iWire Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting Tips

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Background infromation 

Oregon now requires that all employers submit W-2 and 1099 information electronically with the Oregon Department of Revenue. There are currently three submission options available in the Income and Wage Information Return e-Services system (iWire) through Revenue Online.

The first option is to use the bulk upload method used by the federal government. “Bulk uploads" are specially formatted text files generated by specialized software or computer programming. The federal specifications for W-2s are in the Social Security Administration's Specifications for Filing Forms W-2 (EFW2). The specifications for 1099s are in IRS Publication 1220.

The second option is to manually enter the information into iWire for each W-2 or 1099. The system asks for basic identifying information for the business and then offers an interface that looks very similar to the paper forms.

The final option is to import your information into our spreadsheet template and then upload the spreadsheet to iWire. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQ's)

What is iWire?

iWire is the Oregon Department of Revenue's electronic W-2 and 1099 filing system. Businesses are required to file their W-2s and 1099s with us under ORS 316.202 and ORS 314.360. 

What's the point of this requirement?

Information return matching is one of the most powerful tools that tax agencies have to prevent refund fraud. If employers file W-2s on behalf of their employees, their employees are better protected from identity thieves filing a tax return on their behalf and claiming a refund. If the information on the return doesn't match what was reported through iWire, we won't issue the requested refund, which keeps tax dollars out of the hands of fraudsters.

Is this something new?

No. This electronic filing requirement was passed by the legislature in 2009. However, filing enforcement and penalties for non-filing or late filing began in 2014.

I'm required to file W-2s and 1099s with the federal government. Why do I need to send them to Oregon, too? Can't the IRS just share the information with you?

Oregon doesn't receive W-2 and 1099 information from the federal government until well after the personal income tax filing season ends. Without receiving this information early in the filing season, we can't verify the information provided on personal income tax returns to protect taxpayers and state tax dollars from refund fraud.

Are there penalties for non-filers or late filing?

Yes. The chart below describes what the penalties would be based on a given number of records that were not filed: 

Additional information on these penalties is available on our iWire webpage. If you have problems submitting your records, contact us right away for assistance. It may take a little longer for us to respond during peak times of year, but we will assist anyone making a good-faith effort to get their files submitted by the deadline before any penalties are assessed.

As a small business with few employees, the federal government doesn't require me to file W-2s electronically. Does Oregon still expect me to submit them?

Yes. All employers in Oregon are required to submit all information returns electronically.

Do I need to report Paid Leave Oregon contributions on my W-2?

No. You do not need to report Paid Leave Oregon contributions on W-2s.

If I complete my filing electronically, do I need to submit paper forms just to make sure you received my information?

No. We only accept electronic filings.

I use Frances for e-filing the OQ/132. Can W-2s be e-filed through Frances Online also?

 No. Frances Online is only for the OQ/132 filing process. Frances Online Landing Page (oregon.gov)

Which 1099 information returns are required to be filed with Oregon?

Oregon requires electronic filing of forms 1099-Misc, 1099-G, 1099-R, and W-2G*. *Beginning tax year 2020, forms 1099-NEC and 1099-K are also required to be filed electronically.

Why do we have to start filing 1099-NEC and 1099-K?

Starting for tax year 2020, the Department of Revenue now requires non-employee compensation to be filed on the Form 1099-NEC and payment card/third-party network transactions on the Form 1099-K.

What is a 1099-NEC?

Businesses would use the form 1099-NEC to report non-employee compensation. This new IRS form is for business taxpayers that pay or receive non-employee compensation. Beginning with tax year 2020, payers must complete.

What is a 1099-K?

A payment settlement entity (PSE) must file Form 1099-K for payments made in settlement of reportable payment transactions for each calendar year. A PSE makes a payment in settlement of a reportable payment transaction. That is any payment card or third-party network transaction, if the PSE submits the instruction to transfer funds to the account of the participating payee to settle the reportable payment transaction.

I only issued a couple of 1099s. Do I have to file them electronically or can I mail them?

Beginning with tax year 2017 (the 2018 filing season), all 1099s will need to be filed with us electronically.

Will you work with me to ensure my information is submitted correctly and on time?

