Feature
Magnetic Media Filing
Generate compliant magnetic media and electronic filing formats for federal and state submissions directly from payroll data.
Magnetic Media capabilities at a glance
- SSA EFW2 and EFW2C wage-report files generated from live payroll data
- State-specific electronic filing layouts for wage and unemployment reporting
- Multi-FEIN submissions produced in a single pass across all employers
- Built-in validation catching format and content errors before submission
- Submission history retained with file, date, and acknowledgement
- Corrected and replacement file generation when a filing is rejected
Agencies that once accepted magnetic media now expect the same fixed-layout files transmitted electronically, and the specifications remain exacting: fixed field positions, prescribed record sequences, and control totals that must reconcile exactly. A single misplaced field can reject an entire submission. ArborSoft generates these files directly from live payroll and tax data, so the numbers in the file are the numbers in the system.
Federal wage reporting
ArborSoft produces SSA-format wage report files — EFW2 for annual W-2 wage data and EFW2C for corrections — assembled from posted payroll rather than re-entered.
For a fiscal agent, the important part is scale. Annual wage reporting spans every employer FEIN under administration, and each is a separate submission with its own totals. ArborSoft generates them in a single pass, with per-employer control totals calculated and verified automatically.
State electronic filing
State wage and unemployment reporting formats vary by jurisdiction, and they change. ArborSoft maintains state-specific layouts and generates the correct file for each jurisdiction where your employers have liability, drawing on the same posted payroll data as federal filings so the two can never disagree.
Validate before you submit
Every generated file passes a validation sweep before it leaves the system. ArborSoft checks record counts and sequence, control totals against source payroll, field-level format compliance, required-field completeness, and identifiers such as FEIN and SSN for structural validity.
Errors are reported against the specific record and field that caused them, in language that points at the fix rather than at a byte offset. Catching a malformed SSN before submission takes a minute; catching it from an agency rejection notice costs a correction cycle and possibly a late-filing penalty.
Handle corrections cleanly
Filings do get rejected, and wage data does get amended after the fact. ArborSoft generates correction and replacement files in the required formats, carrying the original submission reference so the agency can match them.
Submission history is retained: what was filed, for which employers and periods, when, in what format, and what acknowledgement came back. When an agency asks about a filing from two years ago, the answer is a lookup rather than an investigation.
Fits the wider filing workflow
Magnetic media generation sits at the end of the tax cycle. Payroll posts the wages, tax reporting calculates and files the periodic returns, employer management holds the FEIN and jurisdiction registration data that determines what has to be filed where, and this module produces the electronic files that carry it all to the agencies.
Magnetic Media is one module of the ArborSoft fiscal agent platform — see how it fits into self-directed care and FMS operations.
Works alongside Magnetic Media
Every ArborSoft module shares one record set, so data entered once flows everywhere it is needed.
- Tax ReportingAutomate federal and state payroll tax filings across every employer FEIN you administer, from one system.
- PayrollComplete payroll inside the platform, generating checks and direct deposits for employees and vendors without a third-party processor.
- Employer ManagementManage every common-law employer, FEIN, tax registration, and enrollment status across your whole caseload.
- ExportingExport payroll, billing, and utilization data in the formats payers, accountants, and auditors require.
See Magnetic Media in ArborSoft
Request a walkthrough of the platform and we will show you how authorizations, EVV, payroll, billing, and tax filing work together in a single system.