From tim.hay at state.or.us Fri Aug 5 16:11:32 2011 From: tim.hay at state.or.us (HAY Tim * SSD SPO) Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 16:11:32 -0700 Subject: [Travel-Link] Airline Taxes during FAA shutdown Message-ID: <028FE44DB341F14CB911A04D7DEAB7CC02964C09@exchnode01.ad.state.or.us> I have been receiving several emails regarding the refund of airline ticket taxes in regards to the recent FAA partial shutdown. Below is the latest from the IRS (as of today). The IRS stating the people who traveled between July 23, 2011 and August 8, 2011 are not entitled to any refunds. Some airlines (US Airways and Delta) indicated that they will refund travelers for any taxes collected dependent upon the IRS ruling. With the IRS ruling that travelers are not entitled to any refunds, it will be up to the airline to decide whether or not to process refunds. Neither airline has commented yet on this ruling. Alaska, Frontier and Spirit Airlines did not raise fares to match the taxes during the FAA partial shutdown. It is unlikely that none of the other airlines will offer any refunds. Reinstatement of Airline Ticket Taxes IRS Statement on Airline Ticket Taxes Aug. 5, 2011 Today's Congressional action extending the Federal Aviation Administration authorization reinstates retroactively the airline ticket taxes for passengers who traveled during the lapse of the FAA's authorization. As a result of the bill Congress passed today, passengers who purchased tickets prior to July 23 and traveled between July 23 and the date of enactment of today's legislation are not entitled to a refund of the airline ticket excise tax. Additionally, the IRS intends to provide relief for passengers and airlines with respect to ticket taxes that were not paid or collected because of the lapse. The IRS intends to provide guidance to the airlines which will allow for an orderly restart of the collection of ticket taxes. Airlines will have from the time of enactment of the legislation through 12:01 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 8, to resume collection of the ticket taxes. The IRS is currently reviewing other effects of the legislation and will issue future guidance. Tim A. Hay, CPPB, CGTP, OPAC, OPBC Lead State Procurement Analyst DAS State Procurement Office 1225 Ferry St SE U140 Salem, OR 97301-4285 Ph. 503-378-4650 Fax. 503-373-1626 tim.hay at state.or.us ************************************************************************ DAS State Procurement Office Mission: "Demonstrate and provide leadership through innovative, responsive, and accountable public procurement services. ************************************************************************ Please consider the environment before printing this email. This message, including any attachments or links, may contain privileged, confidential and/or legally protected information. Any distribution or use of this communication by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by replying to this message and then delete all copies of the original communication including any attachments and/or links. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tim.hay at state.or.us Fri Aug 19 15:42:38 2011 From: tim.hay at state.or.us (HAY Tim * SSD SPO) Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:42:38 -0700 Subject: [Travel-Link] Travel Updates Message-ID: <028FE44DB341F14CB911A04D7DEAB7CC02964C77@exchnode01.ad.state.or.us> Attention travel planners. Here are some updates regarding the travel program. WSCA Lodging: The In-State qualification list is ending at the end of August. The link has been removed from the State of Oregon Travel Page. Travelers and travel planners should use WSCA Lodging when searching for and making hotel reservations for both in and out of state reservations. WSCA Lodging is located a www.wscalodging.org or http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/SSD/SPO/wsca_lodging.shtml Please take this time now to update any bookmarks to WSCA Lodging. WSCA Lodging is also available through ResX when booking in conjunction with an airline ticket. New Hotels: We have added some Oxford Suites to the list of hotels in WSCA Lodging, bringing 45 chains and over 10,000 hotels in the list. GSA Per-Diems: Next year's GSA Per-diems should be announced by the end of August. If you are booking after 9/30/2011, the rates may be incorrect on WSCA Lodging. Once the new rates are available, I will update WSCA Lodging with the correct per-diems. City-Pairs: There has been a lot of confusion with the recent expiration of most of the city-pair contracts. This email is to explain the situation. First off, the Price Agreement with Azumano Travel has NOT expired. State agencies under DAS Authority are still required to use Azumano Travel when booking air fare. The State still has city-pairs contracts with Alaska, Jet Blue, SeaPort and United airlines, however most of the city pairs under these contracts are for destinations west of the Rocky Mountains. If you are traveling in this area, State Agencies are required to use the contracted carrier for the markets served. You have the choice of choosing the contracted fare or a published fare, but you must fly the contracted carrier, The normal exceptions still apply. Please visit the travel page at http://travel.oregon.gov to see which city pair markets are served and by which carrier. If you are traveling to a market not served by a city-pair, you will need to purchased a published fare though Azumano Travel. Keep in mind that published fares are not as flexible and may be more expensive depending on flight times. To limit costs, it is recommended to book trips as early as possible, search for alternate flight times, days and even alternate airports. For example, Baltimore is generally less expensive to fly to than Reagan National in Washington DC. You should compare per-diems, transportation costs, employee costs and other expenses to determine which make the lowest logical sense to the agency. Also remember that published fares are non-refundable. Be sure travel is approved and all arrangements are satisfactory before ticketing the fare. Future Airline Contract: I am in discussions with the airlines on a possible discounted air-fare type of contract to help defray travel costs. I will know more if this concept can become a reality by the end of September. I will keep you posted. Best regards, Tim A. Hay, CPPB, CGTP, OPAC, OPBC Lead State Procurement Analyst DAS State Procurement Office 1225 Ferry St SE U140 Salem, OR 97301-4285 Ph. 503-378-4650 Fax. 503-373-1626 tim.hay at state.or.us ************************************************************************ DAS State Procurement Office Mission: "Demonstrate and provide leadership through innovative, responsive, and accountable public procurement services. ************************************************************************ Please consider the environment before printing this email. This message, including any attachments or links, may contain privileged, confidential and/or legally protected information. Any distribution or use of this communication by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by replying to this message and then delete all copies of the original communication including any attachments and/or links. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: