N.H. Admin. Code § Emp 303.022

Current through Register No. 50, December 12, 2024

Section Emp 303.022 - Filing Quarterly Reports via Electronic media

An employer or agent who files Part 2 of the "Employer Tax and Wage Report" via electronic media, as specified in Emp 303.02 (d) (1), (2) and (3), shall comply with the following:

(a) When the employer maintains electronic records, the employer's computer hardware or software shall accommodate the extraction and conversion of such records which shall be compatible with department technology;

(b) For employers who maintain electronic records, the employer or designated agent shall convert the electronic records to a standard record format specified by the department, including copies of files on electronic media specified by the department;

(c) Prior to submitting Part 2 of the "Employer Tax and Wage Report" the employer or agent shall prepare and submit a test electronic media as follows:

(1) The employer or agent shall:

a. Submit a test electronic media on which Part 2 of the "Employer Quarterly Tax and Wage Report" containing the information specified on form C2-2 Rev. 01-23 shall be written and saved as a text file (.txt);

b. Include an external label on each electronic media, and, if there is inadequate room on the label to provide all information, add a supplemental list which contains the following information:

1. Employer or agent's New Hampshire employer Account Number;

2. Calendar quarter covered by the report;

3. Whether the record layout is in the state or federal format; and

4. List of all employer accounts and names, and the gross wages reported for each account;

c. Secure the external label to the front face of the electronic media without covering the working components;

d. Explain whether there have been any changes in file format in an official letter submitted on paper specifying the changes;

e. Include an electronic signature identifying the individual responsible for the accuracy of the report; and

f. Timely deliver the electronic media, pursuant to Emp 304.01, with the "Employer Tax and Wage Report", either:

1. By mailing to:

NH Employment Security

Attention Cashier

PO Box 2058,

Concord New Hampshire 03302-2058; or

2. By delivery to the department, at:

NH Employment Security

45 South Fruit Street,

Concord, New Hampshire 03301; and

(2) The employer or agent shall only submit a test file prior to submitting the first electronic media report. The employer or agent shall not be required to submit future test files unless changes have been made in format;

(d) Upon being advised by the department that the department is able to process the test electronic media, the employer or agent who elects to file Part 2 of the "Employer Tax and Wage Report" by electronic media in Emp 303.02 (d) (1) and (2) or are required to do so in Emp 303.02 (d)(3) shall prepare and submit the electronic media in accordance with the requirements in this section. The requirements of the preparation and submission of the test electronic media as set forth in Emp 303.022 (c) (1) shall also apply;

(e) An employer or agent may submit via paper report a portion of the "Employer Tax and Wage Report" consisting of the confidential payroll as a supplement to the information on the electronic media as follows:

(1) The paper report shall be included as an enclosure with the electronic media. The paper report shall not be a duplicate of the information on the electronic media; and

(2) The confidential payroll accompanying the electronic media shall be marked as confidential;

(f) The employer or agent shall enclose remittance of any amount due when submitting their electronic media in accordance with Emp 303.02 (d) (1), (2) and (3);

(g) If the department is unable to process the electronic media because of formatting errors, coding errors or when the electronic media is received in a physically damaged condition, the following shall occur:

(1) The department shall request by letter that the employer or agent correct and resubmit or resubmit the electronic media; and

(2) The employer or agent shall resubmit the electronic media to the department within 14 days of the date of the department's letter. If the employer or agent fails to make corrections and resubmit or resubmit the electronic media within the deadline date, the "Employer Tax and Wage Report" shall be considered untimely and late filing fees shall be assessed in accordance with RSA 282-A:142;

(h) An employer or agent who wishes to make corrections to wage information previously reported shall comply with Emp 303.023;

(i) The employer or agent shall immediately notify the department if circumstances such as computer processing problems delay the production of the "Employer Tax and Wage Report";

(j) The department shall direct all technical matters such as formatting and coding to the agent. The department shall direct other matters such as incorrect or incomplete reports, and late filing to the employer;

(k) The data file submitted by the employer or agent for test, original or corrected electronic media submissions shall conform to either the New Hampshire Employment Security format or as federally prescribed for electronic filing using the specifications for filing forms W-2 electronically (EFW2) as described in (l) - (m) respectively;

(l) The New Hampshire employment security format shall meet the following criteria:

(1) All data records shall be a fixed length of 47 characters; and

(2) Each record shall contain the following data elements:

a. The employee social security number recorded as a 9 digit field filed with no hyphenations as follows:

1. The number shall consist of 9 digits;

2. One of the first 3 digits shall include a positive digit;

3. The first three digits shall be less than 800; and

4. If the social security number is not available, the field shall be zero filled;

b. The name of the employee shall be limited to and recorded as a 20 characters field as follows:

1. The name shall be left justified;

2. All unused positions shall be filled with blanks;

3. No punctuation such as commas, periods, or hyphens shall be used;

4. Leading titles shall be omitted from the name field;

5. Any leading letters, such as O, D, and so forth, shall not be separated from the rest of the surname by a blank, but, if the employer or agent chooses to separate the rest of the surname from the leading letter, it shall be separated by an apostrophe;

6. The name shall be formatted with surname first;

7. The name shall not be in lower case letters; and

8. "Sr.," "Jr.," and numeric designation shall follow the first name;

c. The gross wages paid to an employee during the calendar quarter covered by the "Employer Tax and Wage Report" in a 9 digit field as follows:

1. The wages shall be numeric and shall not include a dollar sign;

2. The wages shall include dollars and cents and shall not include a decimal point;

3. There shall be no punctuation including commas;

4. The wages shall be a positive, unsigned figure. No negative amount shall appear in a record;

5. The wages shall be right justified;

6. The leading spaces shall be zero filled;

7. There shall be no packed fields;

8. If the gross wages of an employee exceed the 9 positions allocated, the balance shall be reported in a second record for that employee; and

9. The amount of wages reported in the second record shall not be equal to the amount in the first record; and

d. The State employer account number recorded as a 9 digit field as follows:

1. The account number shall not contain hyphens;

2. The account number shall be right justified; and

3. The leading spaces shall be zero filled;

(m) If an employer or agent is currently using the federal format for electronic filing using the specifications for filing forms W-2 electronically (EFW2) in accordance with specifications set out in the Social Security Administration Publication No. 42-007, EFW2 Tax Year 2023 V.1, available at https://www.ssa.gov/employer/efw/23efw2.pdf as cited in Appendix B, in order to report wages to the federal government, the employer or agent may use the same format for its "Employer Tax and Wage Report"; and

(n) An employer or agent who elects to use the federal format for electronic filing using the specifications for filing forms W-2 electronically (EFW2) shall:

(1) Notify the department when submitting the test electronic media prior to filing their quarterly reports in that format; and

(2) Use the following record types:

a. Code RA, Submitter Record in order to:

1. Identify the organization submitting the file;

2. Describe the file;

3. Identify the organization to be contacted by the Social Security Administration; and

4. Identify the means of contact;

b. Code RE, Employer Record in order to identify the employer whose employee wage and tax information is being reported;

c. Code RS, State Wage Record in order to report the gross quarterly wages and quarterly unemployment compensation data for state filing; and

d. Code RF, Final Record in order to indicate the end of the file.

N.H. Admin. Code § Emp 303.022

# 10349, eff 5-22-13

Amended by Number 32, Filed August 10, 2023, Proposed by #13681, Effective 7/3/2023, Expires 7/3/2033 (see Revision Note at chapter heading for Emp 300).