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EFW2 Reporting for Municipal Income Tax – 2020

The file submitted for municipal income tax must include all of the records that are submitted to the Social Security Administration for
W2 wage reporting in the EFW2 format. This file in the EFW2 format must meet the same requirements as the Social Security
Administration. The file must include all of the following record types:
RA - Submitter Record, RE - Employer Record, RW - Wage Record, RS - State Wage Record, (Used for City reporting), RT
- Total Record, RF - Final Record.

Instructions per the Social Security Administration Publication No. 42-007 EFW2 Tax Year 2020
3.2 File Requirements
3.2.1 Submitter Record (RA) ***REQUIRED***
 Must be the first data record on each file.
 Make the address entries specific enough to ensure proper delivery.

3.2.2 Employer Record (RE) ***REQUIRED***
 The first RE Record must follow the RA Record.
 Following the last RW/RO/RS Record for the employer, create an RT/RU/RV Record and then create either the: - RE Record for the
next employer in the submission; or - RF Record if this is the last report in the submission.
 When the same employer information applies to multiple RW/RO Records, group them together under a single RE Record.
Unnecessary RE Records can cause serious processing errors or delays. Social Security Administration Publication No. 42-007
EFW2 Tax Year 2017 V.1 15

3.2.3 Employee Wage Records (RW and RO) ***RW REQUIRED***
 Following each RE Record, include the RW Record(s) for that RE Record immediately followed by the optional RO Record(s). If an
RO Record is required for an employee, it must immediately follow that employee’s RW Record.
 The RO Record is required if one or more of the fields must be completed because the field(s) applies to an employee. If just one field
applies, the entire record must be completed.
 Do not complete an RO Record if only blanks and zeros would be entered in positions 3 - 512. Write RO Records only for those
employees who have RO information to report.

3.2.4 State Wage Record (RS) ***REQUIRED***
 The RS Record is an optional record; SSA and IRS do not read or process this information.
HOWEVER, this is the record municipalities use for local wage and local income tax information!
 Contact your State Revenue Agency to confirm the use of this record format and for questions about field definitions, covering
transmittals, reporting procedures, etc. The IRS has a helpful website for State contacts at: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-
businesses-self-employed/state-links-1.
 The RS Record should follow the related RW Record (or optional RO Record).
 If there are multiple State Wage Records for an employee, include all of the State Wage Records for the employee immediately after
the related RW or RO Record.
 Do not generate this record if only blanks would be entered after the record identifier
3.2.5 Total Records (RT and RU) ***RT REQUIRED***
 The RT Record must be generated for each RE Record.
 The RU Record is required if an RO Record is prepared.
 If just one field applies, the entire record must be completed.
 Do not complete an RU Record if only zeros would be entered in positions 3 - 512.
3.2.6 State Total Record (RV)
 The RV State Total Record is an optional record; SSA and IRS do not read or process this information.
 Contact your State Revenue Agency to confirm the use of this record format and for questions about field definitions, covering
transmittals, reporting procedures, etc.
 The RV State Total Record should follow the RU Total Record (optional). If no RU Total Record is in the submission, then it should
follow the RT Total Record.
 If no RS State Wage Records are prepared, do not prepare an RV State Total Record.
 Do not generate this record if only blanks would be entered after the record identifier.
3.2.7 Final Record (RF) ***REQUIRED***
 Must be the last record on the file.
 Must appear only once on each file.
 Do not create a file that contains any data recorded after the RF Record. Your submission will not be processed if it contains data
after the RF Record.

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EFW2 Reporting for Municipal Income Tax – 2020

As indicated, the RS record is utilized for reporting of local wage and tax information.
Below is a synopsis of the RS record :

1. Record Identification must be ‘RS’
2. Taxing Entity Code must contain the description or code of the locality where taxes were withheld.
THIS CAN BE THE FIRST FIVE LETTERS OF THE CITY NAME.
3. Employee Social Security Number
4. Employee First Name
5. Employee Middle Name or Initial (optional)
6. Employee Last Name
7. Employee Name Suffix (optional)
8. Location Address (optional)
9. Delivery Address
10. City
11. State
12. Zip Code
13. Zip Code Extension (optional)
14. Foreign State/Province (optional)
15. Foreign Postal Code (optional)
16. Country Code (optional)
17. Tax Type Code (must contain ‘C’ for City Income Tax)
18. Local Taxable Wages (zero fill and right justify with no negative amounts or decimals)
19. Local Income Tax (zero fill and right justify with no negative amounts or decimals)

The following is a copy of the EFW2 record definition for the ‘RS’ (state record) record type taken from the Social Security
Administration publication.

CODE RS - State Record

RS FIELD NAME LENGTH SPECIFICATIONS
POSITION
1-2 Record Identifier 2 Constant "RS".
3-4 State Code 2 Enter the appropriate postal NUMERIC Code (see Appendix F of
SSA Publication # 42-007).
5-9 Taxing Entity Code 5 Defined by State/local agency.
(The first five letters of the city name can be used.)
10-18 Social Security Number (SSN) 9 Enter the employee's SSN as shown on the original/replacement
SSN card issued by SSA.
If no SSN is available, enter zeros.
19-33 Employee First Name 15 Enter the employee's first name as shown on the SSN card. Left
justify and fill with blanks.
34-48 Employee Middle Name or Initial 15 If applicable, enter the employee's middle name or initial as shown
on the SSN card. Left justify and fill with blanks. Otherwise, fill
with blanks.
49-68 Employee Last Name 20 Enter the employee's last name as shown on the SSN card. Left
justify and fill with blanks.
69-72 Suffix 4 If applicable, enter the employee's alphabetic suffix. For example:
SR, JR
Left justify and fill with blanks. Otherwise, fill with blanks.
73-94 Location Address 22 Enter the employee's location address (Attention, Suite, Room
Number, etc.).
Left justify and fill with blanks.
95-116 Delivery Address 22 Enter the employee's delivery address.
Left justify and fill with blanks.
117-138 City 22 Enter the employee's city. Left justify and fill with blanks.

