In 1996, the MTRS standardized earnings and retirement contribution reporting. The original file specifications have since been modified to simplify payroll deduction reporting for employers and remove most of the originally required data that is otherwise non-existent in payroll systems. While updating the report validations and file field definitions, the MTRS has retained the fundamental structure of the original 309 character per record layout in order to avoid requiring software revisions by employers.
Field definitions
| Field name | Record Type |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 1 character |
| Valid entries are | Payroll records are identified by “C” (letters are all caps) |
| Description | This is the first field in the report. It identifies the type of record being read by the system. Record types A, B and D have been eliminated. |
| Field name | Trans-Type |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 1 character |
| Valid entries are | N – Normal, R – Retroactive, A – Adjustment (letters are all caps) |
| Description | The Transaction Type field identifies the pay type of each individual record. • Normal Record: Record reporting regular payroll data • Adjustment Record: Record used to correct an error or omission that occurred in a prior reporting period • Retroactive Record: Record generated to report retroactive pensionable pay for an employee who would not have a normal record for that period (such as terminated employee or a retiree); this is the sole function of this transaction type |
| Field name | Trans-Date |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | yyyymmdd |
| Description | Also known as the Pay Date or Check Date, the Transaction Date identifies the date of the pay transaction that pertains to this specific record. In a normal payroll record the transaction date(s) are always the same month as the Period. Please report each pay date with a separate record. Adjustments should also be a separate record from the normal record. |
| Field name | Agency |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 6 characters |
| Valid entries are | #### (space) (space) – # = 0-9 |
| Description | The school district’s four-digit agency code assigned by the MTRS. This field is left justified and should be space-filled. |
| Field name | School Code |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 3 characters |
| Valid entries are | (space) (space) (space) |
| Description | Formerly the school building location code; no longer used. Please insert three spaces. This field can remain populated if being populated today. |
| Field name | SSN |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 9 characters |
| Valid entries are | ######### – # = 0-9 |
| Description | The member’s Social Security number is the primary key in the MTRS database. No hyphens. |
| Field name | Name |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 30 characters |
| Valid entries are | Alpha-numeric (letters are all caps), left justified + space filled |
| Description | Full name of the member whose data is being reported. Format is last name first, separated by a comma from the first name and middle initial. Modifiers (Sr., Jr., II, III, etc.) are part of the last name, separated from the last name by a space then followed by a comma. Hyphenated last names are valid. There should only be one comma in the name field because there is no comma between the first name and middle initial (e.g., “HIDALGO-SMITH III, JANET R”). |
| Field name | Rate-Code |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 2 characters |
| Valid entries are | 05, 07, 08, 09, 11 |
| Description | Identifies the contribution rate in the record being reported. |
| Field name | Contract-Term |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 2 characters |
| Valid entries are | 01, 02, 03, 09, 10, 11, 12, HR |
| Description | The term (length of time expressed in months) associated with the contract covering the member whose deductions are being reported; the length of time the member is contracted to work. Contract terms of “01”, “02” and “03” should only be used for an athletic coach who is a teacher in another school district. New: The MTRS now offers a contract term of ‘HR’ for MTRS eligible hourly employees who have fluctuating base earnings because they are not eligible for vacation or sick leave benefits. |
| Field name | Pay-Duration |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 2 characters |
| Valid entries are | 01, 02, 03, 09, 10, 11, 12, LS |
| Description | Duration of the pay schedule for the member being reported, expressed in months. The “LS” value is entered for members on a 12-month pay cycle who collect their summer pay as a lump sum in month 10. Pay durations of “01”, “02” and “03” should only be used for a coach who teaches in another school district. |
| Field name | Base-Earnings |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | ########, # = 0-9, zero filled |
| Description | The portion of contractual base earnings actually paid to the member during the reporting period; equals the contracted annual salary divided by the annual pay frequency, multiplied by the number of pay periods being reported in the record.
$1234.64 = 00123464 and $-1234.64 = 0012346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Coaching-Earnings |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | ########, # = 0-9, zero filled |
| Description | Earnings paid for athletic coaching at such times as they occur.
