[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 188 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50945-50952]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-25769]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


National Directory of New Hires; Submission for OMB Review; 
Comment Request

    OMB No.: New.
    Description: Public Law 104-193, the ``Personal Responsibility and 
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996,'' requires the Office of 
Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to develop a National Directory of New 
Hires (NDNH) to improve the ability of State child support agencies to 
locate noncustodial parents and collect child support across State 
lines.
    The NDNH will contain employment, earning and unemployment 
compensation data on all employees within the United States. The law 
requires States and territories to periodically transmit new hire data 
received from employers to the NDNH, and to transmit quarterly wage and 
unemployment compensation claims data to the NDNH on a quarterly basis.
    Employers must report specified information (based on information 
reported on the IRS W-4 Form) on all new hires to State agencies for 
transmittal to the NDNH. States will transmit all data to the NDNH 
electronically. The purpose of the NDNH is to develop a repository of 
information on newly-hired employees, and on the earnings and 
unemployment compensation claims data on all employees, to provide the 
necessary information to locate child support obligors, and to 
establish and enforce child support orders.
    Respondents: States and Employers.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                       Average                  
                                                        Number of       Number of       burden     Total burden 
                     Instrument                        respondents    responses per   hours per        hours    
                                                                       respondent      response                 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Hire: Employers Reporting Manually.............    \1\ 5,166,00       \2\ 3.484        .0417      750,531   
New Hire: Employers Reporting Electronically \1\...   \1\ 1,134,000      \2\ 37,037   \3\ .00028       11,760   
New Hire: States...................................              54      \4\ 83.333  \5\ 266.668    1,200,001   

[[Page 50946]]

                                                                                                                
Multistate Employers' Notification Form............         375,000               1         .050       18,750   
Quarterly Wage and Unemployment Compensation.......              54           \6\ 4         .033            7.13
                                                                                                                
  Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,981,049.                                                               
                                                                                                                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes:                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                
The above numbers are based on the following:                                                                   
\1\ Eighteen percent of all employers will report manually and 82% will report electronically (based on SSA's   
  experience).                                                                                                  
\2\ For the ``Employers'' tiers, ``response'' is defined as the number of new hire reports. Thirty percent of   
  all new hire reports will be reported manually and 70% will be reported electronically (based on SSA's        
  experience).                                                                                                  
\3\ Based on the assumption that employers reporting new hires electronically will most likely transmit their   
  reports in a batch file, thus significantly reducing the per-response burden.                                 
\4\ For the ``States'' tiers, ``response'' is defined as the number of transmissions to the NDNH. All States are
  required by law to transmit new hire data to the NDNH electronically, within three business days after        
  entering the data into the SDNH. There are 250 business days per year. States will send a transmission once   
  every three business days, which is equal to 83.333 transmissions per year.                                   
\5\ Based on the average number of reports per transmission and the average burden per new hire report. The     
  average number of reports per transmission is calculated by dividing 60,000,000 (total number of new hire     
  reports) by 54 (total number of States). The result (1,111,111) is then divided by 83.333 (estimated number of
  transmission per State, see above explanation). Based on this calculation, the average number of reports per  
  transmission is 13,333.39 reports. The average burden per new hire report is estimated to be .02 hours (1.2   
  minutes), which is based on a range of two seconds to four minutes. The burden is estimated to be two seconds 
  per report for the 70% of new hire reports submitted to the State electronically. This two second burden      
  estimate is based on the same batch-file assumption as above, and includes data receipt and data transmission.
  If the State has to manually enter the new hire data before transmitting to the NDNH (which is the case for   
  30% of all new hire reports), the burden is estimated to be four minutes (based on the number of characters in
  a record). The average burden hours per report (.02) multiplied by the average number of reports per          
  transmission (13,333.39) is equal to the average burden hours per transmission (266.668).                     
\6\ ``Response'' is defined here as the number to transmissions to the NDNH. States are required to transmit    
  quarterly wage and unemployment compensation data four times a year.                                          


