QuickBooks UI QTD Report for Washington Quarterly Unemployment Returns
QuickBooks generates the UI QTD report to help Washington employers complete quarterly unemployment insurance returns, prefilling most fields from payroll data.
QuickBooks users responsible for filing Washington State quarterly unemployment insurance (UI) returns have access to a built-in report designed to streamline the process. The UI QTD report pulls company, payroll, and employee data directly from QuickBooks to prefill the majority of fields on the Employer’s Quarterly UI Return. While the form itself can no longer be printed and mailed to the Washington Employment Security Department, the report remains a useful worksheet for employers who must file electronically.
Who Needs the Report
All employers covered under the Washington State Employment Security Act with active accounts must file a quarterly UI return. For quarters in which an employer had no payroll, the state allows filing a paper “No payroll” report or submitting by phone through the Washington Employer Help Line. Employers who do have individual wages or hours to report must complete both Page 1 and Page 2 of the Quarterly UI Return.
What QuickBooks Fills In Automatically
When company, payroll, and employee records are fully maintained in QuickBooks, the software populates most of the required fields on the UI QTD report without manual entry. Users should review the report carefully for any blank fields and enter the missing information as needed. The key identifiers QuickBooks uses — and the formatting rules that apply — are summarized below.
Business Identification Fields
Three primary identification numbers anchor the report:
- UBI Number: The Unified Business Identification number assigned by the State of Washington. It is a nine-digit number. If three zeros trail the number, they should be omitted.
- Federal EIN: The nine-digit Employer Identification Number assigned by the IRS, formatted as XX-XXXXXXX.
- ESD Number: The reference number assigned by the Employment Security Department. This may be nine digits or the newer twelve-digit format. For a nine-digit number, prepend “000” to the front.
Wage and Employee Detail
QuickBooks calculates several wage-related fields from existing payroll data, but users should verify that the figures reconcile with the Employee Wage Listing Detail.
Total Gross Wages
This figure should match the sum of all entries listed on the Employee Wage Listing Detail. It represents the total compensation paid to all employees during the quarter.
Excess Wages
Excess wages should also equal the total of all entries on the Employee Wage Listing Detail. If any of the excess wages include out-of-state wages, the “Yes” box on the form should be checked.
Taxable Wages
Taxable wages are calculated as the difference between total gross wages and excess wages. QuickBooks derives this automatically from the two preceding figures.
Number of Employees
For each month in the calendar quarter, QuickBooks enters the count of all full-time and part-time workers who worked or received wages during the payroll period that included the 12th of that month. This is a standard headcount metric used by state workforce agencies.
Special Cases and Manual Entries
Several fields require manual attention depending on the employer’s situation.
No Payroll This Quarter
If no wages were paid during the quarter, the “No payroll” checkbox should be marked. This aligns with the state’s requirement that active accounts file even when no payroll activity occurred.
Corporate Officers Exempt from Coverage
Employers must enter the number of corporate officers whose wages are included in total gross wages but who are exempt from UI coverage. When employees are set up correctly in QuickBooks, exempt corporate officers are excluded from the Employee Wage Listing Detail and from the other report lines. Proper payroll setup is essential here — if officer exemptions are not configured correctly in the employee records, the report will not separate them as intended.
Late Payment Penalty
If the quarterly payment is delinquent, the penalty is calculated as a percentage of the total tax due. The penalty rates escalate with the length of delinquency: five percent for the first month, ten percent for the second month, and twenty percent for the third month. Employers multiply the applicable percentage by the total tax due and enter the result on the form.
Verifying Report Accuracy
The UI QTD report is only as accurate as the underlying payroll data. Employers should confirm that all employee wage details, exemption statuses, and company identification numbers are current before generating the report. Any discrepancies between the report totals and the Employee Wage Listing Detail should be investigated and corrected at the source — the payroll records themselves — rather than overridden on the form.