$1234.64 = 00123464 and $-1234.64 = 0012346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Retroactive-Earnings |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | ########, # = 0-9, zero filled |
| Description | Earnings being reported in a current period that are retroactive to a prior period.
$1234.64 = 00123464 and $-1234.64 = 0012346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Longevity-Earnings |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | ########, # = 0-9, zero filled |
| Description | Earnings paid for a contractual longevity bonus that is not incorporated into the base salary.
$1234.64 = 00123464 and $-1234.64 = 0012346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Stipend-Earnings |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | ########, # = 0-9, zero filled |
| Description | Additional eligible earnings paid as contractual stipends and reported when they occur; e.g., pay received for Choral Director, Department Head, Lead Teacher, etc.
$1234.64 = 00123464 and $-1234.64 = 0012346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Premium-Earnings |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | ########, # = 0-9, zero filled |
| Description | Premiums paid by the employer for individual life or disability insurance or annuity contracts. Frequently found in administrator’s contracts.
$1234.64 = 00123464 and $-1234.64 = 0012346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Ineligible-Earnings |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | ########, # = 0-9, zero filled |
| Description | Nonpensionable (ineligible) earnings paid to the members in the reporting period; no deductions are taken from these earnings and they are not added to the total. Please default all undefined codes to this field.
$1234.64 = 00123464 and $-1234.64 = 0012346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Pay-Frequency |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 2 characters |
| Valid entries are | 01, 02, 03, 06, 10, 12, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 52, 53 |
| Description | The annual pay date schedule expressed as a two-digit number. For a member who receives pay weekly over all 12 months in the year, the pay frequency would be reported as 52. Teachers who receive pay on a bi-weekly schedule, 12 months a year would have a pay frequency of 26. Pay frequency of “01”, “02”, “03” and “06” should only be used for a coach who teaches in another school district. |
| Field name | Retirement-Deduction |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 6 characters |
| Valid entries are | ######, # = 0-9, zero filled, right justified |
| Description | The retirement contribution actually deducted for the member reported in this record. This is calculated as a percentage of the sum of all eligible earnings reported in the previous earnings fields.
$234.64 = 023464 and $-234.64 = 02346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | 2% Retirement-Deduction |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 6 characters |
| Valid entries are | ######, # = 0-9, zero filled, right justified |
| Description | The “30-plus” contribution deducted for the member reported in this record. The “30-plus” deduction should be calculated on a pay period basis on all earnings over that which would equal the earnings of someone being paid $30,000/year. A 30-plus deduction should be taken on all of the earnings for coaches who teach in another district, for any payment to an employee outside of his or her normal pay schedule or any retroactive payment.
$234.64 = 023464 and $-234.64 = 02346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Repay |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 6 characters |
| Valid entries are | ######, # = 0-9, zero filled, right justified |
| Description | Reserved for reporting pre-tax installment payments. Use of this field is currently suspended but eventually it will be used to report installment payments to the MTRS through payroll deduction (for refund buy-backs, service purchases, etc.). Installment payments must be authorized by the MTRS before being submitted. This field should not be used for error correction.
