BULLETIN

B-25/99
July 1, 1999

SUMMARY The Federation of Tax Administrators 15th Annual Technology Conference and Exhibition will be held August 15-18, 1999, in downtown Nashville, Tennessee at the Renaissance Hotel. All activities will take place at the Nashville Convention Center connected to the hotel. This bulletin contains a more complete program as well as registration materials and hotel information. This FTA conference is very popular, and the hotel block will fill up rapidly. FTA suggests that you make your hotel arrangements early, and requests that you complete your conference registration with us by July 23. On-line registrations are accepted at www.taxadmin.org. Fax registrations may be sent to (202) 624-7888.

This bulletin is the last one to be distributed before the meeting. Further program updates will be posted to the FTA home page at www.taxadmin.org.

PROGRAM FEATURES
There will be a focus on E-Commerce this year, as many agencies are implementing web-based tax filing applications employing a variety of methods. Remarks will feature both technical and business approaches. Continuing efforts to integrate revenue applications and use technology to enable "one-stop customer service" will be presented, as well as information on a number of tax compliance topics. Other important or new areas such as Year 2000 readiness, market development of Extensible Markup Language (XML) capabilities, 2-D bar coding, IRS and SSA progress on EC, state IT personnel recruitment, acceptance of software-created tax forms, and efforts to implement public key infrastructure (PKI), will be covered.

We are especially pleased to welcome as our keynote speakers Michael R. Nelson, director of IBM Corporation’s Internet Division, and Larry Wolfe, Vice President and General Manager of Intuit Inc.’s Personal Tax Division. In addition, Benjamin Wright, an expert in electronic commerce law, will again join us for an update on emerging alternative methods of authenticating tax returns.

EXHIBIT HALL
More than 50 vendor booths will offer a concentrated opportunity to visit with private sector representatives about new products and services during special hours on Sunday, August 15 and Monday, August 16. Check out the home page for a listing of confirmed exhibitors.

RELATED MEETINGS
The National Association of Computerized Tax Processors is expected to hold its annual meeting in conjunction with the FTA Technology Conference, from August 18-20. Also again this year, there will be a meeting of the ASC X12/TIGERS Group at the conclusion of the Technology Conference, on August 18-20. This government and industry group develops electronic standards and works on best practices in EC to assist tax agencies engaging in electronic commerce with taxpayers and service providers. There is no registration fee for the TIGERS meeting.

REGISTRATION
The Conference registration fee is $235 for government delegates and $335 for industry participants. This includes the opening reception on Sunday, continental breakfast Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, lunch in the Exhibit Hall on Monday and our keynote luncheon on Tuesday. Please submit your registration by July 23.

A conference registration form is enclosed. Please complete and mail it, together with your check, made payable to FTA to:

Again, the FTA Conference registration deadline is July 23, 1999. A late fee of $25 will be assessed if you fail to register before the workshop. Fax registrations will be accepted at (202) 624-7888. If unable to make payment at the time of registration, registrants are asked to indicate payment method, including requests for invoicing. Checks will also be accepted on-site for payment. Cancellations are accepted without penalty if received by August 12; cancellations after that date (except emergencies) will incur a $25 processing fee. On-site NEW registrants must add $25 fee.

HOTEL REGISTRATION
The conference will be held at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel, 611 Commerce St., in downtown Nashville, attached to the Nashville Convention Center. The room rate is $91 single and $111 double plus tax. Hotel tax is 12.25 percent. Make your reservations directly with the hotel by calling (800) 327-6618 or (615) 255-8400 and indicate you are attending the FTA Technology Conference. The hotel requires a deposit of one night for all reservations, which are subject to a 72 hour cancellation policy. Early registration is urged as the block tends to fill quickly. The cut-off date for hotel reservations is July 23. Rooms may not be available after that date.

IRS EMPLOYEES WHO REQUIRE THE FEDERAL PER DIEM RATE must send a fax to the sales office at (615) 254-5189 with name, address, phone number, arrival and departure dates, and credit card information.

GROUND TRANSPORTATION
Gray Line Airport Express offers transportation downtown from the airport. No reservations are required for the departures at 15-minute intervals and passengers can buy tickets at the Gray Line counter at the Nashville airport. The return trip from the Renaissance departs on the hour and half hour. Call (615) 275-1180 or (800) 669-9463 for more information. Taxi service is plentiful and will run $20 and up each way.

The weather in Nashville in August is normally quite warm during the day (80s to 90s). Dress for the sessions will be business casual, meaning collared shirts and slacks for men but no ties. There will be a variety of interesting things to do and see in Nashville during the conference dates. You may want to consult the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau website at: http://www.musiccityusa.com.

