it populate from a worksheet? That isn't a deal-breaker for me but I'm curious about the specifics. I'd like something very simple and obvious, or at least easy to toggle back & forth between the worksheet and form. Price seems very reasonable, especially after the first year.

For page 1, you direct input lines 1,2 and 5. For liability there is a 2 column "worksheet" with date and amount. Enter moves between fields, and you don't need to enter slashes for dates, so entry is a breeze. Same type "worksheet" for deposits. After both liabilities and deposits are entered, it displays them all on one screen by date, so if one deposit was short, or you happened to make a typo, you can easily see which one. Also has a report for any liabilities that shows in a glance if all deposits were made on time.

[JohnH]

Sounds great. I just placed my order from home, and will install & start running it on Monday when I get back to the office. Only have a couple of payroll reports left to prepare this quarter, but looking forward to the time it will save me next quarter. When I have some time I think I'll re-run all the clients I've already completed in 1st quarter, just so they will already be set up in July.

I was asking about the data entry because with a couple of weekly depositors I just download their FTD's from EFTPS into a spreadsheet, total it, and manually enter the final result on the 941. But when I looked closer I saw that the software has a way to upload a worksheet. I'm hoping I can format my transfer from EFTPS into a worksheet that the software can in turn upload with dates and amounts.

Thanks very much for the link and for the follow-up info.

[sandigi]

You guys are the best!

Thanks Kathy and John for your replies. I agree, John, the fillable 941 is a pain with hitting the tab key and always watching to make sure you are on the correct side of the decimal point.
I can't understand why the IRS can't make these forms more user-friendly. I only do 2 Form 941 per quarter so I can't justify the $168 1st year fee. But it sounds like a good program for John.

Thanks again for your responses!

[JohnH]

Up until now I've been doing all the calculations on an Excel spreadsheet and then transferring the numbers to the 941. The spreadsheet automates all the math, but it's still a pain. As you said, the biggest problem is remembering to tab over the decimal before entering the cents. On. every. single. entry. ! Oh yes, and remembering to print only pages 1 & 2. It will be nice to shortcut some of the repetition.

I only prepare about a dozen payroll reports; all of them being after-the-fact payroll clients. Just enough to make the fillable pdf a pain but not enough to justify the cost of automating the process further. I think this will be a nice compromise.

EDIT & UPDATE:
Installation was a snap, and I had a couple of reports prepared shortly thereafter. Had to figure out how the liability input for Line 16 worked, but that wasn't difficult. It's just what I've been looking for. Thanks again for the info, Kathy, and thanks to Sandi for opening this thread.

[JohnH]

Just had to come back here after having finished all but a couple of my 2nd quarter payroll reports. This software is ideal for completing the 941 fast, simple, & easy. As I said before, there was a tiny learning curve, but it's a very nice program at a reasonable price. Now all my clients are entered, so each quarter is half the work from here on out. Thanks again Kathy for telling us about it.