[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 138 (Friday, July 18, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38554-38561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-18675]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Agency Recordkeeping/Reporting Requirements Under Emergency 
Review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

    Title: National Directory of New Hires.
    OMB No.: New.
    Description: Public Law 104-193, the ``Personal Responsibility and 
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996,'' requires the Office of 
Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to develop a National Directory of New 
Hires (NDNH) to improve the ability of State Child support agencies to 
locate noncustodial parents and collect child support across State 
lines.
    The NDNH will contain employment, wage and unemployment 
compensation data on all employees within the United States. Public Law 
104-193 requires States and territories to periodically transmit new 
hire data received from employers to the NDNH, and to transit wage and 
unemployment compensation claims data to the NDNH on a quarterly basis.
    Employers must report specified information (based on the IRS W-4 
Form) on all new hires to State agencies for transmittal to the NDNH. 
States will transmit all data to the NDNH electronically. The purpose 
of the NDNH is to develop a repository of information on newly-hired 
employees, and on the earnings and unemployment compensation claims 
data on all employees, to provide the necessary information to locate 
child support obligors, and to establish and enforce child support 
orders.
    As planned, the approximately 6.3 million United States' employers 
will submit approximately 60 million new hire records to the State 
Directory of New Hires (SDNH). If reports are submitted manually, 
employers must submit new hire reports not later than 20 days after the 
date the employer hires the employee. If employers submit new hire 
reports electronically, reports must be submitted to the SDNH twice a 
month and not less than 12 days nor more than 16 days apart. The State 
shall have the option to set a civil money penalty for noncomplying 
employers.
    The information will be entered into the data base maintained by 
the SDNH within five business days of receipt from an employer. Within 
three business days after the date information regarding a newly hired 
employee is entered into the SDNH, the information shall be furnished 
to the NDNH.
    State agencies charged with the administration of the unemployment 
compensation program must submit to the NDNH approximately 140 million 
records quarterly. These State records contain the wages and 
unemployment compensation paid to individuals within the fifty States, 
Guam, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
    Provided below are the proposed Record Layouts and Field 
Descriptions along with the Supplemental Specifications. The 
supplemental specifications contain additional explanation regarding 
format and content of items in the record specifications. The Record 
Layouts and Field Descriptions apply to the W-4, Quarterly Wage and 
Unemployment Compensation records respectively. Descriptions are also 
provided for header, data and trailer subrecords.
    Respondents: States and Employers.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of                                                  
                                        Number of    responses                                          Total   
              Instrument               respondents      per       Average burden hours per response     burden  
                                                     respondent                                         hours   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Hire: Employers Not Currently      * 3,372,250     ** 3,484  .0417 hours (2.5 minutes).........      489,930
 Required to Report (manual                                                                                     
 reporting) *.                                                                                                  
New Hire: Employers Not Currently        * 740,250    ** 37,037  ***.00028 hours (1 second)........        7,677
 Required to Report (electronically)                                                                            
 *.                                                                                                             
New Hire: Multistate Employers'            375,000            1  .050..............................       18,750
 Registration Form.                                                                                             
New Hire: States Not Currently                  29  **** 83,333  ***** 266,668.....................      644,445
 Requiring New Hire Reporting.                                                                                  
New Hire: States Currently Requiring            25  **** 83.333  ****** 70.741.....................      147,376
 New Hire Reporting.                                                                                            
Quarterly Wage & Unemployment                   54    ******* 4  .033..............................         7.13
 Compensation.                                                                                                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,308,185.
    Footnotes:
    The above burden estimates are based on the following 
assumptions and factors:
    Twenty-five States already had a new hire reporting system in 
place before PRWORA was passed. Within those 25 States, on average, 
it is estimated that 75% of employers already report new hire data 
(based on the fact that some States require all employers to report, 
some require only targeted industries to report, and some are 
voluntary reporting programs). It is estimated that these employers 
represent the same proportional number of new hire reports (75% of 
25/54).
    These estimates include the 25% remaining employers who do not 
report within those 25 States, in addition to all of the employers 
within the remaining 29 States.
    * Eighteen percent of all employers will report manually and 82% 
will report electronically (based on SSA's experience). The number 
of employers is based on the following calculation: the total number 
of employers (6,300,000) multiplied by 29/54 (the proportion of 
States that do not have new hire programs) plus the total number of 
employers multiplied by the number of employers not already 
reporting in the States that do have new hire programs (25% of 25/
54). The result (4,122,500) is then broken down into two categories: 
those who report manually and those who report electronically.
    ** For the ``Employers'' tiers, ``response'' is defined as the 
number of new hire reports. Thirty percent of all new hire reports 
will be reported manually and 70% will be reported electronically 
(based on SSA's experience).