                              Record Layouts and Field Descriptions for Input to the National Directory of New Hire (NDNH)                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Location/                                                                                                          
            Field name               position       Length          Alpha/numeric           Description remarks              Mandatory/optional         
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 W4 Transmitter Record                                                                  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A/N                        `H4'....................  M.                                   
Transmitter State Code...........       3-4                2  N                          State FIPS code (for      M for states.                        
                                                                                          states only).                                                 
Transmitter Agency Code..........      5-13                9  A/N                        Federal Agency Code (for  M for agencies.                      
                                                                                          federal agencies only).                                       
Transmission Type................     14-15                2  A/N                        `W4' for W4 data........  M.                                   
Department of Defense............        16                1  A                          `A' for active duty.....  M for DOD.                           
Code.............................                             .........................  `C' for civilian.                                              
                                                              .........................  `R' for reserves.                                              
                                                              .........................  States may leave this                                          
                                                                                          field blank.                                                  
Version Control Number...........     17-18                2  A/N                        Must be `01', controlled  M.                                   
                                                                                          by OCSE.                                                      
Date Stamp.......................     19-26                8  N                          Format = YYYYMMDD.......  M.                                   
                                                              .........................  Must be current system                                         
                                                                                          date of file                                                  
                                                                                          generation.                                                   
Batch Number.....................     27-32                6  N                          Sequential number to      M.                                   
                                                                                          identify a submission                                         
                                                                                          as unique.                                                    
Filler...........................    33-801              769  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    W4 Total Record                                                                     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A/N                        `T4'....................  M.                                   
Data Record Count................      3-13               11  N                          Total record for          M.                                   
                                                                                          transmission, including                                       
                                                                                          header and trailer                                            
                                                                                          records.                                                      
Filler...........................    14-801              788  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     W4 Data Record                                                                     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A/N                        `W4'....................  M.                                   
Employee SSN.....................      3-11                9  N                          As reported by employee.  M.                                   
Employee Name:                                                                                                                                          
    First Name...................     12-27               16  A                          At least one character..  M.                                   
                                                                                         No special characters.                                         

[[Page 50947]]

                                                                                                                                                        
    Middle Name..................     28-43               16  A                          If non-blank, must be at  O.                                   
                                                                                          least one character.                                          
                                                                                         No special characters.                                         
    Last Name....................     44-73               30  A                          At least one character..  M.                                   
                                                                                         No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
Employee Addresses:                                                                                                                                     
    Street Address (line 1)......    74-113               40  A/N                        Non-blank...............  M.                                   
    Street Address (line 2)......   114-153               40  A/N                        If your address line is   O.                                   
                                                                                          less than 40                                                  
                                                                                          characters, do.                                               
    Street Address (line 3)......   154-193               40  A/N                        Not concatenate into one  O.                                   
                                                                                          line..                                                        
    City.........................   194-218               25  A                          At least two characters.  M.                                   
                                                                                         No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
    State........................   219-220                2  A                          Valid state or territory  M.                                   
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).................   221-225                5  N                          Must be numeric.........  M.                                   
    Zip Code (2).................   226-229                4  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
Employee Foreign Address:                                                                                                                               
    Foreign Country Code.........   230-231                2  A/N                        Refer to U.S. Department  M for foreign address.               
                                                                                          of Commerce FIPS code                                         
                                                                                          manual, National                                              
                                                                                          Institute of Standards                                        
                                                                                          and Technology, FIPS                                          
                                                                                          PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                        
    Foreign Country Name.........   232-256               25  A/N                        If present, at least two  O.                                   
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.............   257-271               15  A/N                        ........................  O.                                   
Employee Date of Birth...........   272-279                8  A/N                        If present, numberic....  O.                                   
                                                                                         Format--YYYYMMDD.                                              
Employee Date of Hire............   280-287                8  A/N                        If present, numeric.....  O.                                   
                                                                                         Format--YYYYMMDD.                                              
Employee State of Hire...........   288-289                2  A                          Alphabetic state or       O.                                   
                                                                                          territory abbreviation.                                       
Federal EIN......................   290-298                9  N                          Federal Employer          M.                                   
                                                                                          Identification Number.                                        
State EIN........................   299-310               12  A/N                        If no FEIN is available,  O.                                   
                                                                                          send the State Ein.                                           
                                                                                         If present and less than  .....................................
                                                                                          12 characters, left                                           
                                                                                          justify.                                                      
Employer Name....................   311-355               45  A/N                        At least two characters.                                       
Employer Address.................  ............  ...........  .........................  FEIN address from W4.                                          
    Street Address (line 1)......   356-395               40  A/N                        At least two characters.  M.                                   
    Street Address (line 2)......   396-435               40  A/N                        If your address line is   O.                                   
                                                                                          less than 40                                                  
                                                                                          characters, do.                                               
    Street Address (line 3)......   436-475               40  A/N                        Not concatenate into one  O.                                   
                                                                                          line..                                                        
    City.........................   476-500               25  A                          At least two characters.  M.                                   
    State........................   501-502                2  A                          Valid state or territory  M.                                   
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).................   503-507                5  N                          Must be numeric.........  M.                                   
    Zip Code (2).................   508-511                4  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
Employer Foreign Address:                                                                                                                               
    Foreign Country Code.........   512-513                2  A/N                        Refer to U.S. Department  M for foreign address.               
                                                                                          of Commerce FIPS code                                         
                                                                                          manual, National                                              
                                                                                          Institute of Standards                                        
                                                                                          and Technology, FIPS                                          
                                                                                          PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                        
    Foreign Country Name.........   514-538               25  A/N                        If present, at least two  O.                                   
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.............   539-553               15  A/N                        ........................  O.                                   
Employer Optional Address........  ............  ...........  .........................  This address will be      O.                                   
                                                                                          blank if only                                                 
                                                                                          collecting one address.                                       
                                                                                          If there is a second                                          
                                                                                          address, it should be                                         
                                                                                          the address where child                                       
                                                                                          support orders should                                         
                                                                                          be sent.                                                      
    Street Address (line 1)......   554-593               40  A/N                        If your address line is   O.                                   
                                                                                          less than 40                                                  
                                                                                          characters, do.                                               
    Street Address (line 2)......   594-633               40  A/N                        Not concatenate into one  O.                                   
                                                                                          line..                                                        
    Street Address (line 3)......   634-673               40  A/N                        ........................  O.                                   

