Purpose of Form BA-6
Form BA-6, Certificate of Service Months and Compensation, is issued annually. This form is the employee's record of creditable service and compensation reported by all covered employers.
What Information is Included
Form BA-6 includes the following information:
- Creditable compensation amounts and service months reported for the last four years;
- Reported separation allowance/severance pay;
- Total reported service months; creditable military service months; and deemed service months which may be credited to an employee, as described in Part III, Chapter 1 and Part VII, Chapter 3;
- The Employee Contribution amount;
- Procedures for protesting the information on the certificate;
- Procedure for applying for benefits under the RUIA; and
- Information about visiting a field office of the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).
Who Receives Form BA-6
Forms BA-6 are prepared for all employees who have received creditable compensation in the preceding calendar year, when such compensation was timely and correctly reported to the RRB. This includes any adjustments to regular compensation, sick pay or separation allowances that are received before the established cutoff date for updating employee records.
Only the first five letters of the employee's last name will appear on a certificate where the RRB has not yet verified the employee's social security number and name with the Social Security Administration (SSA). This usually occurs when the certificate year is the first year in which the employee worked in the railroad industry.
Non-Receipt of Form BA-6
Form BA-6 cannot be mailed to an employee if the:
- Employer's report contained an omission or error that prevented the employee's service and compensation from being processed; or
- RRB has no address for the employee.
Employers should advise an employee who does not receive a Form BA-6 after a reasonable time that they may obtain a certificate from their local RRB field office, or by writing to the Chief of Compensation and Employer Services. Employees who do not know the telephone number for their local office may call the RRB toll-free help line at 1-877-772-5772. Information about local RRB field offices is also available on our Website at www.rrb.gov.
Address Reports
Form BA-6a, Form BA-6 Address Report is the RRB form used to submit new employee addresses to the Board. Please refer to Part V, Chapter 5 for information on filing Form BA-6a.