Software Developers Guide - General Information

Timeliness of filing

Wisconsin uses the ElectronicPostmark for determining the timeliness of return, as long as the submission is actually received by the department within five days.

Rejected Returns - Perfection Period

Wisconsin follows the IRS. If a timely submitted return is rejected, but corrected, resubmitted and accepted within 5 days, the resubmitted return will be considered timely.

Payment Methods

Payment and refund options: We offer refund direct deposit capabilities and multiple options for making payments.

• Include direct debit information along with your electronic return. You may warehouse this payment until the due date of the return.
• We offer credit card payments through our vendor site.
• Debit payments at our web site through My Tax Account.
• ACH Credit
• We provide specifications for a vendor generated payment voucher for use with a paper check.
• A fill in voucher is available on our web site (or your preparation software).

Data Requirements

Zero or Blank Fields - You do not need to transmit any optional element that has a zero or is blank. Send data elements only if they contain data values. Do not send empty data elements (i.e., zero financial fields, unused elements, etc.).

Type of Filings Accepted

Fed/State (Linked), State-Only (Unlinked). Wisconsin will accept both linked and unlinked returns.

Decimal Places for Ratios

All decimal and percent fields are defined as Decimal99Type, however most of our instructions say to carry to 6 places to the right of the decimal. Fields that appear on the form as percent are defined as Decimal99Type and should be converted to decimal. Ratios and percentages will use a single position in front of the decimal and up to 8 decimal places. Examples: 100% = 1.00000000 37.3% = .37333333

Handling of Attachments

PDF Requirements vs. WR-A. We do not require any PDF attachments. There may be circumstances where we do require additional information as part of the return. Examples could be supporting documents or third part documentation to support a credit. There are options for submitting this required information. One option is PDF attachments. The other option is mailing the paper documents to the department with a form WR-A cover form. See link PDF Naming Requirements for more information on PDF naming rules.

Exclusions from Electronic Filing Program

There are minimal exclusions from our electronic filing program, please refer to the extensive list of included forms and schedules.

Details of the State Manifest — SubmissionType enumerations.

The StateSubmissionsManifest has a new optional element StateSchemaVersion. Unfortunately the value is a fixed length 12 character string. This does not match the StateSchemaVersion attribute value. There are two options, 1) Use WIIn2009V1.0 or WIBu2009V1.0 (which are 12 char), or 2) do not include this optional element in the State Manifest. In the StateSubmissionManifest there is an element SubmissionType. We are validating the manifest and the value of this element must match ReturnHeaderState/ReturnType which comes from an enumerated list in StateEnumerations.xsd

Federal Data Requirements

Wisconsin requires a complete copy of the federal return be included with the state return. In general, Wisconsin would get a complete copy of the Federal XML return including all attachments, however there may be circumstances where the federal return does not support XML (IRS Form 1041) If you are submitting a Form 2, Wisconsin Fiduciary Income Tax for Estates and Trusts, you may include a copy of the federal 1041 as a PDF attachment.

Last updated January 27, 2010