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Employers

Employer Bulletin

All WRS Employers
Vol. 22, No. 3
February 4, 2005

Bulletin contains WRS Monthly Retirement Remittance Reports for 2005

Enclosed is your 12-month supply of Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) Monthly Retirement Remittance Reports (ET-1515) for 2005. Use these forms each month to report earnings paid in 2005 and the corresponding WRS contributions remitted for calendar year 2005. Do not mail these forms if you report using the Department of Employee Trust Fund’s (ETF) Employer Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System or the on-line WRS Contribution Remittance Application. (Refer below for information on using the Employer IVR System or the WRS Contribution Remittance Application.)

Helpful Hints For Completing WRS Remittance Reports

Submit each month’s remittance report with your payment to ETF by the due date printed on each report. You must submit a report for each month of the calendar year even when there are no earnings to report. Remember to mail your reports and payments as early as possible to ensure they are received by ETF’s bank on or before the due date. Wisconsin Administrative Code § ETF 10.64 requires ETF to assess an interest charge on all late reports based on received date, not the date mailed.

Timeliness - Time considerations by payment type:

  • Check: Date received at DRAWER 901, Milwaukee WI 53293-0001 (USBank Milwaukee, N.A.) determines timeliness, not the postmark date.
  • WiSMART (State agencies): Evidence of payment (list of payment vouchers) and the report must be in the ETF mail room, 801 W. Badger Rd., by 4:30 p.m. on the report due date. Department of Administration approval of the payment vouchers must also occur on or before the report due date.
  • IVR (Local employers): Complete the transaction at least four business days before the report due date. You may key the report up to 30 days in advance of the due date for payment on the due date.
  • WRS Contribution Remittance Application: Complete the transaction at least four business days before the report due date.

Keep the following points in mind when processing a WRS Monthly Retirement Remittance Report (ET-1515):

  • Original Copy - Send the original (first) copy of the remittance report to ETF. Keep the second copy for your records. Note to IVR reporters and employers using the WRS Contribution Remittance Application: Do not send a copy to ETF. IVR reporters should request a fax copy of the report when making the IVR entry.
  • Reporting Month – Make sure that the information on the report corresponds with the preprinted Reporting Month.
  • Earnings - Verify that the earnings amounts entered are correct and posted to the proper employment category. ETF’s processing system verifies the contribution amount based on the employment category’s contribution rate.
  • Total Earnings - Add the earnings for all employment categories listed on your report and enter the total in the “Total Earnings” block. Enter a total earnings amount even if reporting earnings in only one category. Insert zero (0) in the “Total Earnings” block if reporting “No Earnings.”
  • Over or Underpayment and/or Interest Due for Late Reporting - Use this box only when you receive a notice from ETF instructing you to do so. Some employers are unnecessarily using this box to force the contribution report total to equal the payment amount. For example, when WRS contributions are calculated for each employee and the contributions totaled for a given category, the total usually varies a few cents from the answer derived by multiplying the total employee earnings in a given category by the contribution rate. It is acceptable to use the total of the actual contributions. ETF’s processing system allows for these small variances.
  • Invoiced Items - The complete invoice number, all seven digits (for example, 0001234), must be written on the WRS Monthly Retirement Remittance Report (ET-1515) in the “Invoice Detail” block. The amount of all invoiced items must equal the amount entered on Line 3 of the WRS Monthly Retirement Remittance Report (ET-1515).
  • Use a minus sign (-) if the invoice is a credit.

Detailed instructions on completing the WRS Monthly Retirement Remittance Report (ET-1515) are found in Chapter 7 of the WRS Administration Manual (ET-1127, Rev. 07/2004).

Prompt Payment of Over/Under Balances or Interest Due Notices

ETF contacts employers having outstanding WRS over/under balances. Upon receipt of an Over/Underpayment and/or Interest Due Notice (ET-1517), follow the instructions on the second page of the notice. Payment should be made promptly on your next remittance report if you have underpaid. If you have overpaid, the notice will explain how to take a credit on your next remittance payment.

Contact Person For WRS Remittance Processing

For questions related to WRS Remittance Reports, or Over/Underpayment and/or Late Interest Due Notices, contact Jim Krawczyk at (608) 266-3309; FAX (608) 266-5801 or TTY (608) 267-0676. You may also e-mail jim.krawczyk@etf.state.wi.us. Include your employer number (EIN 69-036-XXXX-XXX) and your phone number on all correspondence.

