Tax Professionals Handbook

The IRS allows the posting of State Acknowledgments through the same portal that is used for Federal Acknowledgments.  This is a single path retrieval method for transmitters. The Fed/State Acknowledgment System is designed to inform EROs, Transmitters, Intermediate Service Providers, and Software Developers that the federal and North Carolina returns have been retrieved from the IRS and NCDOR.  Under normal processing conditions, North Carolina acknowledgments are posted on a daily basis upon return retrieval from the IRS.  Transmitters who transmit for EROs and Intermediate Service Providers must notify them of the State acknowledgment at the time of receipt.

NCDOR will acknowledge receipt of the State data packet from the IRS through the cooperative Fed/State Acknowledgement System.

The North Carolina Acknowledgment Record will indicate acceptance of the return by the Department of Revenue and include reject codes. The North Carolina record only indicates that the Department received the return. The “State Packet Code” in the IRS’s ACK Key Record will indicate receipt of the state return at the IRS Philadelphia Submission Processing Center.  State Only returns will be acknowledged in the same manner as a Fed/State return.

EROs and Transmitters should compare the North Carolina acknowledgment records against the returns transmitted to determine that the Department successfully received all returns.  The timely posting of North Carolina acknowledgments by software developers to their clients is strongly encouraged.  In the event the transmitter does not successfully transmit a state record electronically, immediate affirmation allows the tax professional to promptly file the return through the normal paper process.

Developers need to design their systems to accommodate duplicate acknowledgment records.  There is a possibility that we may “retransmit” acknowledgment records if we believe a problem exists with records that have been already transmitted.