W-2 File Submission Service

Validation Rules for W-2 Files

DFA follows the data formats as outlined in the MMREF-1 formats for submitting W-2 information to the Social Security Administration. All federal required fields should be submitted along with the state portion of the records designated as the Code RS Record.

Required records are as follows:

  • Code RA - Submitter Record
  • Code RE - Employer Record
  • Code RW - Employee Wage Record
  • Code RS - State Record
  • Code RT - Total Record
  • Code RF - Final Record
  • Code RCS - Corrected State Record

Not Required/Optional records are:

  • Code RO - Employee Wage Record
  • Code RU - Total Record

Not Allowed Record:

  • Code RV - State Total Record - Do not submit RV record

File Requirements


Submitter Record (RA)
  • Must be the first data record on each file.
  • Make the address entries specific enough to ensure proper delivery.
Employer Record (RE)
  • The first RE Record must follow the RA record
  • Following the last RW/RO/RS Record for the employer, create an RT/RU Record and then create either the:
    • RE Record for the next employer in the submission; or
    • RF Record if this is the last report in the submission.
  • When the same employer information applies to multiple RW Records, group them together under a single RE Record. Unnecessary RE Records can cause serious processing errors or delays.
Employee Wage Records (RW)
  • Following each RE Record, include the RW Record(s) for that RE Record.
State Wage Record (RS)
  • The RS Record is required record
  • The RS Record should follow the related RW Record
  • If there are multiple State Wage Records for an employee, include all of the State Wage Records for the employee immediately after the related RW Record.
  • Do NOT generate this record if only blanks would be entered after the record identifier.
Total Records (RT)
  • The RT Record must be generated for each RE Record.
  • If just one field applies, the entire record must be completed.
Final Record (RF)
  • Must be the last record on the file.
  • Must appear only once on each file.
  • Do NOT create a file that contains any data recorded after the RF Record.
Corrected State Record (RCS)
  • May be submitted to in place of the RF record. This file will specific previous data at DFA
  • If this record is submitted in place of the RF, it must be the last record in the file.

Data must be recorded in the ASCII-1 character set. The field lengths are fixed. Records must be exactly 512 characters long with a delimiter of a carriage-return/line feed (CRFL) immediately following character position 512. A record delimiter must not be placed before the first record of a file. A record delimiter must not be placed after a field within a record.

Supplemental Data Field 1 (Position number 338 - 412) of Code RS record is required. This field should contain FEIN of the company providing the submission. Report the number in the first places, left justify, and space fill the rest. Do not allow hyphens in the FEIN.

Supplemental Data Field 2 (Position number 413 - 487) of the Code RS record is required. This field should contain the eleven (11) digit State of Arkansas ID number (ex 12345678whw). Report the account ID in the first eleven places (left justify) and blank fill the rest (11 + 64). Do not include hyphens in the ID number.

Code RS Record General:
The Code RS record is required for DFA W2 transmission. Not all fields are required but the submission will not be rejected if these fields have data in them. If no data is reported in the non-required fields, fill the field with spaces or zeros if the field is a numeric field.

If you have additional questions, please click here.

For more information, please see Specifications for Filing Forms W2 Electronically (EFW2)