diff --git a/src/lofreq/lofreq_call.c b/src/lofreq/lofreq_call.c
index 81c0c7b..48ca6ea 100644
--- a/src/lofreq/lofreq_call.c
+++ b/src/lofreq/lofreq_call.c
@@ -127,8 +127,10 @@ report_var(vcf_file_t *vcf_file, const plp_col_t *p, const char *ref,
                                  &sb_left_pv, &sb_right_pv, &sb_two_pv);
           sb_qual = PROB_TO_PHREDQUAL_SAFE(sb_two_pv);
      }
+
+     
      vcf_var_sprintf_info(var, is_indel? p->coverage_plp - p->num_tails : p->coverage_plp,
-                          af, sb_qual, dp4, is_indel, p->hrun, is_consvar);
+                          af, sb_qual, dp4, is_indel, p->hrun, is_consvar, p->num_alt_bases);
 
      vcf_write_var(vcf_file, var);
      vcf_free_var(&var);
@@ -730,7 +732,7 @@ call_indels(const plp_col_t *p, varcall_conf_t *conf)
  *
  */
 void
-call_snvs(const plp_col_t *p, varcall_conf_t *conf)
+call_snvs(plp_col_t *p, varcall_conf_t *conf)
 {
      double *bc_err_probs; /* error probs (qualities) passed down to snpcaller */
      int bc_num_err_probs; /* #elements in bc_err_probs */
@@ -854,6 +856,9 @@ call_snvs(const plp_col_t *p, varcall_conf_t *conf)
                 dp4.alt_fw = p->fw_counts[alt_nt4];
                 dp4.alt_rv = p->rv_counts[alt_nt4];
 
+                // remember the filtered alt count to report it later
+                p->num_alt_bases = alt_count;
+
                 report_var(& conf->vcf_out, p, report_ref, report_alt,
                            af, PROB_TO_PHREDQUAL(pvalue),
                            is_indel, is_consvar, &dp4);
diff --git a/src/lofreq/plp.h b/src/lofreq/plp.h
index 5fa35e0..c652c31 100644
--- a/src/lofreq/plp.h
+++ b/src/lofreq/plp.h
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ typedef struct {
      char cons_base[MAX_INDELSIZE]; /* uppercase consensus base according to base-counts, after read-level filtering. */
      int coverage_plp; /* original samtools value. upper count limit for all kept values */
      int num_bases; /* number of bases after base filtering */
+     int num_alt_bases; /* number of alt bases after base filtering (for a snp call) */
      /* num_ins and num_dels gives 'num_indels' */
      int num_ign_indels; /* a hack: indels often get filtered because of low quality of missing qualities in bam file. we need to know nevertheless they are present. this is the count of all "ignored" indels */
 
diff --git a/src/lofreq/snpcaller.c b/src/lofreq/snpcaller.c
index f3a8e44..b0b6b22 100644
--- a/src/lofreq/snpcaller.c
+++ b/src/lofreq/snpcaller.c
@@ -408,6 +408,14 @@ plp_to_errprobs(double **err_probs, int *num_err_probs,
                if (p->base_quals[i].n) {
                     bq = p->base_quals[i].data[j];
 
+                    /*
+                     * count alt bases before applying bq filter
+                     * AF will be calculated based on raw counts
+                     */
+                    if (is_alt_base) {
+                       alt_raw_counts[alt_idx] += 1;
+                    }
+
                     /* bq filtering for all
                      * FIXME min_bq was meant to just influence quality calculations, not af etc
                      * but the filtering leaks out later, because alt_counts is computed and returned after filtering
@@ -418,7 +426,6 @@ plp_to_errprobs(double **err_probs, int *num_err_probs,
 
                     /* alt bq threshold and overwrite if needed */
                     if (is_alt_base) {
-                         alt_raw_counts[alt_idx] += 1;
                          /* ignore altogether if below alt bq threshold */
                          if (bq < conf->min_alt_bq) {
                               continue;
diff --git a/src/lofreq/vcf.c b/src/lofreq/vcf.c
index e97eb83..2db66d4 100644
--- a/src/lofreq/vcf.c
+++ b/src/lofreq/vcf.c
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 #include "vcf.h"
 #include "defaults.h"
 
-#define LINE_BUF_SIZE 1<<12
+#define LINE_BUF_SIZE 1<<13
 
 
 /* this is the actual header. all the other stuff is actually called meta-info 
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ void vcf_var_sprintf_info(var_t *var,
                           const int dp, const float af, const int sb,
                           const dp4_counts_t *dp4,
                           const int indel, const int hrun, 
-                          const int consvar)
+                          const int consvar, const int num_alt_bases)
 {
      char buf[LINE_BUF_SIZE];
      snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf),
@@ -596,6 +596,8 @@ void vcf_var_sprintf_info(var_t *var,
      if (indel) {
           strcat(buf, ";INDEL");
           snprintf(buf + strlen(buf), sizeof(buf) - strlen(buf), ";HRUN=%d", hrun);
+     } else {
+          snprintf(buf +strlen(buf), sizeof(buf) - strlen(buf), ";HQA=%d", num_alt_bases);
      }
      if (consvar) {
           strcat(buf, ";CONSVAR");
@@ -644,6 +646,7 @@ void vcf_write_new_header(vcf_file_t *vcf_file, const char *src, const char *ref
      vcf_printf(vcf_file, "##INFO=<ID=AF,Number=1,Type=Float,Description=\"Allele Frequency\">\n");
      vcf_printf(vcf_file, "##INFO=<ID=SB,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description=\"Phred-scaled strand bias at this position\">\n");
      vcf_printf(vcf_file, "##INFO=<ID=DP4,Number=4,Type=Integer,Description=\"Counts for ref-forward bases, ref-reverse, alt-forward and alt-reverse bases\">\n");
+     vcf_printf(vcf_file, "##INFO=<ID=HQA,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description=\"Count of high quality alt bases supporting SNP call\">\n");
      vcf_printf(vcf_file, "##INFO=<ID=INDEL,Number=0,Type=Flag,Description=\"Indicates that the variant is an INDEL.\">\n");
      vcf_printf(vcf_file, "##INFO=<ID=CONSVAR,Number=0,Type=Flag,Description=\"Indicates that the variant is a consensus variant (as opposed to a low frequency variant).\">\n");
      vcf_printf(vcf_file, "##INFO=<ID=HRUN,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description=\"Homopolymer length to the right of report indel position\">\n");
diff --git a/src/lofreq/vcf.h b/src/lofreq/vcf.h
index e2f36e5..f3216b9 100644
--- a/src/lofreq/vcf.h
+++ b/src/lofreq/vcf.h
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ char *vcf_var_add_to_info(var_t *var, const char *info_str);
 void vcf_var_sprintf_info(var_t *var,
                           const int dp, const float af, const int sb,
                           const dp4_counts_t *dp4,
-                          const int is_indel, const int hrun, const int is_consvar);
+                          const int is_indel, const int hrun, const int is_consvar, const int num_alt_bases);
 void vcf_write_var(vcf_file_t *vcf_file, const var_t *var);
 void vcf_write_header(vcf_file_t *vcf_file, const char *header);
 void vcf_write_new_header(vcf_file_t *vcf_file, const char *srcprog, const char *reffa);