From megan.c.denison at state.or.us Fri Jan 13 14:17:36 2012 From: megan.c.denison at state.or.us (DENISON Megan C) Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:17:36 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] Oregon e-file opens Tuesday, January 17th at 6AM! Message-ID: Happy Friday the 13th! Oregon electronic filing for personal income tax opens next Tuesday, January 17th at 6AM. This is your friendly reminder that Oregon follows the federal electronic filing requirement if you plan on filing 11 or more returns during 2012. We have posted the answers to some frequently asked questions about the Oregon electronic filing mandate on our website here: http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/TAXPRO/efile-faq.shtml Please remember that if your client does not wish to file their return electronically, you must attach federal form 8948, Preparer Explanation for Not Filing Electronically, to your client's Oregon return. Check box 1 and write your Oregon license number at the top of the form. Please feel free to contact the Oregon electronic filing team if you have any further questions. We wish you a successful filing season! Megan Denison Personal Income Tax Coordinator Electronic Filing and Return Processing Oregon Department of Revenue 503-945-8415 (message line) Electronic.filing at dor.state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cathleen.m.tavares at state.or.us Thu Jan 19 11:43:50 2012 From: cathleen.m.tavares at state.or.us (TAVARES Cathleen M) Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:43:50 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] PayrollTax News LISTSERV Jan 2012 Message-ID: PayrollTax News LISTSERV: iWire Update Jan. 2012 Please be sure to send this to anyone who would benefit from this information I. Important iWire UPDATE: "iWire Direct", the direct filing option for W2 information, will be available the first week of March. This option will allow small businesses with a small number of W2's to input W2 information directly into our iWire system. Continue to watch the iWire website for further updates and information (http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/BUS/iwire-income-wage-information-return-eservices.shtml) II. Frequently Asked questions regarding iWire: 1. Are all businesses now required to submit their W2's electronically? I am not required to do so for federal purposes. A. Even if you are not required to submit W2's electronically for federal purposes, you are still required to submit your W2's for Oregon. This includes employers with as few as one or two W2's. 2. Are household employers also required to submit W2's electronically? A. Yes. 3. I assume that this eliminates the Form WR (Withholding Annual Reconciliation Report)? A. No, you are still required to submit the paper WR for 2011. The WR is also due March 31st 4. Where do I register to submit my W2's electronically? A. You do not need to register with Oregon like you do with the SSA (Social Security Administration). If you use the" iWire Direct" option, you'll simply be asked to supply your information before inputting your W2's. 5. Can't I just print off the information when I submit my W2's online through the SSA and then send the PDF file to you? A. No, iWire is not designed to process PDF files. The file must be a text (.txt) file if you are not using iWire Direct to manually enter the W2's. 6. I heard that we are also required to submit 1099's electronically. I only have 3 1099's. Do I send these electronically? Do I also send in the 1096(the 1099 Federal Reporting form)? A. No, only employers who have 250 or more of any one type of 1099 (1099R, 1099MISC, 1099 G & W2G) need to submit electronically this year. You do not need to submit the paper 1099's or send in the 1096 form. Simply include this information on your 2011 WR form and keep the copies for your records in case we ask for them later. 7. Will you also have the direct file options for 1099's as well? A. Yes, we plan to have that option available by the time smaller companies will be required to submit their 1099's electronically. 8. My software doesn't include the RV record where do I need to put this record within the file? A. The RV record must be included in the file right before the RF record. 9. My software vendor allows me to print a W2 transcript/file; can I use this to file my W2's electronically with DOR? A. No, this transcript/file will not work; you should use the direct file option. The Payrolltax-News e-mail list provides employers with complete and up-to-date payroll tax information. Employers can self-subscribe here. Representatives in the Business Division will send information to employers through this list. Employers can request additional information by e-mailing payroll.help.dor at state.or.us. As a standard practice, e-mail sent from the department will be in text form only. Department of Revenue will not open attachments. Questions about list content and subscription problems should be directed to the list owner: Cathy Tavares Oregon Dept