Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Department of Revenue

County Government

General information and instructions for a county to conduct e-business with the Department of Revenue

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

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1.1. Introduction

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Page 2

2. General Information and Instructions

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2.1. General Information and Instructions

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Page 2

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2.2. Test Procedures

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Page 3

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2.3 Rejecting Files/Batches

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Page 3

3. Revenue Secure File Transfer System (RSFT)

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3.1. Overview

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Page 4

4. File Specifications

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4.1. Inheritance Tax Electronic Batch Header

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Page 5

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4.2. Inheritance Tax Transaction 405 Create a Decedents Record

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Page 7

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4.3. Inheritance Tax Transaction 408 Estate Information Sheet

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4.4. Inheritance Tax Transaction 442 Payment Receipt

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5. Acknowledgements and File Reject Codes

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5.1. Acknowledgement File Layout

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Page 14

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5.2. File Reject Codes

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Page 15

1. Introduction

1.1. Introduction

The County Government e-Services Center contains electronic options for county governments to conduct business with the Department of Revenue electronically, including transferring data and making payments.

This document contains general instructions, file specifications and file transport specifications.

2. General Information and Instructions

2.1. General Information and Instructions

Vendors will be requested to provide contact names and telephone numbers to the Bureau of Information Systems (BIS) for occasions when transmissions fail and the two parties need to work together to resolve the issue(s). (This information will be used when one or both of the systems fail and direct contact is required.)

Transmissions may occur on a daily or weekly basis. At minimum, files are to be transmitted weekly. Files received by the Department’s Bureau of Information Systems by 4 p.m. will be processed during our normal daily production schedule. Files received after 4 p.m. will be scheduled for the next day’s production.

A file can consist of multiple batches per transmission. However, each header must be for only one transaction type and must be limited to 1,000 transactions per batch. A file is defined as one transmission of data within which there are many batches. A batch is defined as a group of detail records for one transaction led by one header record (see Inheritance Tax Electronic Batch Header).

Upon successful transmission of a file, users will be notified that the Department has received the file. This notice is a one-line sentence, there is no format. The vendor must pick up this acknowledgement within two days after submitting a file.

For accepted batches, the original header will be returned with an ‘A’ in the batch status code. This is the only acknowledgement for an accepted batch that will be returned. This means that the batch header and related detail records have passed all data validation tests.

Records that have been accepted electronically cannot be modified except by verbal or written contact with the Department.

2.2. Test Procedures

All transmissions will be performed through the Department’s Revenue Secure File Transfer System (RSFT) and will be accessed at www.rsft.state.pa.us. To begin transmitting data, you will need to set up an e-Signature account for accessing RSFT. To set up your account contact:

Sue Dunkle
PA Department of Revenue
Bureau of Information Systems
E-Commerce Management
(717) 772-1942

Before live (or production) transmissions can occur, you are required to transmit test files to verify file layouts and to ensure that the files meet the Department’s specifications and requirements as defined in this document. This testing will be performed in a test environment and will continue until all issues are resolved. Once there are no outstanding issues, you will be required to send hardcopies of the detail records to the attention of Sue Dunkle at the address below to verify and validate the electronic version with the test data.

PA Department of Revenue

Bureau of Information Systems

E-Commerce Management

4th & Walnut Streets

Harrisburg, PA 17128

2.3. Rejecting Files/Batches

Batches received can be accepted, rejected with a fatal error, or rejected on non-fatal errors (fails that would normally be corrected in-house) if 25 percent of the batch is in error (see File Reject Codes). The Department will only accept entire batches within the file or fail entire batches within the file. File Reject Codes are provided so that the vendor can cross reference the error code(s) in the acknowledgement file to quickly determine the problem and correct it for resubmission within three (3) days.

Money amounts must be unformatted. The decimal point is implied and no dollar signs or commas should be included. For example, $1,000.00 should be formatted as 100000.

Rejected batches (fatal errors) will be returned with the original header and an ‘R’ in the batch status code. This means that there are errors, which either caused the header to fail or the detail records are in error based on the File Reject Codes.

For rejected batches, all transaction detail records in the batch will be returned. The acknowledgement record will indicate if the record was rejected and include up to 5 error codes.

If 25 percent of the detail records in a batch fail for non-fatal errors, the entire batch will be rejected. An acknowledgement record will be created for each detail record and will include the reject error code plus error code 999 to indicate 25 percent of the batch’s detail records are in error.

Rejected batches must be corrected and the batch re-submitted within 3 days of receipt of the acknowledgement. When a file is re-submitted, the new transaction date must be used inthe batch; therefore, the resubmitted batch will be treated as a brand new batch.

Vendors or IT shops are required to have the appropriate edits in their programs as well as the program capability to correct batch errors for resending to the Department as part of the final approval.

