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• United States Code
• TITLE 4 - FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES
• CHAPTER 4 - THE STATES

      (a) Electronic Database. - 
        (1) Provision of database. - A State may provide an electronic
      database to a home service provider or, if a State does not
      provide such an electronic database to home service providers,
      then the designated database provider may provide an electronic
      database to a home service provider.
        (2) Format. - (A) Such electronic database, whether provided by
      the State or the designated database provider, shall be provided
      in a format approved by the American National Standards
      Institute's Accredited Standards Committee X12, that, allowing
      for de minimis deviations, designates for each street address in
      the State, including to the extent practicable, any multiple
      postal street addresses applicable to one street location, the
      appropriate taxing jurisdictions, and the appropriate code for
      each taxing jurisdiction, for each level of taxing jurisdiction,
      identified by one nationwide standard numeric code.
        (B) Such electronic database shall also provide the appropriate
      code for each street address with respect to political
      subdivisions which are not taxing jurisdictions when reasonably
      needed to determine the proper taxing jurisdiction.
        (C) The nationwide standard numeric codes shall contain the
      same number of numeric digits with each digit or combination of
      digits referring to the same level of taxing jurisdiction
      throughout the United States using a format similar to FIPS 55-3
      or other appropriate standard approved by the Federation of Tax
      Administrators and the Multistate Tax Commission, or their
      successors. Each address shall be provided in standard postal
      format.

      (b) Notice; Updates. - A State or designated database provider
    that provides or maintains an electronic database described in
    subsection (a) shall provide notice of the availability of the then
    current electronic database, and any subsequent revisions thereof,
    by publication in the manner normally employed for the publication
    of informational tax, charge, or fee notices to taxpayers in such
    State.
      (c) User Held Harmless. - A home service provider using the data
    contained in an electronic database described in subsection (a)
    shall be held harmless from any tax, charge, or fee liability that
    otherwise would be due solely as a result of any error or omission
    in such database provided by a State or designated database
    provider. The home service provider shall reflect changes made to
    such database during a calendar quarter not later than 30 days
    after the end of such calendar quarter for each State that issues
    notice of the availability of an electronic database reflecting
    such changes under subsection (b).