The semiweekly deposit schedule
Wednesday-to-Friday paydays by the next Wednesday, Saturday-to-Tuesday by the next Friday, three business days at least — worked on real 2026 dates.
A semiweekly depositor's week has two deposit periods: Wednesday to Friday, and Saturday to Tuesday. Taxes from paydays in each are due at least three business days after the period closes, a day later for each legal holiday in those three. Northwind becomes semiweekly the year after its lookback tax passes $50,000, or the day after a next-day deposit.
Wrong
Combine every payday in the deposit period into one deposit, whatever the quarter.
Right
September 30's payday and October 2's are deposited separately, both by October 7.
Deposits follow the date wages are paid, not the period they're for.
Where this lesson's rules come from
The sources behind this lesson's requirements, by kind. Anything marked as a convention is ours, not the rule-maker's.
- IRS guidance
- IRS Pub. 15 (2026), §11 — Semiweekly Deposit Schedule (opens in a new tab)The semiweekly deposit schedulePDF · Free to read
- IRS Pub. 15 (2026), §11 — $100,000 Next-Day Deposit Rule (opens in a new tab)The $100,000 next-day deposit rulePDF · Free to read
The words this page teaches
Each links to its glossary definition, which also names the authority behind it and the components that render it.
- Semiweekly schedule depositorAn employer whose lookback-period tax was over $50,000: taxes on Wednesday-to-Friday paydays are deposited by the next Wednesday, Saturday-to-Tuesday paydays by the next Friday. Reports its liability by payday on Schedule B (Form 941)
- Next-day deposit rule$100,000 or more of employment tax accumulated on any day is due the next business day, on either schedule — and turns a monthly depositor semiweekly for the rest of the year and the next