of Revenue Cathleen.M.Tavares at state.or.us 503-945-8762 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tamara.l.idsinga at state.or.us Tue Jan 31 09:07:19 2012 From: tamara.l.idsinga at state.or.us (IDSINGA Tamara L) Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:07:19 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] Tax Practitioner survey Message-ID: The Oregon Department of Revenue is looking to serve you better. Please help us by taking a few minutes to complete this survey. All responses are anonymous. Http://www.surveytracker.net/scripts/survey.dll?AHID=04W027 Thank You, in advance, for your time. Tom Stinnette Oregon Department of Revenue 800 N.E. Oregon St. Ste. 505 Portland OR. 97232 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tamara.l.idsinga at state.or.us Thu Feb 16 09:00:07 2012 From: tamara.l.idsinga at state.or.us (IDSINGA Tamara L) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:00:07 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] Tax Practitioner Survey Message-ID: Hello All, I just wanted to take a minute, out of what I know is a very busy time, to thank you all for your responses to the recent Tax Practitioner Survey. The response was wonderful and certainly more than expected given the timing. I can't tell you what the outcomes will be; but I can say we'll have a lively discussion. Thanks Again, Tom Stinnette Oregon Department of Revenue -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cathleen.m.tavares at state.or.us Tue Feb 28 09:04:04 2012 From: cathleen.m.tavares at state.or.us (TAVARES Cathleen M) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:04:04 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] LISTSERV Feb 2012 Message-ID: Payroll Tax News LISTSERV: iWire Information, Part 2 Special Informational LISTSERV February, 2012. Please be sure to provide this information to all who will benefit from it. A. Introduction: Effective last year, if you issue employees a W-2 you must also submit the information to DOR electronically. This is true even if you aren't required to file them with the Social Security Administration (SSA) electronically. Businesses that issue 250 or more of certain Forms 1099 must also submit them directly to the DOR. Next year, that number drops to 100 or more. 1. How do I electronically file W-2s? Employers will be able to submit their W2 information using one of two ways: A. Employers can submit their information using our iWire system. That system uses the same file as you use for filing W-2s with the SSA. Most software vendors already support filing electronically for Oregon. Contact your vendor to determine if the software you have will work for you. The SSA provides a list of software vendors at https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/ewr/vendors.nsf/byname if you choose to purchase or upgrade your software. B. The department is providing a new filing system for small businesses to manually enter W-2 information so they can meet the requirement. It's called "iWire Direct", it's free, and doesn't require new software. It'll be available the first part of March 2012 by going to https://secure.dor.state.or.us/iWire . 2. How do I electronically file 1099s? The department uses the same file for 1099 information as the Internal Revenue Service does. This means your software likely will create the file following federal Publication 1220 with additional specifications found in our 1220 Addendum located on the iWire webpage. Employers who do not meet this threshold are not required to mail in paper copies of their 1099's or the 1096 form for 2011. 3. Can't I just print off the information when I submit my W2's online through the SSA and send the PDF file to you? No, iWire is not designed to process PDF files because a PDF is really just a picture of the W-2 and does not contain the data we need. The file you submit must be a text (.txt) file unless you use our iWire Direct system which will be available in March. iWire Direct will create the file we need behind the scenes with a small amount of information entered by you from the W-2 itself. B. Common iWire errors (W2 reporting): The three most common errors filers using iWire see are: 1. The value "01234567" is not a valid State Employee Account Number (Oregon RS specification). This is an error generated by how your software enters the BIN into the file. The field for the BIN is a 20 character field. The numbers need to be right justified meaning that the number appears at the end on the entry, with "0"s added to the front to make the total 20 digits. Therefore a BIN of 1234567-8 should be keyed in as 00000000000012345678. You should contact your software vendor to notify them that their program isn't correctly formatting that field. 2. The value "(503) 123-4567" is not a valid contact number: This entry is a 15 character field in the RS record. It is a numeric entry, so the phone number must be entered first with no dashes or spaces. Then, the other five spaces are "blank "filled to equal the 15 characters that are required. Therefore, a telephone number of 503 123-4567 would be entered as 5031234567-----(blanks). Again, consider contacting your software vendor to tell them their software package isn't formatting the telephone number correctly. 