N E W S L E T T E R

STAWRS PROJECT UPDATES

Vol. No. 6, November 1996

 

STAWRS PROJECTS SURGE AHEAD

INSIDE What is STAWRS? 1 Executive-in-Charge Selected for STAWRS Project 1 STAWRS Project Staff 2 Oregon/STAWRS Partnership 2 Harmonized Wage Code 2 STAWRS Harmonized Wage Code Stakeholder Conference 2 STAWRS Bows to Hurricane Fran 3 State of Montana Enters Partnership with STAWRS 3 W-2 Demonstration Project 3 STAWRS Home Page Gets a FACELIFT! 4 Filing 2010 The Future of State Income Tax Filing 4 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Pilot Project for Forms W-2. 5 Joint Electronic Filing Moves Forward 5 STAWRS PROJECT UPDATE STAWRS PROJECT OFFICE 820 First Street NW Room LL-160 Washington, DC 20002 telephone 1-800-4STAWRS or 1-800-478-2977

What is STAWRS? The Simplified Tax and Wage Reporting System (STAWRS) was established to reduce employer burden while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations. The Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and Social Security Administration, have joined as partners in this effort. STAWRS endeavors at reducing employer burden stemmed from recommendations in Vice President Gore's From Red Tape to Results~Creating a Government that Works Better & Costs Less~ Report of the National Performance Review. The recommendations were to Simplify Employer Wage Reporting, and to Provide Intergovernmental Tax Filing, Reporting, and Payments Processing. On June 9, 1995, President Bill Clinton endorsed STAWRS in a ceremony at the Treasury Department. A White House press release announced STAWRS, "President Clinton Reduces Burden on Small Business." The emphasis on the project was deemed necessary not only because of the enormous employer burden, but also because significant benefits will accrue to federal and state agencies from the implementation of STAWRS employer burden reduction initiatives. The overall STAWRS operations are administered by an Executive Steering Committee chaired by Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Management, and Chief Financial Officer, George Munoz.

STAWRS is addressing employer burden and government operational efficiency through three categories of initiatives: Single Point Filing, Streamlined Customer Service and Simplified Requirements. ******* Executive-in-Charge Selected for STAWRS Project At the beginning of 1996, Midori Morgan-Gaide was appointed Executive-in-Charge for the STAWRS Project by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Systems, Department of the Treasury. Ms. Morgan-Gaide reports to the Department of Treasury's Deputy Assistant Secretary on all matters relating to the progress of STAWRS initiatives. She is responsible for providing leadership to the STAWRS multi-agency team of project managers. Ms. Morgan-Gaide began her career at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a mainframe computer operator. She then moved to San Francisco to work as a legal assistant for IRS District Counsel. In 1979, Ms. Morgan-Gaide was promoted to the position of Regional Disclosure/Security, and Federal/state Specialist for the IRS Western Region. She spent several years working for the IRS on different initiatives such as IRS's California redistricting and the "paperless" district office.