Electronic Reporting of Wage & Tax Statements and Information Returns

This information is intended for software developers. It contains instructions for uploading files to the Iowa Department of Revenue using GovConnectIowa and data formatting specifications for W-2 Wage and Tax Statements and 1099 Information Returns.

Caution: This publication refers to the annual reporting of W-2 Wage and Tax Statements to the Department and should not be confused with quarterly wage reporting to Iowa Workforce Development for unemployment insurance purposes.

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Quick Tips

Include the Iowa withholding permit number, when available, on every wage and tax statement and information return reportable to Iowa. It is required when Iowa tax was withheld and optional otherwise. Withholding permits are 9 or 12 digits and commonly appear with hyphens. For electronic reporting, omit the hyphens and report only numbers. 

Payroll Service Providers When reporting your client’s 9-digit or 12-digit Iowa withholding permit number, they must match the Department’s records. Iowa requires them when reporting an Iowa tax withheld amount greater than zero.

Transmitters collect data from employers/payers and serve as a third-party pass-through to Iowa’s GovConnectIowa. A transmitter must use its own login information to access GovConnectIowa as a Bulk Filer, just as Payroll Service Providers do. Transmitters must register with the Iowa Department of Revenue in order to become an Iowa GovConnectIowa Bulk Filer. 

Software developers with questions about Iowa W-2/1099 e-filing specifications may contact the Department at csp-bulkfilers@iowa.gov.

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Filing Requirements

The Department accepts the following forms electronically:

  • Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statements
  • Form 1099-B, Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions
  • Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt
  • Form 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions
  • Form 1099-G, Certain Government Payments
  • Form 1099-INT, Interest Income
  • Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions
  • Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income
  • Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee compensation
  • Form 1099-OID, Original Issue Discount
  • Form 1099-R, Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.
  • Form W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings 

The specifications in this publication are for filing tax years 2021, 2022 and 2023 during 2024. 

Iowa does not accept other types of files (for example, PDFs scanned or created with any other software product). Zipped files are accepted if they are within the correct file layout and file extension.

Iowa does not accept paper W-2 wage and tax statements and 1099 information returns.

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W-2 Reporting

W-2 File Record Format

Iowa W-2 specifications are based on the Social Security Administration's EFW2 format.

Iowa requires W-2 data to be recorded in ASCII. Each record must have a uniform length of 512 bytes, followed by a Carriage Return / Line Feed (CR/LF).

Exclude quarterly unemployment compensation from the RS record.

Iowa requires numeric fields to be right-justified and zero filled leftward from the most significant digit (i.e. not blanks). Follow SSA rules for money fields; Iowa requires same.

Follow SSA specifications for sequence and frequency of EFW2 records except as noted below. 

  • RA Record – Submitter Record (follow SSA specifications)
  • RE Record – Employer Record (follow SSA specifications)
  • RW Record – Employee Wage Record (follow SSA specifications)
  • RO Record – Employee Wage Record (Optional, if used, follow SSA specs)
  • RS Record – State Wage Record (follow SSA specs, including its rules for alpha/numeric fields and money fields, except as follows)
    • Taxing Entity Code (positions 5 – 9) disregarded, fill with blanks
    • Unemployment reporting (positions 195 – 242) disregarded, fill with blanks
    • State employer account number (positions 248 – 267) enter the 9-digit or (Zero fill with three 0’s before or after the 9-digit permit) 12-digit Iowa Withholding Permit Number assigned by the Department to an employer for the purpose of withholding Iowa income tax, filing Iowa withholding returns & remitting payments, and filing W-2 wage and tax statements to the Department. This may be zeros if the employer has no Iowa Withholding permit and withheld no Iowa tax. Right-justify and zero fill.
    • Tax Type Code (position 308) fill with blank
    • Local Taxable Wages (positions 309 – 319) fill with zeros
    • Local Income Tax Withheld (positions 320 – 330) fill with zeros
    • State Control Number (positions 331 – 337) fill with blanks
    • Supplemental Data 1 (positions 338 – 412) fill with blanks
    • Supplemental Data 2 (positions 413 – 487) fill with blanks
  • RT Record – Total Record (follow SSA specs)
  • RU Record – Total Record (Optional, if used, follow SSA specs)
  • RV Record – State of Iowa Total Record; 
    • Record Identifier (positions 1 – 2) Constant β€œRV”.
    • Number of Iowa RS Records (positions 3 – 9) Enter the total number of State of Iowa Wage Records (RS records with State Code 19) reported since the last Employer Record (RE). Right-justify and zero fill.
    • Iowa Wages, Tips, and Other Compensation (positions 10 – 24). Enter the sum amount of all State of Iowa Wage Records (RS records with State Code 19) reported since the last Employer Record (RE). Right-justify and zero fill.
    • Iowa Income Tax Withheld (positions 25 – 39) Enter the sum amount of all State of Iowa Wage Records (RS records with State Code 19) reported since the last Employer Record (RE). Right-justify and zero fill. 
    • Employer’s BEN (positions 40 – 47); no longer required fill with zeros.
    • Iowa Confirmation Number (positions 48 – 57) Zero fill.
    • Blank (positions 58 – 512) Fill with blanks.
  • RF Record – Final Record (follow SSA specifications)
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Information Return Reporting

Information Return File Record Format

Iowa Information Return specifications are based on the IRS Publication 1220 format. While Iowa does not participate in the IRS Combined Federal/ State Filing (CS/SF) Program, Iowa does follow IRS formatting specifications for electronic filing Information Returns directly with Iowa.

