Payroll taxes and filings

Arketa calculates payroll taxes, withholds the required amounts, files returns, and remits payments to the tax agencies automatically. There are a small number of exceptions, covered below.

What Arketa files and pays for you

• Payroll tax payments. Federal, state, and local taxes are calculated, withheld, and remitted to the agencies on your behalf, on their deposit schedules.
• Quarterly and annual returns. Filed federally and with state and local agencies where applicable.
• W-2s. Filed with the IRS and with state agencies as required, and delivered to your employees.
• 1099s. Filed with the IRS, and with state agencies where required, and delivered to your contractors.
• New hire reports. Filed with state agencies when you add new employees.

You don't submit any of this yourself. It runs automatically once your business onboarding and filing authorizations are complete, your state tax accounts are in place, and your worker information is accurate. See Worker onboarding and tax forms for when year-end forms reach your team.

Which forms are filed

Federal

• Form 941, the quarterly federal tax return
• Form 940, the annual federal unemployment (FUTA) return
• Form 944, the annual federal return used by smaller employers
• W-2s for employees and 1099-NECs for contractors

State and local

What's required varies by state, and Arketa files what applies to you. In most states that means:

• Quarterly withholding returns and payment coupons
• Annual withholding reconciliations
• Unemployment insurance contribution and wage reports
• Paid family and medical leave reports, in states that have them
• New hire reports for new employees
• Local withholding or occupational tax returns, where your city or county has them
• W-2 and 1099 transmittals, where the state requires them

Some filings are electronic only and have no paper form. In those cases you get a tax liability report or a payment coupon instead of a filed form.

For the complete list of forms by state, see Tax forms filed by Arketa.

One thing accountants ask about: because W-2s are filed electronically in bulk, a federal Form W-3 transmittal isn't required. A copy is still included in your year-end package for your records.

Taxes Arketa withholds but doesn't remit

A few taxes are paid to private insurance carriers rather than state tax agencies, so they fall outside standard tax remittance. Arketa calculates and withholds these on each payroll, but your studio sends the payments to your carrier directly:

• New York Paid Family Leave (PFL)
• New York State Disability Insurance (SDI)
• Hawaii State Disability Insurance (SDI)

If you have workers in New York or Hawaii, the withheld amounts stay in your bank account and you remit them to your insurance carrier.

Taxes Arketa doesn't support

A small number of local employer taxes aren't calculated or remitted by Arketa. If one applies to your studio, you handle it outside of Arketa:

• Jersey City Employer Tax and Newark Employer Payroll Tax (New Jersey)
• Seattle Payroll Expense Tax and Seattle Social Housing Tax (Washington)
• Hazleton and Scranton Payroll Preparation Taxes (Pennsylvania)
• New York Employer Compensation Expense Tax (optional payroll tax)

There are a small number of other local taxes in this category. Contact Support if you're unsure whether one applies to you.

Deductions and garnishments

Arketa Payroll supports post-tax deductions from employee pay, for example a recurring deduction you've arranged with a worker. Deducted amounts are withheld from worker pay and stay in your studio's bank account, and your studio sends them on to the appropriate provider or agency.

Child support garnishments are handled for you. Send the garnishment order to Arketa. It's reviewed against the employee's details, set up in payroll, withheld each payroll cycle, and remitted to the state child support agency. The order is monitored for changes or termination, and records are kept for compliance. If an employee has more than one order and the total would exceed the allowable limit, deductions are reduced proportionally under federal ACF guidelines. Payments are tracked in the Child Support Payments report. See Payroll reports.

Two exceptions. Child support paid to tribal support agencies isn't remitted for you, though it can be set up as a post-tax deduction. And 401(k), IRA, and other retirement plan contributions aren't supported.

For any other kind of garnishment, such as a tax levy or a creditor garnishment, send the order to Arketa Support before your next payroll. Employers are legally required to comply with garnishment orders, so don't wait on this.

Frequently asked questions