2.  HOW THE AKSYS DIAL-UP SYSTEM COMMUNICATES
WITH TRANSMITTERS

(Last review or update:  November 30, 2005)

A.  General.

This section describes how AKSYS interacts with transmitters through the dial-up system.  Procedures for revenue departments and Internet operations are discussed in other sections. 

Access codes are used only with the dial-up system. The Internet site does not yet employ access codes, directly. When you call the dial-up system, the same access code (password) can elicit different responses.  How you use an access code determines how AKSYS will respond. 

If you send the access code all in UPPER CASE or all in lower case, AKSYS will transmit your current file of acknowledgements to you. 

If AKSYS receives the first character of the access code in UPPER CASE and the remainder of the code in lower case, rather than send a file to you, AKSYS will prepare to receive a file of social security numbers, ETINs, EFINs, Return Sequence Numbers.  Within a few minutes, AKSYS will repost the acknowledgements for taxpayers identified by the information in the file that you sent.

If you request the reposting of an acknowledgement that AKSYS does not have, instead of placing nothing in your current file for the taxpayer, AKSYS will insert a repost failure record.  The presence of a repost failure record in your current file tells you that AKSYS has attempted to recover the acknowledgement that you requested and did not find the acknowledgement in the AKSYS Master Data System.  To obtain an acknowledgement for that return, you will have to call the revenue department that should have created the acknowledgement. 

An example of a transmitter’s current acknowledgement file that contains repost failure records for acknowledgements that AKSYS could not repost because AKSYS did not have them. 

      
To obtain his current file, a transmitter's computer would call the AKSYS system number given on the homepage of the Website under Systems Status.  Once his computer indicates  a connection with AKSYS, within 15 seconds the transmitter transmits his access code to AKSYS in upper or lower case.  The transmitter should prepare immediately to receive a file from AKSYS because within ten seconds, AKSYS will begin to transmit his current file to him.  On the dial-up system, the filename of a transmitter's current file always includes the access code + ".01" for acknowledgements for state personal income tax returns.  If a transmitter's access code is ABCDEF, the name of the acknowledgement file that he downloads from AKSYS will be ABCDEF.01.  Most transmitters create automatic procedures to permit their computer to call, connect, download, and disconnect automatically. That is the preferred method.  Other file names are explained here.

B.  AKSYS is Easy. 

1.        Your computer calls AKSYS over a standard dial-up telephone line and connects. 

2.         Your computer sends the access code in upper case or lower case for the current file or in mixed upper and lower case if you want to send AKSYS a file of social security numbers for an online reposting.  

3.         AKSYS checks the access code.  If the code is not valid, AKSYS will disconnect. If the code is valid, AKSYS will send your current file, or it will prepare to receive a file of social security numbers from you. The first record in any file sent to you will be the identification record. 

                                                0120****THIS IS AKSYS.  (spaces to the 119th byte)#   

                        The acknowledgement records or a dummy record will follow the identification
                        record.

                        The last record in any file that AKSYS sends to you will be an
                         information record that contains information about your account. 

            4.         AKSYS will disconnect after sending the current file, or after
                         receiving a file of social security numbers.

C.  Repostings.

The following are examples of the reposting feature using social security numbers. Other examples of repostings by ETIN, EFIN, or Return Sequence Numbers are explained in Section 9.

A transmitter, whose access code is ABCDEF, discovers that he is missing acknowledgements from the previous week.  He calls AKSYS, connects, and sends access code Abcdef. Within fifteen seconds he begins to transmit a file containing the following social security numbers.

                                                            400001079
                                                            400000033
                                                            400003456 

The first six characters of the filename is the transmitter's access code, ABCDEF and the file extension is .txt.  In this case, the transmitter used ABCDEF.TXT as the filename. AKSYS receives the file and disconnects.  Within a few minutes, AKSYS will repost the acknowledgements for the taxpayers with social security numbers 400001079, 400000033, and 400003456 to the transmitter's current file.  There is no charge for the reposting unless AKSYS records show that the acknowledgements have not already been posted to the transmitter's account.  If the "reposting" is in fact an original posting, AKSYS will charge sixteen cents for each acknowledgement.

You should request an online reposting first (before calling a revenue department) when you need a reposting.  Usually, an online reposting can get a missing acknowledgement to you faster.  Online repostings are more accurate and more secure.  Please do not request the reposting of the same acknowledgement more than once.

If five days have passed since you received an acknowledgement for the federal return for a taxpayer, and you have not yet received one for the state return, you may request an online reposting from AKSYS.  If the acknowledgement is in the Master Data System, AKSYS will repost it within four hours. If AKSYS does not have the acknowledgement, it will generate a repost failure record for the current file and you will have to request information on the status of the acknowledgement from the state revenue department that should have received the return.