Connection Specifications for
Software Developers

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7.	Wage-data submissions must not span multiple files. Build each submission file beginning with an RA record and ending with an RF record.
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.
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.