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Vertex/MV Release Announcements
Note: Upgrades to all new releases are available at no additional charge to customers with active support agreements.
Vertex/MV 2007 Release Notes
We are proud to announce the availability of Vertex/MV 2007. Below is a list of changes, enhancements, and fixes that are effective with this release:
CHANGES and ENHANCEMENTS:
- The reporting for Tennessee's single article surtax has been improved on both theVTAX120 and the VTAX250 reports. These tax amounts are clearer and easier to identify.
- Due to a tax law change in Arkansas, the tiered rate calculation has been changed from "item-based" to "invoice-based". This means that the $2500 taxable tier will no longer be applied to each line item, but will instead apply to the entire invoice. This results in more taxes being collected. If you are selling into the state of Arkansas you might be under-collecting and should get this new release.
- The Geocode Assignment Utility produces a variety of messages during its analysis of your customer's addresses. Some are serious issues that require immediate resolution, while others are only warnings. A mod was made so that warning messages are now prefixed with the label "WARNING:" It is much easier to identify them when scanning the report.
- The "tax calculation on progress billing" functionality that was added at release 2004 worked only in jurisdictions where the max cap rule applied to a single item sold. At release 2007, this functionality also works in those jurisdictions that base their tax caps on the amount of taxable goods on the entire invoice.
- The VERTRATES Menu has been modified. The obsolete Ship-To Report has been removed.
- The VERTGEO Menu has been modified. The now-unnecessary process that loads the GEOCODES has been removed. This process was incorporated into our standard monthly data file update utility several years ago.
- The abbreviation for the Canadian province of Quebec was changed from QC to PQ to reflect a change by the Canadian Postal Service.
- The abbreviation for the Canadian province of Newfoundland was changed from NF to NL to reflect a change by the Canadian Postal Service.
FIXES
- In specific situations the process in Vertex/MV that creates the TAX2000 file was incorrectly calculating negative non-taxable amounts. This has been corrected.
- In specific situations, old summary data in the TAX2000 file was not being overwritten by the process that builds the file. This has been fixed.
- On certain transactions the wrong register information was being used to determine the setting for the memo record flag on the TAX2000 file. This was creating bad memo records on TAX2000 which, in turn, caused Quantum Returns to generate error messages. This has been fixed.
- The Tennessee single article memo record was being created with two incorrect values. These values were not affecting the accuracy of the taxes being calculated, but they were affecting how Quantum Returns filled in the Tennessee return forms. This has been fixed.
- There was a bug in the Geocode Assignment Utility. When it encountered a city that happened to be the last one on file for its beginning letter, for example "Mutual OH", and the Zip code was not present, the utility would neither assign a Geocode nor return an error message. This has been fixed that so that in all cases if the Zip code is missing, the program assigns its "best guess" Geocode, and also returns the message:
LOCALITY DOES NOT INCLUDE SPECIFIED ZIP CODE
- ONLY ONE GEOCODE(S) FOR LOCALITY (VALID = nnnnn - nnnnn)
This information can be very helpful in correcting customer addresses.
- An array in the transit tax calculation logic was not dimensioned correctly, causing a run-time error in certain MultiValue environments. This has been fixed.
- The calculation module has been modified to calculate the correct combined transit taxes for certain cities in California. These cities have multiple overlapping transit districts and require special processing by Vertex/MV. The correction cannot be handled via the monthly SEQMAST file from Vertex, Inc. The cities involved are:
- Richmond
- Calexico
- Truckee
- San Juan Batista
- Montclair
- Sonoma
- El Cajon
- Stockton
- Capitola
- Santa Cruz
- Santa Rosa
- Sebastopol
- The default "Tax/No Tax" flag for freight in Ohio was incorrect -- this has been fixed.
- The default "Tax/No Tax" flag for installation & repair labor in Connecticut was incorrect -- this has been fixed.
- The default "Tax/No Tax" flag for freight in Utah was incorrect -- this has been fixed.
- The default "Tax/No Tax" flag for Installation Labor in Utah was incorrect -- this has been fixed.
- The default "Tax/No Tax" flag for freight in Idaho was incorrect -- this has been fixed.
- The default "Tax/No Tax" flag for freight in Colorado was incorrect -- this has been fixed.
Vertex/MV 2004 Release Notes
ENHANCEMENTS
- Processing logic has been added to automatically perform calculations to support the
Arkansas
"Over $2500" tax law.
- A new functionality which supports progress billing has been added. You can now pass prior taxed amounts for use in Vertex/MV's calculations. This is important for cases involving jurisdictions that have a "Max Taxable Cap" rule.
- Processing logic has been added to support the new "third tier" tax law in
Tennessee
.
- The Tax Tester & Exerciser utility has been enhanced so that you can enter Geocodes *or* City, State and ZIP codes. This makes running the utility much easier.
- Support for loading the monthly Rates Update CD on Unidata systems has been added.
FIXES
- The batch Geocode Assignment utility had a bug in it which would sometimes cause it not to return the diagnostic messages (which are warnings) "Locality in more than one county" and "Multiple Geocodes for Locality". These messages are very useful to the user. This has been fixed.
- A bug which prevented the monthly Sales Tax Rates file process from correctly loading any override records has been corrected.
