Transitioning to the New Standard Component Format of the Treasury Account Symbol (TAS)

Fact Sheet

Why is there a new TAS?

In our goals to streamline the central accounting and reporting process, we analyzed the Treasury Account Symbols (TAS) reported by Federal Program Agencies (FPAs) to Treasury’s Financial Management Service (FMS) through the various interface systems. Currently, multiple formats are accepted, depending on the FPA and the reporting system (e.g. IPAC, 224). To implement standardization and consistency, FMS is adopting the Component TAS format, as published by the Common Government-wide Accounting Classification Structure (CGAC) in July 2007. FMS will collect the Component TAS and the Business Event Type Code (BETC) from internal and external systems, and post directly to the fund balances of TAS.

Agencies should plan to adopt the Component TAS as required by each FMS system and as set forth in FMS Commissioner David Lebryk’s January 14, 2011, letter to the CFO community. Commissioner Lebryk Reaches Out to Agency CFOs Regarding Modernization Initiatives

This FACT SHEET identifies how the TAS format changes, what transition phases agencies can expect, and two attachments that show the specific TAS format changes.

What are the changes?

Currently, FPAs report their TAS using a string format (e.g. 20X1801.1). FMS is adopting the Component TAS (Attachment B), in lieu of the String TAS (Attachment A). There are many benefits to using separate, component pieces, such as having the ability to sort, filter, and analyze based on each independent piece.

Within the TAS itself, there are three other changes to note:

The first change is the elimination of standard subclasses. This means that FPAs will report a TAS, without having to report sub classification of that TAS based on explicit transaction types (such as borrowings, investments, funds held outside the Treasury). Instead of the transaction type being reported as a standard subclass on the TAS, it will be reported as a business event separate from the TAS. For example, if an agency has Funds Held Outside the Treasury, they currently report TAS (41) 20X1234. In the GWA environment, they will report the TAS 20X1234 – without the (41) – but with a separate business event type code (BETC) of FHOTXD.

As a result, the subclass field is being renamed to “Sub-level Prefix” and will only be used for programmatic breakdowns of the TAS for Treasury publication purposes. Sub-level Prefixes have a unique meaning or a unique need for sub classification that is NOT based on transaction types or business events as described previously.

The other two significant changes to the TAS relate to the expansion of the department/agency codes and to the fiscal year fields. See Attachments for further details regarding these field changes.

How will we phase in these changes?

For information about the upcoming FMS system changes and timelines related to the Component TAS, please see the FMS Commissioner’s January 14, 2011, CFO Letter at: Commissioner Lebryk Reaches Out to Agency CFOs Regarding Modernization Initiatives

Here is a summary of some of the upcoming changes:

Applications within the Central Accounting Reporting System (CARS, formerly GWA): The Account Statement (AS), the Agency Transaction Module (ATM), and the Classification Transactions and Accountability (CTA, formerly P224) all provide the capability to display either the string TAS format (Attachment A) or the component TAS format (Attachment B). Each user can select his/her individual preference of the TAS format for entering transactions, and displaying or downloading reports.

For a complete listing of TAS BETCs valid for use in the AS, ATM, and CTA applications, please see https://www.sam.fms.treas.gov/sampublic/tasbetc.htm

This listing, maintained by the Shared Accounting Module (SAM), also provides a crosswalk between the string and component TAS formats, along with their associated BETCs. SAM assists CARS/GWA in TAS classification via validation, translation, and default. For more information on SAM, please see Shared Accounting Module (SAM)

IPAC: As of March 2011, IPAC’s online application only accepts the component TAS format (Attachment B). IPAC bulk files currently still accept: 1) the new standard component TAS format; 2) the STAR component TAS format or; 3) the original string-based, single-digit fiscal year TAS format. However, as of July 1 2013, bulk files will only be accepted in the new standard component TAS format. Please see the IPAC website for more information Intra-Governmental Payment and Collection (IPAC)

For a complete listing of TAS BETCs valid for use in the IPAC system, please see the following link, and click on IPAC TAS BETC (date) http://www.fms.treas.gov/cars/ref_guidance.html. This listing provides valid TAS in the component format for IPAC Online users, as well as a crosswalk to the single-digit fiscal year string TAS format for IPAC Bulk users. It also provides an indicator whether the BETCs for each TAS are appropriate on the Payment or Collection side of an IPAC transaction.

Payment and Collection Systems: Currently, FMS’ payment systems do not validate TAS; and FMS’ collection systems do not require TAS reporting. These systems are being modified to collect TAS and BETCs in the future, and will support the Component TAS structure (Attachment B).

For more information on TAS BETC classification of payments, please see the Payment Application Modernization (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) websites at: PAM Support of GWA SPS changes for GWA TAS-BETC

For more information on TAS BETC classification of collections, please see the Transaction Reporting System (TRS) website at: Transaction Reporting System (TRS)

Attachment A – String TAS

Currently available for use in the Account Statement, Agency Transaction Module and
Classification Transactions and Accountability (formerly P224)

Attachment B – Standard Component TAS

* Format of “C” indicates Character.

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