The state of Oregon follows the Social Security Administration (SSA) guidelines for the filing of W-2 wage and tax statements, with Oregon-specific requirements for the RS and RV records (OAR 150-316-0359).
All employers and payroll service providers are required to file W-2 information electronically in a manner consistent with the electronic filing specifications outlined by the SSA. All W-2s must be filed by January 31 of the following year.
ORS 316.202 allows the department to assess penalties for failing to file an information return or filing an incorrect or incomplete information return and knowingly failing to file an information return or knowingly filing an incomplete, false, or misleading information return.
Electronic records that do not conform to the specifications defined in these instructions will not be accepted.
Record format and record layout specifications
Transmitters
are required to use the format listed beginning on page two of this document
for RS and RV records. For all other record specifications, please follow the
information in the SSA booklet, Specifications for Filing Forms W2
Electronically (EFW2). Additional information is available on the Social Security website. Information regarding electronically filing W-2s with Oregon is available on our iWire webpage.
State of Oregon required format
Oregon does not accept withholding information on magnetic media or in other formats. File size is limited to 150MB and the file must be in .txt format only. The transmission is encrypted so the file itself need not be.
For technical questions concerning electronic filing, email us at iwire.dor@dor.oregon.gov. You can also reference the frequently asked questions and troubleshooting guide posted on our website on our iWire webpage under Resources.
Important information
All money fields follow SSA record specification rules:
- Must contain only numbers.
- No punctuation.
- No signed amounts (high order signed or low order signed). Include both dollars and cents with the decimal point assumed (example: $59360 = 00000005960). Do not round to the nearest dollar (example: $5,500.99 = 00000550099).
- Right-justify and zero fill to the left.
- Any money field that has no amount to be reported must be filled with zeros, not blanks.
State Transit Tax (STT) Reporting Requirements
If your business had employees who performed work in Oregon or had Oregon resident employees who performed work outside of Oregon during the year, you must report Statewide Transit Tax information. That information should be reported on your RS record in character positions 348-369
and the RV record in character positions 40-69. These fields should be formatted like every other dollar-value field in the file.
RS record information
- Positions 348-358: Taxable for the Statewide Transit tax.
- Positions 359-369: Amount withheld for the Statewide Transit tax.
RV record information
- Positions 40-54: Total amount of taxable wages for the Transit tax.
- Positions 55-69: Total amount of Statewide Transit tax withheld.
NOTE: RECORD LENGTH FOR THE OREGON AND SSA 'RS' RECORD IS 512 BYTES. ALL FIELDS ARE REQUIRED AND CAN BE BLANK OR ZERO FILLED. The transmitter is required to send the federal records sent to the SSA for Oregon employees: RA, RE, RW, RO (optional), RS, RT, RU (optional), RV, and RF. The RS record must be for Oregon wages only.
RS Record Layout - State of Oregon, Department of Revenue
Line 1: Field Names
Line 2: Position Lengths