Semi-Weekly Federal Liability Schedule

Using the Taxes Summary Lite Report to Determine 941 Deposit Amounts

What Is a Semi-Weekly Deposit Schedule?

Every time payroll runs, the IRS expects the federal taxes withheld from employees (plus what the company owes as the employer) to be sent within a few days. “Semi-weekly” is the name for how often that deposit is required. Most staffing companies with a sizeable payroll are on this schedule.

The deposit deadline depends on which day of the week checks were dated:

What Taxes Are Included in the Liability

The deposit covers all Form 941 taxes from each payroll run. There are five pieces to add together:

Running the Report in Avionté: Step by Step

The Taxes Summary Lite report gives you all five numbers. Here is exactly where to find it and how to set it up:

Reports › Tax Reports › Taxes Summary Lite

1. Enter the check date for this payroll run. Set Check Date From and Check Date To both to the same date, the exact date on the paychecks. For example, if you ran payroll with a Friday check date of 9/19/2026, put 9/19/2026 in both fields.
2. Pick your company (FEIN). Select your Company from the dropdown. If the organization has more than one Federal Employer ID Number, make sure you are running it for the right one: each FEIN deposits separately.
3. Filter to Federal taxes only. Find the Tax Group or Tax Type filter and set it to Federal. This removes state, local, FUTA, and SDI so you only see the 941 taxes needed for this deposit.
4. Run the report. Click Run. Look for these five lines: FIT / Federal Withholding, Social Security EE, Social Security ER, Medicare EE, Medicare ER. If you do not see both EE and ER lines, check that employer taxes are included in your report settings.
5. Add the five numbers together. Total the dollar amounts from those five rows. That sum is your federal 941 deposit for this check date: the number you will enter into EFTPS.
6. Confirm when the deposit is due. Wed / Thu / Fri check date → deposit by the following Wednesday. Sat / Sun / Mon / Tue check date → deposit by the following Friday. If that day is a federal holiday, you get one extra business day.

Making the Deposit in EFTPS

EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) is the IRS website where you send the money. Your company should already have an account. If not, ask your manager or tax team for the login credentials.

1. Log in at eftps.gov. Use the company EIN, PIN, and password. This is a separate site from Avionté.
2. Choose Form 941 and the right tax quarter. Select Form 941 as the payment type. Pick the quarter the check date falls in (e.g., Q3 = July–September). Even though deposits happen frequently, they all tie back to the quarterly form.
3. Enter the total from your Taxes Summary Lite report. Type in the combined amount (FIT + SS EE + SS ER + Medicare EE + Medicare ER) and schedule it to arrive on or before the deadline. EFTPS payments can take one business day to process, so do not wait until the last minute.
4. Save the confirmation number. EFTPS shows a confirmation number when the payment is scheduled. Keep it on file. You may need it to reconcile against Form 941 or respond to an IRS notice.

See Also

IRS Publication 15 (Circular E) governs deposit schedules and rules. Semi-weekly depositor status is re-evaluated each year based on the lookback period (July 1–June 30 of the prior year). The IRS notifies employers of a schedule change at the start of each calendar year. Consult your tax team for company-specific guidance.