Fillable Printable Report Of Independent Contractors(S) (De 542) Printing Specifications Computer Or Laser Generated Alternate Forms (De 542Ps)
Fillable Printable Report Of Independent Contractors(S) (De 542) Printing Specifications Computer Or Laser Generated Alternate Forms (De 542Ps)
Report Of Independent Contractors(S) (De 542) Printing Specifications Computer Or Laser Generated Alternate Forms (De 542Ps)
DE 542PS Rev. 2 (4-13) (INTERNET)Page 1 of 7 CU
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR(S) (DE 542)
PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATED ALTERNATE FORMS
The Employment Development Department (EDD) provides Report of Independent Contractor(s)
(DE 542) forms suitable for laser printers at no cost to our customers.
These specifications will assist you in creating an alternate (facsimile) DE 542 form that we can
image with our equipment. A sample alternate and an original DE 542 are included with these
specifications. The sample alternate format should not be used to align with your alternate format as
reproduction has caused distortion.
Please use the print and line positions provided in these specifications to create your alternate form.
The DE 542 form is the correct template to use to verify that your alternate format is correct. Place
the DE 542 over or under your alternate format and visually verify that the data on your alternate
form is printing within the corresponding boxes on the DE 542. If this is the case, the alternate format
has been designed to meet our specifications.
ALL FORMS MUST BE SUBMITTED FOR 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:
Attention: Alternate Forms Coordinator
Information Management Group/MIC 96
Employment Development Department
P.O. Box 826880
Sacramento, CA 94280-0001
For express mail, include the phone number 916-255-0649 on the air bill. The street address is:
Attention: Alternate Forms Coordinator
Information Management Group/MIC 96
Employment Development Department
9815 C Goethe Road
Sacramento, CA 95827
TEST SAMPLES MUST MEET A 95 PERCENT (%) OR BETTER READ-RATE TO BE APPROVED.
DE 542PS Rev. 2 (4-13) (INTERNET)Page 2 of 7 CU
DE 542 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATED ALTERNATE FORMS
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
Paper: Use 8 ½" x 11" white, 20 lb. bond paper. Recycled paper and No Carbon Required (NCR)
paper will not feed into the scanners and is not acceptable.
Alignment: The top edge of the form is zero, the bottom of the form is line 66, the left edge is print
position zero, and the right edge is print position 85. Print six vertical lines per inch and 10 horizontal
print positions per inch.
Ink: Use black ink only. If possible, use non-ferric ink as ferric ink contains metal which interferes with
our automated mail sorting equipment.
Printer: Do not use a dot matrix printer. Dot matrix printing will not meet the 95 percent read-rate
requirement.
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,
unless indicated. ALL LETTERS MUST BE PRINTED IN UPPER CASE ONLY.
EDD Approval Number: This number will be assigned to forms that the EDD has tested and
approved.
Non-Scannable 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 user codes or letters on your forms, please position them above the title
“SERVICE-RECIPIENT” field on lines 6 or 7 and print positions 7 thru 25.
Display of Social Security Account (SSA) Numbers: The SSA numbers must always contain nine
digits. Do not use “/” between digits. Acceptable ways of printing are 012345678 or 012 34 5678 or
012-34-5678 (if your program cannot delete the dashes).
Display of Names: Please show first name, middle initial, and the last name. Our equipment requires
that names be printed in the first name, middle initial, last name format. We cannot accept names
printed with the last name first.
Display of Numbers: Left justify the totals reported (begin printing totals in the first position of the
amount field). Use decimal points or spaces between digits as appropriate, for example: 32 417.98 or
32 417 98. Do not use dollar signs or commas.
DE 542PS Rev. 2 (4-13) (INTERNET)Page 3 of 7 CU
DE 542 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATED ALTERNATE FORMS
BARCODE AND TARGET MARK SPECIFICATIONS
Form Identification: A form identification barcode is added to the DE 542 to help the EDD identify
the forms automatically. The Form Identifier String “05420101” is encoded in Code 3 of 9 (also
called Code 39) barcode format. This barcode is 2" wide, 3/8" high, is located 3/8" below the top
paper edge and 1 3/16" off the right paper edge. The Form Identifier String should be printed 1/8"
beneath the barcode in 12 point Courier bold font.
Target Marks: Two target marks are placed on the top right and lower left corners to help the EDD
equipment de-skew the scanned forms. Target marks are black circles 1/8" in diameter. The top
right target mark is 11/16" off the top and right paper edges, and the bottom left target mark is 1/2"
off the left paper edge and the bottom paper edge.
The following is a sample of the correct format for the barcode and target marks:
1/2"
0
5420101
DE 542PS Rev. 2 (4-13) (INTERNET)Page 4 of 7 CU
DE 542 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATED ALTERNATE FORMS
FORM IDENTIFIER STRING SPECIFICATIONS (No Barcode/Target Marks)
The EDD prefers that you provide the barcode and target marks on your alternate format to ensure
the most accurate processing of your DE 542. If it is not possible to include the barcode and target
marks, submit your alternate form test samples with the unique FORM IDENTIFIER STRING used
to identify alternate formats without barcode/target marks. The correct format for the Form
Identifier String without barcode/target marks is “B5420101” printed in the 12 point Courier bold
font. The print and line position for the Form Identifier String are listed below:
PRINT PRINT
ITEM LINES POSITIONS PRINT FORMAT
Form Identifier String 6 60 thru 67 B5420101
The following is a sample of the correct position for the Form Identifier String on the alternate
DE 542 form:
DE 542 EDD 12345
B5420101
DE 542PS Rev. 2 (4-13) (INTERNET)Page 5 of 7 CU
DE 542 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATED ALTERNATE FORMS
PRINT PRINT
ITEM LINES POSITIONS PRINT FORMAT
DE 542 4 6 thru 13 DE 542
FORM APPROVAL NUMBER 4 27 thru 36 EDD 12345
(Assigned by the EDD)
BARCODE/TARGET MARKS Instructions are on page 3.
FORM IDENTIFIER STRING Instructions are on page 4.
SERVICE-RECIPIENT 8 6 thru 41 use bold print
DATE 11 6 thru 17 MMDDYY
FEDERAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 11 20 thru 37 NN NNNNNNN
CA EMPLOYER ACCOUNT NUMBER 11 40 thru 55 NNN NNNN N
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER 11 58 thru 75 NNN NN NNNN
SERVICE-RECIPIENT 15 6 thru 55
NAME/BUSINESS NAME
CONTACT PERSON 15 58 thru 81
ADDRESS 19 6 thru 55
PHONE NUMBER 19 58 thru 63 NNN
66 thru 79 NNN NNNN
CITY 23 6 thru 51
STATE 23 58 thru 61
ZIP CODE 23 66 thru 75 NNNNN
SERVICE-PROVIDER 276 thru 40use bold print
NAME 30, 41, 52 6 thru 35 FIRST NAME
(Print all capital letters) 37 MI
40 thru 81 LAST NAME
N=Numeric
DE 542PS Rev. 2 (4-13) (INTERNET)Page 6 of 7 CU
DE 542 PRINTING SPECIFICATIONS
COMPUTER OR LASER GENERATED ALTERNATE FORMS
PRINT PRINT
ITEM LINES POSITIONS PRINT FORMAT
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER 32, 43, 54 6 thru 23 NNN NN NNNN
ADDRESS 32, 43, 54 25 thru 81 Address Format
CITY 34, 45, 56 6 thru 51
STATE 34, 45, 56 58 thru 61
ZIP CODE 34, 45, 56 66 thru 75 NNNNN
START DATE OF CONTRACT 36, 47, 58 6 thru 17 MMDDYY
AMOUNT OF CONTRACT 36, 47, 58 21 thru 43 NNN NNN NNN NN
CONTRACT EXPIRATION DATE 36, 47, 58 49 thru 60 MMDDYY
CHECK HERE IF CONTRACT 36, 47, 58 71 X
IS ONGOING
N=Numeric
If you have any questions about these specifications, please call the Alternate Forms Coordinator
at 916-255-0649.
DE 542PS Rev. 2 (4-13) (INTERNET)Page 7 of 7 CU
DE 542 EDD 12345
B5420101
SERVICE-RECIPIENT
110600 12 3456789 123 4567 8 123 45 6789
SAMPLE BUSINESS NAME MARY SMITH
1234 SAMPLE STREET 916 123 4567
SACRAMENTO CA 95827
SERVICE-PROVIDER
ALICIA A RASPBERRY
123 45 6789 1234 RASPBERRY STREET
SACRAMENTO CA 95810
110600 1 200 00 123100 X
WALTER W PINEAPPLE
123 45 6789 5678 PINEAPPLE DRIVE 123
CARMICHAEL CA 95811
111000 8 000 00 022801 X
GEORGE G WATERMELON
123 45 6789 90123 WATERMELON COURT B
STOCKTON CA 95812
112700 795 00 033101 X