Yes. If you don't find the answer you are looking for in this document or on our website, please email iwire.dor@dor.oregon.gov or call us at 503-945-8100, option 4. Wait times increase as we get closer to the filing deadline, but we'll respond to and assist anyone making a good-faith effort to get their files submitted by the deadline before any penalties are assessed.

What is the deadline for filing the W-2 and 1099 information?

We follow the federal deadlines for W-2 and 1099 submissions. The deadline for filing W-2s and Form 1099-NEC is January 31. All other forms 1099 (1099-G, 1099-K, 1099-R, W-2G) are due on March 31.

What is the due date for the annual reconciliation form (Form WR)?

Form WR is due on or before January 31. The WR is a separate requirement from the W-2 and 1099 submissions. Businesses must file their WR electronically beginning with tax year 2018 (due January 31, 2019).

What if I can't file by the deadline? Are extensions available?

Yes. We may grant an extension request of up to 30 days if you can show a hardship that prevented you from filing timely. To be considered for an extension, please email the following information to iwire.dor@dor.oregon.gov:

1. Your business name, address, phone number, and business identification number (BIN).
2. Reason you need an extension.
3. Date by which you intend to file the W-2s or 1099s.
4. Number of W-2s or 1099s you'll be filing, broken down by BIN number if you're filing for more than one business. 

What if I have a hardship and can't file electronically?

Under OAR 150-316-0359 (8), the department may grant an exception to the filing requirements if the taxpayer can show undue hardship. Undue hardship is based on the facts and circumstances specific to each employer or payer and determined on a case-by-case basis. With that said, we strongly urge businesses to file electronically, even if you need an extension to resolve any technical issues that are preventing you from filing. Electronic filing of W-2s is a major ally in our fight against refund fraud.

Starting a submission 

Can I submit my reports on magnetic media?

No. We only accept submissions electronically through iWire.

On the Business Information page, are you looking for information about my company or about the company that we are submitting for?

We are looking for the employer information (shown on W-2) on this screen.

If you are a third party submitting on behalf of a client and are logged into Revenue Online, you will need to select the “Payer different than submitter" checkbox. This will open the fields to allow you to input the client's (employer) information.

How do I sign up to file electronically?

The best way to submit iWire information is with a Revenue Online account. A logged-in Revenue Online user can populate some of the fields automatically by looking at previous years' submission and send files that aren't being accepted to us for review.

If you don't have a Revenue Online account, you can use our non-logged-in option. Just go to our Revenue Online page and click File W-2s and 1099s using iWire.

I can't access my Revenue Online account. What am I doing wrong?

If you tried the password reset option and didn't get a response from our system, you most likely don't have an account set up yet or you may not have a login. To use our non-logged-in option:

• Go to Revenue Online.
• Under the iWire section, select File W-2s and 1099s using iWire.

You can also set up your Revenue Online account and file from there.

Is there a way to upload or e-file the Oregon annual withholding reconciliation form (Form OR-WR)?

Starting with tax year 2019, businesses and payroll service providers are required to file Form OR-WR electronically (OAR 150-316-0359(5)(b)). These returns can be filed in Revenue Online by logging in, selecting the business, clicking the Withholding Reconciliation/iWire account, and choosing "File Return" next to the desired filing period.

In addition, the Oregon Department of Revenue will utilize a subset of the version 5.2 FSET- standard XML schemas to allow for bulk filing of Form OR-WR. This process is intended for participants who (1) have technical expertise to create and validate an XML document or (2) are using software that provides this service.

Can I save my work and come back to it later?

Yes! Just click Save and Finish Later at the bottom of the page.

If you're a non-logged-in user, the system will issue you a “request code" once you enter your email address. To recover your submission file, go to Revenue Online and click “Look up request code." The system will prompt you for your email address and the request code.

If you're a logged-in Revenue Online user, you can retrieve your file by logging into Revenue Online and going to the Activity Center.

When a W-2 file is electronically submitted to the state of Oregon, is there a confirmation number issued back to the submitter indicating that the file has been received and is being processed?