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11:00 am --5:00 pm Exhibit Hall Vendor Setup ONLY

3:00-7:00 pm Conference Registration

5:00-8:00 pm Exhibit Hall Open: Hosted Reception

7:30 am -- 5:00 pm Conference Registration

7:30-8:30 am Continental Breakfast in Exhibit Hall

8:30-9:45 am GENERAL SESSION

Introduction and Welcome - Tennessee Department of Revenue

The Outlook for Electronic Commerce -- Michael R. Nelson, Program Director, Internet Division, IBM Corporation

10:00-11:00 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 2-D Bar Coding PART ONE - Use of 2-D Bar Coding in Tax Processing
Dave Martikke and Linda Dollens, Indiana

Session 2 Year 2000: Business Contingency Planning
Joel Schensul, New York

Session 3 Unauthorized Access to Taxpayer Data: Detection Techniques
Subhasis Datta, IIT Research Institute

Session 4 Web-Based Customer Service: Intelligent E-Mail Routing and Tracking
Al Quaye, Mustang Software

11:15 am - 2:00 pm Buffet Luncheon in Exhibit Hall

2:00 -2:45 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Update on Alternative Signatures
Benjamin Wright, Author, Law of Electronic Commerce

Session 2 2-D Bar Coding PART TWO - Considerations in State Use of 2-D Bar Coding/Panel
Kathi Bauch, Intuit and Bev Zibrak, Block Financial
Dave Martikke and Linda Dollens, Indiana

Session 3 Developments in Extensible Markup Language (XML)
Dan Kazzaz, Paperfree Systems

Session 4 Tax Compliance - Audit Management & Tracking/Field Support
Stan Borawski, Michigan 

3:00-3:45 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Implementation of a Public Key Infrastructure for Revenue
Tony Ming, Province of Ontario

Session 2 National Electronic Commerce Consortium (EC3) Initiatives
Basil Nikas, ECCSI, EC3 Communications Committee 

Session 3 Update on SSA Electronic Commerce Programs and Use of "E-Proof" Authentication
Kim Mitchel, Social Security Administration

Session 4 Tax Compliance
State Reciprocal Refund Offset-Thad Russell, Maryland
Consolidating Taxpayer IDs into FEIN --Bob Benco, New Jersey

4:00-4:45 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Use of Geographic Information Systems in Tax Administration
Ray Philen and Janetta Taylor, Washington State

Session 2 Developments in IVR and PC Telephony
Daniel Tomaka, Renaissance Group Solutions

Session 3 Human Resources - Finding and Retaining IT Professionals
Panel: Tim Blevins, Kansas, Moderator, and Other State Representatives 

Session 4 Tax Compliance - Remote Access to Audit Data
Robert Shickora, New Jersey

7:30 - 8:30 am Continental Breakfast

8:30 -- 9:15 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Progress Report: on IRS Electronic Tax Administration
Stephen H. Holden, IRS-ETA

Session 2 Technical Development of a Web Tax Filing Application
Richard Giardini, Colorado

Session 3 Tax Submissions as a Unified Remittance Process
Dave Ross, RAF Technology

Session 4 - Centralized EC Capability: Agency and Statewide
Brooks Knight, Texas
Jim McGinnis, New York 

9:30 - 10:15 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 IRS Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) Activities
Speaker to be determined
Role of IRS ETA in IRS Modernization
Stephen H. Holden, IRS-ETA

Session 2 Web Tax Filing
Combined Excise-Ralph Osgood, Washington
Employer Withholding-Vicki Dickinson, Minnesota

Session 3 Providing Image-Enabled Document Processing to Other State Agencies
Steve Csogi, New Jersey

Session 4 Effective Electronic Commerce Support in Your Agency -- People and Priorities
Panel: Tim Blevins, Kansas, Moderator, and Other State Representatives

10:30 - 11:15 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Progress Toward a Simplified Tax and Wage Reporting System (STAWRS)
Donna Hockensmith, STAWRS/IRS ETA and Wayne Cooper, Iowa

Session 2 EDI Over the Internet
Representative, Sterling Commerce, and Representative, webMethods

Session 3 Image-Enabled Document Processing
Advanced Processing Platforms for New York City - Chris Osborn, Fleet Financial

Session 4 Web-Based Tax Compliance Systems
Moderator: Robert Carberry, Federal Liaison Services, Inc.
Implementation Strategies: Mark Lauteren, SAIC
Public-Private Partnership: Jeff Fraser, National Information Consortium
The Next Wave -- 2000 & Beyond: David Gray, 2Bridge Software

11:45 am Hosted Luncheon in Exhibit Hall

12:30 pm Keynote Speaker
Larry Wolfe, Vice President and General Manager, Personal Tax Division, Intuit Inc. 

