Program Letter 2014-05 Eliminating Paper BA-11

Program
Letter

United States Railroad
Retirement Board
Office of Programs
Phone: (312) 751-4992

Quality Reporting Service Center

Fax: (312) 751-7123

e-mail: [email protected]

August 29, 2014
Revised: September 19, 2014

Letter No.
2014-05
TO:

Certification Contact Officials

SUBJECT: Elimination of the Use of Paper Forms
BA-4, Report of Creditable Compensation Adjustments
BA-6a, Form BA-6 Address Report
BA-11, Report of Gross Earnings

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;


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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 service 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, Gross Earnings Report, 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:

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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 and is available at http://www.rrb.gov/AandT/ERI/Part8/chapter8.asp.

 File Form BA-12, Application for Employer Reporting Internet Access, a copy of which is
attached. Complete Sections A, B, C and have the designated employee sign Item 5 in
Section B. The certification in Section D 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 G117A, Designation of Contact Official, are assumed to have signature authority. For
additional copies of Form BA-12 or information on how to complete it, go to
http://www.rrb.gov/pdf/AandT/ba12.pdf. All employer forms can be accessed on the RRB
website at www.rrb.gov.

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 US 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 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.

Attachment: Form BA-12, Application for Employer Reporting Internet Access