1099 Pro Corporate Suite Case Study : Onboarding Vol 1

The Situation

It was November of 2013 and Retirement Investments XYZ was in a bind. Retirement Investments XYZ had used a 1099 software provider for the 2012 tax year but experienced many problems relating to software errors and usability. However, more importantly to senior management, the level of service and timeliness in regards to support functions and a clearly structured filing timeline were never articulated to Retirement Investments XYZ. This left Retirement Investments XYZ in a perpetual scramble to get things done at the last minute. As Retirement Investments XYZ continued to grow, upper management began to search for a new information software, service, and reporting company that could both scale with the company while also meeting rigorous requirements for speedy service. Any additional services or benefits would be considered value‐added, but not essential, as there was only a two month window to become fully onboarded before printing & mailing customized tax forms to recipients.

Company Background

Retirement Investments XYZ is a financial firm specializing in retirement plans and investment strategies. Over the decades, Retirement Investments XYZ has grown to support approximately 100 employees and over 300 registered representatives – who in turn support tens of thousands of individual customers.  This led Retirement Investments XYZ to have an approximate volume of 150,000 records across two filing entities and four form types (1099‐B, 1099‐DIV, 1099‐R, & 5498) with state direct reporting requirements in addition to IRS reporting. Furthermore, Retirement Investments XYZ was looking for the option of internally or externally hosted software while still retaining full access to, and ownership of, their data.

Onboarding Structure & Timeline

Retirement Investments XYZ and 1099 Pro agreed upon a one‐year contract, by the end of November, and quickly began the onboarding process. Contrary to Retirement Investments XYZ’s past experiences, 1099 Pro provided an onboarding document which identified key deliverables, dates, and areas for special attention. Key areas of the onboarding process, such as data retrieval/formatting, creating import maps, identifying special/unique fields, prior year importing, custom print statements, and web API integration are described below.  Throughout these processes, 1099 Pro was able to add value, increase compliance, and mitigate damages in ways described in the value added section.

Data Retrieval & Formatting

1099 Pro immediately identified the process of retrieving existing data as a priority – a process which inherently takes longer than expected. Issues commonly arise where past service/software providers are unwilling to cooperate which amplifies the difficulty (note: 1099 Pro is the only software provider in which customers have complete access to, and control of, their recipient data).  1099 Pro can provide conversion utility programs that can import data into the 1099 Pro software from past IRS 1220 formats, Excel, text delimited files, comma separated value files, fixed length files, and even legacy CheckFree files. Retirement Investments XYZ chose to work with their data in Excel files.  At this point, a dedicated account manager from 1099 Pro reviewed the data with Retirement Investments XYZ and identified an essential column, unique to Retirement Investments XYZ’s internal system, for secondary account information.

Importing Data

At this point, a dedicated account manager from 1099 Pro reviewed the data with Retirement Investments XYZ and identified an essential column, unique to Retirement Investments XYZ’s internal system, for secondary account information. 1099 Pro then designed customized import maps (Exhibit 1) for Retirement Investments XYZ that allowed for the column to be included in the import and to be referenced within the software (Exhibit 2). Furthermore, the 1099 Pro import validation process identified key compliance issues that are referenced in the “Value Added” section below.

Customized Print Statement & Web API Integration

Retirement Investments XYZ’s business processes centered on a unique print statement that displayed a summary sheet for each taxpayer identification number with aggregate data from 1099‐B and 1099‐DIV tax forms (Exhibit 3). Further, detailed breakdowns of information were provided that broke the information down by form type and account number.  Retirement Investments XYZ, therefore, had legitimate concerns that the unique print statement be replicated to such a level that customers could not tell a difference. 1099 Pro back‐end programmers were able to create this exact replica but also provided the ability to include an increased level of detail – which senior managers immediately requested. 

The next step in the onboarding process was to integrate the software, data, and customized print statement with Retirement Investments XYZ’s web portal. Retirement Investments XYZ’s web portal allowed customers to retrieve real‐time tax documents without Retirement Investments XYZ having to provide phone support or physically mail documents. Accordingly, 1099 Pro Corporate Suite comes standard with a web API module, supporting documentation, and technical support.  This supporting documentation streamlined the process and Retirement Investments XYZ had its web portal functioning with live data in only two days.

Value Added

Throughout the onboarding process there were many instances where 1099 Pro was able to match existing processes and then recommend, provide, or advise improvements.

Compliance & Penalty Abatement:

  • Negative Value Imports
    • Thousands of negative values were identified, and rejected, which could result in a $10,000+ penalty.
  • Non‐Unique Account Numbers
    • Non‐unique account numbers were identified and updated in accordance with IRS standards ‐ thereby preventing future corrections issues.
  • Improper TIN/EIN formatting
    • Improperly formatted TINs/EINs were identified, researched, and corrected through 1099 Pro’s www.TINCheck.com real‐time TIN validation & EIN lookup service.

Process Improvements:

  • Custom Print Statement
    • Retirement Investments XYZ dramatically improved the level of detail and readability on their custom print statement.
  • Web Portal
    • Retirement Investments XYZ was able to utilize the 1099 Pro API to provide tax documents in real‐time to customers rather than having to store outdated PDFs.

In the end, Retirement Investments XYZ was fully onboarded in 45 days and chose to renew the contract with 1099Pro.  Retirement Investments XYZ now enjoys a close professional relationship where new features/services, such as real‐time TIN validation via  www.TINCheck.com and bulk TIN matching, are further integrated into company‐ wide services.

 

Exhibit 1 - Customized Import Maps

Exhibit 2 - Additional Information Fields

Exhibit 3 - Customized Print Statement

A PDF copy of this case study can be downloaded here : 1099 Pro Case Study - CS Onboarding Vol 1.pdf


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