US payroll tax and HR filing deadlines in 2027

Of the 12 IRS filing deadlines in the table below, 10 fall on a Saturday or Sunday in their nominal form, so the date that applies in 2027 is the next business day. The year-end set of seven duties includes Forms W-2 and W-3 and Form 1099-NEC. Its nominal date is Sunday, January 31. The date that applies is Monday, February 1, 2027. Paper filing of Forms 1094-C and 1095-C moves to Monday, March 1. The second-quarter Form 941 moves to Monday, August 2. The third-quarter Form 941 moves to Monday, November 1. Only electronic filing of Forms 1094-C and 1095-C (March 31) and the first-quarter Form 941 (April 30) stay on their nominal dates.

This page lists every date twice. The nominal date is the one the form’s rule gives before any weekend or holiday move, and the date that applies is that date after the move. Among the final IRS instructions used here, only the W-2 and W-3 instructions print February 1, 2027. IRS drafts print the rest. The draft 2026 instructions for Forms 940, 944, 945, 1094-C and 1095-C carry 2027 dates, and the draft Publication 509 for 2027, dated August 24, 2026, lists every other date in the table and says its calendars already adjust for weekends and legal holidays. Because drafts are not final, this page marks those dates derived: a printed rule applied to the 2027 calendar and checked in code.

Nominal date and date that applies for every deadline

In the last column, printed means a final IRS instruction prints the date, and derived means no final instruction prints it.

The timely-deposit column is the later filing date open to employers that deposited all the tax when due. It is a fixed calendar date that stays put when the nominal date moves, and in 2027 none of these dates falls on a weekend or a holiday. Employers required to file 10 or more information returns during the year must e-file. Most of these US dates sit in the year view of the HR compliance calendar 2027: key dates by country.

What the weekend rule moves, and what it leaves alone

The source is section 7503 of the Internal Revenue Code. When the last day for performing an act under the internal revenue laws falls on a weekend or a legal holiday, the act is timely if it is performed on the next succeeding day that is neither. The Form 941 instructions put it in filing terms: “you may file your return on the next business day.” The instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C say the due date “is the following business day.”

In 2026, January 31 was a Saturday. The 2025 instructions for Forms 940, 944 and 945 print Monday, February 2, 2026 as the filing date. The same editions put the option for employers that deposited on time at Tuesday, February 10, 2026, which is 10 days after January 31.

The Form 941 instructions fix the option by calendar, with a filing by “the 10th day of the 2nd month that follows the end of the quarter.” For the fourth quarter of 2026, that is Wednesday, February 10, 2027. The IRS drafts print the same date. The draft 2026 instructions for Forms 940, 944 and 945 give February 10, 2027 for timely depositors, and draft Publication 509 says “you have until February 10 to file the return.” The IRS due-dates page words the option as “10 additional calendar days” for Forms 940 and 945 and the quarterly Form 941. Counted from the moved date, Monday, February 1, that wording would give Thursday, February 11.

The weekend move gives no time beyond the next business day. For Forms W-2 and 1099-NEC the IRS says no automatic extension is available, and it points to Form 8809. For Form W-2 it grants extensions only in limited cases for extraordinary circumstances or catastrophe.

The District of Columbia holidays applied to every date

A deadline on a legal holiday moves like one on a weekend, so the holiday list decides some results. Section 7503 defines legal holiday as a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, and Publication 509 (2026) says the same. The District’s code puts a Saturday holiday on the Friday before and a Sunday holiday on the Monday after. Applying those rules to 2027 in code gives the 13 dates below, which match the list in the draft Publication 509 for 2027.

The last column checks each date against the OPM list used on the Federal holidays in 2027 and holiday pay page.

The two lists differ on one 2027 date, Friday, April 16, which is District of Columbia Emancipation Day. None of the dates in the deadline table falls on any of the 13 days, so the federal list alone gives the same results here. The Form 941 instructions count only District holidays for deposits, and the Payroll calendar 2027 for biweekly and semi-monthly pay works out the deposit dates.

Section 7503 adds a second case. For a return or other document filed at an office outside the District, a statewide legal holiday in the State where that office is located also counts. The IRS general instructions for information returns word it as a legal holiday “in the District of Columbia or where the return is to be filed.” This page checked no state holiday calendar and applies the District list only. A state holiday can only push a date later, so the table’s dates are safe to plan around but can be earlier than the last day allowed.