[[Page 38555]]

    *** Based on the assumption that employers reporting new hires 
electronically will most likely transmit their reports in a batch 
file, thus significantly reducing the per-response burden.
    **** For the ``States'' tiers, ``response'' is defined as the 
number of transmissions to the NDNH. All States are required by law 
to transmit new hire data to the NDNH electronically, within three 
business days after entering the data into the SDNH. There are 250 
business days per year. States will send a transmission once every 
three business days, which is equal to 83.333 transmissions per 
year.
    ***** Based on the average number of reports per transmission 
and the average burden per new hire report. The average number of 
reports per transmission is calculated by dividing 32,222,220 (total 
number of new hire reports in those 29 States) by 29 (number of 
States). The result (1,111,111) is then divided by 83.333 (estimated 
number of transmissions per State, see above explanation). Based on 
this calculation, the average number of reports per transmission is 
13,333.39 reports. The average burden per new hire report is 
estimated to be .02 hours (1.2 minutes), which is based on a range 
of two seconds to four minutes. The burden is estimated to be two 
seconds per report for the 70% of new hire reports submitted to the 
State electronically. This two second burden estimate is based on 
the same batch-file assumption as above, and includes data receipt 
and data transmission. If the State has to manually enter the new 
hire data before transmitting to the NDNH (which is the case for 30% 
of all new hire reports), the burden is estimated to be four minutes 
(based on the number of characters in a record). The average burden 
hours per report (.02) multiplied by the average number of reports 
per transmission (13,333.39) is equal to the average burden hours 
per transmission (266.668).
    ****** Within the 25 States that already have a new hire 
reporting program in place, the burden is broken down into three 
categories. The total number of new hire reports for those 25 States 
is 27.8 million (46% of 60 million, or 25/54 times 60 million). 
Seventy-five percent of employers already submit to those States, so 
the incremental burden for that group is only the transmission to 
the NDNH (1 second per report). Twenty-five percent of employers do 
not already submit to those States, so the burden for that group is 
based on the same calculation as above: 30% of all new hire reports 
are reported manually (@ 4 minutes each) and 70% are reported 
electronically (@ 2 seconds each). The following table represents 
the exact formula for the calculation:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         Number of                                                              
           Types of reports               new hire             Time per new hire report             Total time  
                                          reports                                                     (hours)   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Already Received From Employers (75%).   20,833,333  .000278 hours (1 second)...................       5787.0370
Reports Not Currently Received (25%)--    2,083,333  .066667 hours (4 minutes)..................     138888.8889
 Manual (30%).                                                                                                  
Reports Not Currently Received (25%)--    4,861,111  .000556 hours (2 seconds)..................       2700.6173
 Electronic (70%).                                                                                              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total time for all three types of reports: 147,376.543 hours.
    Total time per transmission (83.333) per State (25): 70.741 
hours.
    ******* ``Response'' is defined here as the number of 
transmissions to the NDNH. States are required to transmit quarterly 
wage and unemployment compensation data four times a year.

