Purpose of Form BA-6a
Employee address 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 each year.
Employers are required to file Form B-6a, "Address Report" with the RRB if they have hired new employees. If you
have no new hires, no address report is necessary.
New and Expanded Fields
The field sizes for the address report have been expanded and a new date
field (Effective Date) has been added to help ensure that we have the most
current information on the employee’s record. You can now submit the employee’s
full name and middle initial. We will be able to accept up to 20 characters of
the surname; and 15 characters of the first name.
Detailed instructions for completing Form BA-6 are located on the form
Report Current Employee Address Changes
Employers may also include the address changes of current employees on the
form as well; this is optional. The new date field for the address will enhance
the RRB’s acceptance of changes of address. The effective date will allow the
RRB to evaluate the address change submitted by the employer against
changes-of-address received from other sources such as the US Postal Service and
the employee; and use the most current one received.
Employee Reports
Change of Address
Even though the employer may submit address changes to the RRB via BA-6a, it
is still the employee's responsibility to report any address changes.
Instructions for employees to report address changes are on the employee’s Form
BA-6, Certificate of Service Months and Compensation. An employee can also
report an address change to their local RRB office.
Reporting Media
Addresses for new hires and address changes for current employees may be
reported on:
- Paper Form BA-6a, Address Report (See Exhibits);
- Magnetic media (See Form BA-6a cartridge/disk/CD-ROM format in Appendix
I);
- Computer listing. (The computer listing should include the fields from the
paper form in the same order and should identify the tape positions at the top
of each field column.);
- Employer Reporting System (ERS) on the Internet;
- Secure E-mail;
-
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Please See Part V, Chapter 1 for more information on filing options.
Incorrect
Addresses
Should the U.S. Postal Service return Form BA-6, Certificate of Service
Months and Compensation to the RRB, we will attempt to secure an accurate
address. The RRB uses address information from the postal service and telephone
directories. If the RRB is unsuccessful in securing a valid address, we will
contact the employer for assistance.
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