MOTOR FUELS FLAT (FLT) FILE and EDI FILING GUIDE
Guidelines

General

If you experience any electronic transmission problems, you should contact our eServices Coordinator at: 1-916-323-6353, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Pacific time), except state holidays. Also, for information on making your payments online, go to our Online Services web page or select the Make a payment button on the login web page.

Composition of the FLT and EDI Motor Fuels Tax Forms

Motor fuels tax forms transmitted online to the CDTFA will have reporting requirements similar to those for paper forms. This means that the same information included on paper tax returns, information reports, and claims for refund is also included in the transmitted online data.

If you are registered for more than one CDTFA fuel account license or registration number, you must transmit separate tax forms for each account. If you are using an EDI file format, you may combine multiple tax forms in a single online transmission or make a separate transmission for each tax form. Currently, there is no combined filing of the same tax form or tax forms for different periods in a single data set.

The CDTFA will not dictate the format in which you must collect the filing information. You are, however, required to follow the filing specifications detailed in this guide and on the Motor Fuels Online Filing web page for the valid file formats. You will be required to submit correct and complete motor fuels tax forms.

Single Point of Filing for a Terminal Operator or a Petroleum Carrier

The Single Point of Filing option is not available at this time. The CDTFA continues to be responsive to the reporting needs of our customers. Should the IRS implement a valid data transfer system that would enable Single Point of Filing, the CDTFA will work with its customers to develop reporting procedures.

IRS-formatted online files may still be filed directly with the CDTFA. All other motor fuels tax forms must be filed directly with the CDTFA using the valid CDTFA file formats described in this guide.

The CDTFA allows you to submit CDTFA-506-PO, Terminal Operator Information Report and CDTFA-506-PC, Petroleum Carrier Report, using the IRS approved electronic file data format.

Submission and Correction Guidelines for Motor Fuels Tax Forms

Motor fuels tax forms may be submitted as original, replacement, or supplement (adding transactions to the original or replacement filing).

General rules to follow for online filing of original motor fuels tax form data:

EDI X12 v. 4030:

  • For an original filing for a tax period, enter code 00 (zero zero) into element BTI13. If any other value is entered into this element, the CDTFA will not consider the associated information to be an original filing of tax form data.
  • If the original submission of tax form data needs to be replaced because of incorrect data, element BTI13 will be blank and element BTI14 will be 6R, to instruct the CDTFA to replace the data filed earlier with the data contained in this filing.
  • If the original submission of tax form data did not include all data, element BTI13 will be blank and element BTI14 will be 6S, to notify the CDTFA that this is a supplement to a previously submitted original file.

FLT (Flat File):

  • For an original filing for a tax period, enter code 00 (zero zero) into elements FE07, FG07, and FS07. This field is present in every transaction reported in the FG, FI, and FS elements.
  • If the original submission of tax form data needs to be replaced because of incorrect data, elements FE07, FG07, and FS07 will be blank and FE08, FG08, and FS08 will be 6R, to instruct the CDTFA to replace the data filed earlier with the data contained in this filing. (Before submitting any replacement files you are required to email CDTFA Motor Fuels eFile at CDTFAMFefile@cdtfa.ca.gov.
  • If the previous submission of tax form data did not include all data, elements FE07, FG07, and FS07 will be blank and FE08, FG08, and FS08 will be 6S, to notify the CDTFA that this is a supplement to a previously submitted file.

Syntax Validation

You may test the syntax of both EDI and FLT file formats before filing. After logging in, select Return Bulk File and then Validate Bulk File. After a successful syntax check, the filing is not complete until it is uploaded through the process addressed in Transmitting Data in theGetting started section.

Correcting Schedule/Transaction File Errors

To view the online filing results:

  1. Log in to the CDTFA s secure Online Services System.
  2. Select the account for which you want to review an online filing, or select File and/or View a Return.
  3. A status of Filed or Processed indicates the upload file successfully processed.

An upload failure during submission will result with a message similar to the examples below.

Flat File (FLT) Failure Example:

The record value length is too long. Line: 16, Value: 1399

Using this message as an example, we will illustrate how to fix the error.

The message tells us that record 16 in the FLT reports the product code as 1399.

The CDTFA-810-FTA, Product Code Table, shows that the correct product code for 10% gasohol is the three (3) digit code 139. We now know that we can correct this error by changing 1399 to 139.

If you are using the Excel workbook from the Motor Fuels Online Filing web page to create the FLT, the correction should be made in the workbook and a new FLT created.

Contact our Customer Service Center at 1-800-400-7115 (CRS:711) if you need assistance resolving errors in a FLT file. Customer service representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00. p.m. (Pacific time), except state holidays.

EDI File Failure Example:

CDTFA Validation Error: Too few elements for segment DTM~95 at segment index position 248

Using this message as an example, we will illustrate how to fix the error.

The message tells us that the 248th segment in the EDI file does not include enough elements.

The EDI specifications require the date to be included in date segments when reporting disbursements. To correct the issue, add 20190805 (DTM~95~20190805) to the segment.

Contact Data Analysis Unit if you need assistance resolving errors in an EDI file.