WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                    Ch. 714

regulation. If any individual's employment with an employer is
terminated before the end of the calendar year, the statement in
duplicate shall be given to him at the time of the last payment
to him of salary, wages or compensation for personal services.
An additional copy of every such statement shall be sent to the
Comptroller not later than January 31 following the year in which
the termination of employment occurred. Any employer required
under the provisions of this subsection to furnish copies of any
such statement, who wilfully fails to furnish a statement as
required by law or regulation, or who wilfully furnishes a false
or fraudulent statement, shall for each such failure be subject
to a civil penalty in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00),
payable to the Comptroller in the same manner as the tax imposed
by this section. In addition, any such wilful act shall be
deemed to be a misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by a fine
of not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) or imprisonment
for not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion of the
court.

(2) (i) In any case where the use of form W-2 (wage
statement) is required for the purpose of making a return or
reporting information, the requirement shall be satisfied by
submitting the information required by the form on magnetic tape
or other approved media.

(ii) The Comptroller shall adopt regulations
providing standards for determining which returns or reporting
information must be filed on magnetic tape or other machine
readable form, taking into account, among other relevant factors,
the ability of a taxpayer to comply at a reasonable cost with the
filing requirement.

(iii) The Comptroller may not require the
filing of the returns or reporting information on magnetic tape
or in other machine readable form unless the employer is
required, for federal reporting purposes, to provide the returns
or reporting information on magnetic tape or in other machine
readable form.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1987.

Approved June 2, 1987.

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