ACA reporting dates rest on the 2025 instructions

The final Forms 1094-C and 1095-C instructions are the 2025 edition. They print February 28 for paper filing and March 31 for electronic filing. Applied to 2027, February 28 is a Sunday, so paper filing applies on Monday, March 1. March 31 is a Wednesday and does not move. For these forms, Form 8809 gives an automatic 30-day extension of time to file. The draft 2026 instructions print March 1, 2027 for filing and March 31, 2027 for electronic filing.

Three dates without a final 2027 IRS calendar

Draft Publication 509 lists Tuesday, March 2 for providing Form 1095-C to full-time employees of Applicable Large Employers, and the draft 2026 instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C say the furnishing date “is automatically extended from January 31, 2027, to March 2, 2027.” For 2025 forms the IRS made the same automatic extension, to March 2, 2026, and added that no additional extensions would be granted. The regulation, 26 CFR 301.6056-1(g)(1), requires the statement to be furnished to a full-time employee “on or before January 31 of the year succeeding the calendar year” and grants applicable large employers “an automatic, 30-day extension.” Thirty days after January 31, 2027 is Tuesday, March 2, 2027.

Draft Publication 509 also lists Monday, August 2 for Form 5500 or 5500-EZ for calendar year 2026, and for the annual PCOR fee reported on the second-quarter Form 720. The IRS says a plan sponsor generally files Form 5500 on the last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends, and that the PCOR fee is due July 31 of the year after the plan year ends. July 31, 2027 is a Saturday, and the final Form 5500 instructions (2025) and Form 720 instructions (06/2026) allow filing on the next business day, August 2. Treat all three as planning dates until the final Publication 509 and the final 2026 instructions post.

Medicare Part D dates follow CMS

Two employer dates in 2027 come from a CMS page, and this page applies no weekend move to them. It makes no difference in 2027, because each candidate date below is a weekday outside the 13 holidays.

CMS requires entities whose policies include prescription drug coverage to notify Medicare-eligible policyholders. The notice goes out “prior to October 15th each year,” and the page prints no year. October 15, 2027 is a Friday, so the last day before it is Thursday, October 14, 2027.

The Disclosure to CMS “should be completed annually no later than 60 days from the beginning of a plan year,” and CMS prints no calendar date. For a calendar-year plan, counting January 1, 2027 as day one gives Monday, March 1. Counting it as day zero gives Tuesday, March 2. CMS does not say which count it uses, so plan on March 1. The Disclosure is also due within 30 days after a plan termination or a change in creditable coverage status.

What we could not confirm

• The conditions for skipping automatic delivery of Form 1095-C. The 2025 What’s New says employers no longer have to send it automatically and ties that to a website notice that individuals may request a copy. Read the current instructions before relying on it.
• Final 2026 instructions and Publication 509 for 2027. Five of the eight final IRS instruction pages opened for this page showed 2025 editions. The 2026 instructions for Forms 940, 944, 945, 1094-C and 1095-C and Publication 509 for 2027 are drafts.
• A final source for a 2027 Form 5500 date. The DOL Form 5500 Series page gave no due date when opened for this page.
• A printed OSHA date for 2027. The Injury Tracking Application page says the deadline for timely submission “was March 2, 2026” and prints no 2027 date. Under 29 CFR 1904.41(c), submission is due “by March 2 of the year after the calendar year covered by the form(s).” For forms covering 2026, that is Tuesday, March 2, 2027. Under 29 CFR 1904.32(b)(6), the Form 300A summary must be posted “no later than February 1 of the year following the year covered by the records” and kept in place “until April 30.” For 2026 records, that means posting by Monday, February 1, 2027 and keeping it up until Friday, April 30, 2027. This page derived these dates and did not check which establishments must submit.
• EEO-1 Component 1. The EEOC page gives no 2026 date and says updates on the 2025 collection will be posted as they become available. This page lists no EEO-1 date.
• Other employer deadlines not covered here: Form 8955-SSA, the ERISA summary annual report and VETS-4212.

Setting your internal dates for 2027

Set internal deadlines on the last business day before each nominal weekend date. A filing made on the date that applies leaves no business day to fix a rejected or mismatched file, and a Friday cutoff leaves the Monday.

Keep the nominal and applying dates side by side in your calendar and label which is which, because they differ for 10 of the 12 IRS deadlines in the table. Schedule the Part D notice for early October. The CMS wording is “prior to October 15th,” so a notice sent on October 15 is late. Wage bases and contribution limits are on US payroll tax and benefit limits for 2027.

Next step: open the Payroll calendar 2027 for biweekly and semi-monthly pay, mark the 13 District holidays from the table above against your deposit dates, and enter the four Friday cutoffs from this section.

Written and reviewed by the HR Riant Editorial Team. General information, not legal advice.