Controlled/Operated by the State Tax Agencies - Board Members are State Revenue Commr' s
September 17, 2001
Welcome to an innovative and cooperative electronic commerce entity
created by state agencies with tax collection responsibilities. This
jointly-procured resource is offered by the (non-profit and
state-controlled) TaxNet Governmental Communications Corporation
(TGCC). It now delivers a variety of services relating to the EC
needs of state tax authorities.
This overview will describe the creation of TGCC, its purpose and structure, the services it delivers to 26 states, and current state customers.
Background
The Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) is a non-profit [IRS
Sec. 501(c)3] association that serves all U.S. state government
tax agencies. FTA recognized in 1990 that the states' movement into
electronic commerce would be facilitated by the services of a
provider of contracted business organizations with experience, to
assist in putting in place electronic services that would facilitate
state uniformity. An overall goal was to reduce the level of cost and
effort associated with that implementation. To achieve that goal,
TaxNet Governmental Communications Corporation (TGCC) was created in
1990.
Via a series of procurements since then the state tax authorities, under the sponsorship of FTA and MTC (the Multistate Tax Commission, a 40+-agency state's instrumentality [IRS Sec. 115] organization chartered to foster uniformity in state treatment of corporate taxation) worked through TGCC to competitively and cooperatively procure the services of a variety of electronic commerce (EC) providers.
TGCC is an independent, non-profit governmental corporation which has also qualified under the IRS Code as a wholly-owned instrumentality of the states [dual-status IRS Sec. 501(c)3 and IRS Sec. 115]. It is used to further the governmental purpose of assisting states in the efficient administration of state tax laws: (1) no proprietary interest in the corporation exists other than those of the states themselves, (2) management of the corporation rests in individuals charged with the responsibility of administering the tax laws of their respective states, and (3) upon dissolution the states would receive the assets of the corporation.
Controlled/Operated by the State Tax Agencies - Board Members are State Revenue Commr' s
The current Board of Directors consists of the top two officers of the FTA and the MTC, the Executive Director of FTA and the Executive Director of the MTC. Since TGCC' s formation in 1990, over one-third of the states have been represented on the Board at various times.
Fed-State Central Acknowledgment Services
for Individual Income Tax Filing
Nearly all states with a personal income tax now use the IRS as a
front end network to receive individual income tax returns
electronically. One of the IRS-required features of this Fed-State
Electronic Filing (FSELF) program offered statewide is an
Acknowledgment system for transmitters to receive a positive response
regarding receipt of the state return. In 1994 state officials asked
TGCC to develop a Central Acknowledgment Service designed to provide
a central point from which transmitters of Fed-State Individual
Income tax returns can retrieve acknowledgments.
In 1995 TGCC worked with six customer states on this service, along with 45 ELF transmitters (including the six largest). 1996 saw the program grow to 16 states and over 150 transmitters, with 81% of all Fed-State ELF acknowledgments traversing the network. Today, 1700 transmitters and 25 states and the District of Columbia participate.
The existence of this link means that, for these state customers, effort is significantly reduced in the area of acknowledgment processing, and the EROs and Transmitters of Fed-State returns have one place to retrieve such communications.
Working With TaxNet
Execution of a TGCC-State Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will
allow you to begin working with TaxNet immediately. After agency
review of the TaxConnect information package you simply complete the
MoU and return it.
We would be happy to welcome you to the group of state agencies which employ TaxNet. A list is attached; please call any of them for their impressions of our commitment to their success.
Sincerely,
Jonathan R. Lyon jonathan.lyon@taxadmin.org
TGCC Administrator
FTA Senior Staff-Technology cc: Harley T. Duncan Dan Bucks Managing Director, TGCC Managing Director, TGCC FTA Executive Director MTC Executive Director
Click
here to return to the FTA Home
Page
The following agencies are working with TGCC.
Alabama
Arkansas
Colorado
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Indiana
Kansas
Louisiana
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin