Excise terms

Before starting an integration, it's important that you understand a few terms that are specific to excise tax.

A

Above the rack
A rack space where fuel is held within the bulk transfer terminal system.
Amendment
A return that amends the original tax filing. Each amendment has an associated sequence, which is created after the previous one is marked as 'Filed'. An amended sequence will have a value higher than zero.
At the rack
A rack space where fuel is at a dock, platform, or open bay. The location has metered pipes, hoses, or both that are used to dispense fuel from a refinery or terminal into a truck, railcar, maritime vessel, or aircraft. The majority of federal excise taxes on motor fuels are collected at the rack when fuel is removed from bulk storage terminals.

B

Below the rack
A fuel space where fuel is located outside the bulk terminal transfer system (in retail stations, fuel trucks, railcars, and so on).
Business account
A type of business associated with a Business Entity: buyer, carrier, consignor, position holder or seller. It contains ownership specific licensing information for the parent entry of Business Entity. One Business Entity can have multiple Business Accounts.
Business entity
Another company with whom your company does business. The information is stored in a table that is common to all users within the same master Company Entity.
Business Profile
Instructions to the software to adjust the default taxation based on conditions.

C

Calculation view
Used for amended returns to indicate whether only the current amended return values are included, or a full replacement of return values across all header sequences should be included.
Common codes
Company Zero data table that provides values for dropdown lists and application functions.
Company
The Company table holds the required information about your business, including business, legal, and trade name; ID type (FEIN, social security number, and so on); main contact person; physical and mailing addresses; and account information for jurisdictions and taxpayer types.
Company Zero
Company Zero contains data built into the software. It is system defined and can only be changed via software release. End users may not change Company Zero settings, though the software does allow for overriding some of its values with custom settings. A few examples are tax rates, products, countries, jurisdictions, and terminal locations.
Context menu
Allows operations to be performed on a record in the data grid. Context menus are accessed with a mouse click on the data row in the grid display. Options showing as grayed out are not available to the current user.

D

Data file import
The process of importing a formatted list of invoices or data records into Schedule Transactions.
Dual list box
Allows for more than one item selection at a time. A radio button on the box is selected to help filter the selection view, and the choices are moved from the left to right frame of the box.

F

Filing period
The tax month and tax year for which a return is filed. The Filing Period is a part of the Session. It also can contain more than one Sequence.
FTA
Federation of Tax Administrators. A uniformity committee that promotes consistency in fuel tax reporting.

G

Grid lines
Lined grids are used to display data lists throughout the application. Grid displays provide the ability to sort, filter and export data.

J

Jurisdiction
An area subject to its own distinct tax regulations, such as state, city, county, and municipality.

L

Location
A destination or origin for goods subject to excise tax. There are two types of locations: Terminal and non-terminal.

M

Manual entry
Entering records individually via the Schedule Transaction Update screen.

O

OTP
OTP, or "other tobacco products" refers to any tobacco product that does not fall under cigarette, cigar, or vape categories. This can include items like rolling paper, cigarette tubes, chewing tobacco, and so on.

P

Product code
Tax jurisdictions apply a unique code to each fuel product reported. For example, gasoline is commonly given the product code 065, but this can vary between tax jurisdictions.
Product type or category
A product type can include more than one product code. For example, if the same taxes apply to gasoline as to gasohol, those 2 distinct product codes can share one product type. Assigning the product type allows more than one product code to report on the same line on a tax return.

Q

Query wizard
A built in reporting utility that uses menu selections to build SQL queries of schedule transactions.

R

Rack
Racks are the spaces used for storing fuel. When describing more specifically where fuel is stored, the options can be: above the rack, at the rack, and below the rack.
Release
A release is a software update. Each release has its own version number. For SaaS clients, the update is applied automatically to the software.
Return
The prepared form used to calculate taxes. Tax returns are specific to and typically supplied by the filing jurisdiction.
Role
User permission assigned to a list of application screens. There are three types of roles: Edit, View, and No Access.

S

Scenario
A unique combination of transaction type, title transfer code, origin country/state, destination country/state, and product category.
Schedule transactions
The data records imported or manually entered in a session.
Sequence
The original tax return for a session will have a sequence number of 0 and all subsequent amended returns for the original will have a sequence number one higher than the previously completed return. The first amendment is Sequence 1, the second is Sequence 2, and so on.
Session
Tax returns in this application are filed by session. All return data is organized by session (also called Filing Session or Tax Session). A session is a unique combination of Company, Jurisdictions, Taxpayer Type and/or Terminal, Filing Period, Year, Sequence (there may be multiple sequences in a session).
Software license type
Your license type is determined when you sign your contract with Avalara, and a key is issued accordingly. The license key determines the options that you will have in the software. The license types for Avalara Returns are Enterprise, Express, Pro, and Self-hosted (deployed).

T

Taxpayer type
The table in which the tax filing choices for each jurisdiction’s taxpayer type are saved.
Transaction validation
Provides information on critical errors, warnings, and informational messages for Schedule Transactions for a tax session. Selecting a record in the Validation Results will open the Schedule Transaction Update screen to allow data correction.

Z

ZZ schedule transactions
Data records lacking the information to determine what Schedule should be assigned on import. They can also be records intentionally entered that contain information specific to the tax filing. ZZ Schedules Transactions are not reported on a return or e-filing.