Online Services: Business Taxes

OBG UUT-1 County Data File Upload Formats

Overview

File upload options have been added to the UUT-1 in order to facilitate data entry of Use Tax data. This functionality allows the taxpayer/practitioner to upload county purchases data from a file, reducing the number of keystrokes that need to be performed within the OBG application.

Instructions

(Note: If you need assistance with registration or navigation of OBG, there are tutorials on the Ohio Business Gateway introduction page that can help.)

1. In order to take advantage of the “file upload” (or express data entry) capability, you will first need to format your UUT-1 Tax data file properly. There are two formats that will be accepted: .txt and .csv. The file format specifications are provided at the end of this document.
2. After signing into OBG, navigate to the Use Tax (UUT-1) Return page.
3. When you get to the screen below, select the “County Data File Upload” radio button. Then browse to and select the file to be uploaded. Select the "Next" button.

               

 

4. Continue to follow the on-screen instructions. The tax liability field will automatically be calculated for you by OBG based on the tax rate and the amount of taxable purchases uploaded.
5. OBG will automatically calculate the rest of the UUT-1 return for you. However, you will still need to enter any applicable amount of accelerated payments made for the current period and any accelerated payment to be applied to the next period.
6. If the return is correct, select the Accept Data button on the final UUT-1 screen and respond to the questions concerning your payment options.
7. When complete, this will mark the UUT-1 return as “ready to file” but will not file it yet.

When filing the UUT-1 return on OBG, you have the choice to enter return data while on-line or prepare a data file in advance and then upload it to OBG. Submitted files must be in comma delimited text format (.TXT or .CSV) and adhere to the County File Format guidelines below.

TXT File Rules:

• Include only County Number, Rate Code and Taxable Purchases for each county.
• Use a carriage return (Enter key) at the end of each county data set.
• DO NOT use dollar signs or any special characters within the file.
• Decimals are required to separate the whole dollars from the cents. (100 = 100.00)
• Data for only one report can be contained in each file.
• Negative numbers may be used (-100.00, -7.05), as long as the total purchases and liability lines are positive.
• File extensions must be TXT.
• County sets do not need to be listed in numerical order by county.
• Only data for counties that have taxable sales need to be included in this file.
• The “county code” for the state is always 89 and the “rate code” is usually 22.
• The application will calculate the “Taxable Liability” based on the entered “Rate Code”. The rate code table is shown below:

 

Rate Code	Rate		Rate Code	Rate		Rate Code	Rate
01	.0025%		02	.005%		03	.0075%
04	.010%		05	.0125%		06	.015%
07	.0175%		08	.020%		09	.0225%
10	.0250%		11	.0275%		12	.030%

 

.csv File Rules:

• Download the Ohio Department of Taxation Excel Template (7/22/11)
• DO NOT change the format of the Excel file or the data may not upload successfully.
• DO NOT type data into the fields that are shaded grey, as they will calculate for you.
• DO NOT use commas, dollar signs or any special characters within the fields. Decimals are required.
• The “Taxable Liability” field will be recalculated by the OBG application after you upload the file so minor one-cent rounding errors occasionally occur.
• The “Totals” fields will be ignored by the OBG application. They are on the spreadsheet so users can ensure the correct amounts were entered.
• If you need to add a duplicate county (because 2 rates apply for the filing period), you will need to add the county name and number at the bottom of the spreadsheet.
• Negative numbers may be used, as long as the total sales and liability lines are positive.
• Enter all County data in the Excel spreadsheet that is provided by the Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT).
• Save the file to be uploaded as “CSV (Comma delimitated)” format.
• Then upload the csv file to OBG the application, following the on-line prompts.

See sample below:

If filing via OBG, you will no longer need to complete a paper return that looks something like this. However, you will still need to know the applicable counties, the applicable tax rate code and taxable purchase amount. This return is entered in the prescribed ODT Excel template below so that you can see what it will look like.