Must I file form 944 for c corp I own? I have no employees & insufficient corporate income to pay myself.

[dan3]

In the past I have employed individuals and filed 940's and 941's. I no longer have employees and the company has loss carryfowards this year and for past tjree tax years. 

Am I required to file 944?

Is there a penalty if I have not filed yet.  It is now March 7th 2018.

[IsabellaG]

If you always filed form 940 and form 941, you were required to file those forms even if you didn't have employees or pay wages. You would have been notified by the IRS that you  were required to file a Form 944. 

After you file your first Form 941, you must file a return for each quarter, even if you have no taxes to report, unless you filed a final return or  if you meet an exception, 

See the Instructions for Form 941, and theInstructions for Form 940.

The penalties for late filing Forms 941 and 940 are based on the amount of tax due with the returns, so if you have zero tax, you wouldn't get a penalty.

[fladah-0817]

As a single owner/employee of my S Corp, I was just told by two agents of the IRS (plus I paid a qualified expert on JustAsk.com) about having to continue filing the 940 and 941 tax forms even though my accountant has sent the forms in with all zeros for ten years.  I was told that if I do not receive a W-2, do not pay wages or salary to anyone, then I am not required to continue filing these forms.  In fact, I was told by the IRS after the person checked my account, that these forms were NEVER required.  The answer above confuses me.  Is there something I don't know that the IRS also does not know - that you know for sure?

[TaxGuyBill]

@fladah*0817   It may not have needed to be originally filed, but the Instructions clearly says:

"After you file your first Form 941, you must file a return for each quarter, even if you have no taxes to report, unless you filed a final return or one of the exceptions listed next applies ... If none of the above exceptions applies and you haven't filed a final return, you must file Form 941 each quarter even if you didn't pay wages during the quarter. Use IRS e-file, if possible."


On another note, why have there not been wages for over 10 years?