Employer Exchange 

Quality Reporting Service Center (312) 751-4992 

Fax (312) 751-7123 

E-mail: QRSC@RRB.GOV 

Experience Rating Specialists (312) 751-4550 

RRB Web Site: http://www.rrb.gov 

Issue XLII January 2016 

Annual Reports 

The deadline for filing your 2015 Form BA-3, 

Annual Report of Creditable Compensation and 

BA-11, Report of Gross Earnings is February 29, 

2016. Form BA-6a, Address Report is due by April 

1, 2016. If you do not use the Employer Reporting 

System (ERSNet), and are submitting your reports 

through an alternative automated process, you 

must complete a Form G440, "Report 

Specifications Sheet" with these (and all other) 

reports submitted to the Railroad Retirement Board 

(RRB). Employers who do not have creditable 

service and compensation to report for 2015; or 

who have no employees with social security 

numbers ending with the digits "30" to report on 

Form BA-11 must also file an electronic “No 

Employee” for either or both reports to advise the 

RRB. 

Note – If you report new employee addresses or 

employee address changes on the Form BA-3, you 

do not need to submit a separate Form BA-6a, 

Form BA-6 Address Report. 

Reminder: Paper Forms BA-4, BA-6a & BA11 Have Been Eliminated 

The RRB has eliminated the use of the paper 

Forms BA-4, Report of Creditable Compensation 

Adjustment, BA-6a, Form BA-6 Address Report, 

and BA-11, Report of Gross Earnings. Paper filers 

should now use the Employer Reporting System 

(ERSNet) or another automated process to file 

those reports. 

Form BA-9 Added to the Employer 

Reporting System (ERSNet) 

The RRB is pleased to announce Form BA-9, 

‘Report of Separation Allowance & Severance Pay’, 

has been added to the ERSNet system. We are 

rolling out the new application gradually, starting 

with a limited number of employers so that we can 

work closely with you in using it and preparing 

accurate responses. If you want to be among the 

first to participate, contact QRSC. 

Creditable Sick Pay Compensation 

Creditable Sick Pay is compensation paid under a 

plan or agreement available on the same basis to 

employees in a like class and payable for days not 

worked on account of injury, illness, pregnancy, or 

childbirth. The term “Creditable Sick Pay” refers to 

an RRB-approved Supplemental Sick Pay Plan 

such that these sickness benefit payments are: 

limited to Tier I tax; creditable as Tier I 

compensation only (no Tier II); does not yield 

service months; and is not creditable as 

compensation under the Railroad Unemployment 

Insurance Act. 

If you are making sickness payments to your 

employees through a plan that is not approved by 

the RRB, it should be reported as Tier I, Tier II and 

RUIA compensation on your annual reports. To 

have a plan approval determination, submit the 

plan to: Railroad Retirement Board, Director of 

Policy & Systems, 844 N. Rush Street, Chicago IL, 

60611-1275. If you have questions, contact a 

QRSC Specialist. 

Reminder: RUIA Deposits 

Please remember to use your new 2016 

contribution rates when calculating your RUIA 

deposits. We notified you of your rates on Forms 

ID-40R/S which were sent out to all employers in 

October 2015. The maximum earnings subject to 

RUIA contribution for 2016 is $1,455 per month. If 

you did not receive the notification please contact 

us at the number or e-mail above. 

Return to Railroad Service 

Annuitants who return to work for employers 

covered under the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) 

are not entitled to retirement annuities from the 

RRB. If you are incorrectly crediting former 

employees with service for any payment not 

associated with actual work or a negotiated 

agreement, you may be subjecting them to 

overpayments. Compensation is creditable when 

paid, regardless of when the employee retires or 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

resigns. However, no additional service months can 

be credited after the employee stops working and 

relinquishes his/her rights to work for your 

company. If service is reported for a former 

employee after his /her retirement annuity began, 

you will receive a Form GL-132, “Notice of Service 

after Annuity Beginning Date”. 

RRB Employment Services 

There are three basic employment services 

operated by the RRB: 1) the Central Register, 2) 

the Job Vacancy Listing, and 3) the RRB online 

listing of available railroad jobs with links to 

employer employment websites. For an explanation 

of each employment service as well as how these 

services can benefit you as an employer, see 

Program Letter UI-C-214 at 

http://www.rrb.gov/AandT/pl/uic214.asp. 

Requests for Employee Information 

The RRB has received several requests for 

employee information that we are prohibited from 

releasing without the employee’s consent because 

it is Personally Identifiable Information (PII). One 

exception to the rules is when the RRB determines 

the release of the requested information is clearly in 

the interest of the employee or their estate. Any 

request for employee information must be received 

in writing and include an explanation of the reason 

for the request and how the information will be 

used. Contact the Quality Reporting Service Center 

(QRSC) for more information. 

RRB Review of Settlement Agreements 

Employers who negotiate Pay-for-Time-Lost 

settlements with their employees must adhere to 

federal regulations in order for the service and 

compensation to become creditable under the 

RRA. The RRB requests that employers submit 

copies of all settlement agreements to QRSC for 

review so that we can ensure that the agreement 

meets the minimum requirements. 

Deemed Service Optional Codes 

In order to eliminate Form GL-99, ‘Employer’s 

Deemed Service Months Questionnaire‘,from being 

sent to your company for manual handling, you 

have the option of reporting the employment 

relationship on Form BA-3, by using these service 

month codes: 

8 = Employee did not work but has an
 

employment relationship
 

9 = Employee did not work and has no
 

employment relationship 

See the Employer & Labor Reporting Instructions 

for Form BA-3 on the proper reporting of the codes. 

2016 U.S. RRB Tax Rates and Compensation 

Bases 

Component Tax Rate Earnings 

Base 

Employee Tier I 6.20% $118,500 

Employee Medicare 1.45% No limit 

Employer Tier I 6.20% $118,500 

Employer Medicare 1.45% No limit 

Employee Tier II 4.9% $88,200 

Employer Tier II 13.1% $88,200 

Employer 

Unemployment (RUIA) Variable 

$1,455.00 

per month 

Employer 

Unemployment (RUIA) 

Maximum 

None 

$1,879.00 

per month 

USPS Changes RRB’s Zip plus Four 

The Railroad Retirement Board’s zip code plus four 

has been changed by the United States Postal 

Service. Instead of ‘2092’, the new number is now 

‘1275’. Effective immediately, correspondence 

addressed to the Quality Reporting Service Center 

and other Departments of the RRB should contain 

the new zip plus four number (60611-1275). 

Quality Reporting Service Center 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago, IL 60611-1275 

Third Class