Neville Black, of Compaq, asked last Monday if anyone could point him to
"a source of values for TXI04 (Tax Jurisdiction Code Qualifier) and
TXI05 (Tax Jurisdiction Code)?" He receive 810s and "there is now a
requirement to capture sales tax data."
Dear Neville:
What with the flurry of everyone tripping over themselves last week
guessing what an 825 transaction set is, your message must have gotten
lost in the shuffle since I haven't seen anyone answer it. And, no,
I've never heard of the 825, either. Although it does get you wondering
why they went from 824 - the Application Advice, skipped 825, and
continued on with the 826 - Tax Information Exchange.
Actually, how does a question like the one on 825 get started? The only
way the 825 could have been brought up would have been if my trading
partner had asked me to send it to her. Then not knowing what the heck
an 825 is, I'd simply ask her "Whazat?" Then she could pass me her
EDISIM produced implementation guideline on paper, RTF, HTML or SEF and
I'd have most everything I needed for mapping.
But your TXI question is an interesting one, from an analysis point of
view. Now I take it that you know that TXI04, the Tax Jurisdiction Code
Qualifier, already has 3 code values defined: The first two, CD and VD,
specify that TXI05, the Tax Jurisdiction Code, is a customer or vendor
defined code. You're probably most interested in the "VE" (Vertex) code
qualifier instead, which refers to an X12 code source reference listing
the National Sales Tax Rate Directory available from Vertex Systems,
Inc., at http://www.vertexinc.com.
Vertex sells sales tax calculation software, and they have defined a
list of codes to use in TXI05 signifying every taxing jurisdiction in
the land, of which there is undoubtedly no shortage. Vertex' software
is used for calculating sales tax based on the location of the purchaser
using the address, city, state and ZIP code in honing down on the sales
tax rate. I don't know how they do that - ZIP codes cross county
boundaries, which are the locus of sales taxes in Ohio for example.
Software like this would be useful for mail-order or internet mall
outfits who deal with consumers ("B2C") and who have a nexus in a
particular customer's state, requiring the collection of sales tax.
Since the consumer likely has no idea what the tax rate is (I don't even
know what it is in Franklin County - is it 5.5% or 5.75% this week?),
the vendor has to calculate it using Vertex' software. Keeping track of
sales tax rates is quite a big job, as just about every week somewhere
in the U.S. rich Dilberts and young earnest powers-that-be fob onto the
taxpayers another new stadium for billionaire owners and millionaire
players, adding another quarter percent to the sales tax.
Now from what you write I can't tell if your supplier is sending you
Vertex codes on the 810 invoice in TXI05, or that you somehow want to
tell him (in the PO's TXI) which code is applicable for a taxable line
item. In any case, Vertex has jillions of 9 digit 3-segment codes (a
"Geo code") identifying each State, County (by FIPS code), and Local
taxing jurisdiction. Using the code, you'd be able to find everything
you want from their software regarding sales and use taxes. Of course,
not only do you have to pay for the tax rate tables, but I'm sure they
expect you to shell out for the Geo codes themselves.
If you're the one providing the codes, and since you're probably dealing
with a limited number of locations for your company at which you consume
the purchase(s) (i.e., not for resale or used in production), you
already know the sales and use tax requirements that you can give to
your supplier as a percentage rate on the PO's TXI.
The only advantage of passing the Vertex code to the supplier would be
if he has to allocate taxes by county or jurisdiction when remitting to
the state. But since you have a limited number of offices and plants,
it may be easiest to simply call the state tax department and ask them
for the Vertex codes which you can then hard-code in your application or
map for each location for placement in the PO.
If the tax authorities don't have the numbers handy, and you want to be
creative, you can always invent your own tax jurisdiction codes! For
example, FORESIGHT Corporation, the World's leading provider of EDI
productivity tools, is situated in the city of Dublin, Ohio. Dublin
straddles three Central Ohio counties: Franklin, Union and Delaware.
Each county has a different sales tax rate. Let's pretend that
FORESIGHT has three offices, one in each county comprising Dublin. I
could just combine the FIPS codes for the state, county and named
populated place, coming up with my own three codes for each tax
jurisdiction. Ohio's FIPS state code is 39, and the codes for Delaware,
Franklin and Union counties are 041, 049, and 159, respectively. These
codes are available from any number of public sources, including NIST.
So we have:
3904122694 Dublin in Delaware County, tax rate 6.25%
3904922694 Dublin in Franklin County, tax rate 5.75%
3915922694 Dublin in Union County, tax rate 6.00%
In Ohio, the city code of 22694 is irrelevant for sales tax since only
counties can tax, but the city code would be necessary in other states
where cities have their own taxes. If I give my supplier any one of
those codes, it should be unambiguous as to which county he apportions
the tax for reporting purposes. I could simply call this my "customer
defined" tax jurisdiction code in the TXI segment. Then I tell my
supplier how the code is formed, and let him worry about decoding it per
the FIPS tables. If he demurs, I merely dismiss him with a haughty "you
wretched fool, don't you even know what a FIBS code is?!!! Be off with
you!" Don't try that on customers, though.
This may be along the lines of the perennial SCAC code question - e.g.
"Where do I find a list of SCACs". Well, you can buy the entire list
from the NMFTA. Or since you probably only deal with a limited number
of carriers, why not simply ask each of them for their own code (as a
single carrier is almost always likely to know his own SCAC)?
William J. Kammerer
FORESIGHT Corp.
4950 Blazer Memorial Pkwy.
Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305
(614) 791-1600
Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/
"Commerce for a New World"
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