The Tennessee Department of Revenue is in the process of implementing a new system for the administration of taxes. The Department is pleased to announce that business tax will be converted to the new system on May 29, 2018.
Some of the challenges faced by the state and local jurisdictions are consistency between business license data and business tax return data. It is anticipated that the new system will allow us to address these challenges.
In order to accomplish this, a new portal will be available to all city and county clerks. Clerks can use the portal to manage business license issuance and maintenance within their jurisdiction. Alternatively, clerks can use the portal for the more limited, but essential, purpose of maintaining a common database of taxpayer information with the Department. The database will include information such as business name, address, EIN, business tax classification, etc., and will help ensure that the clerk and the Department are using identical information. We believe working from identical taxpayer information is the only way for both functions – licensing at the local level and tax collection at the state level – to work efficiently. The portal will also allow local governments to run reports and have more convenient access to information about business tax filers.
Here are answers to some questions you may have regarding the new portal:
When will this new portal be available?
The portal will be live on Tuesday, May 29, 2018.
Will there be any fee to the cities and counties for using this new portal?
No, use of the portal will be free of charge.
How will the new portal be accessed?
The new portal will be a website that is accessed using any current version web browser.
Recommended web browsers are:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox 5.0 or higher
- Internet Explorer 10.0 or higher
- Opera 11.0 or higher
- Safari 5.0 or higher
What type of licenses will be supported?
Both standard and minimal activity license types will be supported within the new portal.
What happens with our vendor software?
A real-time interface from the new portal to the city/county software is available to all of your vendors. The state has distributed documentation to every vendor regarding this interface.
What is the interface between vendor software and the portal?
If the local jurisdiction uses the portal to issue licenses,1 the interface will allow license transaction data that was keyed into the new portal to be brought into the vendor software in order to collect payment, produce a receipt, and create a license if the jurisdiction prefers a customized license. The receipt of fees and accounting for those fees are not part of the new portal.
If the local jurisdiction chooses not to use the portal to issue licenses, the interface will still allow data that was keyed into the portal to be brought into the vendor software as the starting point for completing the license transaction. In doing so, the portal will ensure that the local jurisdiction and the state share identical information about the licensee/taxpayer.
The portal will also be the mechanism for notifying local jurisdictions whether each taxpayer is in good standing for purposes of renewing its business license.
Do I have to rekey licensing data into my local system?
No, we are working with all current vendors to implement this interface with the new portal so that current license data for a specific business or recently completed transaction can be imported. The interface will allow clerks to complete the license transaction with fee collection, creation of receipt, and optionally print a physical license for the taxpayer.
How will license fees be collected and receipted?
The city and county are responsible for collecting licensing fees. The receipt and collection of these fees are not part of the portal.
Will licenses printed from the new portal be customizable by each city and county jurisdiction?
If the jurisdiction chooses to use the portal to produce licenses, the portal will automatically populate the county or city name, license number, issue date, expiration date, business name, business address, letter ID (unique document control number), and the state seal. The portal cannot customize the license to look like each city’s or county’s unique license.
Will there be any reporting capabilities within the new portal?
Yes, there will be reporting tools within the new portal. All of these reports will have a download feature.
How will renewals be handled for standard licenses?
Reports will be available for download by the city or county to create, print, and mail standard renewals to their licensee if they wish. The state will not print or mail licenses. The portal will have an option to automatically generate renewal licenses as long as the business is in good standing. If the jurisdiction chooses to do so, these licenses can be made available electronically to the business owner through the business owner’s TNTAP account.
How will renewals be handled for minimal activity licenses?
If the jurisdiction chooses to use the portal to issue licenses, the city or county can download reports and issue, print, and mail minimal activity renewal licenses through the portal. After the customer pays the appropriate fee, the new license will be manually entered into the portal as a new license transaction. Once the transaction is complete, the portal will provide an option to produce a minimal activity license that can be printed as needed.
How will current taxpayer data convert into the new portal, and will it match my locally maintained license data?
The data in the Department’s current tax system, RITS, will be transferred into the new portal. Although the portal will help ensure newly entered data remains consistent, clerks and the Department will have to work together over a period of time to reconcile the existing data that is imported.
How do the business owners access and maintain their accounts online?
Business owners access their information and interact with the state through an entirely different webpage called the Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP). This webpage went live in March 2017 with liquor-by-the-drink, sales and use, professional privilege, and tobacco taxes. Business tax, Hall income, franchise, excise, IFTA, and IRP will be added to TNTAP on May 29, 2018.
This is a lot of information, how would you summarize it?
County clerks, city clerks, and the Department work together to administer the business tax. In order to truly coordinate our efforts and information, we need to work from the same database of information about each licensee/taxpayer. The Department’s primary goal is to create a common database of information about the licensee/taxpayer that can be used by everyone so that we can efficiently perform our respective functions.
