Please distribute this notice to all individuals within your organization who may need the information in connection with their work.
The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is eliminating the use of the following three paper reporting forms used by employers covered under the Railroad Retirement (RRA) and Railroad Unemployment Insurance (RUIA) Acts effective January 1, 2015;
- BA-4, Report of Creditable Compensation Adjustments;
- BA-6a, Form BA-6 Address Report; and
- BA-11, Report of Gross Earnings
Form BA-4, Report of Creditable Compensation Adjustments, is used when sservice and/or compensation earned by an employee was omitted or incorrectly reported on a previously filed Form BA-3, Annual Report of Creditable Compensation. This report is filed as needed.
Form BA-6a, Form BA-6 Address Report, is used to submit the address information for newly hired employees. If a company has no new hires, no address report is necessary. The records are maintained for the purpose of mailing to the employee Form BA-6, Certificate of Service Months and Compensation. This report is due by April 1 of each year.
Form BA-11, Report of Gross Earnings, is used to report the actual gross earnings of a sample group of covered employees with Social Security Numbers ending in “30”. The data collected in the gross earnings is used to estimate future tax income and to compute taxes owed for the financial interchange between the Railroad Retirement and Social Security/Medicare programs. This report is due by the end of February of each year.
Annual service and compensation reports are to be filed through the Employer Reporting System (ERSNet) or through an RRB-approved automated process. So the elimination of the use of the paper form does not affect employers that currently file reports via the other RRB approved automated processes. You can continue to file your reports using the following methods:
- CD-ROM
- Secure E-mail
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
However, if you previously filed your service and compensation reports on paper, you should now begin using ERSNet.
The current forms available to users via ERSNet are as follows:
- BA-3, Annual Report of Creditable Compensation
- BA-4, Report of Creditable Compensation Adjustments
- BA-6a, Form BA-6 Address Report
- BA-11, Report of Gross Earnings
- G-88A.1, Request for Verification of Date Last Worked
- G-88A.2, Notice of Retirement & Request for Service Needed for Eligibility
- GL-129a, Record of Employer Determination on Employee Protest of Service and Compensation
- Form ID-4E, Notice of RUIA Claim Determination
- Form ID-4K, Prepayment Notice of Employees Applications and Claims for Benefits under the RUIA
- ID-6, Monthly Report of Tier I Tax Transactions
- ID-6Y, Annual Summary of Tier I Tax Transactions
- ID-40Q, Quarterly Notice to Employers - RUIA
- ID-40R/S, Annual Notice to Employers - RUIA
To apply for access to the ERSNet system, please do the following:
- Read the Security Guidelines which explains your responsibilities as a user of the ERSNet system in either the Rail Employer or Labor Employer Reporting Instructions.
- File Form BA-12, Application for Employer Reporting Internet Access. Complete Sections A, B, C, D, and F, then have the designated employee sign Item 5 in Section B. The certification in Section E must be completed by an official of the company who has authority to sign official RRB forms. If you have signature authority, sign the certification. Otherwise, the company president and those persons designated on the Form G-117A, Designation of Contact Official, are assumed to have signature authority. All employer forms can be accessed on the RRB website at https://www.rrb.gov/Employers/Forms.
Within three to five days of receipt of an acceptable application, the RRB will mail your user ID and password along with instructions for accessing the site. To deter fraudulent use of ERSNet, the Form BA-12 cannot be completed or filed on our website as original signatures (no reproductions) are needed. The completed Form BA-12 must be transmitted by U.S. or express mail carrier. For security reasons, facsimiles are not acceptable.
For more information about applying for access and using ERSNet, access Part VIII “Employer Reporting System (ERS) Internet User Instructions” located in the Rail Employer Reporting Instructions or Labor Employer Reporting Instructions. You may also contact the Quality Reporting Service Center (QRSC) at the telephone number and e-mail address shown above.