DOF – TREASURY – TAX COMPLIANCE

Special Event Sales Tax Registration & Return Processing

July 14-18, 2014

SPECIAL EVENT SALES TAX

Dates July 14-18, 2014

Executive

Sponsors

Steve Ellington &

Bruce Moore

Process

Owners

Bob Dent & Judy

Bonato

Team

Lead Bill Hafner

Facilitator Greg Reger

Team Members: Gentry Walker, Terry Luna,

Kevin Bock, Valerie Lucero, Christeen

Chapman, Bill Hafner

WHY CHANGE IS NEEDED

• Ensure fairness & equitable taxpayer treatment in

enforcement of tax compliance

• Make it easier for taxpayers to comply

• Improve clarity & accuracy of records

• Improve efficiency of business processes

• Ties to mission-level metrics: taxpayer education and decreased

delinquency rate

Inefficient, outdated, tedious, a hot mess

Metric (2013 #s) Baseline

# assigned special events 62

# special event sales tax accounts 4128

Cost to process each license $6.91

Cost to process each license & tax remittance $10.02

Total $ collected – license fee & tax remittance $864,038.75

Variation b/w total amount “due” & amount “collected” $108,085.45 (12.5% of total)

Median % vendors pre-paying for event 10%

% vendors remitting overall 70%

% vendors remitting and paying license fee 60%

Comp time accrued 423 hours

CURRENT STATE

streamlined, organized, uniform, accurate, efficient, progressive, utopia

Metric 2013 Baseline Interim OSE

# assigned special events 62 ~62 ~650

# special event sales tax accounts 4128 ~4128 ~650 consolidated

Cost to process each license $6.91 $4.64 TBD

Cost to process each license & tax remittance $10.02 $5.95 TBD

Median % vendors pre-paying @ event 10% 25% 95%

% vendors remitting overall 70% 80% 95%

Variation b/w total amount “due” & amount

“collected” $108,085.45 50% decrease 75% decrease

TRA comp time accrued 423 hours Slightly reduced Significantly

reduced

FUTURE STATE

Of the WASTE identified, we addressed

85.7% in our future state

21 wastes identified

18 addressed

= 85.7%

GAP ANALYSIS/ASSUMPTIONS

If we… Then we…

1 Have TRA create voucher for existing,

identifiable accounts for license fees

Process license fees quicker and more

accurately, reduce workload for TPS

2 Have TPS create accounts that TRAs do not

identify & give lic fee voucher to cashier Reduce handoffs, process payments quickly

