IT Wiz-Tec Team announcement regarding Ontario Gas Card update
Dear Retailer,
The Ontario government has recently announced changes to its FNGTR (First Nations Gas Tax Rebate) program, requiring the Federal Status cards replace the Ontario Gas Cards starting January 1st, 2020. This changeover will significantly impact both you as a retailer, and your customers. As the primary provider for the Ontario FNGTR program since 2008, we will be actively working with the government over the next 7 months to ensure a smooth migration process.
To read more about the Ontario Government’s announcement, follow this link: https:ljwww.ontariocanada.com/registry/view.do?postingId=26386&Ianguage=en
How will this affect you as a retailer?
Starting from January 1st, 2020, you and your customers must use their Federal Status Card instead of their Ontario Gas Card. The original gas card will no longer be valid and you will not receive a rebate for any Gas Card transactions.
To minimize the impact of this changeover, and to provide the best customer service and avoid interruption of service to your customers, you and your staff should inform and educate your customers of this change. Starting January 1st, 2020, only valid Federal Status Cards will be accepted as evidence of tax exemption eligibility. Make sure your customers obtain a valid Federal Status Card from the Band or a Federal government agent ahead of time.
If you are on the Wiz-Tec FNGTR Service:
The Wiz-Tec FNGTR service will continue and will accept the Federal Status Card. We will be performing development, testing, and certification with the Ministry’ of Finance to ensure a smooth transition. We will be also communicating with you over the coming months to schedule upgrades and ensure your cashiers and managers are trained and ready. If hardware upgrades or replacements are required, we will schedule an onsite visit by one of our technicians.
To minimize impact on your business, we will remotely change your system over between midnight December 31, 2019 and 6 am January 1st, 2020. This change over is significant and requires our staff work overnight on a public holiday; we ask your best cooperation and assistance to ensure our work can be completed before your store opens.
We anticipate and will be preparing for increased service and support requests in the months following the changeover. We will be increasing our service staff to ensure our retailers receive the best service possible during the migration process. Regardless, this change affects 150 retailers on reserve and 260,000 first nations across the province; we ask you be understanding and kind to our service staff if we are shorthanded from time to time.
For those processing manually with paper claims
The Ontario Government has not yet specified how the new manual claim system will work. We recommend you do you research and keep up to date with government updates and notices.
Manual and paper claims are labour intensive and less accurate for retaile(s and the Ontario Government. Further, the Federal Status Card is not embossed and does not allow for imprinting. Make sure you are prepared for potential issues; such as delays or more rejections than normal.
About Wiz–Tec
Wiz-Tec is Canada’s largest tax exemption POS provider in Canada, with customer across the entire country. As the exclusive provider for Ontario’s FNGTR program since 2008, and the exclusive provider for Quebec since 2012ยท, wa maintain a reputation of reliability and quality of service for our retailers.
For more information about the transition to the Federal Status Card, or for questions regarding our gas, car wash, and tax exemption products, contact us at 1-866-361-7846 and press #4 for sales.
Sincerely
The Wiz-Tec Team
Wiz-Tec Computing Technologies Inc.