Mergers A merger between covered
railroad employers which results in a third covered railroad will require
earnings reports from all three employers. The earnings from the two prior
railroads are not considered in determining the creditable and taxable
compensation for the new entity. The newly formed employer reports as though
they were the sole employer for the employee.
Concurrent Employment Reported by a Common
Paymaster
"Common Paymaster" as it is used here refers to two or more related railroads
that concurrently employ the same individual and compensate that individual
through a common paymaster which is one of the railroads. Two railroads may
disburse their payroll through the same paymaster but if they do not meet the
definitions of "related" corporations and "concurrent employment" found in
31.3121(s)-1 of the Internal Revenue Code regulations, they do not have a common
paymaster for this instruction. Because the emphasis of these instructions is on
filing consistent tax returns and compensation reports, we have included
references to tax returns and revenue procedure.
Advantages to Establishing a Common
Paymaster
If two or more related railroads employ the same individual, and the
individual’s compensation from the related railroads is disbursed through a
common paymaster, the total amount of taxes imposed with respect to the
compensation is determined as though the individual has only one employer. This
will provide the employer Tier I and Tier II tax relief when the employee’s
combined earnings exceed the annual Tier I and Tier II earnings bases.
There is a potential for tax relief apart from Tier taxes if an individual is
concurrently employed by two related employers in the same month. If that is the
case, using a common paymaster may reduce the RUIA liability.
Requirements and Responsibilities of a
Common Paymaster
There are certain requirements and responsibilities of a common paymaster:
They are as follows.
- Two or more railroad employers must be related.
- The related railroad employers must concurrently employ the same
individual. (Refer to the tests for related corporations and concurrent
employment in IRC regulations 31.3121(s).
- One of the railroads acts as a common paymaster to disburse compensation
to the individual(s) concurrently employed by the related railroads. It is not
required that the common paymaster disburse the entire payroll for all the
employees of the related railroads, only for concurrent employed employees.
- The common paymaster files Form BA-3
with the RRB that includes all
compensation for concurrent employed employees.
The procedure for establishing a common paymaster differs from the procedure
for filing a consolidated report. If two or more railroads wish to establish a
common paymaster and to file consolidated reports, they need to follow the
procedure for both.
Consolidated Reports: Advantages
If related railroads have no employee’s who are employed concurrently by more
than one of the railroads, then there is no possibility of employment tax
relief. However, two or more employers may desire to file consolidated reports
in order to reduce the reporting burden and to consolidate reporting and record
keeping responsibilities. For example, a parent railroad may file a consolidated
report that includes subsidiary railroads. In such a case, the employees of the
subsidiary railroad are identified in the report with the BA number of the
subsidiary.
Requirements and Responsibilities Related to
Consolidated Reports
There are certain requirements and responsibilities for filing consolidated
reports are. They are as follows.
- Two or more railroad employers must desire to file consolidated reports
and must designate one of the employers to be responsible for filing all
returns and reports.
- To file consolidated tax returns, each participating employer must meet
the requirements of IRS Revenue Ruling 73-32.
- The designated railroad employer is responsible for maintaining payroll
records for all participating employers and issuing
Form W-2
.
- The designated railroad employer must make tax deposits representing
combined liabilities, and file a consolidated
Form CT-1
and
Form BA-3
.
If a common paymaster is established and the consolidated report is being
filed under only the designated railroad’s number, IRS Form 2678 may be required
to file consolidated tax returns under one employer number.
Unless a common paymaster has been established, the consolidated BA-3 report
must identify the employing BA number for each employee. If a common paymaster
is established, all employees may be reported under the designated employer's BA
number. This distinction result from the difference in creditable and taxable
compensation based on an employee's concurrent employment with more than one
related railroad as demonstrated in the following examples.
Completion of Form G-440, Report
Specifications Sheet
The following information must be included on
Form G-440
, "Report
Specification Sheet", or the report cannot be processed correctly at the RRB.
- Common Paymaster: Show in the “remarks” section of the form, “Common
Paymaster for BA__”, and list the BA number(s).
- Consolidated Report: List in Item 7, the BA numbers for all employees
included on the consolidated BA-3 report.
Example: Consolidated Report - Not a Common
Paymaster
Employee Smith earns $56,000 from the Northern Railroad (BA-8888) from
January through June 2007 at which time he is terminated and transferred to the
Southern Railroad (BA-9999), a subsidiary of Northern Railroad, where he earns
$60,000 from June through December 2007. Employee Smith is consecutively, not
concurrently, employed by two related railroads. Northern Railroad files
consolidated reports that include employees of Southern Railroad.
8888 |
111-22-3333 |
Smith, J |
56,000 |
56,000 |
7,380 |
9999 |
111-22-3333
|
Smith, J |
60,000 |
60,000 |
8,610 |
TOTAL |
116,000 |
112,700 |
15,990 |
Taxable compensation is based on each employer's individual liability and is
determined as though the employee worked only for that employer. Creditable
compensation will be reported for Mr. Smith under BA-8888 and under BA-9999.
These two line items will be included in the same report since BA-8888 and
BA-9999 are filing consolidated reports, but the taxable and creditable amounts
will have been determined separately for each employer.
Example: Consolidated Report - Common
Paymaster
Employee Jones works the first week of every month for the Eastern Railroad
(BA- 3333) and earned $25,000 in 2007. For the remainder of each month he works
for the Western Railroad (BA- 4444) and earned $75,000 in 2007. The Eastern and
Western Railroads are both owned and operated by the Central Railroad. The
Eastern Railroad is the common paymaster for Eastern, Western and Central
Railroads and files consolidated reports including all three railroads.
3333 |
111-22-3334 |
Jones, J |
97,500 |
72,600 |
14,760 |
The earnings with BA-4444 are paid by the common paymaster, BA-3333, and
are consolidated with BA-3333 earnings. A consolidated report under a single
BA number clarifies that the tax liability is determined as though Mr. Jones
worked for a single employer in 2007. The reduced liability results because
the combined 2007 compensation ($100,000), exceeds the maximum amount
creditable and taxable from a single source, BA-3333, as shown in the above
example.
Be Consistent with IRS Reporting
If a rail employer is designated to act as a common paymaster by the IRS,
they should also file compensation reports with the RRB as a common paymaster.
If a rail employer is filing consolidated tax returns, they should also file
consolidated compensation reports with the RRB. The creditable compensation
reported to the RRB on Form BA-3
, "Annual Report of Creditable Compensation",
should be consistent with the taxable compensation reported to the IRS on
Form
CT-1 ,
"Employer's Annual Railroad Retirement Tax Form", and the contributions
reported to the RRB on Form DC-1
, "Employer's Quarterly Report of Contributions
under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act". |