Detailed Input Information

                              Record Layouts and Field Descriptions for Input to the National Directory of New Hire (NDNH)                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        Location                                                                                                        
              Field name                position     Length          Alpha/numeric            Description/remarks              Mandatory/optional       
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  W4 Transmitter Record                                                                 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A/N                       `H4'........................  M.                               
Transmitter State Code...............    3-4                2  N                         State FIPS Code (for states   M for states.                    
                                                                                          only).                                                        
Transmitter Agency Code..............   5-13                9  A/N                       Federal Agency Code (for      M for agencies.                  
                                                                                          federal agencies only).                                       
Transmission Type....................  14-15                2  A/N                       `W4' for W4 data............  M.                               
Department of Defense Code...........     16                1  A                         `A' for active duty.........  M for DOD.                       
                                                                                         `C' for civilian............                                   
                                                                                         `R' for reserves............                                   
                                                                                         States may leave this field                                    
                                                                                          blank..                                                       
Version Control Number...............  17-18                2  A/N                       Must be `01', controlled by   M.                               
                                                                                          OCSE.                                                         
Data Stamp...........................  19-26                8  N                         Format=YYYYMMDD.............  M.                               
                                                                                         Must be current system date                                    
                                                                                          of file generation.                                           
Batch Number.........................  27-32                6  N                         Sequential number to          M.                               
                                                                                          identify a submission as                                      
                                                                                          unique.                                                       
Filler...............................  33-801             769  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     W4 Total Record                                                                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A/N                       `T4'........................  M.                               
Data Record Count....................   3-13               11  N                         Total record count for        M.                               
                                                                                          transmission, including                                       
                                                                                          header and trailer records.                                   
Filler...............................  14-801             787  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     W4 Data Record                                                                     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A/N                       `W4'........................  M.                               
Employee SSN.........................   3-11                9  N                         As reported by employee.....  M.                               
Employee Name:                                                                                                                                          
    First Name.......................  12-27               16  A                         At least one character......  M.                               
                                                                                         No special characters.......                                   
    Middle Name......................  28-43               16  A                         If non-blank, must be at      O.                               
                                                                                          least one character.                                          
                                                                                         No Special characters.......                                   
    Last Name........................  44-73               30  A                         At least one character No     M.                               
                                                                                          special characters, except                                    
                                                                                          for hyphen.                                                   

[[Page 38556]]

                                                                                                                                                        
Employee Address                                                                                                                                        
    Street Address (line 1)..........  74-113              40  A/N                       Non-blank...................  M.                               
    Street Address (line 2)..........  114-153             40  A/N                       If your address line is less  O.                               
                                                                                          than 40 characters, do not                                    
                                                                                          concentrate into one line.                                    
    Street Address (line 3)..........  154-193             40  A/N                       ............................  O.                               
    City.............................  194-218             25  A                         At least two characters.....  M.                               
                                                                                         No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
    State............................  219-220              2  A                         Valid state or territory      M.                               
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).....................  221-225              5  N                         Must be numeric.............  M.                               
    Zip Code (2).....................  226-229              4  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O.                               
Employee Foreign Address Foreign       230-231              2  A/N                       Refer to U.S. Department of   M for foreign address.           
 Country Code.                                                                            Commerce FIPS code manual,                                    
                                                                                          National Institute of                                         
                                                                                          Standards and Technology,                                     
                                                                                          FIPS PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                   
    Foreign Country Name.............  232-256             25  A/N                       If present, at least two      O.                               
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.................  257-271             15  A/N                         ..........................  O.                               
