Paige Smith | Published Jun 23, 2025 7 Min
July is the official start of Q3! It’s a good time to review your mid-year milestones and adjust your 2025 business goals if necessary. Don’t forget about your compliance deadlines along the way. Here are this month’s key dates for payroll, HR, benefits, and taxes.
Federal holidays
July 4, 2025
Fourth of July/Independence Day
The Fourth of July falls on a Friday this year. Whether you shut down for the day or take the entire weekend off, ensure your business is prepared for the holiday buildup and aftermath.
Tax and payroll compliance deadlines
Payroll tax deposits (for semi-weekly depositors)
Employers who file Forms 940 and 941 have to deposit payroll taxes on different schedules throughout the year.
If you report more than $50,000 in payroll taxes during the lookback period of July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, you’re considered a semi-weekly depositor, which means you follow the schedule below:
| If payday for your employees is on… | Deposit employment taxes by… |
| Wednesday | The following Wednesday |
| Thursday | The following Wednesday |
| Friday | The following Wednesday |
| Saturday | The following Friday |
| Sunday | The following Friday |
| Monday | The following Friday |
| Tuesday | The following Friday |
However, remember that if you accumulate $100,000 or more in tax liability on a single day, you must deposit the amount by the following business day, regardless of your usual deposit schedule.
To learn more about federal payroll tax deposits, read Publication 15.
It’s also a good idea to contact your state and local tax agencies to find out if you owe deposits for local payroll taxes.
July 1, 2025
Start of Q3 for the calendar year
If you operate on the calendar year, July 1 marks the beginning of Q3.
Form 11-C filing deadline
If your business accepts wagers of any kind, you need to file Form 11-C, the Occupational Tax and Registration Return for Wagering, by July 1, then pay any annual tax due on wagers.
July 10, 2025
Employee tip reporting deadline for June
When your employees earn tips of $20 or more, they’re required to report them to you. Their deadline for reporting June tips is July 10. Learn more about tip withholding and reporting requirements here.
June 15, 2025
Payroll tax deposits for monthly depositors
If you’re on the monthly schedule for payroll, your tax deposit for June payrolls is due on July 15.
July 31, 2025
Form 941 filing deadline for Q2
If you have at least one employee, you have to file Form 941 to report any income taxes, Social Security taxes, or Medicare taxes withheld from your staff’s paychecks and pay your share of payroll taxes every quarter.
The second Form 941 for 2025—and the accompanying payroll tax payment—are due on July 31. If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return. If you deposited the tax for the quarter timely, properly, and in full, you can take some extra time to file Form 941, until August 11.
You can mail the document along with your payment voucher to the IRS. Your mailing address depends on the state your business is located in and whether or not your payment is enclosed, so make sure you review the tax form instructions for more information.
You can also e-file through the EFTPS instead.
FUTA second quarter tax payment due
The Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) says you’re subject to FUTA tax on the wages you paid employees who aren’t household or agricultural employees if:
- You paid wages of $1,500 or more to employees in any calendar quarter during 2023 or 2024, or
- You had one or more employees for at least some part of a day in any 20 or more different weeks in 2023 or 20 or more different weeks in 2024. Count all full-time, part-time, and temporary employees.
If the above applies to you and your FUTA tax liability through June is more than $500, you need to make your second quarterly payment by July 31.
If you owe $500 or more, you have to use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) to pay. Check out Publication 966 for electronic federal tax payment system information, and Publication 15 for more information on deposit rules.
Form 730 filing deadline for June wagers
If you accepted wagers during June 2025, Form 730 is due July 31. Here are the criteria that determine whether or not 730 applies to you:
- are in the business of accepting wagers
- conduct a wagering pool or lottery
- are required to be registered and received wagers for or on behalf of another person, but did not report that person’s name and address
Learn more about Form 730 here.
Form 720 filing deadline
If your business manufactures or sells certain goods and services, you have to report and pay excise taxes to the IRS on a quarterly basis using Form 720. The second payment of 2025 is due July 31.
If you want to e-file, you can pay your excise taxes through the EFTPS. To mail the tax form to the IRS, send the form, along with your check or money order payment and the Form 720-V payment voucher (found on the last page of Form 720) to the following address:
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Ogden, UT 84201-0009
Form 2290 filing deadline for vehicles first used in June
If you’ve registered a heavy highway motor vehicle (with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more) that was first used in June 2025, you have to file Form 2290 by July 31.
To learn more about Form 2290, review the IRS’s instructions and information.
State unemployment insurance taxes due
If you pay for unemployment insurance, you have to file your state unemployment insurance tax returns and make payments every quarter. The second filing and payment of the year is July 31.
Check with the unemployment insurance tax collectors for your specific state to confirm when unemployment taxes are due. The Department of Labor (DOL) has a list of all the states’ contact information for their unemployment agencies.
State income tax withholding quarterly returns due
Many states impose income taxes that are due quarterly. For Q2, the deadline is July 31.
States that don’t have income tax are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. If you have employees who live outside of these states, you probably owe payroll taxes to the state agencies.
Local payroll taxes due
Some states also impose local payroll taxes. You may owe local taxes and have to file quarterly tax returns this month if you have employees working in the following states:
- Alabama
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
For more information on unemployment insurance tax, state income tax, and local tax deadlines for your business, check with the appropriate tax authorities.
HR compliance deadlines
July 15, 2025
Second quarterly contribution for defined benefit pension plans due
If you don’t meet the minimum funding requirements for your defined benefit pension plans by the end of the plan year, you have to make annual contributions for the following year in quarterly installments. The deadline for the second quarterly payment is July 15.
July 29, 2025
Summary of Material Modification due to plan participants
If you made any changes to your business’s retirement plan in 2024, you need to submit a Summary of Material Modification (SMM) to all plan participants and beneficiaries 210 days after the end of the plan year in which the changes were made. This year, the deadline is July 29.
July 31, 2025
Forms 5500 and 5558 filing deadline (for calendar year plans)
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires employers to file an annual report—Form 5500—with the DOL if you have plans that:
- Cover 100 or more participants on the first day of the ERISA plan year
- Are sponsored by a Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (MEWA)
- Are funded through a trust or other means
Form 5500 includes information about your company’s employee benefit plans so that the DOL can ensure compliance. You have to submit the report online by July 31.
For more information on the form and its filing instructions, visit the official DOL webpage.
If you need extra time to file Form 5500, you can submit Form 5558 by July 31 to push your deadline to October 15. Keep in mind that you still have to pay any taxes due by July 31; otherwise, you risk incurring penalties.
Form 5330 filing deadline
Form 5330 reports excise taxes related to employee benefit plans. If you made a mistake on your employee benefit plan, such as depositing employee contributions late, you must complete and file Form 5330 by July 31.
Find instructions on how and where to file here.
Deadline for annual benefit statements for individual account plans without participant-directed investments
If you have individual retirement account plans that don’t allow participant-directed investments, you need to send your employees an individual benefits statement (IBS) showing the benefits they’ve earned and their vested amounts at least once a year. The deadline is July 31.
