G 2009-01 - Ohio Business Gateway Enhancements and Disclosure
Reminder - Issued March 2009
The purpose of this information release is to advise
taxpayers and their representatives of the upcoming
enhancements to the Ohio Business Gateway (OBG) and to remind
such persons of the strict disclosure guidelines that
employees of the Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) must
follow before providing information to individuals in order
to protect confidential taxpayer information.
Ohio
Business Gateway
(OBG) Enhancements
Beginning March 30, 2009,
OBG will feature many enhancements. OBG will be down
to implement this upgrade from Thursday evening, March 26,
2009 through Monday morning, March 30, 2009. During
that time, taxpayers and representatives will not be able to
access their accounts, specifically for purposes of filing
and/or paying electronically. Please plan accordingly for
this outage.
This information release details some of the enhancements and
provides an illustrative example of the single sign-on
component of the upgrade.
OBG Home Page:
The OBG home page has been enhanced to provide a universal
platform that allows a user to access multiple areas from one
screen. This new home page screen is equipped with
customized, collapsible menus for each function type. For
example, a user will be able to select the tax the user
wishes to access, along with all options associated with that
tax from the home page. The functions of the current OBG are
not changing, but the means of accessing the functions has
been streamlined and simplified.
Service Provider/Representative Sign-On:
Another much-anticipated upgrade to the OBG allows third
party representatives to sign on to the OBG one time in order
to prepare forms for multiple clients. This function requires
the third party representative to register through the OBG in
order to receive a 10 character representative identification
number that the representative may provide to his/her
clients. The client then enters that number into the OBG from
the client’s account in order to grant access to the
representative. The client may choose the level of access
he/she wishes the representative have with regard to the
client’s account (such levels vary from being able to create
and edit a return to having the ability to file and pay on
the client’s behalf). Please be advised that
providing access to a representative may allow that
representative to see a taxpayer’s prior OBG filing
history.
The service provider/representative sign-on component of the
OBG upgrade has three steps:
1. The representative (or the representative’s firm or
company) must register with the OBG if the representative,
firm, or company is not already registered. The sole purpose
of the registration step is to provide each firm or company
with a unique identifier, which a representative may provide
to his/her clients. In the event that a representative, firm,
or company is already registered on OBG, such person must log
in to reveal the unique identifier, which is a new feature
available with the new OBG. In addition, a firm or company
may create additional OBG user accounts for its employees
and, if desired, only designate those accounts as having OBG
access on behalf clients. By only selecting access on
behalf of one or more clients, a firm or company may ensure
that its employee will not be able to file on behalf of the
firm or company, but rather may only file on behalf of a
client.
2. After the representative provides his/her client with the
unique identifier, the client must log into the OBG to
provide the representative with access to the client’s
account. The client may choose from various levels of access,
ranging from the ability to create and edit a return (but not
the ability to file the return) to the all-access level,
which would allow a representative to create, edit, and file
returns on the client’s behalf.
3. Once the taxpayer designates a representative to act on
its behalf, the representative, firm, or company must log
back into the OBG to select which of its employees to assign
to that client’s account. The firm or company may designate
multiple employees to one account, or may segment a certain
tax type for each representative.
For example, Joe Taxpayer hires Randy at ABC Tax Consultants
to file his commercial activity tax (CAT) returns on his
behalf. Because ABC Tax Consultants is already registered on
the OBG to file CAT returns on its own behalf, ABC Tax
Consultants:
- Logs into the OBG;
- Reveals its unique identifier; and
- Provides that identifier to Joe Taxpayer.
Joe Taxpayer logs into the OBG, sets up a shared access
group, and types in the unique identifier to designate ABC
Tax Consultants as his representative for purposes of the CAT
only. While setting up the group, Joe Taxpayer selects
all-access for CAT in order to enable ABC Tax Consultants the
ability to file and pay CAT on his behalf. Joe Taxpayer then
exits the OBG.
ABC Tax Consultants logs back into the OBG. ABC Tax
Consultants also has three employees, Randy, Karrie, and
Chuck, who work on all tax matters for clients. ABC Tax
Consultants will add all three employees as users, but leave
all access levels for ABC Tax Consultants as “no selection”
so that Randy, Karrie, and Chuck may represent clients, but
may not file or pay on behalf of ABC Tax Consultants. Randy,
Karrie, and Chuck will be added to Joe Taxpayer’s shared
access group. Randy, Karrie, and Chuck may now log into OBG
and change to Joe Taxpayer’s account in order to file and pay
on Joe Taxpayer’s behalf for all CAT matters.
Disclosure
Guidelines and Reminders
In ODT's continuing effort to safeguard all taxpayers’
confidential information, this release serves as a reminder
to taxpayers and practitioners of the information they must
have readily available before calling ODT regarding an
account. ODT’s employees may never disclose confidential
taxpayer information without sufficient verification of key
components of a taxpayer’s account. At a minimum, please have
all of the following information readily available before
calling ODT regarding an account:
1. The first and last name of the taxpayer (or the complete
business name if the call regards a business);
2. Either the social security number (SSN), federal
identification number (FEIN), or Ohio tax identification
number (TIN) of the entity;
3. The complete address currently on file with ODT (if such
information has changed, please provide updated contact
information as appropriate);
4. The tax year or period for which the person is calling,
including any amount at issue. For example, if a person
contacts ODT regarding a billing notice, please provide the
amount of the bill;
5. In the case of taxpayer representatives, the
representative’s name and company affiliation.
In addition, the agent should also verify that the
representative is calling on behalf of a taxpayer in a
representative capacity. Further, the agent may ask
additional questions that provide the agent a comfort level
that the person calling is entitled to the confidential
information.
Unfortunately, if a taxpayer or representative cannot provide
all of the above information, ODT may not be able to answer
all questions. Please understand that ODT is responsible for
safeguarding taxpayers’ confidential information; as such,
ODT representatives may not disclose that information unless
specifically authorized to do so.
For more information regarding these exciting changes,
including tutorials to help get started, please visit a
special page on the ODT Web site at Ohio Business
Gateway 2.0. To begin filing via the OBG, visit: http://business.ohio.gov.
Please contact ODT with questions about the disclosure
guidelines outlined above or about the upcoming enhancements
to the OBG toll-free at (866) 644-6468.