Filing Michigan Form UIA 1028 Page 2 Through QuickBooks Payroll
QuickBooks prefills most of Michigan's quarterly Employer's Quarterly Wage/Tax Report, but employers must still file electronically through the state's MiWAM portal.
QuickBooks Desktop users responsible for Michigan unemployment filings periodically raise questions about Form UIA 1028, Page 2 — the Employer’s Quarterly Wage/Tax Report submitted to the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The form is where employers report wage details for every covered employee during a given calendar quarter, and while QuickBooks populates most of it automatically, several fields require manual review before the return is ready to file.
What the Form Covers
The UIA 1028, Page 2 is Michigan’s mechanism for collecting quarterly wage information on all employees who worked during the period. The state requires a Social Security number for each employee listed — submissions without one will not process. Employers must report gross wages actually paid during the quarter, not wages that were earned but remained unpaid at quarter-end. Wages for workers whose services are excluded from coverage under Section 43 of the Michigan Employment Security Act should not be included at all.
Generating the Report in QuickBooks Desktop
To produce the UIA 1028 from within QuickBooks Desktop, open the Employees menu and select Payroll Forms (or Payroll Center, then the File Forms tab). From the list of available state forms, choose Michigan UIA 1028. QuickBooks will walk through a guided interview and pull company, payroll, and employee data directly from the company file to prefill the relevant fields. Once the form generates on screen, scroll through each section and verify that nothing is missing — particularly Social Security numbers and wage totals for any recently added employees.
Electronic Filing Is Mandatory
Michigan requires all employers to file the UIA 1028 return electronically through the MiWAM portal on the state’s unemployment insurance website. Employers who have not used the system before must register for a MiWAM account before they can submit. QuickBooks prepares the form and the numbers; the actual filing happens on the state’s side.
Fields QuickBooks Typically Prefills
When company, payroll, and employee records are complete and up to date inside QuickBooks, most fields on the form populate without manual entry. In a well-maintained file, employers often find that little or no additional input is needed beyond a review pass. For any field the software leaves blank, QuickBooks displays contextual help links alongside the form to guide the user through what belongs there.
Fields That May Need Manual Attention
Several checkboxes and entries warrant a closer look regardless of how clean the company file is:
Final Report. Select this option only if the business is closing its UIA account and will no longer report employment going forward. Checking this box triggers a requirement to submit a separate form — UIA 1772 — which can also be filed through MiWAM.
Family Owned. This field should be left blank unless the business qualifies as family-owned under Michigan’s specific definition: majority interest owned by the employee alone, by the employee’s son, daughter, or spouse, by any combination of those individuals, or by the employee’s parents if the employee is under 18. Qualifying businesses enter the letter “F” in this column.
UI and Obligation Assessment Tax Due. Michigan requires rounding only on the UI portion of the tax due. The Obligation Assessment portion is not rounded. Employers reviewing the prefilled totals should keep that distinction in mind rather than assuming both figures follow the same rounding rule.
Amount Enclosed. This figure represents the payment to submit with the return. If no tax is owed for the quarter, the form displays zero.
Return Signer. QuickBooks needs the title of the person signing the report and a contact phone number. If the preparer and signer are different individuals, make sure the signer’s information — not the preparer’s — appears here.
Payment Details
When a payment is due, the check should be made payable to the State of Michigan — Unemployment Insurance Agency. The employer’s UIA account number must appear on the face of the check to ensure proper crediting.
Exporting and Summarizing
QuickBooks provides options to save the completed payroll form as a PDF for recordkeeping. Employers who need to summarize their payroll data in a spreadsheet format — useful for cross-checking before filing or for internal review — can export the relevant figures to Microsoft Excel directly from the form workflow. Taking that extra step to reconcile exported totals against the state’s expectations can catch discrepancies before the electronic submission goes through.
For broader guidance on QuickBooks payroll form preparation and troubleshooting, the Quickbooky archives cover common state filing issues and field-level problems users encounter throughout the year.