Employee Date of Birth...............  272-279              8  A/N                       If present, numeric Format--  O.                               
                                                                                          YYYYMMDD.                                                     
Employee Date of Hire................  280-287              8  A/N                       If present, numeric.........  O.                               
                                                                                         Format--YYYYMMDD............                                   
Employee State of Hire...............  288-289              2  A                         Alphabetic state or           O.                               
                                                                                          territory abbreviation.                                       
Federal EIN..........................  290-298              9  N                         Federal Employer              M.                               
                                                                                          Identification Number.                                        
State EIN............................  299-310             12  A/N                       If no FEIN is available,      O.                               
                                                                                          send the State EIN.                                           
                                                                                         If present and less than 12                                    
                                                                                          characters, left justify.                                     
Employer Name........................  311-355             45  A/N                       At least two characters.....  .................................
                                                                                         FEIN address from W4........                                   
Employer Address:                                                                                                                                       
    Street Address (line 1)..........  356-395             40  A/N                       At least two characters.....  M.                               
    Street Address (line 2)..........  396-435             40  A/N                       If your address line is less  O.                               
                                                                                          than 40 characters, do not                                    
                                                                                          concentrate into one line.                                    
    Street Address (line 3)..........  436-475             40  A/N                       ............................                                   
    City.............................  476-500             25  A                         At least two characters.....  M.                               
    State............................  501-502              2  A                         Valid state or territory      M.                               
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).....................  503-507              5  N                         Must be numeric.............  M.                               
    Zip Code (2).....................  508-511              4  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O.                               
Employer Foreign Address:                                                                                                                               
    Foreign Country Code.............  512-513              2  A/N                       Refer to U.S. Department of   M for foreign address.           
                                                                                          Commerce FIPS code manual,                                    
                                                                                          National Institute of                                         
                                                                                          Standards and Technology,                                     
                                                                                          FIPS PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                   
    Foreign Country Name.............  514-538             25  A/N                       If present, at least two      O.                               
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.................  539-553             15  A/N                       ............................  O.                               
Employer Optional....................  .........  ...........  ........................  This address will be blank    O.                               
                                                                                          if only collecting one                                        
                                                                                          address. If there is a                                        
                                                                                          second address, it should                                     
                                                                                          be the address where child                                    
                                                                                          support orders should be                                      
                                                                                          sent.                                                         
    Street Address (line 1)..........  554-593             40  A/N                       If your address line is less  O.                               
                                                                                          than 40 characters, do not                                    
                                                                                          concentrate into one line.                                    
    Street Address (line 2)..........  594-633             40  A/N                       ............................  O.                               
    Street Address (line 3)..........  634-673             40  A/N                       ............................  O.                               
    City.............................  674-698             25  A                         If present, at least two      O.                               
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    State............................  699-700              2  A                         If present, valid state or    O.                               
                                                                                          territory abbreviation.                                       
    Zip Code (1).....................  701-705              5  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O.                               
    Zip Code (2).....................  706-709              4  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O.                               
Employer Optional                                                                                                                                       
Foreign Address:                                                                                                                                        
    Foreign Country Code.............  710-711              2  A/N                       Refer to U.S. Department of   O.                               
                                                                                          Commerce FIPS code manual,                                    
                                                                                          National Institute of                                         
                                                                                          Standards and Technology                                      
                                                                                          FIPS PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                   
    Foreign Country Name.............  712-736             25  A/N                       If present, at least two      .                                
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.................  737-751             15  A/N                       ............................  O.                               
Filler...............................  752-801             50  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions..                                             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 38557]]

                                                                                                                                                        
                                                            Quarterly Wage Transmitter Record                                                           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A                         `HQ'........................  M.                               
Transmitter State Code...............    3-4                2  N                         State FIPS Code (for states   M for states.                    
                                                                                          only).                                                        
Transmitter Agency Code..............   5-13                9  A/N                       Federal Agency Code (for      M for agencies.                  
                                                                                          federal agencies only).                                       
Transmission Type....................  14-15                2  A/N                       `QW' for quarterly wage data  M.                               
Department of Defense................     16                1  A                         `A' for active duty.........  M for DOD.                       
Code.................................  .........  ...........  ........................  `C' for civilian............  .................................
                                       .........  ...........  ........................  `R' for reserves............  .................................
                                       .........  ...........  ........................  States may leave this field   .................................
                                                                                          blank..                                                       
Version Control Number...............  17-18                2  A/N                       Must be `01', controlled by   M.                               
                                                                                          OCSE.                                                         
Date Stamp...........................  19-26                8  N                         Format=YYYYMMDD.............  M.                               
                                                                                         Must be current system date                                    
                                                                                          of file generation.                                           
Batch Number.........................  27-32                6  N                         Sequential number to          M.                               
                                                                                          identify a submission as                                      
                                                                                          unique..                                                      
Filler...............................  33-601             569  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions..                                             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Quarterly Wage Total Record                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A                         `TQ'........................  M.                               
Data Record Count....................   3-13               11  N                         Total record count for        M.                               
                                                                                          transmission, including                                       
                                                                                          header and trailer record.                                    
Filler...............................  14-601             588  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions..                                             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Quarterly Wage Data Record                                                               
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A                         `QW'........................  M.                               
Employer SSN.........................   3-11                9  N                         As reported by employee.....  M.                               
Employee Name:                         .........  ...........  ........................  ............................  .................................
    First Name.......................  12-27               16  A                         At least one character......  M.                               
                                                                                         No special characters.......                                   
    Middle Name......................  28-43               16  A                         If non-blank, must be at      O.                               
                                                                                          least one character.                                          
                                                                                         No special characters.......                                   
    Last Name........................  44-73               30  A                         At least one character......  M.                               
                                                                                         No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
Employee Wage Amount.................  74-84               11  N                         Last two positions are        M.                               
                                                                                          decimal places.                                               
                                                                                         No negative values, zeroes                                     
                                                                                          are allowed.                                                  
                                                                                         Gross amount paid with the                                     
                                                                                          quarter.                                                      
Reporting Period.....................  85-89                5  N                         Format--QYYYY for Calendar    M.                               
                                                                                          year.                                                         
                                                                                         Q=1 for Jan-Mar.............                                   
                                                                                         Q=2 for Apr-Jun.............                                   
                                                                                         Q=3 for Jul-Sep.............                                   
                                                                                         Q=4 for Oct-Dec.............                                   
Federal EIN..........................  90-98                9  N                         Federal Employer              M.                               
                                                                                          Identification Number.                                        
State EIN............................  99-110              12  A/N                       If present and less than 12   O.                               
                                                                                          characters, left justify.                                     
Employer Name........................  111-155             45  A/N                       At least two characters FEIN  M.                               
                                                                                          address.                                                      
Employer Address:                      .........  ...........  ........................  ............................  .................................
    Street Address (line 1)..........  156-195             40  A/N                       At least two characters.....  M.                               
    Street Address (line 2)..........  196-235             40  A/N                       If your address line is less  O.                               
                                                                                          than 40 characters, do not                                    
                                                                                          concentrate into one line.                                    
    Street Address (line 3)..........  236-275             40  A/N                       ............................  O.                               
    City.............................  276-300             25  A                         At least two characters.....  M.                               
    State............................  301-302              2  A                         Valid state or territory      M.                               
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).....................  303-307              5  N                         ............................  M.                               
    Zip Code (2).....................  308-311              4  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O.                               
Employer Foreign Address:                                                                                                                               
    Foreign Country Code.............  312-313              2  A/N                       Refer to US Department of     M for foreign address.           
                                                                                          Commerce FIPS code manual,                                    
                                                                                          National Institute of                                         
                                                                                          Standards and Technology,                                     
                                                                                          FIPS PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                   
    Foreign Country Name.............  314-338             25  A/N                       If present, at least two      O                                
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip Code.................  339-353             15  A/N                         ..........................  O                                
Employer Optional Address............  .........  ...........  ........................  This address will be blank    .................................
                                                                                          if only collecting one                                        
                                                                                          address. If there is a                                        
                                                                                          second address, it should                                     
                                                                                          be the address where child                                    
                                                                                          support orders should be                                      
                                                                                          sent.                                                         

