OSCPA staff report
In September, the Ohio Department of Taxation announced it would offer Modernized e-File (MeF) for taxpayers and tax practitioners who opted to file the 2018 municipal net profit tax return with ODT.
At the time, we reported two prominent software vendors submitted written notice that they intended to include an MeF option for the municipal net profit tax in their 2018 tax preparation software packages. Thomson Reuters and CCH Incorporated will incorporate the municipal tax option in their UltraTax CS product and CCH ProSystem fx package, respectively.
ODT now has announced the inclusion of four additional vendors that have signed letters of intent with ODT – Corptax, Inc. (Corptax), Drake Software (Drake Tax), Tax Technologies, Inc. (Tax Series) and Thomson Reuters (GoSystem/OneSource).
More information is available on the department’s website. ODT plans to test the products in the coming weeks and will post an approved list of vendors once they’ve reached the end of the testing phase.
If your software vendor’s product still is not available for filing on MeF, the Department of Taxation has published ASCII/XML file layouts for the 2018 municipal net profit tax return and declaration of estimated payments for files uploaded through the Ohio Business Gateway (OBG). The layouts and additional information can be found here.
ODT is requesting test files from the municipal net profit tax filing community to ensure that files comply with the file layout. Send test files to MNPTax@tax.state.oh.us. ODT said it aims to provide feedback within 2-3 business days after receipt of the file.
Please note that an “Excel to ASCII conversion tool” exists in the ASCII file package. This can be used to generate an ASCII file from a Microsoft Excel worksheet. ODT officials said they will accept ASCII text files using the file generator tool, as well.
For more information or assistance, call ODT’s Business Tax Division at 844.238.0403 or email MNPTax@tax.state.oh.us.