QuickBooks and Colorado Form DR 1093: What Users Need to Know

QuickBooks Desktop handles the heavy lifting for Colorado’s Form DR 1093 — the Annual Transmittal of State W-2 Forms — but users have run into questions about account-number formatting, amended returns, and what the software does and does not prefill. Here is what the community has established.

What Form DR 1093 Is For

Form DR 1093 is the cover sheet used to transmit the state copy of W-2s to the Colorado Department of Revenue. For active withholding accounts, the form is due on the last day of February following the calendar year in which withholding occurred. If that date lands on a weekend or holiday, the deadline rolls forward to the next business day. For closed accounts, the form is due within 30 days of the business closure.

One detail catches users off guard: if you electronically file your W-2s, you generally do not need to submit DR 1093 at all — unless there is a balance due or an overpayment on the account.

A separate form, DR 1106, is used to transmit the state copy of 1099s. QuickBooks users filing both W-2 and 1099 forms should not confuse the two transmittals.

What QuickBooks Prefills

In most cases, QuickBooks populates the majority of fields on DR 1093 automatically, drawing on the company, payroll, and employee data already entered in the file. Users who keep their payroll records current typically find that little or no manual entry is needed.

That said, the software does not fill in every field. Users should review the form carefully before filing and complete any fields QuickBooks left blank. The form window’s Help button provides guidance on navigating the interface and troubleshooting specific issues, and hyperlinks within the form let you trace where specific numbers originated in your QuickBooks data.

The Account Number Formatting Quirk

One of the most commonly reported points of confusion involves the Colorado account number field. QuickBooks fills this field automatically, but the formatting matters.

Colorado account numbers must be eight digits long. If your account number uses the hyphenated format — two digits, a dash, followed by five digits — QuickBooks strips the dash and prepends a zero. The result is an unbroken eight-digit string. Users who manually override this formatting risk mismatches with state records, so it is best to let QuickBooks handle the conversion.

Amended Returns: A Manual Process

QuickBooks does not support amended DR 1093 returns. If you need to file an amendment, you will have to handle it outside the software.

Colorado’s instructions require a separate amended return for each period, and the amended filing must show all tax columns as corrected — not just the differences. The amended return replaces the original in its entirety, so accuracy across every line is essential.

Penalties and Interest

For users filing after the due date, the form includes fields for penalties and interest that QuickBooks will not calculate automatically.

The late-filing penalty is the greater of 5% of the tax due or $5.00. An additional half-percent accrues for each additional month of delinquency, up to a maximum of 12% of the tax due. The minimum penalty is $5.00 regardless of the tax amount owed.

Interest is computed on the unpaid balance at Colorado’s current statutory rate. Because that rate can change, filers should confirm the applicable rate with the state before entering a figure.

Social Security Numbers and Officer Data

If the company’s federal Employer Identification Number is not available for the form, QuickBooks users can enter the Social Security numbers of the company’s officers in the designated field. This is an edge case but worth knowing about if your EIN is pending or was not entered into the system at the time of filing.

Saving and Exporting Form Data

Users who want a record of their filed form can save a copy as a PDF directly from the form window. QuickBooks also supports exporting payroll data to Microsoft Excel for summarization, which can be useful for reconciliation or for providing information to an accountant outside the QuickBooks environment.

Bottom Line

Form DR 1093 is one of the more straightforward state transmittals QuickBooks handles, provided your payroll data is complete and current. The main pitfalls are the account-number formatting convention, the software’s inability to process amended returns, and the manual calculation required for penalties and interest on late filings. Reviewing every field before submitting — especially if you closed your account during the year or are filing electronically with a balance due — will help you avoid the most common mistakes users encounter with this form.