1:30 -- 2:15 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Offering Free Web Tax Filing
Wylie Merritt, Oklahoma, Carolyn Perry, Universal Tax Systems, Whitney MacDougall, Intuit

Session 2 Business Tax Electronic Filing: Building a Services Marketplace
Kennon Walthall, NationTax

Session 3 Employing Internet Technologies for Customer Service Applications
Joseph Mizrahi, New York City

Session 4 Tax Compliance - Creating a Comprehensive Audit Package with Off the Shelf Software
John Sadoff, North Carolina

2:30 -- 3:15 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Web Tax Filing
WARP (Withholding and UI Wage Reporting) on the Web
Steve Tesinsky and Margaret Kauska, Montana 

Session 2 Business Tax Electronic Filing: Building a Services Marketplace
Joe Palm, ActiveWare
Richard Deitrick, Transenda

Session 3 Use of Automated Data Capture Technologies in the States
FTA Survey Results - Amna Cameron, North Carolina 

Session 4 Tax Compliance -- Data Warehousing and Audit Scoring
Eddie Coats, Texas, and Raj Panda, Intelligent Technologies

3:30 -- 4:15 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Web Tax Filing
Beer Tax - Layne Cannon, Louisiana
Sales and Use Tax - Jane Andersen-Goldsworthy, Wisconsin 

Session 2 Update on the Use of U. S. Customs Data for Enforcement
Joe Palmer, U.S. Customs Service

Session 3 Substitute Forms: Improving the Approval Process and Increasing Compliance
Moderator - Amna Cameron, North Carolina
Lynda Rush, California
Steve O'Connor, New York
Steven Gaul, Florida
Representative, NACTP

7:30 - 8:30 am Continental Breakfast

8:30 -- 9:15 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Decision Support Systems and Data Mining - Methodologies
Ashwini Chharia, Tata InfoTech

Session 2 Tax Research Resources on the Web
Will Yancey, Ryan & Co.

Session 3 Tax Systems Integration
Tim Blevins, Kansas
Randy Knapp, Pennsylvania

Session 4 GOVERNMENT ONLY SESSION
IRS Tape Extract Program -- PART ONE

9:30 -- 10:15 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 Enterprise Data Warehousing -- Lessons Learned
Michelle Eldridge, Wisconsin

Session 2 Whose Customer Is It? - Electronic Payroll Reporting
Peter Isberg, ADP, and Andrew McDevitt, ProBusiness

Session 3 Tax Systems Integration
Technical Architecture - Cheryl Sullivan, Wisconsin
Revenue Management - Charlie Cunningham, Tennessee

Session 4 GOVERNMENT ONLY SESSION (continued)
IRS Tape Extract Program -- PART TWO

10:30 -- 11:15 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session 1 - Decision Analytics in Tax Administration
John McCalden, American Management Systems

Session 2 - Use of Intranet Technology for Real Property Tax
William Riley, District of Columbia

Session 3 Tax Systems Integration -- Impact of Implementation on Users
Charlie Helms and Mary Johnson, North Carolina

Session 4 GOVERNMENT ONLY SESSION (continued)
IRS Tape Extract Program -- PART THREE

2:00 - 5:00 pm ASC X12 / TIGERS Tax Information Task Group

(open to all FTA conference attendees)

Electronic Commerce Exemplary Practices -- Moderated Discussion

This is an effort to update previously documented FTA and ANSI X12-sponsored guidance to tax authorities on recommendations to facilitate participation in electronic filing processes. Background materials will be distributed at the meeting.

9:00 am - 5:00 pm ASC X12 / TIGERS Work Sessions

• Organize attendee input from Wednesday afternoon
• Develop ECEP action plan
• Process feedback from the ASC X12 Technical Assessment Subcommittee review of:
• Child Support Enforcement Business Reference Model
• Transaction Set 521 - Income or Asset Offset Educational Tutorial
• Begin update of Tax Authority Electronic Filing Business Reference Model

9:00 am - 12 Noon ASC X12 / TIGERS Work Sessions (CONTINUED)

• Continue update of Tax Authority Electronic Filing Business Reference Model
• Assign updates of Tax Type Data Format Maps to ASC X12 Software Version 4010 level
• Begin work on Transaction Set 283 - Tax or Fee Exemption Certificate Reference Model

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