Filing Form TQ01C: Alaska Quarterly Contribution Report in QuickBooks
QuickBooks prefills most of Alaska's quarterly unemployment insurance form, but certain fields and thresholds require manual review before submission.
QuickBooks Desktop’s payroll module supports electronic filing of Alaska’s Form TQ01C, the Quarterly Contribution Report used to report unemployment insurance tax on wages paid during a given quarter. The software prefills most fields automatically from existing company, payroll, and employee data — but users filing this form should understand which lines require manual attention and when electronic filing becomes mandatory rather than optional.
What QuickBooks Fills Automatically
When you open Form TQ01C inside QuickBooks, the application populates the majority of fields based on the payroll data already entered in your company file. In most cases, if all employee wages, company information, and payroll items are properly set up and current, you will not need to manually enter additional information. However, the form window highlights fields that QuickBooks did not fill in automatically, and users are expected to review those areas before filing.
Fields That May Need Manual Entry
Several lines on the form either require direct input or warrant close verification:
Line 1 — Number of Workers: Enter the count of full- and part-time workers who worked or received pay during the payroll period that includes the 12th of each month in the quarter.
Line 2 — Total Reportable Wages: This should reflect all reportable wages paid to employees during the quarter. QuickBooks expects this figure to match Line 16, which represents total reportable wages across all pages of the form.
Line 3 — Excess Wages: Enter wages paid during the quarter that exceed Alaska’s taxable wage base.
Line 4 — Taxable Wages: This is the total taxable wages for the quarter after excess wages are removed.
Lines 5 and 6 — Employer’s and Employee’s Contributions: These are calculated by multiplying Line 4 (taxable wages) by the respective employer and employee contribution rates displayed on the form. You can verify these rates against Form TR02A, the Notice of Contribution Rates sent by the state.
Line 7 — Total Contributions Due: The sum of Lines 5 and 6.
Line 8 — Amount Remitted: Enter the payment amount submitted with the report.
Line 9 — Wages Paid to Other States: Check this box if any employees worked in another state during the calendar year and you are using taxable wages reported to that state when computing your Alaska taxable wages.
Line 12 — Reportable Wages Paid This Quarter: Reflects wages as defined under Alaska statute.
When Electronic Filing Is Required
A critical detail buried in the form’s help text: quarterly contribution reports that include wage schedules listing 100 or more employees in a calendar quarter — or that involve $1 million or more in taxable wages in the current or preceding calendar year — must be filed electronically over the internet. This is not optional. Smaller employers may still file through other means, but once those thresholds are crossed, internet filing becomes mandatory.
Getting Help With Discrepancies
For users who see numbers on the form that do not match their expectations, QuickBooks provides a hyperlink within the form window that traces amounts back to their source in the company file. This is the fastest way to investigate a figure that looks incorrect rather than manually re-entering data.
The form window also includes a general Help button for broader questions about navigating the form or troubleshooting specific issues. For users who need to summarize payroll data in a spreadsheet format, QuickBooks offers an export option to Microsoft Excel. And for recordkeeping, the form can be saved as a PDF directly from the filing window.
A Note on Rate Accuracy
The employer and employee contribution rates shown on Form TQ01C inside QuickBooks should always be cross-checked against the official Form TR02A from the State of Alaska. If the rates in QuickBooks do not match the state’s notice, the calculated contributions on Lines 5 and 6 will be incorrect — and the error will carry through to the total on Line 7. Correcting the rate in your QuickBooks payroll setup before finalizing the form is the cleanest fix.