3. Revenue Secure File Transfer System (RSFT)

3.1. Overview

Revenue Secure File Transfer (RSFT) is a web-based application that allows for the secure transfer of data via the HTTPS protocol. Any customer that wants to utilize the RSFT system to transmit data will first need to register with the Department to utilize the existing Revenue E-Signature authentication system. An authorized Revenue employee will review your E-Signature registration request and activate your customer account.

The RFST system will be accessible via a standard Internet browser or custom built application developed by the customer. The Department will provide registered customers with detailed specifications on how to connect to and transmit data to the RSFT server. Customers will use these specifications to build their own client component, using a technology of their choosing. Such technologies may include: JAVA, Visual Basic or VB Script, or compiled languages such as C++.4.

4. File Specifications

4.1. Inheritance Tax Electronic Batch Header

Identification / Length / Edits, Contents, Validations / Required
Field
County Code / 2 / Numeric County Code Number. This is the PA standard numerical representation for the county sending a batch. / Yes
Transaction Code / 3 / Must be 405,408,442. The Department identifier for the type of records in the batch. / Yes
Transaction Type / 2 / Transaction type identifies the routing direction of the file
IT = Inheritance Tax / Yes
OC = Clerk of Orphans Court
RW = Register of Wills Monthly Report
SC = Register of Wills Fee Collections Monthly Report
RD = Recorder of Deeds
PR = Prothonotary
DR = Domestic Relations
Vendor or County Name / 4 / Assigned by the Department (Example: infocon = infc) and identifies the sender of the file for authorization purposes. / Yes
County Name = first four letters of the county name / Yes
Batch Status Code / 1 / [This field is reserved for the Department of Revenue only. Vendors and/or counties should space fill.] / No
Value = “A” Batch Accepted
“B” Batch Rejected
“T” Batch Failed in Transmission
Spaces / 5 / No
Transaction Date / 8 / This is the date of the transmission and should be current date or today’s date. / Yes
Spaces / 3 / No
Sequence Number / 4 / Uniquely identifies each file and the number of files when multiple files are sent to the Department on the same day. / Yes
Spaces / 2 / No
Julian Date / 3 / DDD (current day or today in Julian / Yes
Number of Records / 3 / Total number of records in batch / Yes
Total Money Amount / 11 / *Required for T/C 442 (Bottom line amount for transactions that involve money.) / *Yes
Spaces / 30 / No
Sender’s EIN Number / 9 / Federal Employer Identification Number / Yes
End of Record / 1 / # / Yes
4.2. Inheritance Tax Transaction 405 Create a Decedent’s Record
Field / Identification / Length / Type / Edits, Contents & Validations / Required
Field
005 / Transaction Code / 3 / N / Must be 405. This identifies the transaction of the record and must match with the batch header. / Yes
010 / County File Number / 9 / A/N / First 4 digits numeric, 5th digit(Valid for this position are: numeric, dash(-), or R,W,A,M), last 4 numeric. This is a unique key identifier for the record, which is provided by the Register of Wills. / Yes
020 / Social Security Number / 9 / N / Decedent’s Social Security Number / Yes
030 / Date of Death / 8 / N / MMDDYYYY format: (Decedent’s death date in Gregorian format) / Yes
040 / Decedent’s Last Name / 15 / A / Decedent’s
last name / Yes
050 / Decedent’s First Name / 9 / A / Decedent’s first name / Yes
060 / Decedent’s Middle Initial / 1 / A / (Optional) Decedent’s - middle initial / No
070 / Filing Requirements / 1 / A / P= Probate, E= Estate, J= Joint, L= Litigation (Identifies the type of filing of the return.) / Yes
$ Equals End of Record / End of the immediate record indicator / Yes
# Equals End of Batch / End of batch indicator / Yes

A= Alpha, N= Numeric

4.3. Inheritance Tax Transaction 408 Estate Information Sheet

This transaction may have one to four correspondents/executors. At minimum, one correspondent/executor is required to use this transaction.

All numeric fields must be zero filled.

All Name fields should have no special characters. For example, D’annato should be Dannato.

All address fields should have special characters replaced by spaces. For example, N. 4th St. should be N 4th St