You should get two emails from our system. The first should come immediately after you complete your submission. The second will come after our system processes your submission. Processing usually occurs in the evening following the submission, but it could take a day or two to process your submission based on user volume.

Non-logged in users will get a six-character “request code" from our system. Logged-in users will get a 10-digit confirmation number. Please retain those numbers for future reference.

Can I close my browser before I receive confirmation?

Yes. A confirmation email will be sent to you at the email address you provided on the initial submission screen.

Will the W-2 file be validated before it is accepted or rejected?

The system validates your information as you submit it. If there are issues that we detect after processing your submission, we will contact you directly using the information you provided on the submitter information page.

I completed my submission a few days ago and still haven't received an email from your system. What's going on?

If you haven't received any correspondence from our system, there may be an issue. You should get two separate emails from us. The first should come almost instantly and the second takes more time. We recommend checking your email account's spam filter to see if our message got sent there.

We are a third-party CPA firm and file for many clients. How should we file our clients' records in the new iWire system?

As a third party, you should file all iWire submissions through your own account. If you are manually entering the information through your own account, check the box labeled Payer different from submitter. You can also use the non-logged-in option to file for your clients.

My computer returned a certificate error. Why am I receiving this error? Isn't your site secure?

This actually is an issue with individual PCs. Depending on when and how a user downloaded Internet Explorer, they may not have received all of the root security certificates that allow their browser to make a secure connection to our website. Following the steps outlined in the article below will download the latest root certificates and resolve the issue. This also affects the Google Chrome browser as it uses the same certificate store. Firefox has its own store and doesn't seem to be affected.

When you install any browser (regardless of make, model, or platform), it comes with a default collection of trusted root security certificates. These correspond to site-level certificates purchased by websites (for example, the DOR SSL certificate was purchased from Entrust). When you visit an SSL-encrypted website, the browser looks at its root certificate store to find a match for the certificate being presented on that website. If it finds one, it creates a secured connection and presents the user with confirmation (the lock icon) that the connection is secure. When it doesn't find a match, it informs the user that the site may not be secure as it can't verify the site's identity based on certificates installed on that user's PC.

When can you start accepting iWire data for the current tax year? My business closed and I want to get this requirement over with.

We open the system for submission on July 1. You can submit information for the current tax year at any time after July 1. Just be sure to select the correct tax year when making your submission. The system will always default to the previous calendar year.

Using the manual entry or spreadsheet import options 

I'm entering my BIN and the system keeps telling me it is incorrect, but I know it is correct. What's the problem?

Our new system uses a full nine-digit identifier. If you left-fill your BIN with zeros, it will work fine. Example: If your BIN is 1234567-8, it should be entered as 01234567-8.

I'm getting an error because my state wages don't match my federal wages.

You're most likely getting this error because you haven't entered all of the state information from the bottom portion of the Form W-2. You must enter the wages earned in each state. The sum of the entries in Box 16 should equal the number in Box 1. Once it does, the error message will go away.

In rare cases, the sum of wages in Box 16 will not equal the wages in Box 1. In those cases, please put a brief explanation of the discrepancy in the spot designated as Box 14.

I'm trying to manually enter W-2s but am unable to enter any information. I clicked “add/delete," but there's nowhere for me to enter the data.

When you click Add/Delete/Edit W-2s, it pops up another summary screen. To add a W-2, click the blue tab that says Add W-2 in the top right corner.

I'm trying to manually enter records, but I can't type in the number of records in the listed box. What do I do?

Click the Add/Delete/Edit button for the records you're trying to enter. The listed box is a count of the records you've entered and is not a field for entry.

I'm filing 1099s and I don't know my “Employer Type" or “Employment Code." What should I enter there?

If you don't have answers for this because you don't report payroll with the IRS, then the “Employer Type" is almost always “None Apply." For “Employment Code," please select “Regular (All others, Form 941)" if you don't know what it should be.

How do I use your spreadsheet?

You'll need to download our spreadsheet template from our website. It is on the main iWire page with the header “Resources" in the right column.

That workbook has five separate sheets: an instructions sheet and then sheets named “Form W- 2," “W-2 State Wages," “Form 1099-MISC," “Form 1099-R," “Form 1099-K," and “Form 1099- NEC."

