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ROE Web user requirements – Appendix E

9. Appendix E - ROE payroll extract file transfer - XML file layout and edit – Fishing ROE Version 1.0

9.1 General format requirements

The following section outlines the general format specifications for completing Records of Employment (ROEs) using the XML ROE Web payroll extract file for the fishing ROE form.

9.1.1 Prerequisites

To create the ROE Web payroll extract file, you must have the following:

  • in-depth knowledge of XML (W3C)
  • in-depth knowledge of XML schemas

To submit your information to Service Canada via an ROE payroll extract file, you must create an XML file formatted according to Service Canada's XML schema. The schema is a file that defines the rules you need to follow in order to construct your XML file. The schema specifies which fields are required and which are optional. To some extent, it constrains the makeup of the data that can be included in the XML file.

9.1.2 Character set

Service Canada uses a sub-set of the UTF-8 character set for the ROE Web payroll extract file. Here are the characters you can use on an ROE:

Table 1 – List of acceptable characters on an ROE
Description Acceptable characters Numeric character Alphanumeric character
Uppercase letters ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ No Yes
Lowercase letters abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz No Yes
Uppercase letters with accent Á À Â Ä Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î Ï Ó Ò Ô Ö Ú Ù Û Ü No Yes
Lowercase letters with accent á à â ä ç é è ê ë í ì î ï ó ò ô ö ú ù û ü No Yes
Numbers 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Yes Yes

Special characters

 " ; % ! ) ( * # - + / $ & @ = ? : ' ~ | ` ^ _ [ { ] } No Yes
. , Yes Yes

9.1.3 Conventions used in XML specification document

The following conventions are used in Service Canada's ROE Web payroll extract file specification document:

Table 2 – Conventions used in XML specification document
Type Description
Dates CCYY-MM-DD (year-month-day)
Postal codes

No embedded spaces or dashes (-)

Canada: X9X9X9

US: 99999 or 999999999
Decimal place

For an amount of money, the format requires a fixed decimal place, with two decimal places.

Do not include currency indicator (e.g. £, € or $).

Service Canada only accepts "." as a decimal place notation

For example, 12345.00 represents the amount of $12,345.00
Numeric character Numbers from 0 to 9
Alphanumeric character Upper case and lower case letters (e.g., codes and types)
Character Any character accepted under the UTF-8 character set can be used except for the following five pre-declared entities that must be escaped:
  • & or "ampersand" &
  • < or "less than" &lt;
  • > or "greater than" &gt;
  • ' or "apostrophe" &apos;
  • " or "quotation mark" &quot;
Sequence number The first sequence number for a particular element (e.g., block 17B where up to 10 statutory holidays can be provided) should begin at "1". Use "2" for the second sequence number, etc.

9.1.4 File naming standard

Each file name must include a file prefix, a dot and an extension as follows (e.g. ACME_ROE200.BLK):

Table 3 – File name components
Component Requirement
File prefix Maximum of 256 alphanumeric characters
<dot> Period to separate the file name from the extension
Extension File extension is "BLK"

Note:

File names are not case sensitive; that is, you may use upper or lower case letters.

9.2 ROE payroll extract file specifications

This section contains detailed specifications of the ROE Web payroll extract file. Each line required within the file is described and includes requirements specific to attributes and ROE blocks.

9.2.1 XML declaration tag format

The XML declaration must be the first line in the document. No other content or white space can precede it.

Table 4 – Declaration tag format
Attribute name Description Requirements
version Version number Mandatory
The value must be "1.0"
encoding The encoding declaration must appear immediately after the version information in the XML declaration. Mandatory
The value should match the encoding of the file. Service Canada recommends UTF-8
Examples:
       <?xml version="1.0"  encoding="UTF-8" ?>
 <?xml version="1.0"  encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>

9.2.2 Header tag format

The "ROEHEADER" tag is the header element. It occurs only once per file, contains four attributes and also contains all ROE tags (or elements) before being closed.

Table 5 – Header tag format
Attribute name Description Requirements
File version Format version of the ROE payroll extract file. Mandatory
The value must be "Y-1.0"
Software vendor Name of Software Vendor used by the employer. Mandatory
Up to 100 alphanumeric characters
Minimum of 1 character required
Product name Name of Payroll Software used by employer. Mandatory
Up to 100 alphanumeric characters
Minimum of 1 character required
Product version Version of the Payroll Software. Optional
Up to 10 alphanumeric characters
Example:
      <ROEHEADER FileVersion="Y-1.0" SoftwareVendor="XYZ Software Vendor" ProductName="PS3000" ProductVersion="2.1.1">

9.2.3 Transaction tag format

The "ROE" tag occurs as many times as there are ROEs to be processed and must contain the following attributes.

