Guidelines and setup for Michigan Form UIA-1028 Employer’s Quarterly Wage/Tax Report

General considerations

The due date is the 25th of the month following the end of the quarter.
The form is filed even if there is no payroll for the month.
Michigan requires that employers file Form UIA-1028 electronically. Accounting CS doesn’t offer a Paper filing method for the form.
The number of all full-time employees is determined based on entering the payroll period and check date on the payroll check or selecting the
Calculate month 1-3 employee count on payroll tax forms based on active employee status
in the Payroll Information tab in the
Clients
screen.  For more information, review Employee count examples for 94x and state unemployment (SUTA) forms.
The SUTA rate for Michigan is now split into 2 client-specific rates:
Base/Contribution Rate
, and
Obligation Assessment Rate
. These 2 portions need to be specified in the Additional Information window (accessed from the Payroll Taxes tab of the
Clients
screen. The rates are calculated separately on the form and then combined into a total amount due. Both of these rates are available from Form UIA 1771, issued by the state.
The Base Rate (Contribution Rate on literature) is rounded to the nearest dollar amount (.00 - 0.49 rounding down, 0.50 and more rounding up). This Contribution rate is actually a combined rate of 3 components, but it is expressed and applied as a single rate and then rounded to the dollar.
The Obligation Assessment (OA) Rate isn't rounded to the dollar; it is simply rounded to the nearest cent. This tax actually replaced the FUTA penalty (that was calculated and added as a lump sum percentage at year-end) earlier, but this fact becomes more apparent with the separation of the amount on the Form UIA-1028. Under the current schedule, it should take about 10 years (through 2021) to pay of this debt (bond obligation) to the federal government. More information is available at www.michigan.gov/documents/uia/146_-_Bonding_Obligation_Assessment_2012_376282_7.pdf.
Because we can't round the quarterly Base SUTA rate to the dollar during payroll check entry, there will likely be a difference for the Base Rate between the UIA-1028 and our regular reports (Payroll Tax Summary, Depository Totals, etc.). Our internal reports are based on checks and/or earnings amount totals flowing from those checks.
Amounts for interest or penalty charges (including late fees and non-reporting fees) are also NOT rounded to the nearest dollar. Because Michigan uses the
current interest rate
to calculate penalty and interest, and because they promote their
penalty and interest calculator
on their website, Accounting CS doesn’t give any calculation for penalty and interest in MI.

Setup in Accounting CS

Select
Setup
,
Clients
,
Payroll Taxes
tab, and then the
Ellipsis
button for the UI base rate.
The SUTA rate for Michigan is split into 2 client-specific rates: Base/Contribution (Base) Rate, and Obligation Assessment (OA) Rate. These 2 portions need to be specified here. They're calculated separately on the form and then combined into a total amount due. Both of these rates are available from Form UIA 1771, which is issued to the client by the State.
The
Reimbursable Employer
checkbox can be marked only if the Base SUTA rate is zero. (If the Base rate is zero, the OA rate should also be zero. (For more information, see www.michigan.gov/documents/uia/146_-_Bonding_Obligation_Assessment_2012_376282_7.pdf . If the rates are zero, the employer is treated as reimbursable for any overpayments and isn't required to pay.
Select
Setup
,
Clients
, then the
Payroll Taxes
tab. In the Forms section, scroll down to the Michigan grid.
For Form UIA-1028, set the filing method to Internet or Internet with payment.
Select the
Additional Information
:
Marking the
Payment apportionment
checkbox lets for the 1st quarter’s liability payment to be apportioned into 4 equal payments submitted with each quarterly form. Marking this checkbox and entering the year before editing or processing the 1st quarter form UIA-1028 will cause this to calculate correctly for each quarter of that year. This checkbox will transfer to Page 2 Section 3 of the UIA-1028 form. The 1st quarter Tax Due amount will divide the full Amount due by 4 and enter that into the Amount Enclosed field; that same amount will then be added to the Amount Enclosed box for quarters 2 through 4. (This same process of editing or processing the first-quarter UIA-1028 form will also auto-fill and/or override any “Apportionment amount” field number previously entered in this same MI Additional Information screen. The
Payment apportionment
box should only be marked for clients meeting the following criteria: 25 or fewer employees AND for whom 50% or more of the previous year’s taxes were due in the 1st quarter.)
For E-Enrollment, the
Enrolled for e-Filing
checkbox should be marked only if this client’s Internet/Magnetic Media enrollment file has already been created and uploaded through the MiWAM (Michigan Web Account Manager) website (via another application, not Accounting CS). Checking this box prevents the client from displaying in the
Michigan Electronic Filing
window. Once an enrollment file has been created from within Accounting CS, the application automatically marks the
Enrolled for e-filing
checkbox.
Edit or preview the Michigan payroll tax forms in the
Process Payroll Tax Forms
screen.
Select
Actions
then
Edit Payroll Tax Forms
. Select
Reconciliation
from the Form type field, select
MI
from the Jurisdiction field, and then select the
MI-UIA-1028
tab. Select
Actions
then
Edit Payroll Tax Forms
.
The Employer Type transfers from the Payroll Taxes tab of the
Clients
screen. By default, the type is set to
Contributing
.
If this is an Amended return, be sure to mark the
Check this box if this is an Amended report
checkbox and enter the necessary explanation.
Select the
MI-UIA-1028(p2)
tab and scroll down to Section 3.
Enter an X (right-click) in the Is this the
Final Report..?
checkbox only if this is the final form for the client (if they're going out of business, for example). If this is the case, they’ll also need to submit Form UIA 1772, which isn't in Accounting CS. To select or unmark this box here, enter X, OR right click in the checkbox and select either “Select” or “Clear Field Override” as needed.
The “I meet the requirements to apportion my payments…” entry transfers from information entered in the Setup in Accounting CS section.
If there is a calculated difference between the Tax Due amount + Prior Balance amount and the resulting total Amount Enclosed, it is likely due to a current year apportionment entry.

Creation and Submission of Internet/Magnetic Media Files

Before an accountant is eligible to submit UIA-1028 forms on behalf of a client as a Service Provider/Third Party Administrator, he or she must create and submit an e-Enrollment (via
Actions
,
Enroll
,
Michigan Electronic Filing
). Becoming a Service Provider/Third Party Administrator for certain features can require signed Power of Attorney (POA) and/or other authorization from the employer, and this information is entered into the e-Enrollment window for the appropriate clients before internet/magnetic media files can be created and submitted.
As with other payment Internet/Magnetic files, you can include multiple clients in a single file for upload to the MiWAM website. However, if the Filing method was set for a client to
Internet with payment
setup for a client, the application will actually create 2 files - file MIUIA1028.txt file for the forms, and file MIUIA1028PMT.TXT for the payments.
We use only the bulk processing format, meant for use uploading multiple clients in a single file. If a firm would like to upload individual clients, the same bulk filing option will need to be selected on the MiWAM site (https://miwam.unemployment.state.mi.us/), and the submission process is the same. The bulk filing option will be available in both the Employer’s (actual clients sign in) and the Employer Representative’s (Accountants own setup by client) portal under the “Multi-Account Services” tab. In this tab there will be an option to upload the Bulk File or Bulk Payment. This tab should be available for all logins and is not specific to the Service Provider accounts. Note: We don’t support the 72-byte file format.

Additional general information

Beginning in 2012, employers with more than 25 employees were encouraged to file online.
Beginning in 2013, employers with more than 25 employees were required to file online.
Beginning in 2014, employers with more than 5 employees were required to file online.
Beginning in 2015, all employers are required to file online.