If you're submitting W-2s, you'll need to fill out both the Form W-2 sheet and the W-2 state wages sheet. The Form W-2 sheet will include most of the federal information from the W-2 and the W-2 state wages sheet includes information. Our system links the two using Social Security numbers.

If you're submitting Forms 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, 1099-K, and/or Forms 1099-R, you can just fill out those sheets individually.

Enter the information required by each column, save the sheet, and then select the Import button on the page where you would enter forms within iWire. The button should be at the bottom right of the window. If the button does not appear immediately, you can “retrieve" it by clicking on the Add/Delete/Edit W-2s button and then immediately clicking Cancel. 

The spreadsheet import function will import your records into the manual entry system. You can then edit those forms within the manual entry system as if you had entered all of the forms manually. If after importing the spreadsheet, you see red text that reads "Errors exist" next to the Add/Delete/Edit button, please click the appropriate Add/Delete/Edit button. You will have the opportunity to click a link that reads Show Errors in the window that appears. That link will identify the records that are at issue. Click on those records to edit them, and you can modify the errors right on the screen. You can also choose to modify the errors within the spreadsheet, save the spreadsheet, and import it again.

A few helpful tips:

• When submitting a spreadsheet, please be sure to include your information beginning in the third row of the sheet. The first two rows will be ignored.
  
• You can only include information from a single employer in one workbook.
• Please do not delete unused worksheets from the template. The system requires that all of the sheets are present before it will import the records.

I'm trying to upload an Excel spreadsheet, but it's not working. What am I doing wrong? 

There are two possibilities:

• On the Filing Options screen, you selected Upload bulk submissions instead of Manually enter information from individual forms or import a spreadsheet from a template. Please select the second option and then press the Import button.
• You didn't use our spreadsheet template. Our template is available in the “Resources" tab on the iWire webpage.
  

Submitting a Bulk Text File

Does Oregon follow Social Security Administration (SSA) specifications for W-2s?

Oregon follows the specifications for SSA with special rules for the state records (the “RS" and “RV" records). These specifications are listed on our website and differ in some ways from the federal specifications.

Does Oregon follow IRS specifications for 1099s and W-2Gs?

Oregon follows the specifications spelled out in IRS publication 1220, with special rules for the state record (the “B" records). These specifications are listed on our website and differ in some ways from the federal specifications.

What rules should I follow for rounding dollars and cents?

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: $59.60 = 00000005960; $54.00 = 000000005400).
• Don't round to the nearest dollar (example: $5,500.99 = 00000550099, NOT 00000005500).
• Right-justify numerical values and zero-fill to the left.
• Any money field that has no amount to be reported must be filled with zeros, not blanks. 

Will you also be following the SSA definitions for the data sent in the fields (for example, name and Social Security numbers of a W-2 file?

Yes. The RA, RE, RW, RT, and RF remain unchanged from the Social Security Administration file specifications. The RS and RV records are modified for state purposes.

What are considered as "valid" ASCII characters by the verification/validation logic within the iWire system? Are 0-127 on the ASCII Standard Table acceptable? What about 128-255?

Alphanumeric a-z and 0-9 characters will all be accepted. Certain non-alphanumeric characters, such as @, #, and _, will also be accepted. The best guidance here would be to avoid any non- alphanumeric characters other than the ones that you might find in an e-mail address. In particular, the system has difficulties with characters that include diacritics or accent marks. If the report in question is for an individual named Raymond Poincaré, please enter it as Raymond Poincare. The system will not accept ç, é, è, ñ, etc.

If I don't have the employee's date of hire and/or date of separation, should I leave the field blank or enter zeros?

You can leave this field blank. If you do have information on the date of hire and/or date of separation, please be sure to format it as YYYYMMDD, rather than MMDDYYYY, as required by the federal EFW2 specifications.

Will the “Terminating Business" indicator on the "RE" record of a W-2 submission be recognized/utilized by the iWire system?

Yes.

Will the “Third-Party Sick Pay" indicator on the "RE" record of a W-2 submission be recognized/utilized by the iWire system?

