Minutes

I. Welcome and Introductions

Will Rice (WA) and Gerald Johnson (FL) welcomed all participants after the introductions.

II. Participants:

Gerald Johnson, FL, Co-Chair Wireless Task Force

Will Rice, WA, Co-Chair Wireless Task Force

Joan Serfling, SD, Member

Jake Hoffman, ID, Member

Terry Garber, SC, Member

Melissa Lewis, CA, Member

Stan Whaley, FL

Rob Mutzenbach, Verizon

John Reilly, U.S. Cellular

Tara McDonald, TaxWare

George Abi-Esber, TaxWare

Mark Masucci, Vertex

Dave Tobin, Vertex

Jonathan Lyon, FTA

Elliott Dubin, MTC

III. Public Comment Opportunity

There were no comments.

IV. Review and Approval of Minutes

This was deferred until the next meeting.

V. Discussion of Re-Drafted Data Format

Will Rice introduce the topic of the re-drafted data format/X12 Transaction Set, inviting Jonathan Lyon to comment. Jonathan said that Terry Garber had worked on the X12 Project Proposal and Tax Jurisdiction Sourcing Transaction Set (TS), so would address the latest version, but also reminded the group that a proprietary "flat file" data format is also to be created, based on the approved X12 format. This work can be conducted simultaneously.

Terry first pointed out that, in re-drafting the data format for X12 consideration, she had changed the order of elements from the existing "proprietary" draft; an example is that the "proprietary" draft lists the FIPS data followed by the address, while the Tax Jurisdiction Sourcing TS lists those data fields in reverse order. It was felt that this was not significant; the "proprietary" format, when revised, will be re-ordered to match the Transaction Set.

She noted that her premise in drafting the Tax Jurisdiction Sourcing TS was that an address (or address range) would be sent as an inquiry. The description of the TS was discussed, and it was agreed that it appears accurate.

· The TS begins with ST (Header) segment, followed by a BGN (Beginning Segment) - these are necessary parts of an X12 TS, but would not be a part of the "proprietary" format.

· This is followed by a DTP segment (Date or Time or Period), which provides the ability to indicate the period for which the inquiry regarding the address or address range of the jurisdiction data. It was suggested that a "Note" be included (at position 1/030 - see the TS) that the DTP indicates the "effective date" of the information contained in the TS. In addition, in the X12 environment, qualifiers can be used to delineate the format of a date, for instance (MMYY, DDMMYY, etc.); however, format guidance will be needed when this field is employed in a "proprietary" format.

· The DTP is followed by a new segment, the NX3. This combines existing standard address data elements in an effort to be more efficient than employing the X12 NX2 segment, which would involve using multiple NX2s. This may be controversial within X12, and if necessary as a “fall-back,” we will propose using the multiple-NX2 approach (with a "greater than one" usage designator; an "implementation convention" describing proper use would likely be necessary in that event).

Note: Gerald asked whether it is possible to create an additional TS example where jurisdictional information relates to a range of addresses (i.e. "2501-2599 Cardington Drive") -- this is regarded as the most likely scenario. Terry will do this.

· The PPA segment (Property Location) follows, containing a geographic location identifier and latitude and longitude data. It is thought that in the future alternative elements could be employed in place of latitude/longitude (possibly introducing X12 data maintenance to facilitate the use of digital representation).

· The TA - Tax Authority segment is next. The description currently reads "To identify the property jurisdiction's taxing authority". The X12 Committee responsible for this segment has agreed to a change in the description to make it read "To identify the tax authority jurisdiction". In addition, a new code will be added: AA - Transportation District. Other descriptive codes for tax authorities/districts already exist, but this one needs to be added to the X12 dictionary.

It is anticipated that the Vertex tax jurisdiction database will be used as a code source for special tax jurisdiction data, but apparently it is available only for sale. Will Rice said that it is not clear that the Wireless Task Force should recommend use of a proprietary resource. Jake Hoffman agreed and urged the group to talk with Vertex and X12 about this. Further research on this issue will be conducted, since its current inclusion in the X12 data dictionary (as an external code source) seems to implicitly indicate that it is available for free, or at least at nominal cost.

· Project Proposal - Elliott Dubin noted that the Description section in the Project Proposal should read "approved", and not "developed", by FTA and MTC. This change was made. Also, the language in the last two sentences relating to interest in the progress of the Tax Jurisdiction Sourcing TS by other parties concerned with Internet commerce generally was re-crafted.

VI. Timeline

Terry Garber presented the schedule of the October 1-4 X12 session schedule:

Oct. 1 - presentation of Project Proposal and draft TS to X12/G Task Group 2 - Tax

Oct. 3 - presentation of Project Proposal and draft TS to Full Govt. Subcommittee; review/revision by X12/G Task Group 2 - Tax, as necessary

Oct. 5 - Procedures Review Board and Forwarding to Technical Assessment

Dec. 3-5 - tentative meeting of X12 Technical Assessment Committee, location TBD

Feb. 2002 - possible approval for X12 ballot

June 2002 - possible approval as X12 standard

VII. Action Items

- Revisions to Wireless TS and Project Proposal as noted above

- Further discuss Vertex issue

VIII. Future Meeting Plans

· Jake Hoffman will present the Wireless Task Force’s work on this project at the meeting of the Wireless Provider Forum group October 29-30 in Scottsdale, AZ. This is a group of tax professionals that helped to draft the federal legislation. Jake and Will plan to be there to brief the industry folks on the mission of the Wireless Task Force and progress on standards, and respond to questions.

· Post-Miami, Terry and Jonathan will get any changes to the Project Proposal and Wireless TS to the Wireless Task Force prior to the Scottsdale meeting. The "proprietary" format will also be updated to reflect X12 TS changes. Elliott will arrange the next conference call at 3 P.M. EST on October 25th as a checkpoint before the Wireless Provider Forum session.

IX. Adjournment

The co-chairs asked for a motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

Submitted by Elliott J. Dubin