3. We were unable to determine if your file is a W-2 or 1099 data submission. Usually this is because your file does not start with a "RA" record (for W-2 submissions) or a "T" record (for 1099 submissions) You are submitting a file that is not in the correct format and does not meet the correct specifications as indicated above. The "RA" and "T" is also not a file name: these are records within the file that identify whether the information is W2 or 1099. Again, consider contacting your software vendor to tell them their software package isn't indicating what file type it is transmitting to us. NOTE: You must use the Oregon specifications for both the "RS" and "RV" records located on our website at http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/BUS/docs/iwire_specs.pdf . These specifications are different from those provided by the SSA. Failure to do so will cause the file to be rejected. C. Additional Questions: 1. QuickBooks provides an Excel spreadsheet with the W2 information. What if I convert that to a text file and submit? Can't that be used? This file is not in the correct format and will not be accepted 2. What is used as a Submitter ID? Do I need to register with the SSA to obtain that number? No, you do not need to register with the SSA. You may use one of several numbers: a. BIN: (Business Identification Number for Oregon) b. SSN: (of Submitter) c. FEIN: (Federal Tax Identification Number) d. Business Registry Number (Secretary of State) or e. SSA Submitter ID number (Provided when registering with the BSO) 3. I received an e-mail indicating I had validation errors. Am I required to correct these and resubmit my file, or does it process anyway? You must correct all errors in the file and resubmit it. 4 Since I am not required to submit my 1099's electronically this year, how do I get them to you? Do I mail them in? What transmittal form do I use? If you do not meet the threshold for electronically filing, you are not required to mail in your 1099's. However, we do ask that you keep copies on file. Be sure to include the amount withholding on your Form WR (Withholding Annual Withholding Reconciliation Report). IMPORTANT: Be sure to also review the "Frequently Asked Questions and Trouble Shooting Tips" at http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/forms/business/iwire-faq-troubleshoot.pdf for additional information and answer. The Payrolltax-News e-mail list provides employers with complete and up-to-date payroll tax information. Employers can self-subscribe here. Representatives in the Business Division will send information to employers through this list. Employers can request additional information by e-mailing payroll.help.dor at state.or.us. As a standard practice, e-mail sent from the department will be in text form only. Department of Revenue will not open attachments. Questions about list content and subscription problems should be directed to the list owner: Cathy Tavares Oregon Dept of Revenue Cathleen.M.Tavares at state.or.us 503-945-8762 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From david.farr at state.or.us Wed Mar 7 16:42:59 2012 From: david.farr at state.or.us (FARR David) Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:42:59 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] New - Estate Transfer Tax Message-ID: Hello Tax Professionals, On January 1, 2012 Oregon's Inheritance tax changed to an Estate Transfer Tax as amended by the 2011 Oregon House Bill (HB) 2541. For deaths on or after January 1, 2012, you'll file new Form OR706, Oregon Estate Transfer tax return and associated schedules (currently under construction). Form IT-1, Oregon Inheritance tax return will not be accepted for 2011 and prior dates of death. Oregon HB 2541 amended the Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 118. Oregon estate transfer tax is tied to federal estate tax as it existed on December 31, 2010. The filing threshold remains at a gross estate of $1 million valued as of the date of death. Please take some time to read all of HB 2541 amendments to Chapter 118, here are only some of those amendments: * Proration of tax - An Oregon nonresident decedent will include only real property located in Oregon and tangible personal property located in Oregon in the numerator to determine the Oregon percentage computation for tax proration. * Tax table and exemption - Uses only one tax table and built into the tax table is an exclusion from tax on the first $1 million of taxable estate. * Unified credit - Eliminates the need to compute a tentative tax and eliminates the use of the unified credit. * Natural resource credit - For natural resource credit (NRC) property, each transferee receiving NRC property must report to us annually by filing on our new Schedule NRC, Form OR-706 (currently under construction), to