Table 6 – Transaction tag format
Attribute name Description Requirements
Printing Language The language the ROE was printed in. Mandatory
Must be one of the following codes:
  • E – English
  • F – French
Note: The system defaults to "E" when left blank.
Issue Represents which processing method should be attempted on the ROE. Mandatory
Must be one of the following codes:
  • S – Submit
  • D – Draft
Note: The system defaults to "D" when left blank
Example:
      <ROE PrintingLanguage="E" Issue="D">

9.2.4 XML structure

This section shows the entire XML structure of the ROE Web payroll extract file used by employers to submit ROEs to Service Canada.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
 <ROEHEADER FileVersion="Y-1.0"
  SoftwareVendor="" 
  ProductName="" 
  ProductVersion="">
  <ROE Issue="D"
  PrintingLanguage="E" >
  <B2></B2><!--Optional-->
  <B3></B3><!--Optional-->
  <B6>
   <TRP nbr="1">
         <SDT></SDT><!--Optional-->
         <EDT></EDT>
         <AMT></AMT>
       </TRP>
   </B6>
  <B7 FolderCD=""></B7><!--FolderCD is optional-->
  <B8>
      <FN></FN>
      <MN></MN><!--Optional-->
      <LN></LN>
      <A1></A1>
      <A2></A2>
      <A3></A3><!--Optional-->
      <PC></PC>
  </B8>
  <B9></B9>
  <B10></B10><!--Optional-->
  <B11></B11>
  <B12></B12><!--Optional-->
     <B13>E</B13>
   </ROE>
 </ROEHEADER>

9.3 Transaction block elements format

This section includes the edit and business rules for each ROE block and field.

Table 7 – Information on ROE elements
ROE block no. /field name Tag name Tag level Required tag (Y/N) Requirements
2 – Serial Number of ROE amended or replaced B2 2 N Optional, but if completed:
  • Must be 9 alphanumeric characters
  • First character must be "Y" followed by 8 numbers
3 – Employer's Payroll Reference Number B3 2 N Optional, but if completed:
  • Up to 26 alphanumeric characters
6 – Trip / Purchase Details B6 2 Y Must be present, it only contains other tags

Up to 16 trips

Example: 

<B6>
 <TRP nbr="1">
  <SDT>2011-01-01</SDT>
  <EDT>2011-01-02</EDT>
  <AMT>502.75</AMT>
 </TRP>
</B6>
6 – Trip Information TRP 3 Y

Must be present, it only contains other tags

The following attribute must be present to identify each trip: nbr
6A – Trip Start Date SDT 4 N

Optional, but if completed:

Must be 10 characters
6B – Trip End Date EDT 4 Y

Mandatory for Trip (TRP) 1

Required in trip 2-16 when corresponding Start Date and/or Amount is provided.

Date must be later than or equal to the corresponding Trip Start Date when provided.

Must be 10 characters

6C – Trip Share of Insurable Earnings AMT 4 Y

Mandatory for Trip (TRP) 1

Amount is required in trip 2-16 when corresponding Start Date and/or End Date is provided.

Up to 10 numeric characters

Amount range is from 1.00 to 9,999,999.99 (commas added for readability only)
7 – CRA Payroll Account Number (aka Business Number) B7 2 Y

Mandatory

Must be 15 alphanumeric characters

The first character must be either "1", "7" or "8"

The first 9 characters must be numeric and not all zeros

The 10th and 11th characters must be 'RP' (or 'RW' for Demo).

The last four characters must be numeric and greater than "0000".

Examples:

<B7>196107064RP0101</B7>

<B7
FolderCD="AB123456789012YZ">
196107064RP0101
</B7>
FolderCD 2 N

Optional, but if completed:

Up to 30 alphanumeric characters

The FolderCD attribute is used to identify in which folder the ROE in the payroll extract file is to be filed.

Provide the FolderCD if your organization uses folders (formerly known as divisions).

8 – Self-Employed Fisher Information (Parent Tag) B8 2 Y

Must be present, it only contains other tags

Example: 

<B8>
 <FN>John</FN>
 <MN>Z</MN>
 <LN>Doe</LN>
 <A1>123 Wellington St.</A1>
 <A2>Ottawa</A2>
 <A3>Ontario, Canada</A3>
 <PC>K1K1K1</PC>
</B8>
8 – First Name FN 3 Y

Mandatory

Up to 20 alphanumeric characters
8 – Initial MN 3 N

Optional, but if completed:

Up to 4 alphanumeric characters
8 – Last Name LN 3 Y

Mandatory

Up to 28 alphanumeric characters
8 – Address line 1 (Number and street name) A1 3 Y

Mandatory

Up to 35 alphanumeric characters
8 – Address line 2 (Place, city and municipality) A2 3 Y/N

Mandatory

Up to 35 alphanumeric characters
8 – Address line 3 (Province and country) A3 3 N

Optional, but if completed:

Up to 35 alphanumeric characters
8 – Postal Code PC 3 Y

Mandatory

Up to 10 alphanumeric characters
9 – Social Insurance Number B9 2 Y

Mandatory

Must be 9 numeric characters and not all zeros

10 – Commercial Fishing Vessel Number (CFVS) B10 2 N

Optional

Up to 12 alphanumeric characters
11 – Reason for issuing this ROE – Separation Codes B11 2 Y

Mandatory

Must be 3 characters

Must be one of the codes listed in table 8
18 12 – Comments B1218 2 N

Optional, but if completed:

Must not be used to confirm or repeat information already provided on the form

Up to 160 alphanumeric characters

Comment must be entered when Reason for Issuing this ROE (block 11) is Code "B00 – Other"

13 – Issuer's communication preferred in B13 2 N

Optional, but if completed:

Must be 1 character

Must be one of the following code:
E – English
F – Français

Note: The system defaults to "E" when left blank.

9.3.1 Block 11 – Reason for issuing this ROE – Separation Codes

Table 8 – Block 11 – Separation Codes
Code Description
A00 End of Fishing
A18 Requested by Fisher
B00 Other

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