A Fort Myers restaurant owner called me last year after getting a notice from the IRS. He’d missed a payroll tax deposit by four days while dealing with a family emergency. Four days. The penalty was over $800 on a $20,000 payroll. He didn’t know the deposit was overdue. Nobody had told him the rules.
Florida businesses face two sets of payroll compliance requirements — federal and state — and missing either one has consequences that escalate quickly. Here’s what actually happens and what the numbers look like.
This is not a gray area: Payroll taxes are trust fund taxes — the government considers that money already belonging to them the moment you withhold it from an employee’s check. Holding it past the deposit deadline, even for a few days, triggers automatic penalties. There’s no first-time forgiveness for most employers.
Federal Payroll Tax Deposit Deadlines — And What Happens When You Miss Them
Federal payroll taxes — Social Security, Medicare, and federal income tax withholding — must be deposited with the IRS on either a monthly or semi-weekly schedule. Which schedule you’re on depends on your total tax liability during a “lookback period” (the 12-month period ending June 30 of the prior year).
Monthly Depositors
If your total payroll tax liability for the lookback period was $50,000 or less, you’re a monthly depositor. Deposits are due by the 15th of the following month. Miss January’s deposit and it’s due February 15th.
Semi-Weekly Depositors
If your lookback period liability exceeded $50,000, you deposit on a semi-weekly schedule. Payrolls paid on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday are due the following Wednesday. Payrolls paid Saturday through Tuesday are due the following Friday. This is where most growing Fort Myers businesses get caught — they graduate to semi-weekly without realizing it.
The Penalty Schedule
IRS failure-to-deposit penalties work on a sliding scale based on how late the deposit is:
- 1–5 days late: 2% of the unpaid deposit
- 6–15 days late: 5% of the unpaid deposit
- More than 15 days late: 10% of the unpaid deposit
- More than 10 days after first IRS notice: 15% of the unpaid deposit
On a $30,000 monthly payroll for a mid-size Cape Coral business, a 6-day late deposit costs $1,500. That’s not a hypothetical — I’ve seen it. This is one of the core reasons our payroll tax service handles all deposit scheduling automatically.
Florida’s Reemployment Tax — The State Obligation Most Business Owners Forget
Florida doesn’t have a state income tax, but it does have a payroll tax: reemployment tax (RT), the state equivalent of federal unemployment insurance. New Florida employers pay a rate of 2.7% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages per year. Established employers are assigned a rate based on their claims history — rates range from 0.1% to 5.4%.
Quarterly reemployment tax returns (RT-6) are due on the last day of the month following each calendar quarter — April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Florida assesses its own late filing and late payment penalties, separate from IRS penalties. Miss the April 30 filing and you’re looking at a 10% penalty on the quarterly tax owed, plus interest.
A lot of business owners who do their own payroll get the federal side right and forget the state filing entirely until they get a notice from the Florida Department of Revenue. Our quarterly payroll service covers RT-6 filings as a standard inclusion.
Pro tip from working with thousands of Florida businesses: Set a calendar reminder for the 15th of every month for your federal deposit and the four RT-6 due dates. If you’re running payroll yourself, these four state deadlines are the ones that slip most often — especially October 31 when you’re focused on Q4 planning.
The Scariest Payroll Penalty: The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty
Most penalties can be resolved with the business entity. The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty is different. If your business fails to remit withheld employee taxes — the Social Security, Medicare, and federal income tax you deduct from employee paychecks — the IRS can assess the full outstanding amount personally against any “responsible person” in the business.
That means you personally. Not the LLC. Not the corporation. You.
The IRS defines “responsible person” broadly — it can include owners, officers, partners, bookkeepers, or any individual who had the authority and control to ensure taxes were paid. And unlike most business debts, the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty isn’t dischargeable in bankruptcy. I’ve talked to business owners who lost personal assets over payroll taxes from a business that no longer existed.
This is why payroll tax compliance isn’t something to handle informally.
How a Payroll Service Protects You From These Penalties
When you work with a full-service payroll company, they handle all of this — the federal deposits on your specific schedule, the quarterly RT-6 filings, the year-end 940, all of it. At Entrust, we go a step further: we assume your tax liability. If we make a filing error or miss a deposit, we pay the penalty. Not you.
That’s not standard in the industry. A lot of payroll providers process the filings but put the liability back on you for errors. When you’re evaluating providers, ask them directly: “If you miss a tax deposit deadline, who pays the IRS penalty?” The answer tells you everything about how they see their responsibility to your business. See how our customer care model works.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IRS penalty for late payroll tax deposits?
The IRS penalty for late payroll tax deposits starts at 2% for deposits 1–5 days late, increases to 5% for 6–15 days late, 10% for more than 15 days late, and 15% if the tax remains unpaid 10 days after the first IRS notice. These percentages apply to the total amount of the tax deposit, not just the late portion. See the full penalty schedule above for examples with real dollar amounts.
What happens if I pay employees late in Florida?
Florida doesn’t have a specific late wage penalty statute the way some states do, but failing to pay employees on the agreed-upon payday can result in civil claims from employees and potential FLSA violations at the federal level. Consistent late payment can also trigger DOL audits. Beyond legal exposure, late paychecks damage employee trust — and in a tight labor market in Fort Myers and Cape Coral, that matters. Our payroll service ensures deposits and paychecks run on schedule every pay period.
How does Florida’s reemployment tax work?
Florida’s reemployment tax (RT) is the state equivalent of federal unemployment. New employers pay a rate of 2.7% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages. Established employers are assigned a rate based on their claims history. Quarterly RT-6 filings are due on the last day of the month following each calendar quarter — April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. See the full breakdown in the reemployment tax section above.
Can I make payroll tax deposits myself or does a payroll company handle it?
Most businesses are required to make payroll tax deposits electronically through the IRS’s EFTPS system. The deposit schedule — monthly or semi-weekly — is determined by your payroll tax liability from the prior lookback period. A full-service payroll company like Entrust handles all of this automatically and assumes the tax liability, meaning if we miss a deposit, we pay the penalty. See how it works.
What’s the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty?
The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty is one of the most serious payroll-related penalties in the tax code. If a business fails to remit withheld payroll taxes — Social Security, Medicare, and federal income tax — the IRS can assess the full amount personally against any individual deemed responsible for the failure. It can pierce the corporate veil and come after owners personally. It’s not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Read the full explanation in the Trust Fund section above.
Don’t Learn This Lesson From an IRS Notice
Call Entrust Payroll Solutions: 239-208-8788 | entrustpayroll.com/payroll-tax-services/
— Steve Kowalski, President, Entrust Payroll Solutions, Fort Myers, FL