Yes.

An employer has employees in three different states earning wages. There are individual RS records for each employee for each state submitted in the W-2 electronic file. How do I handle the RV record?

Any records with something other than state code 41 in character positions 274-275 (the state code for Oregon) should not be included in the totals generated by the RV record. The RV record should only include the totals from the Oregon W-2s.

Does the file need to have a carriage return/line feed at the end of each record, or would this be optional?

We prefer files with record delimiters. If our system identifies any errors, this will make it easier for you to identify which record has the error. Our system informs you of the line on which the error occurs. If your file does not have line breaks, that information is less useful for you.

If record delimiters are used (CR-Carriage Return followed by LF-Line Feed), they must follow character position 512 of each record. This requirement is optional for the RF record. If you use record delimiters in your file, the following requirements apply:

• Each record must be followed immediately by a single record delimiter.
• Each record delimiter must consist of a carriage-return/line feed (CR/LF) placed immediately following position 512. Typically, this is accomplished by pressing the Enter key at the end of each record (i.e., after position 512).
• The ASCII-1 hexadecimal value for the carriage return character is 0D (zero and letter D); the ASCII-1 hexadecimal value for the line feed is 0A (zero and letter A). The ASCII-1 decimal values for the two characters are 13 and 10, respectively.
• Don't place a record delimiter before the first record of the file.
• Don't place record delimiters after a field within a record.
  

Sometimes the system has difficulty translating carriage returns and line feeds into characters and will return an error that indicates that the lines were not the required character length. Usually this can be addressed by adding one or two spaces to the end of each line.

I have an employee who had withholding in multiple states. How do I address this?

Include a separate RS record for each state underneath the RW record for the individual.

What should I do to correct my file that could not be processed?

Review and correct the errors in your rejected file and resubmit the file. The following are some of the most common errors for W-2s:

• One or more of the records is not the required 512 characters.
• The file is missing the RV or RF record.
• The file contains invalid characters (blanks instead of 0s or alpha characters in numeric fields, etc.).
• The Oregon specifications for the RS and RV files were not used.
• Each employee did not have an RS and RW record.
• Punctuation was included in the name address, telephone number, or numeric fields.
  

The following are some of the most common errors for 1099s:

• One or more of the records is not the required 750 characters.
• The file contains invalid characters (blanks instead of 0s or alpha characters in numeric fields, etc.).
• The Oregon-specific information in the “special data entry" fields on the B-records was excluded.
• Punctuation was included in the name address, telephone number, or numeric fields. 

I've received an error that says there was a problem parsing an XML file. I did not receive a confirmation number either. What do I do?

This error might occur if you are using an invalid XML character in the submission form. This is most common when the company name includes an ampersand (for example, Smith & Jones).

Will failing the validation cause the whole file (multiple employers) to fail or will only the specific employers within the file with error conditions fail?

The entire submission will be rejected and you will be notified of the errors shortly after submission. Please note that if you receive validation errors, you will need to submit a modified version of the text file until you get an email saying that the file was accepted.

I got an error that said, “File Type… is not allowed." How do I fix this?

The system is particularly sensitive about file extensions (the last four characters in the name of a file). Many programs will produce the file but will not add the necessary .txt to the end of the name. If you right-click on the file and add .txt to the very end of the name, the system should be able to process it.

If, however, the file you are attempting to upload is a .pdf, .zip, .xls, or some other file format, our system will not be able to process it successfully, even if you change the extension to .txt.

Editing these files is a real challenge. How can I figure out where the character positions are?

The Windows program Notepad is very useful for making minor changes to the file. For editing, please ensure that “Word Wrap" is turned off (available under the menu that reads “Format") and that the “Status Bar" is turned on (available under the menu that reads “View"). That will reveal a bar at the bottom that informs you of the specific character position. (Notepad refers to it as “Col.")

It is worth noting that if you do make any changes to the file, you must keep the character length of each row constant. Therefore, if you remove characters, you will probably need to replace them with either spaces or zeros. Likewise, if you add characters, you will probably need to remove spaces or zeros to compensate for the additional characters.

I just want someone to look at my file. How can I send it to you if your program keeps rejecting it?

