| EMST/LST Electronic Filing Instructions
The City of Reading requests that the Local Services Tax (LST) information be submitted
to the Tax Administration Division on diskette or sent electronically
via E-mail.
Follow the technical reporting instructions
for diskette reporting. Then send the file to the Tax Administration
Division at taxfiles@readingpa.org.
You must continue to send all paperwork and your payment
to Tax Administration. No electronically sent files will
be processed until the payment is processed.
Media will be processed only after payment
for employees is received and processed by the Tax Administration
Division.
The following pages describe technical requirements
for diskette processing. Please refer to the File Record
Description for record layout and descriptions. Please forward
this information to the proper department for your processing
of LST information.
If you have any questions relative to this
procedure, contact the Tax Administration Division at 610-655-6337.
Diskette Technical Requirements
General Requirements
The City of Reading accepts LST information recorded on
3 1/2" diskettes or via email to taxfiles@readingpa.org
. Data must be recorded in ASCII character set.
Each diskette must contain the 6-character entry RDGEMST
as the file name. The City of Reading will reject and return
UNPROCESSED any diskette not properly identified internally
by RDGEMST. The City of Reading will not accept back-up
files or compressed files.
The City of Reading will only accept files recorded on
double-sided/double density diskettes or on double-sided/high
density diskettes using an MS-DOS operating system format.
Data should be in upper case letters.
Each file must contain LST information for a single tax
year only. A file containing multiple tax years will be
rejected.
Diskette Data Records
All data records must be a fixed length of 120 bytes. Deviations
from the prescribed record formats will prevent proper processing
of your file by the City of Reading. A properly composed
LST diskette file is comprised of the following records:
Code A - Transmitter Records
Code E - Employer Records
Code S - Employee EMST Records
Code T - Total Records
Code F - Final Records
Record Name: CODE A
– TRANSMITTER RECORD
Length – 120
LOCATION
|
FIELD |
LENGTH |
SPECIFICATIONS
& EDITS |
| |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Record Identifier
|
1
|
Constant “A”. |
2-5
|
Payment Year |
4 |
Enter the year for which this report is
being prepared. This field |
6-45
|
Transmitter Name |
40 |
Enter the name of the organization submitting
this file. Left justify and fill with blanks. |
46-75
|
Street Address |
30 |
Enter the street address of the submitter.
Left justify and fill with blanks. |
76-100
|
City |
25 |
For a foreign address, include name of
foreign “state” and country; abbreviate
city and state as necessary; show full country name.
Left justify and fill with blanks. |
101-102
|
State |
2 |
Use a standard postal
abbreviation.
For a foreign address leave blank. |
103-107
|
Zip Code |
5 |
Enter a valid zip code. |
108-111
|
Zip Code Extension |
4 |
Use this field for the
four-digit extension
of the Zip Code. No hyphen. |
112-120
|
Blank |
9 |
Leave blank. |
Record Name: CODE E – EMPLOYER
RECORD
Length – 120
LOCATION
|
FIELD |
LENGTH |
SPECIFICATIONS
& EDITS |
| |
|
|
|
1
|
Record Identifier
|
1
|
Constant “E”.
|
2-5
|
Payment Year |
4 |
Enter the year for which
this report is being prepared. This field is updated
each year. All code E records within a file must be
for the same payment year. Example: 2000 |
6-13
|
Employer Number |
8 |
Enter the account number
assigned to the employer by the City of Reading. Left
justify and fill with blanks. |
14-53
|
Employer Name |
40 |
Left justify and fill
with blanks. |
54-83
|
Street Address |
30 |
Left justify and fill
with blanks. |
84-108
|
City |
25 |
For a foreign address,
include name of foreign “state” and country;
abbreviate city and state as necessary; show full country
name. Left justify and fill with blanks. |
109-110
|
State |
2 |
Use a standard postal
abbreviation.
For a foreign address leave blank. |
111-115
|
Zip Code |
5 |
Enter a valid zip code.
|
116-119
|
Zip Code Extension |
4 |
Use this field for the
four-digit extension of the Zip Code. No hyphen. |
120-120
|
Name Code |
1 |
Enter “S” if the surname
appears first in the Employee Name field (positions
11-40) of the following Code S records. Enter “F”
if the first name appears first. On multiple employer
files, it is not necessary for the name code to be the
same on each employer record as long as the code is
consistent with the name format on the associated Code
S records. |
Record Name: CODE S – EMPLOYEE RECORD
Length – 120
LOCATION
|
FIELD |
LENGTH |
SPECIFICATIONS
& EDITS |
| |
|
|
|
1
|
Record Identifier
|
1
|
Constant “S”.
|
2-10
|
Social Security Number (SSN) |
9 |
Enter the employee's
social security number. |
11-40
|
Employee Name |
30 |
Enter the employee's
name.
Left justify and fill with blanks. |
41-70
|
Street Address |
30 |
Left justify and fill
with blanks. |
71-86
|
City |
16 |
For a foreign address,
include name of foreign "state" and country;
abbreviate city and state as necessary; show full
country name.
Left justify and fill with blanks.
|
87-88
|
State |
2 |
Use a standard postal
abbreviation.
For a foreign address leave blank. |
89-93
|
Zip Code |
5 |
Enter a valid zip code.
|
94-97
|
Zip Code Extension |
4 |
Use this field for the
four-digit extension of the Zip Code. No hyphen. |
98-101
|
Tax Withheld |
4 |
No negative amounts;
right justify and zero fill. |
102-120
|
Blank |
19 |
Leave Blank |
Record Name: CODE T – TOTAL RECORD
Length – 120
LOCATION
|
FIELD |
LENGTH |
SPECIFICATIONS
& EDITS |
| |
|
|
|
1
|
Record Identifier
|
1
|
Constant “T”.
|
2-8
|
Number Of Employees |
7 |
Enter the total number
of Code S records reported since the last Code E record.
Right justify and zero fill.
|
9-21
|
Total OPT Tax Withheld |
13 |
Enter the total tax withheld
for all Code S records reported since the last Code
E record. Right justify and zero fill. |
22-120
|
Blank |
99 |
Leave Blank |
Record Name: CODE F – FINAL RECORD
Length – 120
LOCATION
|
FIELD |
LENGTH |
SPECIFICATIONS
& EDITS |
| |
|
|
|
1
|
Record Identifier
|
1
|
Constant “F”.
|
2-8
|
Number Of Employees |
7 |
Enter the total number
of Code S records reported for the entire file.
Right justify and zero fill. |
9-24
|
Total OPT Tax Withheld |
16 |
Enter the total tax withheld
for all Code S records reported for the entire file.
Right justify and zero fill. |
25-120
|
Blank |
96 |
Leave Blank |
Right
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