Railroad Retirement Board – Issuing Statements
of Service
May 2911
Each year, the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) prepares
a “Certificate of Service Months and Compensation” (Form BA-6) for every
railroad employee who received creditable railroad compensation in the previous
calendar year. The forms will be mailed to employees by the RRB during the
first half of June. While every effort has been made to maintain current
addresses for all active railroad employees, anyone with compensation reported
in 2010 who has not received Form BA-6 by July 1, or needs a replacement,
should contact the nearest RRB field office by calling the agency’s toll-free
number, 1-877-772-5772.
Form BA-6 provides employees with a record of their railroad
retirement service and compensation. While the form has no cash value, the
information shown is used to determine whether an employee qualifies for
benefits and the amount of those benefits.
It is important that employees review their Form BA-6 to see
whether their own records of service months and creditable compensation agree
with the figures shown on the form. In checking the 2010 compensation total,
employees should be aware that only annual earnings up to $106,800 were
creditable for railroad retirement purposes in that year, and that $106,800 is
the maximum amount shown on the form. To assist employees in reviewing their
service credits, the form also shows service credited on a month-by-month basis
for 2009, 2008, and 2007, when the creditable compensation maximums were
$106,800, $102,000, and $97,500, respectively. In addition, the form identifies
the employer(s) reporting the employee’s 2010 service and compensation.
Besides the months of service reported by employers, Form
BA-6 shows the number of any additional service months deemed by the RRB.
Deemed service months may be credited under certain conditions for an employee
who did not work in all 12 months of the year but had creditable tier II
earnings exceeding monthly prorations of the
creditable tier II earnings maximum for the year. However, the total of
reported and deemed service months may never exceed 12 in a calendar year, and
no service months, reported or deemed, can be credited after retirement,
severance, resignation, discharge, or death.
Form BA-6 also shows the number of months of verified
military service creditable as service under the Railroad Retirement Act, if
the service was previously reported to the RRB. Employees are encouraged to
submit proofs of age and/or military service in advance of their actual
retirement. Filing these proofs with the RRB in advance will streamline
the benefit application process and prevent payment delays.
For employees who received separation or severance payments,
the section of the form designated “Taxable Amount” shows the amounts reported
by employers of any separation allowance or severance payments that were
subject to railroad retirement tier II taxes. This information is shown on the
form because a lump sum, approximating part or all of the tier II taxes
deducted from such payments made after 1984 which did not provide additional
tier II credits, may be payable by the RRB upon retirement to qualified
employees or to survivors if the employee dies before retirement. The amount of
an allowance included in an employee’s regular compensation is shown under
“Compensation Amount.”
Form BA-6 also shows, in the section designated “Employee
Contributions,” the cumulative amount of tier II railroad retirement payroll
taxes paid by the employee over and above tier I social security equivalent
payroll taxes. While the RRB does not collect or maintain payroll tax information,
the agency computes this amount from its compensation records in order to
advise retired employees of their payroll tax contributions for Federal income
tax purposes.
Employees should check their name, address, birth date and
sex shown at the top of the form. If the form shows the birth date as 99- 9999
and the gender code is “U” (for unknown), it means the RRB is verifying his or
her social security number with the Social Security Administration. Otherwise,
if the personal identifying information is incorrect or incomplete (generally cases where the employee’s surname has more than 10 letters
and the form shows only the first 10 letters) or the address is not correct,
the employee should contact an RRB field office. The field office can then correct
the RRB’s records. This is important in order to
prevent identity or security-related problems that could arise if the employee
wants to use certain Internet services available on the RRB’s
website at www.rrb.gov.
Employees may view their railroad retirement service and
compensation records; get annuity estimates; apply for or claim railroad unemployment
benefits; claim sickness benefits; and access their railroad unemployment
insurance account statements through the RRB’s
website. To use these online services, an employee must first establish an RRB
Internet Services account. For security purposes, first time users must apply
for a Password Request Code, which they will receive by mail in about 10
business days. To do this, employees should click on “requesting a Password
Request Code (PRC)” in the “Benefit Online Services Login” section on the home
page.
Employees can also request that printouts of their
individual railroad retirement records of service months and compensation be
mailed to them. A PIN/Password is not required to use this service. It can be
accessed by visiting www.rrb.gov, moving the cursor over the
“Beneficiaries & RR Employees” category and then clicking on “Request
Service & Compensation History.”
If the employee’s name was incomplete on Form BA-6, and he
or she has not yet contacted an RRB field office to correct it, the employee
should enter his or her first and middle initials and his or her surname just
as it appears on the Form BA-6 or a previously furnished printout of service
and compensation, along with the other requested information.
Any other discrepancies in Form BA-6 should be reported
promptly in writing to: Protest Unit-CESC, U.S. Railroad Retirement Board,
The regular BA-6 forms issued in June 2011 are prepared by a
contract printer using card stock. Starting this year, any corrected or
replacement BA-6 forms subsequently issued by the RRB will be printed in-house
using laser printers and regular stationery. As a result, the replacement BA-6
forms will look and feel different than the originals, but they will still be
official RRB documents.
For most employees, the address of the RRB office serving
their area is provided on the form along with the RRB’s
nationwide toll-free number (1-877-772-5772). Most RRB offices are open to the
public from
To view sample Form BA-6, click on or type this address: http://www.rrb.gov/pdf/opa/pr1104.pdf
Office of Public Affairs 312-751-4777
Posted: 05/20/11