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Hints For Preventing Resubmission Notices From
the Social Security Administration
The Social Security Administration recommends checking W-2
annual wage report files for the following errors before submitting.
Reducing these errors lessens the possibility of receiving a resubmission
notice.
Note: These checks only apply to original
(W-3/W-2) submissions. Original submissions must be formatted according
to the Social Security Administration's Specifications for Filing Forms W-2 Electronically (EFW2) format.
 To Avoid Balancing Errors:
- Compare this year's RT and optional RU record totals with the source
payroll record data to identify possible errors (e.g. confirm RT/RU record
money field totals are correct);
- Do not use negative numbers and non-numeric characters in RW, RO, RT, and RU record money fields;
- Check that all employee wage records begin with the letters RW and RO;
- Make sure that money field totals in RT and optional RU records are discrete
for every report. (Ex: The RT and RU money field totals for Report #2 should
reflect only the money amounts in Report #2.) Do not accumulate RT/RU record
totals from one report to the next.)
To Avoid Medicare-Related Errors in RW Records:
- Make sure that the sum of Social Security Wages and Social Security Tips is greater than zero if Social Security Tax is greater than zero;
- Make sure that Medicare Wages and Tips is greater than zero if Medicare Tax is greater than zero;
- If the sum of Social Security Wages and Social Security Tips is greater than zero, make sure that Medicare Wages and Tips is greater than or equal to that sum.
To Avoid Errors Related to Tax Year:
- Make sure that the value provided in the Tax Year field of the RE record is a number between 1978 and the most recently completed tax year, NOT the current calendar year;
- Exception: If you are submitting a report for an employer that is going
out of business and are intentionally submitting it before the Tax Year
has ended, do not include reports for any other Tax Years.
To Avoid Formatting Errors: To Avoid Errors Caused by Missing or Misidentified Records:
- Make sure that all records begin with RA, RE, RW, RO, RS, RT, RU, RV
or RF;
- Check that submissions contain exactly one RA and one RF record;
- Check that every RE record is followed by one or more RW records;
- Check that every RE record has exactly one corresponding RT record;
- If the report contains any optional RO records, check that the RE record
has exactly one corresponding RU record
;
- Check that all records are in the proper EFW2 format order: RA, { RE, [ RW,
RO (if any), RS (if any) ] ,
RT, RU (if any RO) RV (optional, if any RS) } , RF – where {
} and [ ] denote multiple iterations.
To Avoid Errors Related to Employer Identification Number (EIN):
- Enter the submitter EIN in the RA record and the employer EIN in the RE record;
- Do not use non-numeric characters in the RE record Employer/Agent EIN field;
- Do not use 00, 07, 08, 09, 17, 18, 19, 28, 29, 49, 69, 70, 78, 79 or 89 in positions 8 and 9 of the RE record Employer/Agent EIN field;
- If wage reports and tax payments are to be filed under the Employer's
EIN, enter the EIN of the Employer in the RE record Employer/Agent EIN
field (positions 8- 16).
- If the earnings are reported by a type of Agent that files wage reports
and tax payments under the Agent's EIN (Ex: 2678 Agent), enter the Agent's
EIN in RE record positions 8-16, and enter the Employer's EIN in the “Agent
for EIN” field (RE record positions 17-25).
To Avoid Errors Resulting from Incorrect Money Amounts:
- Check to see that RW, RO, RT and RU record money amounts are all numeric characters and within the maximum (and minimum) amounts your company pays to any one employee;
- Verify that your payroll system has the correct Social Security Wages
maximum (Social Security limit) entered and that all employee reports
do not exceed that limit;
- Verify by spot checking at least three employees (one - a maximum wage earner, one - a minimum wage earner, and one in between) to see that your system is withholding the correct percentages of Social Security and Medicare Tax;
- Verify by checking at least three employees to see if your system is following the correct Federal Income Tax rate tables.
See EFW2 and EFW2C for detailed
file formats. The Employer Services Liaison Officer for your region may
be able to help you develop additional strategies for preventing resubmission
notices. Liaison Officer contact information is available by selecting Contact
the Experts on www.socialsecurity.gov/employer. The Social Security
Administration encourages employers and third-party submitters to use the
AccuWage (and AccuW2c) software to verify the format of W-2 (and W-2c)
wage-data files before submitting them. To download AccuWage and AccuW2c,
visit www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/accuwage.
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www.socialsecurity.gov
