Arkansas Form AR941A Missing or Unavailable in QuickBooks Payroll
Arkansas annual filers report that QuickBooks does not surface Form AR941A, the Employer's Annual Report for Income Tax Withheld, when preparing year-end state payroll filings.
QuickBooks payroll users responsible for Arkansas state income tax withholding have reported difficulty locating Form AR941A — the Employer’s Annual Report for Income Tax Withheld for Annual Filers — within the software’s year-end filing workflow. The form is specific to employers who file on an annual basis with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, and its absence from the expected location in QuickBooks has left some users unsure how to complete their state withholding obligations.
What the Form Covers
Form AR941A is the annual reconciliation return that certain Arkansas employers use to report total state income tax withheld from employee wages over the course of the tax year. Annual filers must submit it by January 31 of the following year. Along with the AR941A, these employers are responsible for filing the ARW-3 transmittal form and including copies of all W-2 and 1099 statements by the same deadline. When filed together as a paper submission, the entire package must be postmarked by January 31. Employers reporting 250 or more employees and payees are required to file their W-2s and 1099s electronically. If the deadline falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it shifts to the next banking day.
Monthly filers are directed to a different form entirely — AR3MAR — and should not use the AR941A.
What QuickBooks Fills Automatically
When the form is accessible, QuickBooks prepopulates most fields using the company, payroll, and employee data already stored in the file. The employer name, address, and withholding account number are drawn from company setup records. The Arkansas tax withheld from wages and total Arkansas tax paid figures are calculated from payroll transactions recorded throughout the year.
The withholding account number follows a specific format: 12 characters total, beginning with eight numeric digits, a hyphen, and ending with the letters “WHW.” Employers who need to update their address for withholding purposes cannot do so through QuickBooks alone — the Arkansas DFA requires separate forms for address changes, available through the state’s website.
Where Users Run Into Trouble
The core issue reported in the community is that the AR941A does not appear where users expect it — typically when processing year-end state payroll forms. Without the form visible in the filing list, employers cannot review prepopulated figures, verify withholding totals, or generate a printable copy for submission. Some users have noted that the form’s absence becomes apparent only when they attempt to process annual filings, by which point the January 31 deadline may already be approaching.
In several cases, the problem traces back to the employer being classified incorrectly within QuickBooks — specifically, the filing frequency setting. Because the AR941A is reserved for annual filers, QuickBooks may not display it if the company’s state withholding setup indicates a monthly filing schedule instead. Monthly filers are directed to Form AR3MAR, so the software filters the available forms accordingly.
What Has Worked
The accepted guidance points users to the Help button available directly within the payroll form window in QuickBooks. From there, users can access field-level explanations, troubleshooting steps for forms that are not appearing, and hyperlinks that trace specific dollar amounts back to the underlying payroll data. QuickBooks also offers options to summarize payroll data for export and to save completed forms as PDF copies for recordkeeping.
For employers who confirm they are annual filers and still cannot locate the AR941A, verifying the state filing frequency in the company’s payroll setup is the practical first step. If the frequency is set to monthly, the AR3MAR will appear instead, and the AR941A will remain hidden until the setting is corrected.
Payments accompanying the AR941A should be made by check or money order payable to the Department of Finance and Administration, with the employer’s Account ID written on the payment, and mailed to the DFA in Little Rock.
For broader context on QuickBooks payroll form issues and state filing workflows, additional troubleshooting resources are available across the QuickBooks community ecosystem.