IVR System Reporting for Local Government Employers

Local government employers participating in the WRS may use the IVR System to submit WRS contributions. This system is used to report earnings and pay contributions, over/under payments, and invoices to the WRS. The Employer IVR System serves as an alternative to the process of completing and mailing Monthly Retirement Remittance Reports and mailing payments to the State Bank. You must have an established IVR account to use the IVR system. Employers wishing to use the IVR system will need an Employer Identification Number, Employer PIN Number, and Employer Bank Routing Number. Contact Lisa Theobald at (608) 266-0781 or e-mail lisa.theobald@etf.state.wi.us to set up your account.

WRS Contribution Remittance Application Available

Note: This application is NOT available to State agencies that make payments via WiSMART.

ETF launched the on-line WRS Contribution Remittance Application one year ago and employers utilizing the application consider it a leap forward. The WRS Contribution Remittance Application gives employers the ability to securely transmit WRS Monthly Retirement Remittance Report data to ETF via the Internet. In addition, this application allows employers to:

  • Select a payment date or default to the statutory due date.
  • Make the contribution payment to ETF via an Automated Clearing House (ACH) Direct Withdrawal.
  • Print confirmation reports of the on-line Monthly Remittance Report.
  • Reduce or eliminate reporting and/or calculation errors.
  • Increase efficiency through more accurate data transmission and faster processing time.
  • Eliminate late payment charges due to mailing delays.

ETF strongly encourages all local employers, including those employers currently using the telephone IVR System, to migrate to the on-line WRS Contribution Remittance Application. The two systems are similar in function, though the on-line application is faster and easier to use.

To use the WRS Contribution Remittance Application, employers must submit an Automated Clearing House Direct Withdrawal Authorization (ACH) (ET-1734) along with the Employer Extranet Application Security Agreement (ET-8928) (see below). The ACH form may be downloaded from the Employer Section of ETF’s web site at http://etf.wi.gov. Please attach your ACH authorization directly to the Security Agreement when submitting to ETF for authorization.

Note: If you are a current user of the telephone IVR system, ETF already has an ACH authorization on file. You do not need to submit a new ACH form. Send only the Employer Extranet Application Security Agreement (ET-8928).

For questions specific to the WRS Contribution Remittance Application and/or the ACH form, you may contact either Lisa Theobald at (608) 266-0781 or Dale Ferron at (608) 266-0728.

Requesting Access Authority

As provided in State law, WRS participant account data is confidential and can be released only for WRS program administration purposes. In addition, creation of an individual WRS account must be undertaken only for an employee meeting WRS eligibility criteria as set forth in Wisconsin Statute § 40.22.

Employer personnel requesting access to ETF’s Employer Extranet site can be authorized for any or all of the Extranet site applications. The person requesting access must complete the attached Employer Extranet Application Security Agreement (ET-8928). Please note that staff authorized for the WRS Account Update application will automatically be authorized for each additional update function implemented in the future; additional Security Agreements will not be required as future functions are made available to employers. Additional copies of the Extranet Application Security Agreement (ET-8928) can be printed from the Employer Forms section of ETF’s Internet site at http://etf.wi.gov.

All fields on the Employer Extranet Application Security Agreement (ET-8928) must be completed. Incomplete applications will be returned to the employer. Each employer’s designated WRS Agent must approve all requests for authorization by signing the security agreements. By so doing, the WRS agent is certifying the requester’s administrative need for access to the ETF application(s) requested.

Upon receipt, ETF will forward the Employer Extranet Application Security Agreement (ET-8928) to the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s (DOA) Security Officer. Once the request for authorization has been approved, the DOA Security Officer will mail the Logon identification numbers, passwords, and identifier codes to the authorized employee’s home address. The process takes two to three weeks to complete.

To ensure proper security for all on-line applications, you must have a browser that supports the capabilities of Netscape Navigator (version 7.1 or higher) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.x or higher).

For more information about the Employer Extranet site, or if you have questions regarding obtaining access to the site, please contact the Employer Communication Center at (608) 264-7900.