Colorado DR 1093 State W-2 Transmittal in QuickBooks: What to Know

Colorado employers who run year-end W-2 reporting through QuickBooks have been asking about Form DR 1093, the annual transmittal used to send the state copy of W-2 forms to Colorado. The accepted community answer lays out what the form covers, which fields QuickBooks prefills, and where preparers still need to step in. Here is what we found.

What Form DR 1093 covers

Form DR 1093 is the state-level transmittal document for W-2 forms. It is separate from the transmittal used for 1099 forms, which is filed on the state’s companion Form DR 1106.

In QuickBooks, the form is largely pre-filled from company setup, payroll, and employee records. If that data is complete, most fields require no additional entry. The remaining fields are where common questions start to appear, particularly around account numbers and amended filings.

Due dates and e-filing rules

For active accounts, Form DR 1093 is due on the last day of January following the end of the year in which withholding occurred. If that date lands on a weekend or holiday, the due date moves to the next business day. For closed accounts, the form is due within 30 days of the business closing.

There is also a practical e-filing rule: when W-2 forms are filed electronically, the DR 1093 transmittal only needs to be submitted if there is a balance due or an overpayment. That means an employer who e-files its W-2s and has a zero balance may not need to send this transmittal at all.

Account number formatting

QuickBooks fills in the account number on the form, and the field must be eight digits long. One point that has confused users is what happens when the account number on file is in a 99-99999 format, with the digits separated by a dash. In that case, QuickBooks removes the dash and places a zero at the front. As an example, an account number that looks like 99-99999 would appear on the form as 09999999. This is expected behavior, not a data error.

Amended returns

The accepted answer is clear that QuickBooks does not support amended DR 1093 filings. Colorado’s instructions require a separate amended return for each period, and the amended form must show all tax columns as corrected rather than only the difference from the original filing. The amended return replaces the original return in its entirety. Users who need to file an amended DR 1093 should plan for that work outside the QuickBooks form, since the program will not generate it.

Social security numbers

In a situation where the federal employer identification number is not available, the form accepts the social security numbers of the company’s officers instead. This is a fallback field, not a substitute that QuickBooks can derive automatically, so it should be checked when the FEIN is not part of the company record.

Penalty and interest details

The form includes a penalty section for late payments. The penalty is 5 percent of the tax due, or $5, whichever is greater, for any payment made after the due date. An additional penalty of one-half of one percent applies for each additional month the filing is late, up to a maximum of 12 percent of the tax due. There is also a minimum late-filing penalty of $5.

Interest is computed on the balance of tax due when the return is filed after the due date. Interest accrues at the current statutory rate for each month payment is received after the due date.

For most QuickBooks users with complete payroll data, Form DR 1093 is straightforward. The main points to review are the account number format, the e-filing threshold, and whether an amended filing