confirm the NRC assets continue to qualify for the credit. We'll send another ReveNews email when the new Form OR706 and related schedules become available on our website. To see prior Revenews, visit the Revenews Archives. If you have other questions email us at estate.help.dor at state.or.us or call our taxpayer assistance at 503.378.4988 (or toll-free from an Oregon prefix 1.800.356.4222). Estate Tax Unit Oregon Department of Revenue -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From david.farr at state.or.us Thu Mar 8 11:43:07 2012 From: david.farr at state.or.us (FARR David) Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 19:43:07 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] (Date Correction) New - Estate Transfer Tax Message-ID: Hello, We apologize for an error regarding the proper filing dates for Form IT-1 in yesterday's email. (See corrections in red.) We've also made some clarifications regarding the Natural Resource Credit (NRC). * Form IT-1, Oregon Inheritance tax return will not be accepted for deaths on or after January 1, 2012. The Form IT-1 is still used for deaths on or before December 31, 2011. Natural resource credit - For natural resource credit (NRC) property; 1. NRC property will be reported with the Form OR-706 on Schedule NRC. 2. Each transferee receiving NRC property must report to us annually confirming the NRC assets continue to qualify for the credit; the annual reporting form is currently under construction. ---------------------------- Full text with corrections: Hello Tax Professionals, On January 1, 2012 Oregon's Inheritance tax changed to an Estate Transfer Tax as amended by the 2011 Oregon House Bill (HB) 2541. For deaths on or after January 1, 2012, you'll file new Form OR706, Oregon Estate Transfer tax return and related forms and schedules (currently under construction). Form IT-1, Oregon Inheritance tax return will not be accepted for deaths on or after January 1, 2012. It is still used for deaths on or before December 31, 2011. Oregon HB 2541 amended the Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 118. Oregon estate transfer tax is tied to federal estate tax as it existed on December 31, 2010. The filing threshold remains at a gross estate of $1 million valued as of the date of death. Please take some time to read all of HB 2541 amendments to Chapter 118, here are only some of those amendments: * Proration of tax - An Oregon nonresident decedent will include only real property located in Oregon and tangible personal property located in Oregon in the numerator to determine the Oregon percentage computation for tax proration. * Tax table and exemption - Uses only one tax table and built into the tax table is an exclusion from tax on the first $1 million of taxable estate. * Unified credit - Eliminates the need to compute a tentative tax and eliminates the use of the unified credit. * Natural resource credit - For natural resource credit (NRC) property: 1. NRC property will be reported with the Form OR-706 on Schedule NRC. 2. Each transferee receiving NRC property must report to us annually confirming the NRC assets continue to qualify for the credit; the annual reporting form is currently under construction. We'll send another ReveNews email when the new Form OR706 and related forms and schedules become available on our website. To see prior Revenews, visit the Revenews Archives. If you have other questions email us at estate.help.dor at state.or.us or call our taxpayer assistance at 503.378.4988 (or toll-free from an Oregon prefix 1.800.356.4222). Estate Tax Unit Oregon Department of Revenue -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From david.farr at state.or.us Mon Mar 12 13:57:50 2012 From: david.farr at state.or.us (FARR David) Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:57:50 +0000 Subject: [Revenews] Corporate Credits and Minimum Tax Message-ID: Hello tax professionals, The Oregon Department of Revenue's Position on the Application of Tax Credits to Oregon's Corporate Minimum Tax. On December 27, 2011 the Oregon Tax Court issued a decision on Con-Way, Inc. & Affiliates v. Department of Revenue TC5003. This decision suggests that all corporate tax credits, unless specifically prohibited by statute, shall be applied against the corporate minimum tax. The court's decision contradicts our long-standing position that credits cannot reduce corporation excise tax below the minimum tax. We have appealed the decision to the Oregon Supreme Court. Until the appeal is final, our long-standing position remains unchanged: taxpayers cannot use tax credits to reduce the corporate minimum tax. Taxpayers may file protective claims with us to secure the right to a refund pending the Supreme Court proceedings. Please don't reply to this message. For more information, visit http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/BUS/corp-tax_main.shtml#Can_credits_reduce_Oregon_s_corporate_minimum_tax_ Or contact our minimum tax unit at minimumtax.help at state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: