SEC. 4. GENERAL RULES — Internal Revenue Bulletin 1999-21

FILING FORM W-3

.01 Employers submitting Form W-2 (Copy A) on paper to the SSA must send the Forms W-2 with a Form W-3.

.02 Form W-3 must be the same width (7 inches) as the Forms W-2 filed.

.03 Form W-3 pages 2 and 3 have been eliminated including the second “your copy” of the form. Separate instructions for the Form W-3 are provided in the “Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3.”

May 24, 1999 10 1999–21 I.R.B.

paper only, optical character recognition (OCR) bond produced in accordance with the specifications shown as follows:

Paper Requirements

1 Acidity: pH value, average, not less than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 2 Basis Weight 17 � 22 500 cut sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-20 Metric equivalent grams per. sq. meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60-75 A tolerance of +5 pct. is allowed. 3 Stiffness: Average, each direction, not less than Gurley milligrams —

Cross direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Machine direction . . . . . . . . . . . 80 4 Tearing Strength: Average, each direction, not less than—Grams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 5 Opacity: Average, not less than—Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 6 Reflectivity: Average not less than—percent . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 7 Thickness: Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . inch 0.0038 Metric equivalent . . . . . . . mm 0.097 A tolerance of +0.0005 inch (0.0127mm) is allowed. Paper can not vary more than 0.0004 inch (0.012mm) from one edge to the other. 8 Porosity: Average, not less than—seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 9 Finish (smoothness): Average, each side — seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-55 (For information only), the Sheffield equivalent unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170-d100 10 Dirt: Average, each side, not to exceed— Parts per million . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 NOTE: Reclaimed fiber in any percentage is permitted, provided the requirements of this standard are met. DO NOT USE RECYCLED PAPER.

.03 All printing for Copy A of Forms W-2 and Form W-3 will be in red OCR drop-out ink, except as specified below. The following must be printed in non-reflective black ink:

Identifying control number ‘22222’ (Exhibit C) at the top of Form W-2.
Tax year at the bottom of the Form W-2 (see Exhibit C).
Identifying control number ‘33333’ (Exhibit D) at the top of Form W-3.
Tax year at the bottom of Form W-3 (Exhibit D).
Form identification ‘W-3’ at the bottom of Form W-3 (Exhibit D).

All other printing on Forms W-2, Copy A, and W-3 must be in red OCR drop-out Flint Ink J-6983 (formerly Sinclair and Valentine) or an exact match. This is the same ink that is used for Copy A of the Form 1099 series (see Pub. #1179). The use of this is required for 1999 Forms W-3 and W-2 (Copy A.)

NOTE: Printing in any other red OCR drop-out ink must be cleared by contacting Banc-Tech Corp., Attn: Forms Designer & Analysis, 27011 East Grauwyler, Bldg #1, Mail-stop #69, Irving, TX 75061 (972-579-6088).

.04 Type must be substantially identical in size and shape with corresponding type on the official form. The form identifying number MUST be printed in nonreflective black ink using an OCR-A font; 10 characters per inch.

On Form W-3 and Copy A of Forms W-2, all the perimeter rules must be 1point (0.014 inch), while all other rules must be one-half point (0.007 inch).
Vertical rules must be parallel to the left edge of the form; horizontal rules parallel to the top edge. .05 Two official Forms W-2 (Copy A), or one official Form W-3 is contained on a single page that is 7 inches wide (exclusive of any snap-stubs) by 11 inches deep. The form identifying control number for the official forms (7 inches wide) is ‘22222’ (5 digits) for Form W-2 and ‘33333’ (5 digits) for Form W-3. The top margin for 1999 Forms W-3 and W-2, Copy A is .375 inch (3/8 inch). The right margin must be .15 inch and the left margin .35 inch (plus or minus .0313 inch). The margins are unchanged from 1998. Margins must be free of all printing. No printing should appear anywhere near the Form ID control number (33333, or 22222). For Forms W-2, Copy A, the combination width of Box a, ‘Control number,’ and the box containing the form identifying number (22222) must always be 2.0 inches. For Form W-3, the combined width of these boxes must always be 2.2 inches.

NOTE: All form identifying numbers must be printed in non-reflective black

ink, using OCR-A font, printed 10 characters per inch.

.06 The depth of the individual scannable image on a page must be the same as that on the IRS printed forms. For Form W-2, the depth is 4.92 inches (see Exhibit A). The scannable image depth of the Form W-3 on a page must be 4.47 inches (see Exhibit B). .07 The words “Do Not Cut, Staple, or Separate Forms on This Page” must be printed twice in red OCR drop-out ink between the two Forms W-2 on Copy A only (see Exhibit A). Perforations are required on all copies (except Copy A) to enable the separation of individual forms. Continuous pinfeed Copy A forms must be separated at the page perforation into individual 11” deep pages before submission to the SSA. The pinfeed strips must also be removed. However, the two W-2 documents contained on the 11” deep page must not be separated.

.08 The words “For Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see separate instructions,” must be printed in red OCR drop-out ink on Forms W-2, Copy A (see Exhibit A for format and location). The Forms W-2 and W-3 in- structions contain the Privacy Act Noti- fication previously shown on the Form W-3.

.09 The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Number must be printed on each ply of Forms W-2 and on W-3 (see Exhibits A and B for format and location).

.10 The instructions on the official Form W-3, must be printed in their entirety on all substitute Forms W-3 (see Exhibit B).

Household employers filing Forms W-2 for household employees should send the forms to the same address listed in the in- structions.

Note: Household employers, even those with only one household employee, must file a Form W-3 with Form W-2. On Form W-3 mark the “Hshld Emp.” box in Box b.

.11 Privately printed continuous sub- stitute Forms W-2, Copy A, must be per- forated at each 11” page depth. No per- forations are allowed between the individual forms (5 ¹ ⁄2 inch Forms W-2) on a single copy page of Copy A. Con- tinuous pinfeed Copy A forms must be

1999–21 I.R.B. 11 May 24, 1999

road retirement tax withheld. NOTE: Railroad employees may not be subject to social security coverage but are subject to Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA) Tier 1 and Tier 2 coverage. Railroad employers may make the above modifications to Forms W-2 but only for substitute Forms W-2 furnished to employees and not for any Copy A forms to be filed with the SSA.

The “core” boxes must be printed in the exact order on each line as on the IRS printed form (see the Exhibits at the end of this revenue procedure). Boxes 1 and 2 must be next to each other, with boxes 3 and 4 below on the next line, and boxes 5 and 6 on the line below Boxes 3 and 4.

The block of core data (boxes 1 through 6) must be placed in the upper right of the form. Substitute employee copies of Form W-2, that are printed using a vertical format with dimensions smaller than the IRS printed form may have the core data entirely on the top of the form (see Exhibit F). In no instance will boxes or other information be permitted to the right of the core data. Standard margins or a small amount of other blank space may appear to the top or right of

separated at the page perforation prior to submitting them to the SSA. Two Copy A forms are contained on one page. The two copies must remain together on the page. Only the pages are to be separated (burst). Perforations are required between all the other individual copies on a page (Copies 1, B, C, 2, and D) included in the set.

.12 The back of a substitute Forms W2, Copy A, and Form W-3 must be free of all printing.

.13 Spot carbons are NOT permitted for Copy A of Forms W-2 or for Form W3. Interleaved carbon should be black and must be of good quality to assure legibility of information on all copies and to preclude smudging.

.14 Chemical transfer paper is permitted for Form W-2, Copy A, and Form W-3 only if the following standards are met:

Only chemically backed paper is acceptable for Copy A.
Carbon coated forms are not permitted. Front and back chemically treated paper cannot be processed properly by machine.
Chemically transferred images must be black in color.

.15 The GPO symbol must not be placed on substitute Copy A of Forms W-2.

.16 The Catalog Number, shown on the 1999 Form W-2 as “Cat. No. 10134D ”, and the Catalog Number shown on the 1999 Form W-3 as “Cat. No. 10159Y ”, are used for IRS distribution purposes and should not be printed on substitute forms.