Q1 2020 Form 941

[mjsedillo]

Did anyone happen to download a pdf Form 941 2020 (January Revision)?  I have a client who has not yet filed Q1 because of COVID, but I can't find the form online, even though the IRS directs us to use this form for 1st quarter.

[sterbur]

Go to https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-941

Then click on the link that says "All Form 941 Revisions"

Select/Download the top result for Form 941 (for 2020)

It is actually a "PDF Portfolio" and has both the April and January revisions inside

Here is more details on PDF Portfolios: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/overview-pdf-portfolios.html

[qbteachmt]

They never sent the form? That's not the same as deferred or delayed payment dates.

[eclipse_tax_svc]

I got the form 941/ 2019 form and 941/2020 Q2 if this help you email me at [email address removed]  and I can send you

[shaypic]

All:

Is it just me, or does the link for the January 2020 version produce the 941-SS (for Am. Samoa, etc.)?

I cannot find the standard Jan 2020 revision.

eclipse_tax_svc:

I'll try to contact you directly.  If you don't mind forwarding the Jan. revision, I would greatly appreciate it.

Best,

Shayne

[shaypic]

eclipse_tax_svc:

Your e-mail address was stripped from the post and I cannot find a way to contact you via the forum.  Do you mind telling me what city you're in?  Perhaps I'll be able to look you up and connect that way.

Thanks.

Shayne

[WyckoffL]

eclipse_tax_svc,

It would help me greatly to get a copy of that

[DarodaLLC]

I also need the Q1 2020 form... can someone send it to me?  I'm in the pro advisor database in Larsen, WI.  I'm the only one in my town.

[qbteachmt]

No one needs to Email anything to anyone. Please do not put your email address here in a public forum; try to play safely on the internet and avoid scammers and spammers.

As @sterbur already noted in July, all you have to do is follow that provided link, select the 2020, and you get Q1, Q2 and Q3 as a Portfolio = Multiple pages are in that pdf file.

Here is a Direct link:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f941--2020.pdf

[shaypic]

@qbteachmt ,

It's hard to believe that either of us (you or I) would be as inept as this conversation makes us sound.  Specifically, it would be ridiculous if I had posted my prior question without actually clicking on the link provided by @sterbur.  I did indeed click on that link.  The PDF portfolio that I accessed was for Form 941-SS (as I stated previously).  The portfolio includes revisions of Form 941-SS dated January 2020, April 2020, and July 2020.

I had already successfully accessed that same form at IRS.gov by clicking on the link for Form 941.  Both the link for Form 941 and the link for Form 941-SS direct to Form 941-SS.  I also clicked the link you posted and obtained the same results.

I assume that you also clicked on your link before posting because it would be equally ridiculous if you had not.  I also assume that when you clicked on that link, Form 941 (and not Form 941-SS) appeared, because your post would, again, be ridiculous if it did not.

Therefore, either my assumptions above are wrong or something very odd is happening, namely a link is directing to Form 941 for some people (such as @qbteachmt ) and Form 941-SS for others.  Can anyone explain this?  Alternatively, is it possible to post a PDF on this forum?  If so, perhaps @qbteachmt or someone who has access to Form 941 (Revision January 2020) could do so?  Several of us would be grateful.

Best regards.

[qbteachmt]

Let's recognize that everything is "just now being released" for any date in 2020. That doesn't mean you should be willing to no longer play safely on the internet. That means slowing down a bit and waiting for the resources.

"Alternatively, is it possible to post a PDF on this forum?"

The IRS is the source of 941, and you can get things from them safely, so we get it from the IRS. Not email on a public forum and potentially unsafe attachments. And since these dated forum topics will then have old links, it's not the right resource for later use, either. The IRS has the July revised form, and the July instructions which were just released last week. This is in those instructions:

"Don't use the July 2020 revision of Form 941 to report employment taxes for the first or second quarter of 2020. Use the April 2020 revision of Form 941 to report employment taxes for the second quarter of 2020, and use the January 2020 revision of Form 941 to report employment taxes for the first quarter of 2020."

They should make available any form you need to be using, obviously. When it should be noted that the IRS has links with the wrong content, then we wait for them to fix it. The -SS for the Q1 and Q2 seems to be what they are making available at every 2020 941 link I found. For instance, here:

https://www.irs.gov/downloads/irs-prior

It's the same portfolio. Here is a timely article that reviews the prior changes and the upcoming change, as well as explaining why you keep seeing the -SS version:

https://news.bloombergtax.com/payroll/form-941-to-be-further-revised-for-3rd-4th-quarters

And these media articles tend to have current links in them, relative to the article's content and dates.

