InsCipher’s mission is to bring clarity, efficiency, and technology to the Excess and Surplus Lines market. We strive to provide innovative automation tools that streamline the surplus lines tax filing process, improving efficiencies, reducing errors, and saving agencies time and money. Our State E-Filing tool is just one of the automated features that Inscipher has released for its clients.
Traditional Methods of Surplus Lines Filing
Traditional methods of filing surplus lines taxes involve manually submitting individual transactions to the state surplus lines filing platform in each of the states you write lines of business. Not only is this time and labor-intensive, but it also introduces an increased risk of errors caused by misentered data, which can lead to state tags, missed deadlines and duplicated efforts as corrections are made, and additional penalties and fees.
InsCipher Connect® offers State E-Filing capabilities that eliminate these issues and significantly increase filing efficiency.
What is the State E-File Tool?
The State E-File Tool allows agencies to submit large volumes of filings directly to eligible states within a single transaction. This allows for faster, more accurate filing, with average reported efficiency gains ranging from 50% to 200% attributed to the State E-Filing Tool alone!
We systematically determined the priority for integrating with state systems based on the volume of filings per state and their technological capabilities. As a result, we can currently cover approximately 90% of the surplus lines filing volume within the country, with 19 states integrated and additional states planned in the near future.
State E-Filing Options:
Because each state has different capabilities when it comes to integrations, InsCipher offers three different options for State E-Filing: Programmatic Filing, Batch Export, and Report Macros Tools.
Programmatic Filing
This option allows users to bulk select the transactions they would like to file from within the InsCipher Connect® platform and submit directly to the state filing platform with the click of a button. No logging into individual state platforms, no manual transactions. Simply filter your transactions by a number of available criteria, select the transactions you would like to submit, click ‘Export to State,’ and voila! You’re done.
For states set up for programmatic filing, we also have the ability to receive a response confirming the successful submission right within the InsCipher Connect® platform.
Programmatic filing is currently offered in the following states:
CA
UT
FL
GA
ID
TX
OR
NJ
NC
TN
WY
MS (will be released within a week)
Batch Export
Some states don’t have an API endpoint where we can programmatically send the data. In these cases, we have created an option for a Batch Export. The batch creation process is largely the same as Programmatic Filing--filter the transactions by your desired criteria and bulk select the transactions you want to submit. However, rather than submitting within the InsCipher Connect® platform, you’ll download the batch file, log in to the state filing platform, and upload the file.
We’ve created tools to help reconcile the downloaded filings to make this process as efficient as possible. Templated files format the data fields to map data with the state-required fields--reducing errors and the likelihood of state tags.
Batch Export is currently offered in the following states:
OH
IL
WA
NY
SC
PA
Report Macro Tools:
Our third option for State E-Filing was created as an alternative for states that did not have the capability of supporting Programmatic Filing or Batch Exports. We’ve created an Excel tool that allows users to download a report from within the InsCipher Connect® portal for these instances. This report includes a custom macro that formats the data into the required format by the state. The Excel file is then uploaded to the state filing platform, allowing for the submission of large volumes of transactions simultaneously.
Report Macro Tools are currently offered in the following states:
CO
MO
AR
KY (LGPT only)
Looking Ahead - Our Commitment to Our Clients
Our commitment is to automate the surplus lines filing process as much as possible. Our team continues to work to create innovative solutions that will allow for E-Filing capabilities in even more states and additional features in our lineup of automation tools to further our mission to simplify surplus lines management.
InsCipher is an insurtech company providing software and services that are revolutionizing inefficient insurance processes. Save your agency time and money by automating surplus lines compliance, filing, and reporting. Want to learn more? Request a free demo today!
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