NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 24, 2002 Office of Tax and Revenue Wins National FTA Technology Award (Washington, DC) The District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) has been named winner of the 2002 Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) Award for Outstanding Technology Applications for State Administrations. The award is presented to the tax administration that reflects the use of the highest degree of advanced technology in providing service to taxpayers. "FTA is very pleased to present our Outstanding Technology Applications award to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue," said Harley T. Duncan, FTA's executive director. "Among a dozen agency submissions, our panel of judges thought that the DC Integrated Tax and associated systems reflected a high degree of advanced technology. This ambitious effort has resulted in one of the best-equipped and modern tax agencies in the United States." Developed and implemented over a three-year period, the Integrated Tax System (ITS) is an ambitious system that brings together in a seamless environment applications such as taxpayer identification, automated correspondence, case management, returns processing, taxpayer accounting, accounts receivable, and revenue accounting. Some of the benefits to-date include: $25,461,070 in taxes collected online through the DC Electronic Taxpayer Service Center (eTSC) from 344 registered businesses. Over 2,500 District individual income taxpayers filed their taxes online during the recent filing season, the first time this service was offered. Since its pilot stage, almost 14,000 citizen inquiries have been filed in the new Contact Tracking System, with 12,476 of them closed or referred to another agency for resolution, prompting a 91 percent closure rate. "I am proud to accept this prestigious award recognizing our technology," said Deputy Chief Financial Officer Herbert J. Huff. "This award reflects the dedication of our employees who are committed to developing and managing technology systems for District taxpayers. The new technology allows us to be more taxpayer friendly and system friendly. It also allows us to be more efficient at meeting the requests of our taxpayers and generating more revenue for the District." Page 1 of 2      1 2