What is on the payroll calendar 2027
- Pay period and pay date
- The dates the work was done and the date employees are paid. Biweekly periods here run Sunday to Saturday and are paid the following Friday, six days later; semi-monthly periods are the 1st to the 15th and the 16th to the last day, paid on the last day of the period.
- Submit payroll by
- Two business days before the pay date, the usual cutoff for direct deposit to arrive on time through the ACH system. Some providers allow next-day or same-day; use their cutoff if it is later.
- Holiday adjustments
- A pay date on a weekend or federal holiday moves to the business day before, because banks are closed. Marked with an asterisk.
- Deposit due dates
- For monthly depositors, federal payroll taxes on wages paid in a month are due by the 15th of the next month, moved to the next business day if needed.
- Payroll register
- Per employee: hours, rate, gross, withholding, Social Security and Medicare, other deductions, net pay. Excel calculates gross, FICA and net, totals each column and works out the employer FICA and the federal deposit.
2027 biweekly pay dates
With Friday pay dates starting January 8, 2027, there are 26 biweekly paydays in 2027: January 8 and 22, February 5 and 19, March 5 and 19, April 2, 16 and 30, May 14 and 28, June 11 and 25, July 9 and 23, August 6 and 20, September 3 and 17, October 1, 15 and 29, November 12 and 26, and December 10 and 23 (December 24 is the observed Christmas holiday, so that payroll goes out on Thursday). Companies on the other Friday cycle, paying on January 1, 2027, get 27 paydays, because 2027 has 53 Fridays. A 27th payroll matters for salaried staff: if annual salary is divided by 26, the year costs one extra paycheck; if it's divided by 27, each check is smaller. Decide which before the year starts and tell employees.
Semi-monthly pay dates in 2027
Semi-monthly payroll pays on the 15th and the last day of each month, 24 times a year. In 2027 nine of those dates fall on a weekend or holiday and are paid the business day before: January 29, February 12 and 26, May 14 and 28, July 30, August 13, October 29 and December 30 (December 31 is the observed New Year's Day 2028 holiday). Semi-monthly suits salaried staff because every check is the same; hourly staff are usually easier on biweekly, where every period is exactly 80 hours.
Each payroll creates a tax liability: the federal income tax withheld from employees, the employee share of Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%), and the matching employer share. That total has to be deposited with the IRS through EFTPS on a schedule set by the size of your payroll. Most small businesses are monthly depositors (total liability of $50,000 or less in the lookback period) and deposit by the 15th of the following month. Larger employers are semiweekly depositors: wages paid Wednesday to Friday are deposited by the next Wednesday, wages paid Saturday to Tuesday by the next Friday. A liability of $100,000 or more on any day must be deposited the next business day. The quarterly Form 941 reports it all: due February 1 (for Q4 2026), April 30, August 2 and November 1, 2027. Late deposits carry penalties from 2% to 15% which is why the deposit column on the semi-monthly sheet has a tick box.
Running payroll with the register
For each run, list every employee with hours and rate (salaried staff: 1 hour at the period salary). The Excel register calculates gross pay, Social Security and Medicare at 7.65%, and net pay after federal and state withholding and other deductions such as health premiums or 401(k) contributions, then totals the run. Below the totals it works out the employer's matching FICA, the federal deposit for the run and the total payroll cost. Withholding amounts come from each employee's W-4 and the IRS tables in Publication 15-T, or from your payroll software. Keep each register with the pay date in the file name; together they're the record you need for the 941, the W-2s and any audit. Give each employee a pay stub with the same figures.
Choosing a pay schedule
- Weekly (52 paydays): common in construction, retail and hospitality; most processing work.
- Biweekly (26, sometimes 27): the most common US schedule; simple for hourly staff.
- Semi-monthly (24): common for salaried and office staff; lines up with monthly benefits deductions.
- Monthly (12): least processing, but restricted or prohibited for many employees by state pay-frequency laws.
States set minimum pay frequencies and final-paycheck rules, so check your state labor department before changing schedules. If you also track hours, the timesheet template feeds straight into the register.
Questions
How many biweekly pay periods are in 2027?
26 if your Friday paydays start on January 8, 2027; 27 if they start on January 1, 2027, because 2027 has 53 Fridays.
When is payroll processed if payday is a holiday?
The business day before. In 2027 the biweekly payday on Friday December 24 (Christmas observed) moves to Thursday December 23, and the semi-monthly payday on December 31 (New Year's Day 2028 observed) moves to Thursday December 30.
When are monthly payroll tax deposits due in 2027?
By the 15th of the month after the wages were paid, or the next business day: for example, January wages by February 16 (February 15 is Presidents' Day) and May wages by June 15.
What does 7.65% FICA cover?
6.2% Social Security plus 1.45% Medicare, withheld from the employee and matched by the employer, so 15.3% in total. Social Security stops at the annual wage base; an extra 0.9% Medicare applies to an employee's wages above $200,000.
Does the PDF calculate net pay?
No. The fillable PDF is for typing. The Excel and ODS payroll register calculates gross pay, FICA, net pay, the totals, the employer share and the deposit.
