It’s April, and that means Arkansans all over the State are now filing their income taxes. This year, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration expects to receive some one-point-three million returns, and we expect to pay back five-hundred forty-nine million dollars in refunds. It’s a significant responsibility, and one we take very seriously. We want to get your hard-earned money back to you as easily and quickly as possible.

The Federation of Tax Administrators announced today that the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and the Washington State Department of Revenue the are co-winners of the 2012 FTA Award for Taxpayer Service and Education. Judges proclaimed their programs were “equally worthy.”

The California Employment Development Department (EDD) received the 2011 Government Achievement Award. The award highlights outstanding agency and department websites and applications. ACES was honored in the category of Government-to-Business.

ACES is an automated, integrated tax system for the collection and accounting of payroll taxes. EDD uses Fast Enterprises’ integrated revenue processing product, GenTax®.

Imagine if workers had to log on to 13 different systems to answer your customer’s question, “How much do I owe you?” Or what if determining whether a refund should be mailed or applied to an outstanding balance required querying the same 13 systems? That was the situation in Arlington County, Va., where an array of separate systems had cropped up over the years.

We initiated a project to replace the county’s disparate tax systems by implementing a single integrated Assessment Collection and Enterprise (ACE) system for all the county’s taxes. We accomplished that using commercial off-the-shelf software (GenTax®).

Fasties on the Ontario Project showed their support for the Heart & Stroke Foundation by participating in the Big Bike Ride. The FAST team raised over $2000 for the Foundation.

The ACE system that consolidated and streamlined the County’s collection operation has earned the 2011 Award for Excellence from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada.

The County implemented Fast Enterprises’ commercial off-the-shelf software product, GenTax®, for its ACE system.