How to File Your Form 8974 and Form 941 with Zenefits

Summary:

• The IRS requires that you file Form 8974 the quarter after you file your income tax return with Form 6765 attached.
• If you miss the filing deadline, you will need to amend that quarter’s payroll tax return.
• Zenefits does not support automatic filing of the R&D tax credit, so you will need to turn off automatic filing and submit your forms manually.
• These forms need to be submitted quarterly until the credit is fully exhausted.
• If you’re filing to claim the R&D payroll tax credit for the previous tax year, the earliest you can process your credit is one quarter after you file your federal income tax return and Form 6765. The deadline to file for any given quarter is 30 days after the end of the quarter. For example, if you’re filing to claim the payroll tax credit for 2021, and you intend on filing your Federal Tax Return in Q1 2022, then the earliest you can process your credit is Q2 2022. To do so, you must file your Form 8974 and Form 941 by 30 days after the end of Q2 2022.
• Some of the information below is sourced from Zenefits and may not reflect Zenefits’s latest changes.

Steps:

• Download Form 941 for the quarter you’re eligible to start claiming the credit. This is the quarter after you filed your income tax return that included Form 6765. For example, if your income tax returns were filed in Q1 2022, then you can claim the credit against payroll taxes on Form 941 for Q2 2022. To access a copy of your Form 941 for Zenefits Payroll runs, see the “Tax Package” in the “Reports” tab of the “Payroll” app.
• If you are on the “Full Service” package, ask Zenefits to disable automatic filing. You can do this by emailing support@zenefits.com. In your email, specify the quarter(s) in which you do not want Zenefits to file Form 941. For example, “Dear Zenefits, we will be manually filing Form 941 for Q2 2022. Please continue to calculate, but do not file Form 941 for Q2 2022.” Zenefits will usually respond within 24 hours to confirm that this is done. You should do this at least three weeks before the end of the quarter. If you are on the “Calculate Only” package, you can skip this step.
• Update your Form 941 to include your payroll tax credit amount. You will need to update Form 941, Part 1, Line 11a with the amount of the credit you have indicated on Form 8974, Part 2, Line 12. The steps for how to complete form 8974.
• You will need to file Form 8974 with Form 941 to the IRS every quarter until your credit is exhausted.

How to complete Form 8974:

Neo.Tax will help you to create the Header and Part 1 of Form 8974. You will need to complete Part 2 of Form 8974 using Form 941 provided by Zenefits.

Steps:

• Use Neo.Tax to complete Part 1 of Form 8974.
• After filing your income tax return with Form 6765 attached, locate the Form 8974 generated by Neo.Tax, and complete Part 1 columns C and E using information provided in Form 6765.
• Line 7: Enter the amount from Part 1, line 6, column (g).
• Line 8: Enter the amount from Form 941, line 5a, column 2.
• Line 9: Enter the amount from Form 941, line 5b, column 2.
• Line 10: Add lines 8 and 9. Enter the result on line 10.
• Line 11: Multiply line 10 by 50% (0.50).
• Line 12: Enter the smaller of line 7 or line 11. Make sure to enter this amount on Form 941, line 11. If line 12 is less than line 7, the remaining amount can be used on a Form 8974 for the next quarter.
• You will need to file Form 8974 with Form 941 to the IRS every quarter until your credit is exhausted.