How to Fill Out and Submit Alabama Form A-1: Quarterly Withholding Return

Alabama Form A-1 is the Employer’s Quarterly Return of Income Tax Withheld. Every employer or withholding agent that deducts Alabama income tax from wages files it at the end of the month following each calendar quarter, and any quarterly payment of $750 or more must go through the My Alabama Taxes portal.¹

Who Has to File and When

If you have employees working in Alabama, you need an Alabama withholding tax account and you file Form A-1 every quarter. The rule also reaches Alabama employers whose Alabama-resident employees work out of state, unless the state where the work is done already withholds its own tax.²

The obligation is continuous. If a quarter passes with no employees and nothing withheld, you still file a zero return unless ALDOR has formally marked your account inactive.³ Skipping the filing leaves an open obligation and can draw a late-filing penalty even with no tax due.

Form A-1 is due on or before the last day of the month after the quarter ends:¹

Q1 (January–March): April 30
Q2 (April–June): July 31
Q3 (July–September): October 31
Q4 (October–December): January 31

Each return covers exactly one calendar quarter. You cannot combine a partial quarter with part of another, even if the combined period is three months or less.³ Both the return and the payment must be postmarked or submitted by the due date.

If you don’t yet have a withholding tax account number, register through My Alabama Taxes at myalabamataxes.alabama.gov under “Businesses,” then “Register a business/Obtain a new tax account number.” Your account number typically arrives in three to five days.⁴ A change in federal EIN or entity type (for example, sole proprietorship to LLC) means applying for a new state withholding account.⁵

Filling Out Form A-1 Line by Line

The form is nine lines. Paper filers receive coupons pre-printed with the business name, address, withholding tax account number, the quarter covered, and the due date.¹

Line 1 — Final return. Mark this box only if you are closing the account. Leave it blank on regular quarterly filings.
Line 2 — Number of employees. The count of employees from whose wages you withheld Alabama income tax during the quarter.
Line 3 — Total tax withheld. Alabama income tax withheld across all three months of the quarter.
Line 4 — Amounts already remitted. The total you sent in on Form A-6 for months one and two of the quarter. See the section on monthly deposits below.
Line 5 — Overpayment credit. Enter any credit from a prior period. If ALDOR has not already issued a credit memorandum, attach documentation of the overpayment.
Line 6 — Penalty. If filing or paying late, compute the penalty here. Late filing is 10% of the tax due (Line 3 minus Line 4) or $50, whichever is greater. Late payment is 10% of the tax due. If both are late, add them.
Line 7 — Interest. Interest accrues at a rate that changes quarterly. For the first quarter of 2026 the annual rate is 7%.
Line 8 — Balance. Add Lines 3, 6, and 7, then subtract Lines 4 and 5.
Line 9 — Amount remitted. The payment you are sending. If it differs from Line 8, attach a written explanation.

Make any check or money order payable to the Alabama Department of Revenue.¹

Monthly Deposits on Form A-6

Line 4 only makes sense if you understand the monthly deposit rule. If Alabama income tax withheld in either the first or second month of a quarter exceeds $1,000, you must file Form A-6 and remit that month’s withholding by the fifteenth of the following month.⁶ Each Form A-6 covers a single month. When Form A-1 comes due at quarter’s end, you enter those monthly payments on Line 4 and remit only the remainder.³

Employers whose monthly withholding stays at or below $1,000 may remit monthly on Form A-6 voluntarily, but are not required to. Either way, Form A-1 is always due at the end of the quarter.

How to Submit the Return

If your quarterly payment is $750 or more, you must file and pay electronically through My Alabama Taxes.³ A trap to watch: if you voluntarily pay electronically while below the threshold, the return itself has to be filed electronically too. Sending an electronic payment with a paper return triggers a failure-to-file penalty.

Employers below the threshold who file on paper use the personalized coupon ALDOR mails out. Fill in the figures, attach a check or money order payable to the Alabama Department of Revenue, and mail it so it is postmarked by the due date. The mailing address is on the coupon.¹

Penalties and Interest for Late Returns

Late-filing and late-payment penalties are separate, and they stack. Late filing costs 10% of the tax due or $50, whichever is greater. Late payment costs 10% of the unpaid tax.¹ If ALDOR issues a notice and demand and the balance is still unpaid 30 days later, another 10% penalty attaches to whatever remains.⁷

Interest runs on top of the penalties. The rate resets each quarter; for the first quarter of 2026 it is 7% annually, calculated as 7% divided by 365, multiplied by the days late, multiplied by the tax owed.⁸

One more exposure worth knowing about: Alabama treats withheld amounts as funds held in trust for the state, and the statute makes employers personally liable for tax they were required to collect but failed to withhold or remit.⁶

Seasonal Employers and Closing the Account

Seasonal businesses sometimes skip quarters when no wages are paid. That’s a mistake. A withholding agent that has temporarily stopped withholding still files Form A-1 each quarter, reporting zero, until ALDOR has formally made the account inactive.³

When you permanently stop paying Alabama wages, mark the Final Return box on Line 1 of your last A-1 (or A-6, if filing monthly). That tells ALDOR to close the account and stop sending coupon booklets and delinquency notices.³

Form A-1 Is Not Your Year-End Filing

Filing A-1 each quarter does not satisfy Alabama’s annual reconciliation. By January 31 of the following year, any withholding agent that paid Alabama wages of $1,500 or more (or withheld any Alabama income tax) also files Form A-3, the Annual Reconciliation of Alabama Income Tax Withheld, together with each employee’s W-2.⁹ The reconciliation runs in two steps: upload the wage statement data, then complete Form A-3 online. ALDOR’s system rejects the filing if the number of statements or the total withholding does not match what you uploaded.¹⁰ Employers with ten or more W-2s, and any employer who filed and paid withholding tax electronically during the year, must submit A-3 and the wage statements electronically.

1
Alabama Department of Revenue. Employer’s Quarterly Return of Income Tax Withheld
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Alabama Department of Revenue. Withholding Tax FAQs
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Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code 810-3-74-.01 – Withholding Returns and Payments
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Alabama Department of Revenue. Business Tax Online Registration System
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Alabama Department of Revenue. Do I Need a Withholding Tax Account Number?
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Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 40 Section 40-18-74 – Payment of Amounts Withheld
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Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code 810-14-1-.30 – Penalty for Failure to Timely Pay Tax
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Alabama Department of Revenue. Quarterly Interest Rates
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Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code 810-3-75-.03 – Annual Returns of Withholding Tax Information
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Alabama Department of Revenue. Electronic Filing of Withholding Tax and Annual Reconciliation of Alabama Income Tax Withheld