What This Process Does

  • Provides tips on how to identify 941 outages.
  • 941 Tax Liability and Vendor Withholding EFTPS reports are used to compare liabilities and deposits for the quarter.


Liabilities and Deposits

  • The 941 reports tax liabilities from Payroll and tax deposits from Vendor Withholding.
  • The accuracy of reporting on the 941 is dependent on paying the exact amount of taxes in Vendor Withholding that are withheld in all payrolls in the same quarter, and the calendar periods of when those payments were withheld and paid.
  • The Pay Master calendar period and the Vendor Withholding Vouchers calendar period must be in the same quarter to avoid under or over payments reflecting on the 941.
  • 941 outages are usually due to liabilities and deposits created in different quarters or Update Payroll History not completed for one or more Pay IDs.


Balancing Reports - 941 Tax Liability Report

  • The 941 Tax Liability Report will reflect payroll liabilities for a specific quarter.
  • Located in HR → Payroll → Reports → Payroll Tax Reports → 941 Federal Reports → 941 Tax Liability Report



FIELDSOpt.Rec.Req.Description
Selected Quarter——♦Use drop down to select the desired quarter
Selected Calendar Year——♦Type in the appropriate calendar year
Range on Employer ID——♦If using multiple EINs, range on appropriate Employer ID
Range on Deduction Type———Do not range on Deduction Type so all taxes will be included on the report
Range on Deduction ID———Do not range on Deduction ID so all taxes will be included on the report
Select When Updated True———Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Updated False———Boolean should be set to False (Unselected)
Select When Made Trans True———Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Made Trans False———Boolean should be set to False (Unselected)
Select When Reduce Net True———Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Reduce Net False———Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Opt. = Optional  Rec. = Recommended  Req. = Required


  • The report lists each calendar month and the Pay ID associated with the liabilities.
  • The report lists taxable wages, tax amounts and sheltered amounts.
  • Third Party Sick Pay payments are also listed on the report if they were entered using the 3rd Party Sick Pay Process in OpenRDA under Maintenance.
  • The Monthly 941 Federal Tax Report can also be used to balance per month by entering in the appropriate Calendar Year and Selected Month and the report will only include that month; however, no Pay IDs are provided and report only includes taxable wages and tax amounts.


Balancing Reports - Vendor Withholding EFTPS Report


  • The V/W EFTPS Report will reflect payroll deposits for a specific time period.
  • Located in OpenRDA → HR → Payroll Vendor Withholding→ Checks/EFTs Tab → V/W EFTPS Report
  • Must create Electronic Transfer (EFT) vouchers for the tax deposits to be included in the EFTPS Report (if checks are being generated for tax withholdings, this report cannot be produced).


FIELDSOpt.Rec.Req.Description
Bank ID——♦If using multiple Bank IDs, range on appropriate Bank ID
Employer ID——♦If using multiple EINs, range on appropriate Employer ID
Calendar ID——♦Range on appropriate Calendar Year
Calendar Month——♦Use the drop down to choose the appropriate months; Select the first and last month of the quarter for quarterly totals
Select When Distributed True——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Distributed False——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Bank Updated True——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Bank Updated False——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Voided True——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Voided False——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Void Transaction True——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Select When Void Transaction False——♦Boolean should be set to True (Selected)
Opt. = Optional  Rec. = Recommended  Req. = Required


Balancing Reports - How to Reconcile

  • In order for the 941 to balance between liabilities and deposits, the Pay Masters and Vendor Withholding Masters must have the same calendar periods within the quarter.
  • The two reports can be used to verify that all liabilities and deposits equal and are in the same quarter.
  • Compare the Liability Amount for each tax on the 941 Tax Liability Report to the Withheld and Matched amounts on the V/W EFTPS Report.
  • The total amounts on both reports for the quarter should match.
  • If amounts do not match between the two reports, identify which report is missing an amount.
  • If the 941 Tax Liability Report is missing an amount, the Pay Master calendar periods should be checked to make sure that the year and month are in the correct quarter; Or if they are in the correct quarter, make sure that the Update Payroll History has been run for each payroll by running a Query on Job Deduction Pay Masters.
  • If the V/W EFTPS Report is missing an amount, the Deduction Description Voucher Maintain Screen should be checked to make sure that the year and month are in the correct quarter or to verify the voucher was created (Query → Deduction Description Vouchers and range on Calendar Year, Calendar Processing Month and Vendor ID); Check the Statistics tab for total which should match the V/W EFTPS Report.
  • Once the reason for the outage is found, if assistance is needed to correct, please contact RDA.