[[Page 50948]]

                                                                                                                                                        
    City.........................   674-698               25  A                          If present, at least two  O.                                   
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    State........................   699-700                2  A                          If present, valid state   O.                                   
                                                                                          or territory                                                  
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).................   701-705                5  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
    Zip Code (2).................   706-709                4  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
Employer Optional Foreign                                                                                                                               
 Address:                                                                                                                                               
Foreign Country Code.............   710-711                2  A/N                        Refer to U.S. Department  O.                                   
                                                                                          of Commerce FIPS code                                         
                                                                                          manual, National                                              
                                                                                          Institute of Standards                                        
                                                                                          and Technology, FIPS                                          
                                                                                          PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                        
Foreign Country Name.............   712-736               25  A/N                        If present, at least two  O.                                   
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
Foreign Zip Code.................   737-751               15  A/N                        ........................  O.                                   
Filler...........................   752-801               50  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Quarterly Wage Transmitter Record                                                           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A                          `HQ'....................  M.                                   
Transmitter State Code...........       3-4                2  N                          State FIPS code (for      M for states.                        
                                                                                          states only).                                                 
Transmitter Agency Code..........      5-13                9  A/N                        Federal Agency Code (for  M for agencies.                      
                                                                                          federal agencies only).                                       
Transmission Type................     14-15                2  A/N                        `QW' for quarterly wage   M.                                   
                                                                                          data.                                                         
Department of Defense Code.......        16                1  A                          `A' for active duty.....  M for DOD.                           
                                                                                         `C' for civilian........  .....................................
                                                                                         `R' for reserves........                                       
                                                                                         States may leave this                                          
                                                                                          field blank.                                                  
Version Control Number...........     17-18                2  A/N                        Must be `01', controlled  M.                                   
                                                                                          by OCSE.                                                      
Date Stamp.......................     19-26                8  N                          Format=YYYYMMDD.........  M.                                   
                                                              .........................  Must be current system                                         
                                                                                          date of file                                                  
                                                                                          generation.                                                   
Batch Number.....................     27-32                6  N                          Sequential number to      M.                                   
                                                                                          identify a submission                                         
                                                                                          as unique.                                                    
Filler...........................    33-601              569  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Quarterly Wage Total Record                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A                          `TQ'....................  M.                                   
Data Record Count................      3-13               11  N                          Total record count for    M.                                   
                                                                                          transmission, including                                       
                                                                                          header and trailer                                            
                                                                                          record.                                                       
Filler...........................    14-601              588  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Quarterly Wage Data Record                                                               
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A                          `QW'....................  M.                                   
Employee SSN.....................      3-11                9  N                          As reported by employee.  M.                                   
Employee Name:                                                                                                                                          
    First Name...................     12-27               16  A                          At least one character..  M.                                   
                                                              .........................  No special characters.                                         
    Middle Name..................     28-43               16  A                          If non-blank, must be at  O.                                   
                                                                                          least one character.                                          
                                                              .........................  No special characters.                                         
    Last Name....................     44-73               30  A                          At least one character..  M.                                   
                                                              .........................  No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
Employee Wage Amount.............     74-84               11  N                          Last two positions are    M.                                   
                                                                                          decimal places.                                               
                                                                                         No negative values,                                            
                                                                                          zeroes are allowed.                                           
                                                              .........................  Gross amount paid within                                       
                                                                                          the quarter.                                                  

