Instructions for Form 943 (2012)

Purpose of Form 943

Use Form 943 to report federal income tax withheld and employer and employee social security and Medicare taxes on wages paid to farmworkers.

If you have household employees working in your private home on your farm operated for a profit, they are not considered to be farm employees. To report social security, Medicare, and federal income tax withholding on the wages of household employees, you may either:

File Schedule H (Form 1040), Household Employment Taxes, with your Form 1040, or
Include the wages with your farm employees' wages on Form 943.

If you paid wages to a household employee in a home that is not on a for-profit farm, you must report the taxes on Schedule H (Form 1040). If you paid wages to other nonfarm workers, do not report these on Form 943. Taxes on wages paid to nonfarm workers are reported on Form 941/941-SS, Employer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, or Form 944, Employer's ANNUAL Federal Tax Return. See Pub. 926, Household Employer's Tax Guide, for more information about household employees.

Who Must File

File Form 943 if you paid wages to one or more farmworkers and the wages were subject to social security and Medicare taxes or federal income tax withholding under the tests discussed below. For more information on farmworkers and wages, see Pub. 51 (Circular A).

The $150 Test or the $2,500 Test

All cash wages that you pay to farmworkers are subject to social security and Medicare taxes and federal income tax withholding for any calendar year that you meet either of the tests listed below.

You pay an employee cash wages of $150 or more in a year for farmwork.
The total (cash and noncash) wages that you pay to all farmworkers is $2,500 or more.

If the $2,500-or-more test for the group is not met, the $150-or-more test for an individual still applies.

Exceptions.

Special rules apply to certain hand-harvest laborers who receive less than $150 in annual cash wages. For more information, see section 4 of Pub. 51 (Circular A).

When To File

For 2012, file Form 943 by January 31, 2013. However, if you made deposits on time in full payment of the taxes due for the year, you may file the return as late as February 11, 2013.

Final Return

If you stop paying wages during the year and do not expect to pay wages again, file a final return for 2012. Be sure to mark the box above line 1 on the form indicating that you do not have to file returns in the future. If you later become liable for any of the taxes, notify the IRS.

Employer Identification Number (EIN)

If you do not have an EIN, you may apply for one online. Go to IRS.gov and click on the Apply for an EIN Online link under “Tools.” You may also apply for an EIN by calling 1-800-829-4933, or you can fax or mail Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, to the IRS. If you have not received your EIN by the due date of Form 943, write "Applied For" and the date you applied in this entry space.

Forms W-2 and W-3

By January 31, 2013, give Form W-2 to each employee who was working for you at the end of 2012. If an employee stops working for you before the end of the year, give him or her Form W-2 any time after employment ends but no later than January 31 of the following year. If the employee asks you for Form W-2, give him or her the completed form within 30 days of the request or the last wage payment, whichever is later.

Compensation paid to H-2A visa holders. Report compensation of $600 or more paid to foreign agricultural workers who entered the country on H-2A visas in box 1 of Form W-2. Compensation paid to H-2A workers for agricultural labor performed in connection with H-2A visas is not subject to social security and Medicare taxes, and therefore should not be reported as wages subject to social security tax (line 2) or Medicare tax (line 4) on Form 943, and should not be reported as social security wages (box 3) or Medicare wages (box 5) on Form W-2.

An employer is not required to withhold federal income tax from compensation it pays to an H-2A worker for agricultural labor performed in connection with this visa unless the worker asks for withholding and the employer agrees. In this case, the worker must give the employer a completed Form W-4. Federal income tax withheld is reported on Form 943, line 6, and in box 2 of Form W-2. These reporting rules apply when the H-2A worker provides his or her taxpayer identification number (TIN) to the employer. For the rules relating to backup withholding and reporting when the H-2A worker does not provide a TIN, see the Instructions for Form 1099-MISC and the Instructions for Form 945.

Filing on paper forms. By February 28, 2013, send Copy A of all Forms W-2 with Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, to the Social Security Administration (SSA) if you are filing less than 250 paper Forms W-2. The mailing address can be found on Form W-3 under Where To File Paper Forms. If you are required to file 250 or more Forms W-2, you must file them electronically unless the IRS granted you a waiver. Even if you are required to file less than 250 Forms W-2, we encourage you to take advantage of electronic filing.

