Fillable Printable Payroll Tax Deposit, De 88, Printing Specifications (De 88Ps)
Fillable Printable Payroll Tax Deposit, De 88, Printing Specifications (De 88Ps)
Payroll Tax Deposit, De 88, Printing Specifications (De 88Ps)
DE88PS Rev. 3 (9-17) (INTERNET)Page 1 of6 CU
PAYROLL TAX DEPOSIT,DE88, PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATED ALTERNATE FORMS
The Employment Development Department (EDD) providesPayroll Tax Deposit, DE88, forms
suitable for laser printers at no cost to our customers.
These specifications will assist you in creating an alternate (facsimile) DE88 form that we can
image with our equipment.A sample alternate DE88 and an original DE88 are included with
these specifications.The sample alternate DE88 format should not be used to align with your
new alternate format as reproduction has caused distortion.
Please use the print and line positions provided in these specifications to create your alternate
form. The DE88 form is the correct template to use to verify that your alternate format is correct.
Place the DE88 over or under your alternate format and visually verify that the data on your
alternate form is printing within the corresponding boxes on the DE88.If this is the case, the
alternate format has been designed to meet our specifications.
ALL FORMS MUST BE SUBMITTEDTO THE EDDFOR APPROVAL BEFORE USE.
Please submit a sample deck for testing and approval.The test deck should include 25 original
documents –no photocopies. You may use dummy data and repeat the data on all the pages.
The test deck should be mailed to the following address:
Alternate Forms Coordinator
Information Management Group II, MIC96
Employment Development Department
PO Box 826880
Sacramento, CA 94280-0001
For express mail, make sure to include phone number 916-255-0649 on the airbill. The street
address is: 9815 C Goethe Road, Sacramento, CA 95827, Attention: Alternate Forms Coordinator,
MIC96.
State law requires employers to electronically submit employment tax returns, wage reports,
and payroll tax deposits to the EDD. The print specifications for alternate forms are provided for
employers who have an approved e-file and e-pay mandate waiver.
You can submit, file, and pay online using e-Services for Business at
www.edd.ca.gov/e-Services_for_Businessto comply with the e-file and e-pay mandate. For
more information on this mandate, visit www.edd.ca.gov/EfileMandate.
DE88 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATEDALTERNATE FORMS
DE88PS Rev. 3 (9-17) (INTERNET)Page 2 of6
TEST SAMPLES MUST MEET A 95% OR BETTER READ RATE TO BE APPROVED.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS AND INFORMATION
Paper: Use 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches white, 20-pound bond paper. Please do not use “No Carbon
Required” (NCR) paper or recycled paper.
Form Size: The DE88 coupon is 8 inches wide by3 4/6 inches high. Alternate form samples
submitted to the EDD must be cut cleanly to these dimensions. If the alternate forms submitted for
testing and approval are not cut to the required dimensions with a straight edge, new test samples
will be requested.
Alignment: The top of the form is zero, the bottom line is 22, the left perforation is print position
zero, and the right perforation is print position 80. Print at six vertical lines per inch and 10
horizontal print positions per inch.
Ink: Use black ink only. If possible, use non-ferric ink.
Printer: Do not use a dot matrix printer.
Font Size: Please use 10 or 12 point Lucinda Console or Courier font to print the data to be
captured. Data to be captured is indicated by bold print. Do not print your alternate format in
bold type. All letters must be printed in UPPER CASE only.
EDD Approval Number: This number will be assigned to the forms that the EDD has tested and
approved.
Unscannable File Copies: If you provide your customers with copies that are not Optical Character
Reader (OCR) compatible, please advise them not to submit their file copies to the EDD. We have
found that the warning “DO NOT SEND THIS COPY TO THE EDD”is effective when printed on
the file copy.
User Codes: If you print code numbers or letters on your forms, please position them above the
Employer Name and Address between lines 9 and 12 and print positions 6 thru 33.
Display of Numbers: Right justify the numbers in the payment amount fields. Use decimal points or
spaces between digits as appropriate, for example: 32 417.98 or 32 417 98. Do not use commas
or dollar signs.
DE88 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATEDALTERNATE FORMS
DE88PS Rev. 3 (9-17) (INTERNET)Page 3 of6
TARGET MARKS
Target Marks: Two target marks are placed at the top left and lower right corners to help the EDD
equipment properly alignthe scanned forms. The upper left-hand target mark is ¼ inch square and
positioned ¼ inch off the top and left paper edge. The lower right target mark is ¼ inch square and
positioned ¼ inch off the bottom and 5/16 inch off the right paper edge.