[[Page 50949]]

                                                                                                                                                        
Reporting Period.................     85-89                5  N                          Format--QYYYY for         M.                                   
                                                                                          Calendar year.                                                
                                                              .........................  Q=1 for Jan-Mar.                                               
                                                              .........................  Q=2 for Apr-Jun.                                               
                                                              .........................  Q=3 for Jul-Sep.                                               
                                                              .........................  Q=4 for Oct-Dec.                                               
Federal EIN......................     90-98                9  N                          Federal Employer          M.                                   
                                                                                          Identification Number.                                        
State EIN........................    99-110               12  A/N                        If present and less than  O.                                   
                                                                                          12 characters, left                                           
                                                                                          justify.                                                      
Employer Name....................   111-155               45  A/N                        At least two characters.  M.                                   
Employer Address.................  ............  ...........  .........................  FEIN address............                                       
    Street Address (line 1)......   156-195               40  A/N                        At least two characters.  M.                                   
    Street Address (line 2)......   196-235               40  A/N                        If your address line is   O.                                   
                                                                                          less than 40                                                  
                                                                                          characters, do.                                               
    Street Address (line 3)......   236-275               40  A/N                        Not concatenate into one  O.                                   
                                                                                          line..                                                        
    City.........................   276-300               25  A                          At least two characters.  M.                                   
    State........................   301-302                2  A                          Valid state or territory  M.                                   
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).................   303-307                5  N                          ........................  M.                                   
    Zip Code (2).................   308-311                4  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
Employer Foreign Address:                                                                                                                               
    Foreign Country Code.........   312-313                2  A/N                        Refer to U.S. Department  M for foreign address.               
                                                                                          of Commerce FIPS code                                         
                                                                                          manual, National                                              
                                                                                          Institute of Standards                                        
                                                                                          and Technology, FIPS                                          
                                                                                          PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                        
    Foreign Country Name.........   314-338               25  A/N                        If present, at least two  O.                                   
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.............   339-353               15  A/N                        ........................  O.                                   
Employer Optional Address........  ............  ...........  .........................  This address will be      .....................................
                                                                                          blank if only                                                 
                                                                                          collecting one address.                                       
                                                                                          If there is a second                                          
                                                                                          address, it should be                                         
                                                                                          the address where child                                       
                                                                                          support orders should                                         
                                                                                          be sent.                                                      
    Street Address (line 1)......   354-393               40  A/N                        At least two characters.  O.                                   
    Street Address (line 2)......   394-433               40  A/N                        If your address is less   O.                                   
                                                                                          than 40 characters, do.                                       
    Street Address (line 3)......   434-473               40  A/N                        Not concatenate into one  O.                                   
                                                                                          line..                                                        
    City.........................   474-498               25  A                          If present, at least two  O.                                   
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    State........................   499-500                2  A                          If present, valid state   O.                                   
                                                                                          or territory                                                  
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).................   501-505                5  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
    Zip Code (2).................   506-509                4  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
Employer Optional Foreign                                                                                                                               
 Address:                                                                                                                                               
    Foreign Country Code.........   510-511                2  A/N                        Refer to U.S. Department  O.                                   
                                                                                          of Commerce FIPS code                                         
                                                                                          manual, National                                              
                                                                                          Institute of Standards                                        
                                                                                          and Technology, FIPS                                          
                                                                                          PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                        
    Foreign Country Name.........   512-536               25  A/N                        If present, at least two  O.                                   
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.............   537-551               15  A/N                        ........................  O.                                   
Filler...........................   552-601               50  A/N                        Spaces. To used for                                            
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 UI Transmitter Record                                                                  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A                          `HU'....................  M.                                   
Transmitter State Code...........       3-4                2  N                          State FIPS code (for      M for states.                        
                                                                                          states only).                                                 
Transmitter Agency Code..........      5-13                9  A/N                        Federal Agency Code (for  M for agencies.                      
                                                                                          federal agencies only).                                       
Transmission Type................     14-15                2  A/N                        `UI' for unemployment     M.                                   
                                                                                          insurance data.                                               
Filler...........................        16                1  A/N                        ........................  M for DOD.                           

