ANSI X9.100-160-1-2004 pdf download ANSI X9.1 00-1 60-1 -2021 Magnetic Ink Printing (MICR) Part 1: Formatting MICR
5.5 MICR print band
5.5.1 Dimensions of the MICR print band
5.5.1.1 Vertical dimensions of the MICR print band For both personal size and business size documents, the vertical placement of the MICR print band shall be a 0.250 inch high band that shall begin at 0.1875 inch from the aligning edge and shall end at 0.4375 inch from the aligning edge. This is a reference measurement, not subject to the +0.0625 inch cut and print tolerance.
5.5.1.2 Horizontal dimensions of the MICR print band Measured horizontally on both personal sized and business sized documents, the MICR print band shall begin at 0.3125 inch from the leading edge and shall end at 0.3125 inch from the trailing edge if no border is present.
If a vertical border is present along the trailing edge, the MICR print band shall end at 0.3155 inch from the trailing edge. Measured horiontally on personal size (6.0 inch) documents, the MICR print band shall begin at 0.3125 inch from the leading edge (position 1 ideal) and shall end at 5.750 inch maximum from the leading edge (position 44 max). These horizontal dimensions already includes the 10.0625 inch cutting and printing tolerance. Measured horiontally on maximum length (8.75 inch) business size documents, the MICR print band shall begin at 0.3125 inch from the leading edge (position 1 ideal) and shall end at 8.4375 inch maximum from the leading edge (position 66 max). These horizontal dimensions are subject to the 0.0625 inch cutting and printing tolerance.
5.5.2 Printing MICR characters within the MICR print band The MICR code line shall be printed within the MICR print band that is itself contained within the optical clear band, which in turn is found within the MICR clear band. Magnetic ink shall be used when printing the E-13B font characters to create MICR characters. Character positions within the MICR print band are numbered sequentially, beginning with character position 1, from near the leading edge, to character position 44 or beyond, as length allows, to the left side max for position 66, near the trailing edge. See Figure 1. In order to maintain sufficient white space around the MICR print band, printed checks must adhere to the measurements defined in Figure 1.
The MICR code line shall be printed within the MICR print band in the optical clear band, which is a part of MICR clear band. The measurement to determine the character position of a MICR character in the MICR line shall be the distance from the document’s leading edge to the right edge of the MICR character.
The opening Amount symbol shall be printed on a check in character position 1 with the right edge of that symbol at 0.3125 inch from the leading edge, +0.0625 inch cutting and printing tolerance. Character position 2 ideally shall be printed 0.125 inch from the 0.3125 inch ideal position of character position 1. Each consecutive, adjacent character position shall ideally be a multiple of 0.125 inch from the 0.3125 inch starting point of the MICR code line.
Therefore, unless restricted by field boundary specifications or restrictions on distance from the trailing edge, each character position’s ideal measurement placement shall be allowed to vary by one-half the distance to the next adjacent ideal character measurement (+0.0625 inch).