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EFW2 Reporting for Municipal Income Tax – 2020

RS FIELD NAME LENGTH SPECIFICATIONS
POSITION
139-140 State Abbreviation 2 Enter the employee's State or commonwealth / territory. Use a
postal abbreviation as shown in Appendix F of SSA Publication #
42-007.
For a foreign address, fill with blanks.
141-145 ZIP Code 5 Enter the employee's ZIP code.
For a foreign address, fill with blanks.
146-149 ZIP Code Extension 4 Enter the employee's four-digit extension of the ZIP code. If not
applicable, fill with blanks.
150-154 Blank 5 Fill with blanks. Reserved for SSA use.
155-177 Foreign State/ Province 23 If applicable, enter the employee's foreign state/province. Left
justify and fill with blanks. Otherwise, fill with blanks.
178-192 Foreign Postal Code 15 If applicable, enter the employee's foreign postal code. Left justify
and fill with blanks. Otherwise, fill with blanks.
193-194 Country Code 2 If one of the following applies, fill with blanks:
• One of the 50 States of the U.S.A.
• District of Columbia
• Military Post Office (MPO)
• American Samoa
• Guam
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Puerto Rico
• Virgin Islands
Otherwise, enter the employee's applicable Country Code (see
Appendix G of SSA Publication # 42-007).
195-196 Optional Code 2 Defined by State/local agency.
Applies to unemployment reporting.
197-202 Reporting Period 6 Enter the last month and four-digit year for the calendar quarter for
which this report applies; e.g., “032014” for January through March
of 2014.
Applies to unemployment reporting.
203-213 State Quarterly Unemployment 11 Right justify and zero fill.
Insurance Total Wages Applies to unemployment reporting.
214-224 State Quarterly Unemployment 11 Right justify and zero fill.
Insurance Total Taxable Wages Applies to unemployment reporting.
225-226 Number of Weeks Worked 2 Defined by State/local agency.
Applies to unemployment reporting.
227-234 Date First Employed 8 Enter the month, day and four-digit year; e.g., "01312014."
Applies to unemployment reporting.
235-242 Date of Separation 8 Enter the month, day and four-digit year; e.g., “01312014.”
Applies to unemployment reporting.
243-247 Blank 5 Fill with blanks. Reserved for SSA use.
248-267 State Employer Account Number 20 See Glossary, Appendix I (of SSA Publication # 42-007).
Applies to unemployment reporting.
268-273 Blank 6 Fill with blanks. Reserved for SSA use.
274-275 State Code 2 Enter the appropriate postal NUMERIC Code (see Appendix F of
SSA Publication # 42-007).
Applies to income tax reporting.

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EFW2 Reporting for Municipal Income Tax – 2020

RS FIELD NAME LENGTH SPECIFICATIONS
POSITION
276-286 State Taxable Wages 11 Right justify and zero fill.
Applies to income tax reporting.
287-297 State Income Tax Withheld 11 Right justify and zero fill.
Applies to income tax reporting.
298-307 Other State Data 10 Defined by State/local agency.
Applies to income tax reporting.
308 Tax Type Code 1 Enter the appropriate code for entries in fields 309 – 330:
• C = City Income Tax
• D = County Income Tax
• E = School District Income Tax
• F = Other Income Tax
Applies to income tax reporting.
309-319 Local Taxable Wages 11 To be defined by State/local agency.
Applies to income tax reporting.
This field is for the wage information pertaining to the
reporting city (where your file is being sent to).
320-330 Local Income Tax Withheld 11 To be defined by State/local agency.
Applies to income tax reporting.
This field is for the local tax withheld pertaining to the
reporting city (where your file is being sent to).
331-337 State Control Number 7 Optional.
Applies to income tax reporting.
338-412 Supplemental Data 1 75 Municipality Name of withholding cities OTHER THAN the
Additional Municipality Name** reporting city (the one for whom you are creating this file).
(Per HB5) ASK THE REPORTING MUNICIPALITY IF THEY WANT THIS
DATA!!!
If not, left justify and fill with blanks.
413-487 Supplemental Data 2 75 To be defined by user.
488-512 Blank 25 Fill with blanks. Reserved for SSA use.

** For an employee that has local income tax wages and withholding for multiple cities, the file should
look like this (in part):

Positions Position Positions Positions Positions MITS
5-9 308 309-319 320-330 338-412 NOTES
RW All information must be included in this record.
RS Eucli C 25000.00 100.00 Notice there is nothing in positions 338-412 for this RS record
because the wages and withholding are for the reporting city.
RS C 10000.00 50.00 Bedford Notice there is nothing in positions 5-9 because these wages and
withholding are not for the reporting city.
The additional withholding city name is listed in positions 338-412.
RS C 8000.00 35.00 Cleveland Notice there is nothing in positions 5-9 because these wages and
withholding are not for the reporting city.
The additional withholding city name is listed in positions 338-412.

Before submitting your file to the municipality, ask yourself these questions:
 Does at least one RS record follow every RW record?
 Is there a “C” in position 308 for each RS record?
 Does your file have all additional required records? (RA, RE, RT, RF)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE TO TEST YOUR FILE FOR BGI MUNICIPALITIES:
http://www.baldwingroup.com/MITS/W2VerificationSetup.exe
The above link is case sensitive!
Download this software to test your file compatibility with the municipalities’ software.
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