Prepared by:

Please share this information with the appropriate members of your staff who file the following reports, as well as programming staff who support these functions.

• Form BA-3a/d, Annual Report of Creditable Compensation
• Form BA-4, Report of Creditable Compensation Adjustments
• Form BA-6a, Form BA-6 Address Report
• Form BA-9, Report of Separation Allowance or Severance Pay
• Form BA-10, Report of Miscellaneous Compensation and Sick Pay
• Form BA-11, Report of Gross Earnings
• Form GL-99, Deemed Service Month Questionnaire
• Form UI-41a, Supplemental Report of Compensation

Purpose

You previously received Program Letters No. 05-03, 05-06, and 06-03, dated December 10, 2005, March 29, 2005 and December 22, 2005, respectively, referring to the future changes in the forms listed above. The purpose of this letter is to summarize and consolidate that information and remind employers of the due date of the upcoming changes.

We are emphasizing this now in case you need to revise your systems that collect the data throughout the year so that changes can be in place by January 2007. The daily, monthly and annual maximum compensation amounts to be reported for 2007 may be obtained from our website, www.rrb.gov.

Scheduled Implementation

Annual reports for 2007 service and compensation must be reported using the new formats and revised forms effective January 2008. Compliance with the new file formats is mandatory.

Compensation Fields Are Expanded

The Tier I and Tier II compensation fields are being expanded to allow for earnings up to $999,999.99 on all forms that ask for Tier I and Tier II compensation. Also, the Daily Pay Rate (DPR) field will be expanded to allow for a pay rate up to $999.99/day on all forms that ask for the Daily Pay Rate amount. The DPR is required to ensure the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) daily benefit amount is not understated for employees receiving sickness or unemployment benefits.

Additional Changes and Enhancements

We took advantage of this opportunity to include additional changes or enhancements while making needed changes to the reports to accommodate the increased field sizes. Some enhancements such as entering the employee's address on the BA-3 are "optional". You are not required to enter the data into the optional fields. However, these enhancements were developed because employers indicated their overall reporting burden would be reduced by including more information on the annual report rather than providing the information on a separate report or in response to individual requests.

• Name and Date Formats
  In addition to the expanded field sizes, all employee name fields are being expanded and all date fields are being converted to use a four-digit year. The first and last names will allow for 15 and 20 characters, respectively. Years will be represented in the CCYY format; complete dates will be represented in the MMDDCCYY format.
   
• New Service Month Codes - Optional
  Employers will have the option of reporting employment relation information on Form BA-3, Annual Report of Creditable Compensation, by using two new service month codes. Use of these codes will reduce the number of or eliminate Forms GL-99, Employer's Deemed Service Month Questionnaire being released to employers because the RRB will already have this information. This will reduce the manual burden on employers of responding to Form GL-99. The possible service month codes are:

1 = worked
8 = not worked but has employment relation
9 = not worked and has no employment relation
0 = not worked and employment relation is unknown

• New RUIA II Compensation Field - Optional
  In addition to reporting RUIA compensation based on the creditable monthly maximum, employers will have the option of also reporting the RUIA compensation based on the monthly maximum benefit amount which is needed to determine the maximum amount of RUIA benefits payable. Use of this new field will reduce the number of or eliminate Forms UI-41a, Supplemental Report of Compensation being released to employers because the RRB will already have this information. This will reduce the manual burden on employers of responding to Form UI-41a as well as prevent delays of unemployment and sickness benefits. A field for this new RUIA amount will also be added to Form BA-4 to allow the originally reported amount to be adjusted.
   
• Address Information and Effective Date field on BA-3 - Optional
  Employers will have the option of reporting employee addresses and their effective date in the tape layout on Form BA-3. Employers can enter the addresses of newly hired employees as well as other employees' address changes at the same time they file the annual report. Submitting all this information at one time will help increase the accuracy and ensure the employee's address is current; reduce the burden on employers from completing another form (Form BA-6a, BA-6 Address Report) to report the addresses of new hires; and ensure Form BA-6, Certificate of Service Months and Compensation is mailed to the employee's current address.
   
• Obsolescence of Forms
  Form BA-3a, Annual Report of Creditable Compensation will be obsolete. The new form will be Form BA-3 so there is no confusion in which form to file.

Form BA-3d, Annual Report of Creditable Compensation; Miscellaneous Compensation and Sick Pay will be obsolete. This information will be reported on the new Form BA-3.

Form BA-10, Report of Miscellaneous Compensation and Sick Pay will be obsolete. This information will also be reported on the new Form BA-3 and adjusted using Form BA-4.

Please see Attachment A, detailing the forms and the specific changes and enhancements. The chart also lists cross-references to the Program Letters that discuss each item.

Record Layouts/ Grand and Subtotal Records

The new record layouts can be found on the previous Program Letters 05-03, 05-06, and 06-03. You may obtain copies of these letters at www.rrb.gov. The grand and subtotal records were not included in the previous program letters so we are including them with this letter as Attachment B.

Paper Filers

The new paper forms with new and expanded fields will be made available by the fall of 2007. However, we will encourage those with 25 or more employees to file using an automated method. We will provide more information on options as we develop them.

RRB-developed Reporting Software on CD-ROM

As of January 1, 2008, the RRB-developed PC Reporting Program which the RRB distributed on CD-ROM (using Paradox) will be obsolete. We are exploring alternatives to that program that will comply with the new formatting requirements. We will keep you advised of our progress.

Test File Submissions Prior to January 2008

We took advantage of this opportunity to include additional changes or enhancements while making needed changes to the reports to accommodate the increased field sizes. Some enhancements such as entering the employee's address on the BA-3 are "optional". Employers who file their reports on magnetic tape cartridges must submit a Form BA-3 test file incorporating the new formats by June 30, 2007. Label the file "TEST FILE" and use 2006 as the report year. We will review the test file upon receipt and advise the contact person if it is formatted correctly and passes basic edits. Please provide a contact person by completing the enclosed Contact Information Card, Attachment C, and return it to the RRB by January 1, 2007. We encourage all employers who report on a cartridge tape, CD-Rom or diskette to submit a Form BA-3 test file prior to June 2007 to help avoid possible problems and/or delays with the production reports beginning January 1, 2008.

Employers may also submit test files for Forms BA-4, BA-6a, BA-9 and BA-11 prior to July 2007. We will also review these files for compliance with the new formats.

Questions

You may contact the Quality Reporting Service Center for the copies of the Program Letters or to ask questions about any information in this or previous program letters. The email address and telephone number are shown at the top of this letter.

Attachment A Form and Type of Change, Enhancements
Attachment B Form BA-3 Total and Subtotal Records
Attachment C Contact Information Card