- Credit transactions processed for returns from jurisdictions with "Max Taxable Cap" rules were often being incorrectly taxed, e.g., the tax being credited to the customer was incorrect. This has been fixed.
- In certain circumstances, an invalid Memo Record was being written to the Sales Tax Register File for transactions in
Texas
. Quantum Returns was rejecting these records, and certain sub-totals on the VTAX120 reports were adversely affected. This bug has been fixed.
- Transit District tax was not being calculated correctly under very specific circumstances. This has been fixed.
- When processing a Tax-Only Credit, the sum of the State, County and City tax amounts frequently did agree with the total tax to the penny. This was due to intrinsic functionality of rounding subroutines. We have devised a different method of calculation so this does not happen.
- When processing a Tax-Only Debit, the sum of the State, County and City tax amounts frequently did agree with the total tax to the penny. This was due to intrinsic functionality of rounding subroutines. We have devised a different method of calculation so this does not happen.
- In certain circumstances, Tax-Only Credit processing was creating erroneous records on the Sales Tax Register File. This has been fixed, and a batch processor has been added to correct those Tax-Only Credit records.
Vertex/MV 2.7.99 Release Notes
ENHANCEMENTS
- Installation process now inserts compiler directives into the code when appropriate.
- A utility has been added that explains the VTAXLINK matrix, which is the means of communication between a billing application and Vertex/MV. This utility will give you definitions for each item in VTAXLINK. A useful programmers aide.
- The update process (to update from one version to the next) has been streamlined and simplified.
- The monthly rates data file update process has been modified so that it also rebuilds the GEOCODES file. This way, the GEOCODES file always stays in sync with the Rates file. This is an important enhancement, because prior to this, customers had to request a tape or CD-ROM containing the new GEOCODES file from Vertex, Inc. This enhancement makes that unnecessary --- the GEOCODES file is now always up to date and in sync.
- Field editing in Exceptions Maintenance and Exemptions Maintenance has been added. Prior to this, you had to re-type an entire line. Now you can change just the string you want to change.
- New functionality added: you can now create Custom Rates Records to suit your business requirements. You can now override any fields on the VRATES file.
For example, let’s say that your business had a special exclusion on district tax in the
county
of
Los Angeles
. But there was no way to specify that using the tax exception rules and hierarchical logic that have been set up on your system. With our new Custom Rates Records functionality, you could now set up a custom record that would create a zero district tax, thereby overriding the normal tax determination.
This example may not apply to you, but think of the possibilities! With this new feature, you have much more control in terms of tailoring Vertex/MV to fit your business. Literally thousands of overrides are now possible!
- New functionality added: You can now specify that you only want part of the taxable amount taxed at the state level. We added this for manufacturers in
North Carolina
so that they can comply with a special law there, but it can be used for any state.
- New detail added to
Hawaii
section of the Sales Tax Register Report to provide tax accountants with needed data for new fields on Hawaii State Sales Tax Return.
- New functionality: You can now set up store locations by Geocode. Several states, including
Colorado
,
California
and
Florida
, are now requiring that companies report sales by location if they have more than one location within the state. Store location codes are assigned by each state, and must be used on the returns. With this new capability, you can set up your store location codes and the Geocodes within which they reside. When you generate your TAX2000 file each month, Vertex/MV sums up tax register data for each store code it finds and places it on the TAX2000 file in the proper locations.
- New report created that reports on tax rate changes each month.
- New report created that reports on Geocodes changes each month.
- New report created that lists the Tax Exception file by exception type.
FIXES
- Y2K fixes implemented.
- Geocode determination subroutine was sometimes replacing the passed city with a Soundex equivalent. If the calling program expected to use the contents of the city variable upon return, that variable at times would not contain the original spelling of the city. This problem has been fixed.
- There was a calculation error that sometimes occurred with transactions in
Texas
that involved nexus in the buyer's locality. MTA Use Tax was not being calculated if the shipped goods were coming from another city. This error has been fixed.
- If you specified a "State-Only" Geocode or a "State-And-County-Only" Geocode as either the Ship-From or the Ship-To, there would be "variable unassigned" messages during execution of the main calculation program. This has been fixed.
- Modification to apply Use Tax instead of Sales Tax when processing an inter-state service transaction and the taxing jurisdiction has no special rules for service transactions. Use Tax is the proper default in this situation, not Sales Tax.
- During creation of the TAX2000 file, the manufacturer's excise code was being improperly referenced. The incorrect field was used. This has been fixed.
Monthly Data Updates Now Available via Internet Download!
Effective 1/22/01
Vertex, Inc. has announced the availability of a downloadable version of their monthly data update file (SEQMAST). Update #221 (effective for February 1, 2001) is the first to be distributed via download. Each site can choose to switch to this delivery method or continue to receive magnetic media, but not both.
The instructions for downloading SEQMAST have been provided to each licensed site with their recent media shipments. Please refer to those or contact Vertex, Inc. directly if you need assistance with the download.
R.O.I. Syngineering will provide information and assistance to Vertex/MV users to enable use of the downloaded file. Please call R.O.I. Syngineering at 805-370-1530 for assistance.
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