Online platform brings convenience and efficiency to tax appeal processing for parties and Ohio BTA staff

SAN JOSE, CALIF. – Modria.com, Inc, provider of the world’s leading online dispute resolution (ODR) platform, today announced that the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) has launched a new online resolution center for tax appeals, powered by Modria Resolution Center.  Taxpayers, agents, and attorneys can now file online, gain instant access to their electronic case files, negotiate settlements, and take actions on cases, all from the convenience of their computers or tablets.  Ohio BTA staff members have new tools to streamline and automate their workflow, reduce the use of paper files, and improve efficiency and service to citizens.

The Ohio BTA provides taxpayers, corporations, and governmental entities with a non-partisan forum to resolve tax disputes.  The board resolves appeals from final determinations of the Ohio tax commissioner, county boards of revision, county budget commissions, and municipal boards of appeal. As Ohio's administrative tax court focusing exclusively on tax issues, the board relieves an overburdened state judicial system and has the expertise to resolve complicated tax issues thoroughly and effectively. 

“Every year we process thousands of appeals and we were looking for a powerful online system to help us process our appeals faster and more efficiently,” said Jim Williamson, Chair of the Ohio BTA.  “At the same time, it was critical that we didn’t compromise on quality and accuracy.  Modria allows us to achieve both.” 

Modria Resolution Center is the leading online dispute resolution platform, bringing together a set of easily configured tools that government agencies and corporations need to achieve fast and fair resolution to disputes of all kinds.  Offered in a secure, software-as-a-service business model, Modria Resolution Center includes four key modules: Problem Diagnosis, Negotiation, Mediation, and Arbitration.

The Ohio BTA's new Online Appeal Guide makes use of the Problem Diagnosis module to help users determine the strength of their appeal and understand the appeal process, and leads users to an easy-to-use online filing form, reducing paper and adding convenience.  Using the Negotiation module, parties can negotiate with one another, off the record, to reach mutually satisfactory settlements.  For appeals that proceed to a decision by the BTA, the Arbitration module enables parties to file motions and evidence online, while providing ready access to case status throughout the process.  In addition, that module enables Ohio BTA staff to efficiently respond to questions, schedule and convene hearings, and automatically produce final decisions.

“The Ohio BTA told us their goal was to deliver fast and fair resolutions to tax appeals for their citizens and they realized that upgrading their legacy case management system to add online filing and interfaces would be insufficient,” said Scott Carr, president and CEO of Modria.  “Working closely with the Ohio BTA staff, we configured Modria Resolution Center to help guide taxpayers more intuitively through the appeal process while providing Ohio BTA staff with powerful and intuitive tools to respond quickly and accurately to appeals.”   

Modria Resolution Center has been successfully implemented by government agencies and businesses in the U.S., Canada and Europe, processing tens of thousands of cases every month.  The platform handles a wide range of disputes ranging from property tax appeals to debt collection and insurance, as well as ecommerce disputes. Modria has helped its customers save time and money, increase productivity and improve transparency and satisfaction with their end user customers.  Modria customers include the American Arbitration Association for New York No Fault Insurance; Alachua County, Fla.; Orleans Paris, La.; Davidson County, Tenn.; Marktplaats, an eBay marketplace; and now the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals.

“Many public and private sector organizations that deal with customer disputes are finding that higher volumes of caseloads are creating a huge backlog,” said Scott Carr, president and CEO of Modria. “Hearing the needs of these organizations, we’ve created the most flexible and powerful online dispute resolution system ever – one that can be deployed quickly and configured to a wide range of cases.”

Modria’s team of experts has decades of combined experience in the field of ODR, handling a wide range of dispute types, from complex international commercial arbitration to property tax assessment appeals to ecommerce. Before starting Modria, the team created the technology used by eBay and PayPal that has successfully resolved hundreds of millions of cases. 

About Modria:

Founded in 2011, the Modria team of resolutions experts and technologists has built Modria Resolution Center, the leading online dispute resolution platform for businesses and government agencies that turns disputes of any volume and type into fast and fair resolutions, reducing legal risk and operating costs, while growing customer loyalty. Our founders wrote the book on online dispute resolution – literally.  Before starting Modria, our team of professionals created the technology used by eBay and PayPal that has successfully resolved hundreds of millions of cases. Modria is privately held and based in San Jose, CA, USA. Find more information at http://www.modria.com or email info@modria.com.

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