[[Page 38558]]

                                                                                                                                                        
    Street Address (line 1)..........  354-393             40  A/N                       At least two characters if    O                                
                                                                                          your address is less than                                     
                                                                                          40 characters, do not                                         
                                                                                          concentrate into one line.                                    
    Street Address (line 2)..........  394-433             40  A/N                       ............................  O                                
    Street Address (line 3)..........  434-473             40  A/N                       ............................  O                                
    City.............................  474-498             25  A                         If present, at least two      O                                
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    State............................  499-500              2  A                         If present, valid state or    O                                
                                                                                          territory abbreviation.                                       
    Zip Code (1).....................  501-505              5  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O                                
    Zip Code (2).....................  506-509              4  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O                                
Employer Optional Foreign Address:                                                                                                                      
    Foreign Country Code.............  510-511              2  A/N                       Refer to U.S. Department of   O                                
                                                                                          Commerce FIPS code manual,                                    
                                                                                          National Institute of                                         
                                                                                          Standards and Technology,                                     
                                                                                          FIPS PUB 10-4 (April 1995).                                   
    Foreign Country Name.............  512-536             25  A/N                       If present, at least two      O                                
                                                                                          characters.                                                   
    Foreign Zip code.................  537-551             15  A/N                         ..........................  O                                
Filler...............................  552-601             50  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions..                                             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  UI Transmitter Record                                                                 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Record Identifier................    1-2                2  A                         `HU'........................  M                                
    Transmitter State Code...........    3-4                2  N                         State FIPS (for states only)  M for states.                    
    Transmitter Agency Code..........   5-13                9  A/N                       Federal Agency Code (for      M for agencies.                  
                                                                                          federal agencies only).                                       
    Transmission Type................  14-15                2  A/N                       `UI' for unemployment         M                                
                                                                                          insurance data.                                               
    Filler...........................     16                1  A/N                       ............................  M for DOD.                       
    Version Control Number...........  17-18                2  A/N                       Must be `01', controlled by   M                                
                                                                                          OCSE.                                                         
    Date Stamp.......................  19-26                8  N                         Format=YYYYMMDD Must be                                        
                                                                                          current system date of file                                   
                                                                                          generation.                                                   
    Batch Number.....................  27-32                6  N                         Sequential number to          M                                
                                                                                          identify a submission as                                      
                                                                                          unique.                                                       
    Filler...........................  32-295             263  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     UI Total Record                                                                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A                         `TU'........................  M                                
Data Record Count....................   3-13               11  N                         Total record count for        M                                
                                                                                          transmission, including                                       
                                                                                          header and trailer record.                                    
Filler...............................  14-295             282  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions.                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        UI Data Record                                                                                                                  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier....................    1-2                2  A                         `UI'........................  M.                               
Claimant SSN.........................   3-11                9  N                         As reported by claimant.....  M.                               
Claimant Name:                                                                                                                                          
    First Name.......................  12-27               16  A                         At least one character......  M.                               
                                                                                         No special characters.......                                   
    Middle Name......................  28-43               16  A                         If non-blank, must be at      0.                               
                                                                                          least one character.                                          
                                                                                         No special characters.......                                   
    Last Name........................  44-73               30  A                         At least one character......  M.                               
                                                                                         No special characters except                                   
                                                                                          for hyphen.                                                   
Claimant Address:                                                                                                                                       
    Street Address (line 1)..........  74-113              40  A/N                       Non-blank...................  M.                               
    Street Address (line 2)..........  114-153             40  A/N                       If your address line is less  O.                               
                                                                                          than 40 characters, do not                                    
                                                                                          concentrate into one line.                                    
Street Address (line 3)                154-193             40  A/N                       ............................  O.                               
    City.............................  194-218             25  A                         At least two characters.....  M.                               
                                                                                         No special characters,                                         
                                                                                          except for hyphen.                                            
    State............................  219-220              2  A                         Valid state or territory      M.                               
                                                                                          abbreviation.                                                 
    Zip Code (1).....................  221-225              5  N                         Must be numeric.............  M.                               
    Zip Code (2).....................  226-229              4  A/N                       If present, must be numeric.  O.                               

[[Page 38559]]

                                                                                                                                                        
Benefit Amount.......................  230-240             11  N                         Last two positions are        M                                
                                                                                          decimal places.                                               
                                                                                         No negative values, zeroes                                     
                                                                                          are allowed.                                                  
                                                                                         Gross amount paid within the                                   
                                                                                          quarter before withholding                                    
                                                                                          offsets. This amount is a                                     
                                                                                          total of all benefits that                                    
                                                                                          are tracked electronically.                                   
Reporting Period.....................  241-245              5  N                         Format--QYYYY for Calendar    M.                               
                                                                                          year.                                                         
                                                                                         Q=1 for Jan--Mar............                                   
                                                                                         Q=2 for Apr--Jun............                                   
                                                                                         Q=3 for Jul--Sep............                                   
                                                                                         Q=4 for Oct--Dec............                                   
Filler...............................  246-295             50  A/N                       Spaces. To be used for                                         
                                                                                          future versions..                                             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supplement to New Hire Record Specifications

    At the suggestion of the workgroup that assisted in developing the 
record specifications for the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), 
this is an accompanying document that contains some additional 
clarification or explanation of items in the record specifications.
    Mandatory Fields: The legislation mandates the collection of only 
the following six data elements from the W-4 form:

    Employee SSN
    Employee Name
    Employee Address
    Employer Name
    Employer Address
    Employer ID number

    On the W-4 record specifications these fields are marked with (M) 
to designate mandatory. There are three additional optional fields that 
are highly desirable for the New Hire data base. These are:

    Employee Date of Birth
    Employee Date of Hire
    Employee State of Hire

    While the legislation precludes the federal government from 
mandating the collection and retention of additional data elements, the 
states are not bound by those rules. The New Hire record specifications 
were developed in collaboration with State child support enforcement 
staff, State Employment Security Agency (SESA) staff, and federal and 
Department of Defense staff. Consequently, the specifications include 
additional data elements that will be collected by the states and 
passed to the NDNH. There data elements will be used by the states and 
other authorized users of NDNH data.
    Following are some clarifying statements that apply to all of the 
NDNH data elements and record formats.