Field / Identification / Length / Type / Edits, Contents & Validations / Required Field
005 / Transaction Code / 3 / N / Must be “408”. Identifies the transaction of the record. Must match with the batch header. / Yes
010 / County File Number / 9 / A/N / First 4 digits numeric, 5th digit (Valid for this position are: numeric,-, R,W,A,M), last 4 numeric. Unique key identifier of the record. Provided by the Register of Wills. / Yes
020 / Social Security Number / 9 / N / Decedent’s Social Security Number / Yes
030 / Date of Death / 8 / N / MMDDYYYY format: (Decedent’s death date in Gregorian format) / Yes
040 / Date of Birth / 8 / N / MMDDYYYY format: (Decedent’s birth date in Gregorian format) / No
050 / Decedent’s Last Name / 15 / A / Decedent’s last name / Yes
060 / Decedent’s First Name / 9 / A / Decedent’s first name / Yes
070 / Decedent’s Middle Initial / 1 / A / (Optional) Decedent’s Middle initial / No
080 / Filing Requirements / 1 / A / P= Probate, E= Estate, J= Joint, L= Litigation. Identifies the type return to be filed with the Department. / Yes
090 / Letters Granted / 1 / A / (Blank) No letters, T=Testamentary, A= Administration. Indicates the nature of the proceedings at the Register of Will’s office. / Yes
100 / Correspondent Last Name / 15 / A / Correspondent’s last name. Person authorized to receive correspondence and tax information. / Yes
110 / Correspondent’s First Name / 9 / A / Correspondent’s first name / Yes
120 / Correspondent’s Middle Initial / 1 / A / Correspondent’s middle initial / No
130 / Supreme Court Id / 9 / N / Attorney’s Supreme Court Id# or if not an attorney, the correspondent’s SSN / No
140 / Correspondent’s Address Line 1 / 23 / A/N / First line of the correspondent’s mailing address / Yes
150 / Correspondent’s AddressLine 2 / 21 / A/N / Second line of the correspondent’s mailing address / No
160 / City / 16 / A / City of mailing address / Yes
170 / State / 2 / A / State of mailing address / Yes
180 / ZIP Code / 9 / N / US Postal Service ZIP Code (zero fill the +4 if not known) / Yes
190 / Phone Number / 10 / N / Area code and telephone number / Yes
200 / Executor/Administrator Last Name(1) / 15 / A / Last name of personal representative / Yes
210 / Executor/Administrator First Name(1) / 9 / A / First name of personal representative / Yes
220 / Executor/Administrator Middle Initial (1) / 1 / A / Middle initial of personal representative / No
230 / Executor/Administrator SSN(1) / 9 / N / (Optional) Executor/Administrator’s SSNor EIN / No
240 / Executor/Administrator’s AddressLine 1 (1) / 23 / A/N / First line of the Executor/Administrator’s mailing address / Yes
250 / Executor/Administrator’s AddressLine 2 (1) / 21 / A/N / Second line of the Executor/Administrator’s mailing address / No
260 / City (1) / 16 / A / City of mailing address / Yes
270 / State(1) / 2 / A / State of mailing address / Yes
280 / ZIP Code (1) / 9 / N / US Postal Service ZIP Code (zero fill the +4 if not known) / Yes
290 / Phone Number (1) / 10 / N / Area code and telephone number / Yes
300 / Executor/Administrator Last Name (2) / 15 / A / Last name of personal representative / Yes
310 / Executor/Administrator First Name (2) / 9 / A / First name of personal representative / Yes
320 / Executor/Administrator Middle Initial (2) / 1 / A / Middle initial of personal representative / No
330 / Executor/Administrator SSN (2) / 9 / N / (Optional) Executor/Administrator’s SSN or EIN / No
340 / Executor/Administrator AddressLine 1 (2) / 23 / A/N / First line of Executor/Administrator’s mailing address / Yes
350 / Executor/Administrator AddressLine 2(2) / 21 / A/N / Second line of Executor/Administrator’s mailing address / No
360 / City (2) / 16 / A / City of mailing address / Yes
370 / State (2) / 2 / A / State of mailing address / Yes
380 / ZIP Code (2) / 9 / N / US Postal Service ZIP Code (zero fill the +4 if not known) / Yes
390 / Phone Number (2) / 10 / N / Area code and telephone number / Yes
400 / Executor/Administrator Last Name (3) / 15 / A / Last name of personal representative / Yes
410 / Executor/Administrator First Name(3) / 9 / A / First name of personal representative / Yes
420 / Executor/Administrator Middle Initial (3) / 1 / A / Middle initial of personal representative / No
430 / Executor/Administrator SSN (3) / 9 / N / (Optional) Executor/Administrator’s SSN or EIN / No
440 / Executor/Administrator AddressLine 1 (3) / 23 / A/N / First line of Executor/Administrator’s mailing address / Yes
450 / Executor/Administrator AddressLine 2 (3) / 21 / A/N / Second line of Executor/Administrator’s mailing address / No
460 / City (3) / 16 / A / City of mailing address / Yes
470 / State (3) / 2 / A / State of mailing address / Yes
480 / ZIP Code (3) / 9 / N / US Postal Service ZIP Code (zero fill the +4 if not known) / Yes
490 / Phone Number (3) / 10 / N / Area code and telephone number / Yes
$ Equals End of Record / End of immediate record indicator / Yes
# Equals End of Batch / End of batch indicator / Yes

A= Alpha, N= Numeric