The following is a sample of the correct placement of the target marks on the alternate DE88 form:
Account Number Scanline: If you are making a payroll tax deposit and you have your employer
payroll tax account number, submit your alternate format with the unique Account Number
Scanline. The correct format for the Account Number Scanline is “NNNNNNNN.” The N represents
the California employer payroll tax account number. Print in the OCR A, 12 point bold font (or
Courier 12 font if OCR A is unavailable). The print and line positions for the Account Number
Scanline are listed below:
PRINT
PRINT
ITEM
LINES
POSITIONS
PRINT FORMAT
Account Number Scanline
18
29 thru 36
NNNNNNNN
Note: If you do not have an employer payroll tax account number, use e-Services for Business
to register for your employer payroll tax account number. In most cases, an employer payroll
tax account number is issued within a few minutes.
DE88 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATEDALTERNATE FORMS
DE88PS Rev. 3 (9-17) (INTERNET)Page 4 of6
The following is a sample of the correct position for the Account Number Scanline on the alternate
DE88 form with a California employer payroll tax account number:
PRINT PRINT
ITEM
LINESPOSITIONS
PRINT FORMAT
Target Marks
See page 3.
Account Number Scanline
See page 3 and 4 above.
Payroll Date
5
21 thru 31
MMDDYY
Employer Name
8
6 thru 33
NAME
Employer DBA
9
6 thru 33
DBA
Employer Address or FEIN
10
6 thru 33
MAILING ADDRESS or
FEIN
Employer Approval Number
(Assigned by the EDD.)
11
6 thru 15
EDD 12345
Employer Payroll Tax Account
Number
13
13 thru 31
NNN NNNN N
DE88 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATEDALTERNATE FORMS
DE88PS Rev. 3 (9-17) (INTERNET)Page 5 of6
PRINT
PRINT
ITEM
LINES
POSITIONS
PRINT FORMAT
(Continued)
Year/Quarter
13
42 thru 46
YYQ
EDD (For use with the EDD
15
16 thru 49
EMPLOYMENT
supplied envelopes.)
DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT
Payment Type: Print X only by payment being reported and display the titles in a small font. Do not
use bold print.
Next-Day X
5
40 thru 42
ND
(Abbreviate title to ND)
5
46
X
Semiweekly X
7
40 thru 42
SW
(Abbreviate title to SW)
7
46
X
Monthly X
9
40 thru 42
Mtly
(Abbreviate title to Mtly)
9
46
X
Quarterly X
11
40 thru 42
Qtly
(Abbreviate title to Qtly)
11
46
X
PRINT
PRINT
ITEM
LINES
POSITIONS
PRINT FORMAT
Fund Titles/Payment Amounts: Please display the fund titles in a small font. Print the fund types
even if there is no payment for that fund.
Unemployment Insurance
5
51 thru 53
UI
UI Amount
5
61 thru 77
N NNN NNN NN
Employment Training Tax
7
51 thru 53
ETT
ETT Amount
7
61 thru 77
N NNN NNN NN
State Disability Insurance
9
51 thru 53
DI
SDI Amount
9
61 thru 77
N NNN NNN NN
DE88 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATEDALTERNATE FORMS
DE88PS Rev. 3 (9-17) (INTERNET)Page 6 of6
PRINT
PRINT
ITEM
LINES
POSITIONS
PRINT FORMAT
(Continued)
California PIT
11
51 thru 53
PIT
PIT Amount
11
61 thru 77
N NNN NNN NN
Penalty
13
51 thru 53
PEN
Penalty Amount
13
61 thru 77
N NNN NNN NN
Interest
15
51 thru 53
INT
Interest Amount
15
61 thru 77
N NNN NNN NN
Total Paid
17
51 thru 53
TOT
Dollar Sign
17
57 thru 58
$ (Use OCR B 18pt)
Decimal
17
74 thru 75
(BOLD)
Total Amount
17
59 thru 77
N NNN NNN NN
Preparer and Phone Number
20
1 thru 38
Any font is acceptable,
but do not extend beyond
print position 38 to the right.
Revision Number
(Reduced font is necessary
–
there should be 2/8 inch
clearance around lower right target mark.)
21
60 thru 70
DE88 Rev. 18 (11-12)
N=Numeric
Quarterly – This DE88 coupon type is used only at the end of the quarter to make UI and ETT
payments and to pay any SDI and PIT not previously deposited. The correct method of completing
the quarterly DE88 coupon is as follows:
Include the last day of the quarter in thePAYROLL DATE field.
Mark the QUARTERLY payment type.
Include the correct year and quarter in the YEAR/QUARTER field.
If you have any questions about these specifications, please contact the Alternate Forms
Coordinator at 916-255-0649.