    1.  All data is to be in EBCDIC format.
    2.  All alphanumeric data are to be in upper case.
    3.  All alphanumeric data are to be left justified.
    4.  All numeric data are to be right justified and zero filled.
    5.  All dates are to be in the Year 2000-compliant format of 
YYYYMMDD.
    6.  Name and city data are to be stripped of special characters 
except for the hyphen.
    7.  State and territory abbreviations in addresses should be the US 
Postal Service abbreviations
    8.  Name fields should not include suffixes such as ``Jr.'', 
``Sr.'', and ``III''.
    9.  The NDNH will contain two addresses for the employer. The first 
address is that noted on the W-4 form. The second address is where 
child support orders should be sent. If only one address is available 
or known, use the first set of address data elements and leave the 
second set of data elements blank.
    10.  National standard codes are to be used for foreign country 
code abbreviations as assigned by the Department of Commerce FIPS codes 
(FIPS PUB 10-4).
    11.  For Quarterly Wage data, the employee wage amount is to be the 
gross amount paid during the quarter, regardless of when the amount was 
earned.
    12.  For Unemployment Insurance data, the benefit amount is to be 
the gross amount paid within the quarter before any deductions or 
offsets are applied, regardless of when the benefit was earned or 
accrued.
    13.  WHEN IN DOUBT, SEND THE DATA. While the NDNH wants to receive 
clean, edited data, we want to receive all data in a timely manner. 
Consequently, if some data is missing or incomplete at the time of 
transmission, include the record(s) in the transmission. Hopefully, 
this will also make processing easier at the State level.
    14.  Output records returned from the NDNH will contain all of the 
input data sent to the NDNH and indications of errors or changes that 
took place at the federal level.
    15.  States have the option of receiving error records. The NDNH 
will maintain a matrix of which states want to be notified of errors 
and which do not.

Input Records

    When sending data to the federal level, there will be three record 
types in each transmission of data. These will include a header record, 
a series of data records, and concluded by a trailer record.

Header Record

    The header record will be the first record in the data set and will 
contain the following fields.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Field name                            Comments                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier............  Enter `H4' for W4 data.                  
                               Enter `HQ' for Quarterly Wage data.      
                               Enter `HU' for Unemployment Insurance    
                                data.                                   
Transmitter State Code.......  Refer to US Department of Commerce FIPS  
                                code manual, National Institute of      
                                Standards and Technology, FIPS PUB 10-4 
                                (April 1995).                           

[[Page 38560]]

                                                                        
Transmitter Agency Code......  Some federal agencies act as service     
                                bureaus for other federal agencies.     
                                Enter the Federal Employer              
                                Identification Number (FEIN) of the     
                                agency transmitting the data to the     
                                National Directory of New Hires.        
Transmission Type............  Identifies the type of data in this data 
                                set.                                    
                               Enter `W4' for W4 data.                  
                               Enter `QW' for Quarterly Wage data.      
                               Enter `UI' for Unemployment Insurance    
                                data.                                   
Department of Defense Code...  This field is mandatory only for DOD data
                                transmissions. All others can ignore    
                                this field. DOD data is separated into  
                                several categories. This field indicates
                                which category of data is being         
                                transmitted.                            
                               Enter `A' for active duty personnel.     
                               Enter `C' for civilian personnel.        
                               Enter `R' for reservist personnel.       
Version Control Number.......  It is assumed that the system will be    
                                modified over time to accommodate future
                                requirements. The version Control Number
                                indicates which version of the system is
                                in operation and will provide a means of
                                communicating with data suppliers about 
                                record formats.                         
                               Enter `01' until notified by OCSE to     
                                change this value.                      
Date Stamp...................  Enter the system generated date on the   
                                date the data set is transmitted to the 
                                federal level. Enter the date in the    
                                format YYYYMMDD.                        
Batch Number.................  A sequential number generated by the     
                                transmitting agency. This field is to   
                                uniquely identify a transmission. Do not
                                repeat batch numbers.                   
Filler.......................  Each record contains filler to be used   
                                for future versions of the record       
                                formats.                                
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Record