Filing electronically. Visit the SSA's Employer W-2 Filing Instructions and Information website at
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer for information about filing Forms W-2 electronically. If you file electronically, the due date is April 1, 2013. The SSA no longer accepts any form of magnetic media for wage reporting.

Where To File

Find the state of your legal residence, principal place of business, office, or agency in the table that follows. Send your return to the address listed for your location.

Note.

Where you file depends on whether or not you are including a payment. Be sure to use the correct address.

If you are in . . .		Without a payment . . .	With a payment . . .
Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan New Hampshire	New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee Vermont Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin	Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Cincinnati, OH 45999-0008	Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 804523 Cincinnati, OH 45280-4523
Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Hawaii Idaho Iowa Kansas Louisiana Minnesota Mississippi	Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Mexico North Dakota Oklahoma Oregon South Dakota Texas Utah Washington Wyoming	Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Ogden, UT 84201-0008	Internal Revenue Service P. O Box 37943 Hartford, CT 06176-7943
No legal residence or principal place of business in any state:		Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 409101 Ogden, UT 84409	Internal Revenue Service P. O Box 37943 Hartford, CT 06176-7943
If you are filing Form 943 for an exempt organization or government entity (federal, state, local, or Indian tribal government), use the following addresses regardless of your location:		Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Ogden, UT 84201-0008	Internal Revenue Service P. O Box 37943 Hartford, CT 06176-7943

Reconciliation of Form 943 to Forms W-2 and W-3

Certain amounts reported on Form 943 for 2012 should agree with the Form W-2 totals reported on the 2012 Form W-3. The amounts from Form 943 that should agree with the related boxes on Form W-3 are: federal income tax withheld (line 6 versus box 2), social security wages (line 2 versus box 3), and Medicare wages (line 4 versus box 5). If the totals do not agree, the IRS or SSA may require you to explain any differences and correct any errors. Keep all records that show why the totals do not match. For more information, see section 11 of Pub. 51 (Circular A).

Depositing Taxes

If your total taxes after adjustments (line 9) are less than $2,500 for the year, you can pay the tax due with your return if you file on time. If your total taxes after adjustments are $2,500 or more for the year, you must make deposits by electronic funds transfer throughout the year in accordance with your deposit schedule. There are two deposit schedules—monthly or semiweekly—for determining when you must deposit. Before the beginning of each calendar year, you must determine which of the two deposit schedules you must use. See section 7 of Pub. 51 (Circular A) for information and rules concerning federal tax deposits and to determine your status as a monthly or semiweekly schedule depositor.

Penalties and Interest

You can avoid paying penalties and interest if you do all of the following.

Deposit or pay your taxes when they are due.
File your fully completed Form 943 on time.
Report your tax liability accurately.
Submit valid checks for tax payments.
Furnish accurate Forms W-2 to employees.
File Form W-3 and Copies A of Form W-2 with the Social Security Administration (SSA) on time and accurately.

Penalties and interest are charged on taxes paid late and returns filed late at a rate set by law. See section 8 of Pub. 51 (Circular A) for details.

If you receive a notice about a penalty after you file this return, reply to the notice with an explanation and we will determine if you meet reasonable-cause criteria. Do not attach an explanation when you file your return.

Use Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement, to request abatement of assessed penalties or interest. Do not request abatement of assessed penalties or interest on Form 943 or Form 943-X.

If federal income, social security, and Medicare taxes that must be withheld (that is, trust fund taxes) are not withheld or are not paid to the United States Treasury, the trust fund recovery penalty may apply. The penalty is 100% of the unpaid trust fund tax. This penalty may apply to you if these unpaid taxes cannot be immediately collected from the employer or business. The trust fund recovery penalty may be imposed on all persons who are determined by the IRS to be responsible for collecting, accounting for, and paying over these taxes, and who acted willfully in not doing so. See section 7 of Pub. 51 (Circular A) for more information.

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