3 Have cashiers process payments and

returns

Process remittance more quickly & negate

need for LockBox

4 Work with the Office of Special Events Encourage more compliance and cooperation

from organizers

5 Make promoter more responsible for license

fees and tax returns

Significantly reduce staff time on process and

increase compliance

6 Establish timelines for promoters for when

items should be completed Have everything we need when we need it

BRAINSTORMING – PROCESS CHANGES

BRAINSTORMING- GENTAX

8

If we… Then we…

7 Change the special event sales tax # Can easily identify what is & is not a special event

license

8 Set LIFO for all special events Stop cross-period offsets

9 Enable Special Events licenses and tax

remittance to be paid online

Make it easier for vendors to comply & pre-pay, and

reduce some workload for processing

10 Generate reminder & delinquent notices via

GenTax

Increase the percent of special event vendors that

remit taxes

11 Create a custom special event search function Make searching for taxpayers quicker

12 Show the actual event when labeled as “Other” Reduce time spent searching for actual event

13 Show special event name at higher level

searches Reduce time to search for actual event

14 Show all assigned special events on drop-down Can better track compliance from events

BRAINSTORMING- OTHER

9

If we… Then we…

15 Work with other, related agencies (e.g. EXL) Expect greater awareness of process & compliance

from vendors

16 Link with Accela for certain licenses Encourage a more one-stop shop for taxpayers

17 Create a voucher for multiperiod payments Apply payments accurately

18 Create standard work throughout the process Reduce errors, provide a more consistent

enforcement, and create more accurate reporting

19 Create simpler application & return forms Expect fewer errors & quicker time to fill out

20 Have mobile payments that collect info Reduce time spent at vendor booth

21 Change license fee structure Reduce time spent collecting fees and get greater

compliance

22 Have an info sheet for vendors Expect greater compliance

23 Revise the receipt Spend less time filling out receipt & eliminate

overproduction

24 Enforce & collect on certain vendors Encourage greater compliance

25 Put our info on State’s website Reduce confusion about Denver vs. State

26 Prefill packets electronically Reduce time spent filling them out

Experiment Anticipated Effect Adopt

Y/N

Standard work for vouchers Fewer errors Y

Simplified forms

More taxpayer-friendly, fewer

errors, easier transition to online

filing Y

Revised receipt Save money on buying receipts Yes, when we

run out of

current

Standard work for cashiers Uniform workflow, simplified

process, increased accuracy Y Standard work for TRAs: pre &

post event Uniformity, shared info Y

Reminder & delinquent notice

letters

Increased compliance &

collections Y

EXPERIMENTS

Action Items Owner Time Estimate*

1 Change the special event sales tax # Fast 1 week

2 Set LIFO for all special events Fast 2 weeks

3 Enable Special Events licenses and tax remittance

to be paid online Fast

3 weeks for

adding the

special event

returns.

4 Displaying the special event name on the account

list Fast Unknown

5 Generate reminder & delinquent notices via

GenTax Fast 3 weeks

6 Create a custom special event search function Fast 1 week

7 Show the actual event when labeled as “Other” Fast 1 day

8 Show special event name at higher level searches Fast 1 week

9 Generate pre-filled application/return Fast 2 weeks

ACTION PLAN

*Does not include testing

12

ACTION PLAN

13

Action Items Owner Due Date Status

1 Work with other, related agencies (e.g. EXL) Valerie 9/1

2 Link with Accela for certain licenses Gentry 2015

3 Create standard work for TRAs Gentry 7/25 Drafted

4 Create standard work for cashiers Terry 8/1

5 Create standard work for vouchers Terry 7/25 Drafted

6 Reminder & delinquent notices Chris 9/1 Drafted

7 Create simpler application & return forms Kevin 9/1 Drafted

8 Change license fee structure Kevin 2015 To do with

management

9 Have an info sheet for vendors Valerie 10/1

10 Revise the receipt Gentry 7/25 Drafted, consult

Bob

11 Put our info on State’s website Chris 8/15 To be researched

12 Treasury liaison to work with SEAP/OSE TBD Management

decision

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

14

Pilot & Test Interim Process

7/18 – 9/15

Start Interim Process

9/15

Start OSE Process

TBD

EXPECTED RESULTS

15

What Metric Type Interim OSE

Variation b/w total amount “due” &

amount “collected” in GenTax

Service Level -

Accuracy

50%

decrease

75%

decrease

Reduced process lead time Service Level ~3 weeks

faster

processing

Decreased process cost/license Soft $8,860.84 TBD

Decreased process cost/remittance Soft $4,025.56 TBD

Less OT b/c of pre-payment Hard $2,545.60 $11,709.78

More compliance- tax remittance (Using median remittance of $50)

Hard- Revenue $20,640.00 $30,960.00

More compliance- additional events

enforced (assumes $100 total remittance per

additional event)

Hard- Revenue $58,800.00

Interim OSE Grand Total

Total Soft Savings $12,886.41 TBD $12,886.41

Total Hard Savings/Revenue $23,185.60 $101,469.78 $124,655.38

Grand Total $36,072.01 $101,469.78 $137,541.79

What did you learn?

• Great crew

• Met new people

• City can work together to get something accomplished & innovate

• Understand whole process

• What State does

• Open to change

How do you feel about the whole

event?

• All on the same page

• Seeing the end result made it worth it

• The process was energizing

• Not as bad as expected

• Made real progress

• Have a voice in process

What will you do differently going

forward?

• Use Bill Payment instead of Return Payment

• Share knowledge more freely

INSIGHTS

PARKING LOT

• Suspended payments

• eBiz support for taxpayers

17

SPECIAL THANKS

Consultants Liz Clymer, Nikki Nguyen, Kinsa Veasley, Katy

Strascina, John Vecchiarelli (CO DoR)

Colleagues Tom Chase, Brian Pool, Daisy Murphy

Process Owners Bob Dent, Judy Bonato

Executive Sponsors Steve Ellington & Bruce Moore

FACILITATOR INSIGHTS

19

Very creative, hardworking group

Kept on track – only two “pineapples”

Encouraging to see everyone working together to solve a

common issue

Event uncovered a lot of issues and opportunities not

previously brought to light

Moving from a batch process to one-piece flow is a

challenge

RIE should improve other areas & help move away from siloed processes

QUESTIONS?