    Each data set is to be terminated with a Total Record which will 
contain the count of the total number of records transmitted in this 
data set.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Field name                            Comments                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier............  Enter `T4' for W4 data.                  
                               Enter `TQ' for Quarterly Wage data.      
                               Enter `TU' for Unemployment Insurance    
                                data.                                   
Data Record Count............  Enter the total number of records        
                                transmitted in this data set, including 
                                the header and trailer records. This    
                                will be used to verify that all records 
                                are received and processed.             
Filler.......................  Spaces. To be used for future versions of
                                the system.                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Data Record

    Each of the data records for W4, Quarterly Wage, and UI is 
different in several ways. Following is further explanation of some of 
the data elements in those record layouts. See the Record Layout 
specifications for detailed information on all data elements.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Field name                            Comments                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Identifier............  Enter `W4' for W4 record.                
                               Enter `QW' for Quarterly Wage record.    
                               Enter `UI' for Unemployment Insurance    
                                record.                                 
Foreign Address Data Elements  If an address supplied for the employee  
                                or employer is outside the United       
                                States, include the Foreign County Code 
                                for the address, the Foreign Country    
                                Name, and the Foreign Zip Code.         
Employee Wage Amount (QW)....  For Quarterly Wage data, provide the     
                                gross amount paid to the employee during
                                the quarter, regardless of when the     
                                amount was earned.                      
Reporting Period.............  Use the quarters that correspond to the  
                                calendar year rather than quarters that 
                                correspond to fiscal accounting periods.
                                Use the format QYYYY where              
                               Q=1 for January-March                    
                               Q=2 for April-June                       
                               Q=3 for July-September                   
                               Q=4 for October-December                 
Benefit Amount (UI)..........  The UI Benefit Amount is the gross amount
                                paid within the reporting quarter before
                                any withholding offsets are applied.    
                                This amount should be the sum of        
                                benefits received from all programs     
                                tracked electronically by the State.    
                                However, only include those benefits    
                                that are housed in the same hardware    
                                environment. Do not include benefits    
                                from sources that must be translated or 
                                imported to the mainframe environment.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Output Records

    FPLS will return records to the data transmitters when errors were 
detected. The states can elect to have these records returned for error 
resolution or not as they choose. Federal agencies, however, will 
receive all error records from each transmittal.
    The record formats for the error records are identical to the input 
record provided by the submitter except that error codes will be 
appended that explain the nature of the error. Errors can occur at the 
transmission level and at the individual record level.

[[Page 38561]]

Transmission Control Records

    This is the output equivalent of the input TRANSMITTER RECORD and 
includes counts of records received, records rejected, error records 
returned, records posted to the National Directory of New Hires, 
records posted to the Suspense File and up to five Error Codes 
pertaining to the transmission level error conditions encountered.

Data Records

    Each output version of the input DATA RECORD had appended to it up 
to five record level error codes that indicate the nature of the error 
encountered during editing. It also contains a Social Security Number 
Verification Indicator that indicates whether multiple valid SSNs were 
encountered during the SSN verification process. In addition, a 
corrected SSN is returned if during the SSN verification process the 
supplied SSN was determined to be incorrect and the verification 
procedure was able to provide the correct SSN.

Total Records

    No transmission total records will be returned to the submitting 
State or federal agency

Additional Information

    ACF is requesting that OMB grant a 180 day approval for this 
information collection under procedures for emergency processing by 
August 15, 1997. A copy of this information collection, with applicable 
supporting documentation, may be obtained by calling the Administration 
for Children and Families, Reports Clearance Officer, Robert Driscoll 
at (202) 410-9313 or (202) 401-6465. Internet address: 
[email protected]
    Comments and questions about the information collection described 
above should be directed to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACF, Office of Management and 
Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th Street N.W., Washington, 
D.C. 20503, (202) 395-7316.

    Dated: July 10, 1997.
Robert Driscoll,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 97-18675 Filed 7-17-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M