I found the Jan 2020 revision, but this might not be what you should be using for the prior quarters, of course:

https://www.randyshardware.com/uploads/1/0/7/8/107835941/941.pdf

Google and the IRS show the 3rd quarter revisions (links):

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i941--2020.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf

It's unfortunate that when help is being provided by peer users, that help is deemed "ridiculous."

Everyone deals with the same delays, conflicting releases, and outright confusing info. Having to wait a bit for a developing scenario to play itself out might be uncomfortable. After all, this is Oct, so you would think Q1 and Q2 941 forms already got filed. The 941X is going to be amended to meet the new CARES requirements. So you have yet another update to watch for.

[Ancelfm]

As of 10/9/2020. If you go to the https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-941 then click on all revisions...and then click on the 941 version at the top for 2020 it downloads the packet for the 941-SSS (American Samoa, Guam, etc...). It is not downloading the correct regular 1st & 2nd Quarter 941. And yes, I am clicking the correct link. There is a 941-SS link on further down for the American Samoa version, so the top should have provided the correct 941.

[Ancelfm]

You are correct. As of 10/9/2020 it downloads the 941-SS version for me as well.

[qbteachmt]

This site allows you to select from a Pop up, and it offers Rev Jan and Rev April for 2020:

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwil2OCUsKrsAhWMjMgKHajuC0MYABAAGgJxdQ&oho...

Click "get form" button. Choose which you want (Jan or April 2020 Revision).

Jan (1st Quarter):

https://www.pdffiller.com/jsfiller-desk18/?requestHash=9b06d71a41ae452b57d56284be6f43df9ad754f49ffbb...

April (2nd Quarter):

https://www.pdffiller.com/jsfiller-desk18/?requestHash=050bce86281ec400a099cd933fb6e98e3ee4b50e922cd...

[BobWaxson]

As others have said, it's EXTREMELY frustrating when the IRS tells you that you must use an exact revision of a form and then doesn't make it available anywhere on their web site.

Here is where the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/) is your friend. I noticed that the current link to Form 941 doesn't have any revision information (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf), which I hoped meant that it was their link to the latest version of the form. The link never changes but the document that is downloaded changes over time. By using the Wayback Machine I was able to look at previous versions of the web page and thus was able to find the earlier revisions of form 941 that I needed.

For 941 Rev April 2020 (for Q2 2020) go to the July 10, 2020 version of the link here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200710065611/https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf

For 941 Rev. January 2020 go here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200407161422/https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf

[user81342]

thanks so much for posting this information. I had the same issue trying to retrieve the April 2020 version of form 941. 

[SeenEnough]

BobWaxson

Thank you for the link. That was incredibly easy.

[shaypic]

@qbteachmt ,

I apologize for responding out of frustration.  Please forgive my flippancy.

Also, you point out something very important that I had not thought of before you posted:

PDFs posted by third parties are not necessarily safe; they could have all manner of bad code inside.  Better, by far, to wait until the form is accessible on the IRS website (though I do believe the Way Back Machine link is reasonably safe).

Best regards.

[Gus Remus]

The link to the pdfs seems to only work w/ Microsoft's old Internet explorer. I could not access it with Chrome or Micsoft edge. Using internet explorer I was able to access the different versions.

[mmagroga]

I was having some of the same issues, but when I opened the documents in Internet Explorer rather than Google, the documents opened correctly.

[stinko]

THANK YOU!

This has helped so much, and I honestly don't think I would have figured it out otherwise. I will definitely keep this website in mind if I run into issues again. Thank you for being a lifesaver!

[BobWaxson]

You're quite welcome.

I'm a software engineer with no accounting training, so 99.9% of the time I'm the one needing saving when I'm poking around in this forum. One of the joys of owning your own company. For once it's nice that I can give back and help someone else out. I spent a ton of time trying to find the form I needed and this was the only way I could get it from a (reasonably) trusted source.

[DrVet]

All I get when I follow the links her for Q1 941 forms are more links to download Adobe Reader...which I already have.  No forms from here or the IRS.  I'm about to take the Q2 form that we did file, white out the numbers, fill in with the Q1 information and mail it in. This is ridiculous.

[qbteachmt]

@DrVet 

This Community Forum for professional income tax preparation was never a place to get Payroll forms, and certainly not now, in March 2021, in a topic from July 2020.

You have to do your own Web Search for payroll sites; not this Income Tax community. The links here are links to other links; not something being managed nor maintained here, except for timeliness.

Whoever provides your payroll service is likely to have the forms you need.

[jane_j]

I've downloaded it here https://pdfliner.com/form-941 there wasn't any problems with it and it's easy for filling

[qbteachmt]

As was linked previously, this is a Portfolio and the different pages are for the different quarters:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f941--2020.pdf

I recommend you go to IRS, not generically to the web, for downloads.

[Nikki2]

I have a blank PDF of the 941 if you would like, I can email it.  Send request to [email address removed] .