Railroad Bosses: Weigh In on Your Pay Reporting Forms Now
Published Date: 1/21/2026
Notice
Summary
The Railroad Retirement Board is asking for public feedback on forms railroad employers use to report employee work and pay info. These updates help make sure benefits are paid right and paperwork isn’t too heavy. If you’re a railroad employer, you’ve got 30 days to share your thoughts before the changes get reviewed by the budget office.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 3 costs, 0 mixed.
Survivor Questionnaire for Death Benefits
If a railroad employee or survivor dies, the RRB may ask surviving relatives to complete Form RL-94-F to decide if lump-sum death benefits, residual payments, accrued annuities, or monthly survivor payments are payable. The RRB estimates 5,450 annual responses to RL-94-F with a total burden of about 959 hours.
Railroad Employer Reporting Requirement
If you are a railroad employer, federal law requires you to report employee service and compensation to the Railroad Retirement Board using forms such as AA-12, G-88A.1, G-88A.2, and BA-6a. The RRB estimates the Employer Reporting collection will receive 2,630 responses annually and impose about 357 total burden hours.
New-Hire Home Address Reporting Duty
20 CFR 209.12(b) requires railroad employers to provide the home addresses of employees hired within the last year (new-hires). The RRB uses Form BA-6a (paper, internet, or email/CD-ROM options) when employers do not have computerized address files; the BA-6a entries in the ICR show multiple response modes and estimated burdens for paper and electronic submission.
Medicare Part B Claim Form Requirement
If you are covered by the Railroad Retirement System and need Part B Medicare payments, you (or providers) must submit Form G-740S and CMS-1500 so Palmetto GBA can pay claims; completion is required to obtain the benefit. The ICR reports one annual G-740S response with an estimated 1 hour burden.
Deemed Service Month Reporting by Employers
Under Section 3(i) of the Railroad Retirement Act, the RRB may credit additional 'deemed' months of service and uses Form GL-99 to get employer information needed to decide this. The ICR estimates 2,000 annual GL-99 responses with about 67 burden hours.
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Key Dates
Related Federal Register Documents
2026-16251, Jurisdiction Determinations
The Railroad Retirement Board amends its regulations to reflect statutory amendments granting jurisdiction to the Board to pay benefits under the Railroad Retirement Act and under Title II of the Social Security Act to railroad employees and auxiliary beneficiaries who have less than ten years of railroad service, but at least five years after 1995. The amendment also adds divorced spouses to the list of auxiliary beneficiaries to whom the Board will pay benefits in accordance with controlling law. The existing regulation is no longer consistent with the statutory criteria in the Railroad Retirement Act for jurisdictional determinations and is therefore facially unlawful.
2026-16250, Determining Disability
The Railroad Retirement Board amends its regulations to update the amount of monthly allowable earnings for a disability annuitant to reflect the formula in section 2(e)(4) of the Railroad Retirement Act. The existing regulation is no longer consistent with the statutory formula in the Railroad Retirement Act for the maximum monthly allowable earnings for a disability annuitant and is therefore facially unlawful.
2026-14437, Proposed Collection; Comment Request
The Railroad Retirement Board wants your thoughts on updates to a form used when someone quits their job and applies for unemployment benefits. They’ve made some wording clearer and added a question about efforts to fix problems before leaving work. If you’re affected, these changes might save you time and help the agency get better info—comments are open now, so don’t miss your chance to weigh in!
2026-12805, Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment
The government is raising the fines for breaking certain rules to keep up with inflation. This means anyone who faces civil penalties will see higher maximum fines starting soon. The update helps keep penalties fair and effective by adjusting the amounts to today’s dollars.
2026-10206, Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment
The Railroad Retirement Board announced that civil monetary penalties won’t go up in 2026 because the government couldn’t get the inflation data needed to adjust them. This means penalties will stay the same as in 2025, affecting anyone who might face fines under these rules. So, no surprise hikes next year—penalties hold steady, keeping things predictable!
2026-10078, Annuity Beginning and Ending Dates
If you’re a railroad worker with 30 years of service turning 60, good news! Starting June 22, 2026, you can begin your annuity without having to take a reduced monthly benefit like before. This change means more money in your pocket sooner, and it fixes old rules that didn’t match the law.
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