1. Commercial Off The Shelf Single Point Electronic Filing (COTS SPEF) Project Donna Hockensmith

2. Page 2 Draft Mission  COTS SPEF reduces employer burden by simplifying the processes of the quarterly filing state and federal tax and wage reports and making associated payments  COTS SPEF provides guidelines and standards for the development of e-file software for the calculation and transmission of a uniform record that satisfies the employers’ state and federal obligations

3. Page 3 Draft Project Goals  Facilitate adoption of a standard electronic transmission format by state agencies  Facilitate development of business solutions, such as World Wide Web applications and integrated payroll- accounting/reporting/tax payment software packages  Facilitate an electronic transmission for paying and single point of filing for quarterly tax & wage data in each state

4. Page 4  Single Point Filing of Forms W-2 Improvement: This project was successfully demonstrated and is entering the implementation phase in conjunction with SSA  Single Point Paper Filing Initiative (Montana): This project was successfully demonstrated and is expanding to the entire state  Single Point Electronic Filing Initiative (Iowa): This project was successfully demonstrated, but lack of available software moves implementation to COTS SPEF Related Projects

5. Page 5Approach  Seek software developers and payroll service providers to partner with federal agencies (e.g., the IRS) and states in a consortium for research and development  Define requirements and common standards for data transmission  Provide a mechanism for single transmission for reporting federal and state tax and wage information  Explore possibilities of electronic payment of federal and state taxes paid with a return  Test single point transmission to location(s) determined by the consortium

6. Page 6 Major Milestones  Sent participation invitations to states and District of Columbia (1/2000)  Issued announcement for commercial partners (3/2000)  Identified state partners (4/2000)  Identified commercial software developer/payroll service provider partners (5/2000)  Conducted two COTS SPEF Partner Meetings (6/2000, 8/2000)

7. Page 7 State Partners –Connecticut –Illinois –Iowa –Massachusetts –Maryland –Minnesota –Montana –New Jersey –New York –Pennsylvania –South Carolina

8. Page 8 Commercial Partners –CashTax –FileYourTaxes.com –GovConnect –Intuit –National Information Consortium (NIC) –Nationtax –Oracle –Paychex –Ultimate Software

9. Page 9 COTS SPEF Original Configuration COTS SPEF Single Point Electronic Filing Using State Portal EmployerCOTS SPEF IRS State Portal data acknowledgment

10. Page 10 COTS SPEF Alternative Configuration Distributed Single Point Electronic Filing EmployerC0TS SPEF IRS State Assumptions: - State & Federal Must Accept Individual Filers - Facilitates Multi-State Future Expansion COMMON STANDARD Single Point data acknowledgment

11. Page 11 Next Steps  Determine standards and requirements  Demonstrate and analyze COTS SPEF prototype solution  If successful, recommend implementation of single point electronic filing prototype solution

12. Page 12 COTS SPEF Project Contact  Donna Hockensmith, Project Manager donna.hockensmith@irs.gov  Check out the STAWRS Web site at http://www.biztax.gov/projects.htm for updates on COTS SPEF