[[Page 50950]]

                                                                                                                                                        
Version Control Number...........     17-18                2  A/N                        Must be `01', controlled  M.                                   
                                                                                          by OCSE.                                                      
    Date Stamp...................     19-26                8  N                          Format=YYYYMMDD.........  M.                                   
                                                                                         Must be current system                                         
                                                                                          date of file                                                  
                                                                                          generation.                                                   
Batch Number 27-32...............     27-32                6  N                          Sequential number to      M.                                   
                                                                                          identify a submission                                         
                                                                                          as unique.                                                    
Filler...........................    32-295              263  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     UI Total Record                                                                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A                          `TU'....................  M.                                   
Data Record Count................      3-13               11  N                          Total record count for    M.                                   
                                                                                          transmission, including                                       
                                                                                          header and trailer                                            
                                                                                          record.                                                       
Filler...........................    14-295              282  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier................       1-2                2  A                          `UI'....................  M.                                   
Claimant SSN.....................      3-11                9  N                          As reported by claimant.  M.                                   
Claimant Name:                                                                                                                                          
    First Name...................     12-27               16  A                          At least one character..  M.                                   
                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                         No special characters...                                       
    Middle Name..................     28-43               16  A                          In non-blank, must be at  O.                                   
                                                                                          least one character.                                          
                                                                                         No special characters.                                         
    Last Name....................     44-73               30  A                          At least one character..  M.                                   
                                                                                         No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
Claimant Address:                                                                                                                                       
    Street Address (line 1)......    74-113               40  A/N                        Non-blank...............  M.                                   
    Street Address (line 2)......   114-153               40  A/N                        If your address line is   O.                                   
                                                                                          less than 40                                                  
                                                                                          characters, do.                                               
    Street Address (line 3)......   154-193               40  A/N                        Not concatenate into one  O.                                   
                                                                                          line.                                                         
    City.........................   194-218               25  A                          At least two characters.  M.                                   
                                                                                         No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
    State........................   219-220                2  A                          Valid state or territory  M.                                   
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).................   221-225                5  N                          Must be numeric.........  M.                                   
    Zip Code (2).................   226-229                4  A/N                        If present, must be       O.                                   
                                                                                          numeric.                                                      
Benefit Amount...................   230-240               11  N                          Last two positions are    M.                                   
                                                                                          decimal places.                                               
                                                                                         No negative values,                                            
                                                                                          zeroes are allowed.                                           
                                                                                         Gross amound paid within                                       
                                                                                          the quarter before                                            
                                                                                          withholding offsets.                                          
                                                                                          This amount is a total                                        
                                                                                          of all benefits that                                          
                                                                                          are tracked                                                   
                                                                                          electronically.                                               
Reporting Period.................   241-245                5  N                          Format--QYYYY for         M.                                   
                                                                                          Calendar year.                                                
                                                                                         Q=1 for Jan-Mar.                                               
                                                                                         Q=2 for Apr-Jun.                                               
                                                                                         Q=3 for Jul-Sep.                                               
                                                                                         Q=4 for Oct-Dec.                                               
Filler...........................   246-295               50  A/N                        Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supplement to New Hire Record Specifications

    At the suggestion of the workgroup that assisted in developing the 
record specifications for the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), 
this is an accompanying document that contains some additional 
clarification or explanation of items in the record specifications.
    Mandatory Fields: The legislation mandates the collection of only 
the following six data elements from the W-4 form:

Employee SSN
Employee Name
Employee Address
Employee Name
Employee Address

[[Page 50951]]

Employee ID number

    On the W-4 record specifications these fields are marked with (M) 
to designate mandatory. There are three additional optional fields that 
are highly desirable for the New Hire data base. These are:

Employee Date of Birth
Employee Date of Hire
Employee State of Hire

    While the legislation precludes the federal government from 
mandating the collection and retention of additional data elements, the 
states are not bound by those rules. The New Hire record specifications 
were developed in collaboration with State child support enforcement 
staff, State Employment Security Agency (SESA) staff, and federal and 
Department of Defense staff. Consequently, the specifications include 
additional data elements that can be collected by the states and passed 
to the NDNH. These data elements can then be used by the states and 
other authorized users of NDNH data.
    Following are some clarifying statements that apply to all of the 
NDNH data elements and record formats.
    All data is to be in EBCDIC format.
    All alphanumeric data are to be in upper case.
    I. All alphanumeric data are to be left justified.
    II. All numeric data are to right justified and zero filled.
    III. All dates are to be in the Year 2000-complaint format of 
YYYYMMDD.
    IV. Name and city data are to be stripped of special characters 
except for the hyphen.
    State and territory abbreviations in addresses should be the US 
Postal Service abbreviations.
    Name fields should not include suffixes such as ``Jr.'', ``Sr.'', 
and ``III''.
    The NDNH will contain two addresses for the employer. The first 
address is that noted on the W-4 form. The second address is where 
child support orders should be sent. If only one address is available 
or known, use the first set of address data elements and leave the 
second set of data elements blank. National standard codes are to be 
used for foreign country code abbreviations as assigned by the 
Department of Commerce FIPS codes (FIPS PUB 10-4).
    V. For Quarterly Wage data, the employee wage amount is to be the 
gross amount paid during the quarter, regardless of when the amount was 
earned.
    For Unemployment Insurance data, the benefit amount is to be the 
gross amount paid within the quarter before any deductions or offsets 
are applied, regardless of when the benefit was earned or accrued.
    When in doubt, send the data. While the NDNH wants to receive 
clean, edited data, we want to receive all data in a timely manner. 
Consequently, if some data is missing or incomplete at the time of 
transmission, include the record(s) in the transmission. Hopefully, 
this will also make processing easier at the State level.
    Output records returned from the NDNH will contain all of the input 
data sent to the NDNH and indications of errors or changes that took 
place at the federal level.
    VI. States have the option of receiving error records. The NDNH 
will maintain a matrix of which states want to be notified of errors 
and which do not.

Input Records

    When sending data to the federal level, there will be three record 
types in each transmission of data. These will include a header record, 
a series of data records, and concluded by a trailer record.

Header Record

    The header record will be the first record in the data set and will 
contain the following fields.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Field name                            Comments                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier............  Enter `H4' for W4 data.                  
                               Enter `HQ' for Quarterly Wage data.      
                               Enter `HU' for Unemployment Insurance    
                                data.                                   
Transmitter State Code.......  Refer to US Department of Commerce FIPS  
                                code manual, National Institute of      
                                Standards and Technology, FIPS PUB 10-4 
                                (April 1995).                           
Transmitter Agency Code......  Some federal agencies act as service     
                                bureaus for other federal agencies.     
                                Enter the Federal Employer              
                                Identification Number (FEIN) of the     
                                agency transmitting the data to the     
                                National Directory of New Hires.        
Transmission Type............  Identifies the type of data in this data 
                                set.                                    
                               Enter `W4' for W4 data.                  
                               Enter `QW' for Quarterly Wage data.      
                               Enter `UI' for Unemployment Insurance    
                                data.                                   
Department of Defense Code...  This field is mandatory only for DOD data
                                transmissions. All others can ignore    
                                this field. DOD data is separated into  
                                several categories. This field indicates
                                with category of data is being          
                                transmitted.                            
                               Enter `A' for active duty personnel.     
                               Enter `C' for civilian personnel.        
                               Enter `R' for reservist personnel.       
Version Control Number.......  It is assumed that the system will be    
                                modified over time to accommodate future
                                requirements. The version Control Number
                                indicates which version of the system is
                                in operation and will provide a means of
                                communicating with data suppliers about 
                                record formats.                         
                               Enter `01' until notified by OCSE to     
                                change this value.                      
Date Stamp...................  Enter the system generated date on the   
                                date the data set is transmitted to the 
                                federal level. Enter the date in the    
                                format YYYYMMDD.                        
Batch Number.................  A sequential number generated by the     
                                transmitting agency. This field is to   
                                uniquely identify a transmission. Do not
                                repeat batch numbers.                   
Filler.......................  Each record contains filler to be used   
                                for future versions of the record       
                                formats.                                
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Record

    Each data set is to be terminated with a Total Record which will 
contain the count of the total number of records transmitted in this 
data set.

[[Page 50952]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Field name                            Comments                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier............  Enter `T4' for W4 data.                  
                               Enter `TQ' for Quarterly Wage data.      
                               Enter `TU' for Unemployment Insurance    
                                data.                                   
Data Record Count............  Enter the total number of records        
                                transmitted in this data set, including 
                                the header and trailer records. This    
                                will be used to verify that all records 
                                are received and processed.             
Filler.......................  Spaces. To be used for future versions of
                                the system.                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Data Record

    Each of the data records for W4, Quarterly Wage, and UI is 
different in several ways. Following is further explanation of some of 
the data elements in those record layouts. See the Record Layout 
specifications for detailed information on all data elements.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Field name                            Comments                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier............  Enter `W4' for the W4 record.            
                               Enter `QW' for the Quarterly Wage record.
                               Enter `UI' for the Unemployment Insurance
                                record.                                 
Foreign Address Data Elements  If an address supplied for the employee  
                                or employer is outside the United       
                                States, include the Foreign Country Code
                                for the address, the Foreign Country    
                                Name, and the Foreign Zip Code.         
Employee Wage Amount (QW)....  For Quarterly Wage data, provide the     
                                gross amount paid to the employee during
                                the quarter, regardless of when the     
                                amount was earned.                      
Reporting Period.............  Use the quarters that correspond to the  
                                calendar year rather than quarters that 
                                correspond to fiscal accounting periods.
                                Use the format QYYYY where:             
                               Q = 1 for January-March.                 
                               Q = 2 for April-June.                    
                               Q = 3 for July-September.                
                               Q = 4 for October-December.              
Benefit Amount (UI)..........  The UI Benefit Amount is the gross amount
                                paid within the reporting quarter before
                                any withholding offsets are applied.    
                                This amount should be the sum of        
                                benefits received from all programs     
                                tracked electronically by the State.    
                                However, only include those benefits    
                                that are housed in the same hardware    
                                environment. Do not include benefits    
                                from sources that must be translated or 
                                imported to the mainframe environment.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Output Records

    FPLS will return records to the data transmitters when errors were 
detected. The states can elect to have these records returned for error 
resolution or not as they choose. Federal agencies, however, will 
receive all error records from each transmittal.
    The record formats for the error records are identical to the input 
record provided by the submitter except that error codes will be 
appended that explain the nature of the error. Errors can occur at the 
transmission level and at the individual record level.
    Transmission Control Records: This is the output equivalent of the 
input TRANSMITTER RECORD and includes counts of records received, 
records rejected, error records returned, records posted to the 
National Director of New Hires, records posted to the Suspense File, 
and up to five Error Codes pertaining to the transmission level error 
conditions encountered.
    Data Records: Each output version of the input DATA RECORD had 
appended to it up to five record level error codes that indicate the 
nature of the error encountered during editing. It also contains a 
Social Security Number Verification Indicator that indicates whether 
multiple valid SSNs were encountered during the SSN verification 
process. In addition, a corrected SSN is returned if during the SSN 
verification process the supplied SSN was determined to be incorrect 
and the verification procedure was able to provide the correct SSN.
    Total Records: No transmission total records will be returned to 
the submitting State or federal agency.
    Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be 
obtained by writing to The Administration for Children and Families, 
Office of Information Services, Division of Information Resource 
Management Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, 
Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer.
    OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the 
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of 
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best 
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of 
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office 
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attn: Ms. Wendy Taylor.
    In addition, comments may also be forwarded to ACF at the following 
address: The Administration for Children and Families, Office of 
Information Services, Division of Information Resources, 370 L'Enfant 
Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: Reports Clearance Officer, 
Internet address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cfbda5abbda6bcaca0a3a38faeaca9e1aba7a7bce1a8a0b9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cdbfa7a9bfa4beaea2a1a18dacaeabe3a9a5a5bee3aaa2bb">[email protected]</span></a>.

    Dated: September 23, 1997.
Robert Driscoll,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 97-25769 Filed 9-26-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M


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