$234.64 = 023464 and $-234.64 = 02346M All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Period Date |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 6 characters |
| Valid entries are | yyyymm |
| Description | Also known as the reporting period or payroll period. The payroll year/month to which the transaction reported in the record applies; format is a 4-digit year followed by a 2-digit month (01 through 12): yyyymm. The month and year of the period date must match the month and year of the transaction date on all normal records. |
| Field name | Full-time Status |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 3 characters |
| Valid entries are | ###, zero filled, no decimals! |
| Description | Full-time/part-time status. The percentage of full-time the member being reported is working; field is 3-digit numeric; full-time is entered as “100”; eligible part-time entries are “001” through “099”. While employees who are working less than half-time (“050”) are ineligible for MTRS membership, it is sometimes necessary to report less than half-time values in this field when a member is working in more than one school district and the combination of the multiple district employment is equal to or greater than 50% full-time. |
| Field name | Gender Code |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 1 character |
| Valid entries are | (space) |
| Description | Please insert one space. This data is now collected through the enrollment application. If currently being populated, no change is required. |
| Field name | Birth-Date |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | (space) X 8 or 19500101 |
| Description | Please insert 19500101 or eight spaces. This data is now collected through the enrollment application. If currently being populated, no change is required. |
| Field name | Street1 – Attn: Line |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 30 characters |
| Valid entries are | Alpha-numeric (letters are all caps), left justified + space filled |
| Description | This field is used for additional address mailing information such as an apartment or suite number, “c/o”, etc. Please avoid commas or other punctuation marks. |
| Field name | Street2 – Street Address Line |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 30 characters |
| Valid entries are | Alpha-numeric (letters are all caps), left justified + space filled |
| Description | This field is used for the member’s primary street address or PO Box number. Please avoid commas or other punctuation marks. |
| Field name | City |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 16 characters |
| Valid entries are | Alpha-numeric (letters are all caps), left justified + space filled |
| Description | The city or town portion of the member’s mailing address. |
| Field name | State |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 2 characters |
| Valid entries are | Any standard two-character abbreviation for a US state or PR for Puerto Rico |
| Description | The two-character state abbreviation. Letters are all caps |
| Field name | Zip Code |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 10 characters |
| Valid entries are | #####, #####-#### or #####(space)#### – (# = 0-9) |
| Description | The postal ZIP code that pertains to the member’s address. This field is sized to accommodate ZIP+4 and should be fully populated whenever this data is available. The format is base ZIP followed by four digits and may be input without a hyphen. |
| Field name | Salary |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 6 characters |
| Valid entries are | ###### # = 0-9 |
| Description | The current annual contractual salary for the member being reported. The annual contractual salary should be the full-time equivalent for part-time members not the pro-rated actual salary being paid. This field should be stated in whole dollars and updated whenever a member’s salary changes.
$54,124 = 054124 and $54,124 = 05412D All earnings and deductions fields can have alpha-numeric last characters based on COBOL standards. |
| Field name | Position |
| Status | Required |
| Length | 6 characters |
| Valid entries are | SUPT = Superintendent LEADER = Charter School Leader COLDIR = Collaborative School Director TEACH = Teacher KINDER = Kindergarten Teacher COACH = Coach (as primary title) ADMIN = Administrator PRIN = Principal NURSE = School Nurse OTHER = Other PSYCH = Psychologist or psychiatrist LIBRA = Librarian ASPRIN = Assistant Principal ASUPT = Assistant Superintendent GUIDE = Guidance Counselor SOCIAL = School Social Worker ADJUST = School Adjustment Counselor SPEECH = Speech and Language Therapist OT = Occupational Therapist PT = Physical Therapist |
| Description | The member’s generic position code derived from an MTRS-defined table. Please use uppercase letters. |
| Field name | Employer Paid Code |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 1 character |
| Valid entries are | (space) |
| Description | Please insert one space |
| Field name | Employer Paid Amount |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | 00000000 or (space) x 8 |
| Description | Please insert eight zeroes (00000000) or eight spaces |
| Field name | Grant Percentage |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 3 characters |
| Valid entries are | 000 or (space) x 3 |
| Description | Please insert three zeroes (000) or three spaces |
| Field name | Time |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 3 characters |
| Valid entries are | 000 or (space) x 3 |
| Description | Please insert three zeroes (000) or three spaces |
| Field name | Certification Number |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | eight spaces |
| Description | Please insert eight spaces. This data is now collected through the enrollment application. If currently being populated with a valid certification number, no change is required. |
| Field name | Certification Issuer |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 4 characters |
| Valid entries are | four spaces |
| Description | Please insert four spaces. This data is now collected through the enrollment application. If currently being populated with a valid certification source, no change is required. |
| Field name | Certification Date |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | 00000000 or (space) x 8 |
| Description | Please insert eight zeroes 00000000 or eight spaces. This data is now collected through the enrollment application. If currently being populated with a valid certification number, no change is required. |
| Field name | Filler |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | 8 spaces |
| Description | Please insert eight spaces |
| Field name | Deduction Start Date |
| Status | Eliminated |
| Length | 8 characters |
| Valid entries are | 00000000 or (space) x 8 |
| Description | Please insert eight zeroes 00000000 or eight spaces. This data is now collected through the enrollment application. |
| End of record | Please end each record with a carriage return |