Rail Employer Reporting Instructions 

Part VI - Reports Related to Service and Compensation 

Chapter 1: Form AA-12, Notice of Death and Statement of Compensation 

Purpose of Form AA-12 

Form AA-12, Notice of Death and Request for Service Needed for Eligibility, serves a dual 

purpose. First, the form notifies the employee’s last railroad employer that the employee is 

deceased and secondly, it requests a report of service months needed to qualify the employee’s 

survivor(s) for an annuity. 

The RRB will release Form AA-12 to request service month data for years in which the final 

earnings reports have not been filed at the RRB because they are not yet due. For example, the 

annual reports for service performed in 2021 are not due until the last day of February 2022. 

What Years Are Reported on Form AA-12? 

Form AA-12 may be used to report service and compensation for the current year, prior year, or 

both prior and current year of service and compensation. For example, if an employee worked 

through January 22, 2008 and then died; Form AA-12 would cover years 2007 and 2008. Form 

AA-12 would include all service and compensation not yet reported to the RRB for both years 

because the 2007 annual report is not due to the RRB until the last day of February 2008. 

AA-12 Reports Are Interim Reports 

The information on Form AA-12 is considered to be “Lag” service and compensation because it 

has not been posted to the employee's master service and compensation record at the RRB. Lag is 

the time between the last month for which service and compensation has been reported to the RRB 

and, if it is later, the employee's date last worked. The period from January of the current year 

through the date last worked is always a lag period because the “annual” report of this information 

is not due to the RRB until the last day of February of the following year. It is necessary that all 

service and compensation be included in the annual report for that year although this information 

has been previously submitted on Form AA-12. 

Form AA-12 is completed with information available at the time, while the annual report is 

completed with information at the end of the year. Because the information is more complete at 

the end of the calendar year, the annual report information is considered the correct service and 

compensation if discrepancies exist between a lag report and an annual report. 

Completing Form AA-12 

Instructions are included on the form. Of particular importance is the instruction not to report 

service months after the month of an employee's death. As mentioned in Part III, Chapter 2, an 

employment relationship ends at death. 

The principles and guidelines for reporting service and compensation on Form AA-12 are the same 

as those used for the annual reports. The information provided on Form AA-12 may not be the 

same as the service and compensation data later provided on the annual report but both reports 

should be consistent. 

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Rail Employer Reporting Instructions 

Part VI - Reports Related to Service and Compensation 

Chapter 1: Form AA-12, Notice of Death and Statement of Compensation 

Any questions about the AA-12 should be directed to a reporting specialist at: 

Quality Reporting Service Center 

Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 7th Floor 

Chicago, Illinois 60611-1275 

Phone: (312) 751-4992 

Fax: (312) 751-7123 

Email: QRSC@rrb.gov 

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