About This Publication
This publication is for developers of payroll and tax reporting software who wish to enhance
their products by incorporating the Internet business services provided by the Social
Security Administration.
What is Business Services Online?
Business Services Online (BSO) is a suite of Internet services for businesses and employers
who exchange information with the Social Security Administration. BSO users must complete
a one-time registration process before using the system.
Connecting to BSO
Developers of payroll and tax reporting software can use Social Security Administration
processes to access the Business Services Online (BSO) and submit wage reports. The
BSO Welcome Page (
www.socialsecurity.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm) is the single point of entry for all BSO
users. It is the only BSO Web page that should be bookmarked for payroll and tax reporting
applications. Advise your customers that they will need Internet access and a Web browser
with 128-bit encryption and the ability to support cookies.
Following are some tips for completing wage files with payroll and tax software applications
and connecting to BSO to submit these files.
1. |
Provide a link to the Internal Revenue Service
(www.irs.gov) on the main menu
of your application. This will allow users to obtain filing instructions, extension request
forms, and other publications.
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2. |
Provide processes for preparing wage-data files according to the Social Security
Adminstration's Magnetic Media Reporting and Electronic Filing (MMREF) standards. The
MMREF-1 format is for original (Form W-2) files and the MMREF-2 format is for correction
(Form W-2c) files. Both the MMREF-1 and the MMREF-2 publications can be downloaded from
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/pub.htm.
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3. |
Check for errors in the annual wage report files by using the File Edit Tips available on
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/filetips.htm. Also, execute AccuWage for Forms W-2 files or
AccuW2C for Forms W-2c files as part of your application. These software tools can
be downloaded from www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/accuwage/index.html.
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4. |
Populate automatically the PIN field in the RA record with the submitter's BSO PIN.
The PIN in the RA record is the PIN assigned to the person who physically submits the
file to the Social Security Administration.
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5. |
To enable the Social Security Administration to send wage-data file resubmission notices
to the user's registration e-mail address, use 1 (Email/Internet) as the value for
Preferred Method of Notification in the MMREF RA record.
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6. |
Do not build submission files containing more than 500,000 Forms W-2. If the employer
needs to submit more than 500,000 Forms W-2, develop your application to break them into
smaller submission files.
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7. |
Wage-data submissions must not span multiple files. Build each submission file
beginning with an RA record and ending with an RF record.
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8. |
Provide a means to compress wage-data files before they are submitted to the Social
Security Administration. Compressing large data files can dramatically reduce transmission
time. Please use any compression tool that uses a standard "zip" file format. Compress each
wage-file separately to prevent the compression of multiple wage files into the same
compressed file.
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9. |
Establish an option or link to the BSO Welcome Page. This will allow users to connect
to the BSO Welcome Page to submit the wage file. Once users log into BSO, instructions
are available for successful file submission. |
Employer Services Liaison Officer contact information is available at
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/empcontacts.htm or 1-800-772-6270. The following
materials may be downloaded from
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer: BSO User Handbook, MMREF-1 documentation,
MMREF-2 documentation, AccuWage software, and AccuW2C software. The BSO User Handbook
provides detailed instructions for using BSO features, including information about
submitting wage files and deadlines for submission. MMREF-1 and MMREF-2
documentation provides detailed record requirements. AccuWage software is for checking
original files for compliance and AccuW2C is for use with correction files.
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