Iowa requires Information Return data to be recorded in ASCII. Each record must have a uniform length of 750 bytes including the Carriage Return / Line Feed (CR/LF) at the end of the record.

The β€˜K’ State Totals Record that the IRS provides for state summaries; report totals of Iowa (State Code 19) β€˜B’ records reported since the last β€˜A’ Record. Exclude counts/amounts from β€˜B’ records corresponding to states other than Iowa.

Iowa requires numeric fields to be right-justified and zero filled leftward from the most significant digit (i.e. not blanks). Follow IRS rules for money fields; Iowa requires the same.

Follow IRS specifications for sequence and frequency of Information Return records except as noted below.

  • T Record - Transmitter Record (follow IRS specifications)
  • A Record - Payer Record (follow IRS specifications)
  • B Record - Payee Record (follow IRS specifications, but adjust as follows):
    • The IRS limits use of the β€œB” record to states participating in its CF/FS Program. Many states, including Iowa, do not participate in that program. For purposes of reporting to Iowa (not to the IRS) report state detail even if the given state doesn’t participate in the IRS’s CF/FS Program. If a payee has a reporting requirement for more than one state (including Iowa), separate β€œB” Records must be created for each state. Payer must apportion payee amounts among each state accordingly. Do not combine the amounts for all states into one state β€œB” record.
    • Payee’s Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) (positions 12 – 20) Enter the nine-digit taxpayer identification number of the payee (SSN, ITIN, ATIN, or EIN). Do not enter hyphens or alpha characters. If an identification number has been applied for but not received, enter zeros rather than blanks; this is a departure from the IRS requirement.
    • State of Iowa Withholding Permit Number (positions 663 – 674) when β€œB” record reports Iowa-specific information, enter the either the 9-digit (Zero fill with three 0’s before or after the 9-digit permit) or 12-digit Iowa Withholding Permit Number assigned by the Department to the payer for the purpose of withholding Iowa income tax, filing Iowa withholding returns & remitting payments, and filing information returns to the Department. This may be zeros if the payer has no Iowa Withholding permit and withheld no Iowa tax. When β€œB” record reports state information that’s not Iowa, zero fill.
    • Other Iowa Amount 1 (positions 675 – 686) corresponds to 1099-MISC Line 18 State Income; 1099-NEC Line 7 State Income; 1099-R Line 16 State Distributions; W-2G Line 14 State Winnings. Amount must be right-justified and unused positions must be zero-filled. Zeros when none or not applicable.
    • Blank (positions 687 – 722) enter blanks
    • State Income Tax Withheld (positions 723 – 734) amount must be right-justified and unused positions must be zero-filled. Zeros when none.
    • Local Income Tax Withheld (positions 735 – 746) amount must be right-justified and unused positions must be zero-filled. Zeros when none.
    • Combined Federal/State Code (positions 747 – 748) Report the ANSI (FIPS) State Numeric Code of the state reported in the β€œB” record. The United States Census Bureau maintains a complete list of FIPS State Codes, the basis for the subset used in IRS Pub 1220.
  • C Record - End of Payer Record (follow IRS specifications)
  • K Record - State Totals Record (follow IRS specifications, but adjust as follows):
    • The IRS limits use of the β€œK” record to states participating in its CF/FS Program. Iowa does not participate in that program. For purposes of reporting to Iowa (not to the IRS) use one β€œK” record to report Iowa totals, even when β€œB” records for other states were reported. Do not include totals for other states within the Iowa β€œK” record. Do not report separate β€œK” records for other states.
    • Blank (positions 508 – 681) enter blanks
    • Payer BEN (positions 682 – 689); no longer required fill with zeros.
    • Confirmation Number (positions 690 – 699) enter all zeros
    • Blank (positions 700 – 706) enter blanks
    • State Income Tax Withheld Total (positions 707 – 724) zeros when none; never blank.
    • Local Income Tax Withheld Total (positions 725 – 742) zeros when none; never blank.
    • Combined Federal/State Code (positions 747 – 748) Report the ANSI (FIPS) State Numeric Code of the state reported in the β€œB” record. The United States Census Bureau maintains a complete list of FIPS State Codes, the basis for the subset used in IRS Pub 1220. Use 19 for Iowa.
  • F Record - End of Transmission Record (follow IRS specifications)

View W-2/1099 Common Questions

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