We allow logged-in users to send us files for review. If you attempt to submit the file three times and all three attempts fail, you'll be given the option to send us the file through our iWire Bulk File Review. From there, we can evaluate any issues and send back a corrected version or feedback on how to fix the error, depending on the error type.

I tried to convert my .pdf file to a .txt, and it didn't work! What do I do?

Unfortunately, the iWire system cannot process a .pdf that has been saved as a .txt file.

Generally, submitters will need to use specialized software to generate the correct format.

I am trying to add the required information in the Special Data Entries section of the B- records in my 1099 submission. You ask for a Social Security number, but I already gave you the recipient's Social Security number in character positions 12-20. Why are you requiring it twice?

The required Social Security number in character positions 671-679 of a B-record on a 1099 submission would be the Social Security number of the payer of the 1099, rather than the recipient. This goes for the BIN in character position 663-670 as well; the BIN we are looking for is that of the payer. For those fields, the submitter can choose to enter either the BIN or the Social Security number. However, for the purposes of the system, what actually matters is the number used for withholding purposes. Normally, with businesses that do withholding on 1099s, we're going to want the BIN rather than the Social Security number.

Note that we do not want the same Social Security number twice in one B-record.

I'm not sure if my payroll software supports iWire. What do I do?

Contact your vendor, as they will need to translate their output to our format. This is true for any software that you may be using. If you're not sure whether your software will produce a file compatible with iWire, contact your vendor.

If your software isn't compatible, it may still be able to export the information as a spreadsheet. You can copy and paste information from those columns into the columns of our spreadsheet template, which is available on our website.

Can I test my electronic files to ensure they are correctly formatted before I submit them for processing?

Yes. From the Revenue Online home page, under iWire, choose “Upload an iWire test file."

Is it acceptable to use valid employer/employee data to test with or do we need to obtain test employer/employee data from you for our testing?

We don't look at your test file to see if the data is live data, so you can feel free to use live or test data in our test engine. To test files, please go to our Revenue Online page and click Upload an iWire test file.

Is Revenue Online secure?

Revenue Online is digitally secured by Entrust. This site transmits data using secure socket layer (SSL) technology, encrypting data passed between your browser and Revenue Online.

What method is used to transmit the files? Is it an FTP process?

No. It is a web-based interface.

Is there a size restriction on files being transmitted?

Yes. File size is limited to 150 MB.

Can the files be compressed to minimize transmission time?

No.

Can the files be encrypted?

No. The file itself can't be encrypted, but the transmission will be encrypted.

Other than the file extension of .txt are there any other file naming conventions that you prefer?

We don't have a preference as long as the extension is correct. We suggest naming it something that will be easy for you to identify and locate when uploading it to our system.

Can I upload more than one file at a time?

You can upload as many as five files per submission.

Does the process used to transmit files support availability 24/7 or will there be down time?

Submissions are allowed 24/7, with the exception of periodic scheduled maintenance. The scheduled maintenance usually occurs on weekends. If there is scheduled maintenance on a weekend, it will typically occur between 6 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, Pacific Time.

Is there a statute of limitations for sending original W-2s via the iWire system? For example, could you send a W-2 file for tax year 2006 in calendar year 2010 as long as it is filed using the current file specifications?

In theory, there is no statute of limitations. However, due to the possibility of changes to the file specifications and the deadline, W-2s should be filed by the deadline. Late filers will be accepted by the iWire system, provided that the file specifications have not changed.

After submitting

I want to see what I submitted. How do I retrieve my submission?

You should be able to view your previous submissions online if you manually entered them or used the spreadsheet. 

• If you're a logged-in user, you should log in and look under Requests in the Activity Center.
• If you're a non-logged-in user, please click on Look up request code under the Quick Links tab on the Revenue Online main page.
  

The information will not be available online if your submission was uploading a .txt file. If you need a list of the businesses you submitted, please let us know.

If a W-2 file has been submitted for an employer and it is later discovered that it was not a complete file, does the iWire system allow for "supplemental" W-2 files for an ID or would the additional employees be considered "corrections" to be submitted on a W-2c file?