OPTins Welcomes Two More States

OPTins Specifically For You

Need to Reconcile your Bank Account? No problem!

Meet Denise Beam, Our OPTins Featured Filer

OPTins Email Signature - Signed, Sealed, Delivered, It's Yours!

Every Day I'm Shuffling

Transformers: All the Fun Minus the Price of a Movie Ticket

Say Hello to the Newest Additions to the OPTins Team

When you are creating a filing in OPTins, make sure that you have selected the correct State, Filing Entity and Company Type.

Once you have created your filing, carefully review the State Instructions to confirm you are submitting the correct forms. Download the required forms and complete each one thoroughly and completely.

For more "Tips and Tricks," review the OPTins user manual.

The OPTins Help Desk is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Central Time. Contact the Help Desk at 816-783-8990 or optinshelp@naic.org.

If you have any article suggestions or if there is anything you'd like to learn more about, please send an e-mail to optinsmktg@naic.org.

Does your financial institution have bank account debit filters in place? If you have a debit block on your bank account, it is important to give your financial institution the NAIC ACH Origination Number. This will lift the debit block and allow incoming NAIC OPTins debits.

Contact the marketing and implementation team at 816-783-8787 or optinsmktg@naic.org.

Attention TriTech customers! Did you know that you can file your premium tax forms and payments to OPTins-participating states by clicking the "E-File" button in TriTech?

To get started contact the OPTins Help Desk at (816) 783-8990 or optinshelp@naic.org and provide your TriTech account number. Our team will update your OPTins account and you will be able to log in directly to the TriTech system and create your premium tax forms. Then just click on the "E-File" button and it will take you into the OPTins system, where you can enter the tax payment due and submit the payment to the state, along with the TriTech form, simultaneously and securely. It's really that easy!

We are happy to announce that two more states are on target to begin accepting filings in OPTins this year. Wyoming is scheduled to begin accepting premium tax filings in time for their quarter three premium tax deadline, which is October 31. The United States Virgin Islands is also scheduled to begin accepting filings in time for their premium tax and surplus lines quarter three filings which are due November 1.

Please visit the State Participation page http://www.optins.org/state_participation.htm for a complete list of due dates for all participating states. As a reminder, once you've implemented OPTins, you can automatically file in all participating states for all available filing types as they come on board.

OPTins v4.4, released in March, included an enhancement allowing state users with the State-Specific Field Administrator role to define state-specific fields which provides flexibility to track specific industry account data in OPTins.

These fields are viewable on the state side only and while the State Specific fields are pre-configured, state users can enter data on those fields for individual entities.

For more information, please contact the OPTins team at (816) 783-8787 or optinshelp@naic.org.

State and industry users have the ability to run an in-depth Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) report which displays information necessary to reconcile the bank accounts used for OPTins filings.

Industry users with the EFT Report role can run an EFT report for either submitted filings or scheduled filings, and the report will display a list of filings with a breakdown of state filing fees and OPTins transaction fees. Industry users should click on the EFT Report link and select a begin date and end date, Completed Payments and/or Pending Payments and Report Format.

State users with the EFT Report role can also run a report. Users should click on the EFT Report link, enter a begin date and end date and choose a report format. OPTins will then display a list of the state taxes submitted.

If you need the EFT Report role added to your User ID, please have your User Admin submit a request through the OPTins using the "Request User Update" form on the Settings tab. If you still have questions, please contact the OPTins Help Desk at (816) 783-8990 or optinshelp@naic.org.

Say hello to long-time OPTins user Denise Beam. Denise, a financial and regulatory support member with Penn Treaty, has been using OPTins over two years.

Denise has a number of reasons for loving OPTins. In particular, she says, "I love the ease and convenience, especially since filing through TriTech became available. I also love the fact that a lost filing is no longer an issue with the states that allow filing through OPTins. It is incredibly user-friendly."

If Denise could offer any advice to her fellow filers, she would suggest using OPTins whenever you can. "In the beginning, I was very apprehensive. Now I can't imagine not having this available. I look forward to hearing when more states implement OPTins."

When not using OPTins, Denise loves baking, working on cross-stitch and watching "The Big Bang Theory." She has been married for 15 years and has four cats: George, Angel, Cinder and Amber Lynn. Originally from Pittsburgh, Denise has lived in various places throughout the United States, but her heart will always belong to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thanks for being a loyal OPTins filer, Denise!

We want YOU to be our next Featured OPTins User! Send an email to the OPTins Marketing Team at optinsmktg@naic.org and tell us how OPTins has improved your filing and auditing processes. You could be featured in an upcoming issue of the OPTins Scoop!

State users, during the review of your filings, you can request additional information such as amendments and additional fees in the comments field within a filing. Simply click on a filing, then "Update Filing," and enter your remarks. Once you have entered your comments, click "Save" and OPTins will email your comments to the industry filer.

This time-saving functionality was improved in our v4.5 release. State users can now create a customized signature for outgoing emails in OPTins. To pre-configure your signature, click on Settings and User Preferences. Create your custom signature and click "Save" at the bottom. When you add your comments to a filing, your email will contain the comments and the signature.

For more information, please contact the OPTins Help Desk at (816) 783-8990 or optinshelp@naic.org.

Recently the OPTins team experienced an employee shuffle. Laura Jackson and Lacey Seemann, formerly members of the Help Desk, recently moved to the Marketing and Implementation team.

Laura began her career at the NAIC as a Help Desk intern in February 2011 and Lacey has been with the NAIC as a Customer Support Analyst since August 2007. Laura and Lacey joined the Marketing and Implementation team in April 2012. In their new positions, they implement OPTins customers, present tutorials and much more!

Laura is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri - Kansas City with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Studies and has started working toward her MBA. She recently returned from a whirlwind trip to London and Ireland as part of an international business class and said the experience helped her learn how different businesses operate outside of the United States.

Lacey graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications. When Lacey is not taking care of her two young daughters she enjoys shopping, hanging out with friends and, of course, cheering on the University of Kansas Jayhawks.

Congratulations on your new positions, Laura and Lacey!

State users: The Enhanced Export feature allows OPTins staff to transform the current Complete Export XML file to a customized report based on your state forms and chosen fields within an OPTins filing. The reports are built in either a tab or semicolon delimited file that can be opened with Excel. Once the information is imported into Excel, you can use the Excel tools to assist in your auditing and reporting process.

For more information, contact the OPTins Marketing Team at optinsmktg@naic.org or (816) 783-8787.

Say hello to OPTins' newest additions, Eloise Seemann and Jackson Franz. Eloise, daughter of Lacey Seemann, Product Specialist I, was born on April 19, 2012, and Jackson, son of Jennifer Franz, Product Specialist II, was born on May 12, 2012.

Lacey and Jennifer bring Eloise and Jackson to work every day, thanks to the NAIC's Babies in the Workplace program. In addition to providing cuddles and coos to the OPTins team, they bring smiles to the faces of our OPTins customers.

When Eloise is not at work with Lacey, she likes to practice singing opera, wiggling in her bouncer and being best friends with her older sister Clara. In his free time, Jackson enjoys eating every two hours, pulling his older sister Emily's hair and grunting until he gets his way.

Thanks for making our days a little brighter, Eloise and Jackson!