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OTS EXPANDS—HIRES TERRITORY MANAGER

Stow, Ohio, May 15, 2007--Operating Tax Systems, LLC (OTS) is proud to announce the appointment of trucking industry veteran Melody Wood to the position of territory account manager.  Wood will be responsible for the sales and implementation of OTS’ full line of trucking industry services in the east and northeast portions of the United States and eastern Canada.  She comes to OTS with an extensive trucking, and transportation management software background, most recently with TMW/Maddocks Systems. Wood was vice president of sales and marketing for fleet management software company, Melton Technologies, and previously served as chief accountant, with responsibility for fuel tax, for a large east coast-based trucking company.

“We are very fortunate to be able to add someone with Melody’s industry-specific knowledge and background at a time when we are expanding our service offerings and growing the company,” stated OTS Chief Executive Officer Al Uritis. While Wood’s main focus is to develop new clients for OTS’ full range of tax and compliance outsourcing solutions, “she also will help our existing customers integrate our business outsource solutions into their back office operations.”  Wood can be reached at 877-445-2053, ext. 253.

“It’s great to be joining OTS during this time of expansion,” said Wood. “I wanted to work with an innovative company that was changing the way trucking companies do business. OTS offers many ways for trucking companies to outsource regulated processes so they can concentrate on core growth activities and operational issues.”

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From the Pages of the OTS Tax Reporter, an article from B. Pitcher.

Status of SSRS - January 2007 - While federal law repeals SSRS at the end of this calendar year, there is no effective date in the statute for the UCRA, which will not in fact be ready until at least some months after January 1, 2007, to produce any revenue for the states. Many interested parties have suggested an extension to the repeal of SSRS, but this will require additional federal legislation. Two bills before Congress would extend SSRS for a full year, but whether the current lame-duck Congressional session will address this – or indeed any – legislation is open to question.

For now, then, SSRS will go away January 1. SSRS states should not be sending out SSRS renewals for 2007, and carriers should not be paying 2007 SSRS fees. If Congress should in fact enact an extension of SSRS, the UCRA Board strongly believes that all SSRS states should grant a significant grace period for payment and compliance by motor carriers.

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From the Pages of the OTS Tax Reporter, an article from B. Pitcher.

UCRA Board Asks Whether States Will Participate

November 2006 - Last year’s federal highway reauthorization bill repealed the Single State Registration System effective January 1, 2007, and provided for the establishment of a new program, the Uniform Carrier Registration Agreement, under which states might replace the revenues they have been getting from SSRS and related programs. This year, under the bill, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation appointed a UCRA Board, with both industry and state government members, to put the UCRA program together. Perhaps the most important part of the Board’s job is to develop the UCRA fee structure and to recommend the levels of the fees to the DOT, which actually sets them. The fees – and to some extent the structure – depends on how much revenue the program is to bring in. That amount is fixed at what states collected in 2004 under the programs UCRA is replacing – but only those states that participate in UCRA. Although a state need not make a final election to participate in UCRA until August 2008, the Board needs to know now which states are going to participate in 2007, when the program is expected to begin, so that the Board can develop the fees. To that end, toward the middle of September the Board sent out a letter to each state’s governor asking the states to elect by November 1, 2006, whether they will be in UCRA in 2007 or not. The Board says this deadline must be firm, since the UCRA fees have to be set for 2007 early enough in the year for states to be able to collect them from the trucking industry.

At its last meeting, the Board of Directors of the new Unified Carrier Registration Agreement, which is to take the place of the Single State Registration System, set a deadline of November 1, for states to declare whether they will participate in the UCRA in 2007. The Board met again today in Washington, DC, and heard that so far six states have formally elected to participate next year: Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Oregon. Of these, Oregon is the only one that has not participated in the SSRS.

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MELTON TECHNOLOGIES (MTI) AND OTS FORM PARTNERSHIP TO INTEGRATE FUEL AND MILEAGE TAX REPORTING

Stow, Ohio, September 13, 2006 — OTS (formerly Operating Tax Specialists, Inc. and Operating Tax Systems, LLC) has partnered with Melton Technologies (MTI) of Winston-Salem, NC to provide an integrated fuel tax compliance solution to their customers throughout North America. “This will allow our shared customers to solve the issues related to fuel tax reporting with the ability to provide a total tax system that will seamlessly share data with MTI Horizon’s transportation dispatch, management and accounting system,” said OTS’ Orrin Stone.

The interface between OTS solutions and MTI provides carriers the ability to extract all required fuel tax data from MTI’s Horizon software to accelerate the transfer of data to either of the OTS systems. “We're elated to be working with OTS on this project,” said Ron Hudnell of MTI, “we can now deploy a more robust solution to our clients. This eases the burden of tax preparation and allows them to allocate more resources to business development, operations and customer service, the real core of their business.”

Melton Technologies offers the progressive truck fleet owner the Horizon core trucking software for Dispatch, Billing, and Driver Settlements as well as other Tax Compliance Reporting, Document Imaging Routing, Mapping, Fuel Optimization, EDI, and Mobile Communications modules to efficiently improve and optimize their fleet operations. MTI has also developed a special executive report, ExecView, which gives the fleet owner real-time, continuous information on critical fleet performance measurements. Melton has additional special customized software products for Brokerage, Tankers, LTL, Mail Carriers, and Heavy Haulers with a long list of satisfied end user fleets.

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OTS HIRES NEW TERRITORY MANAGER

Stow, Ohio, August 8, 2006 - OTS welcomes transportation veteran Trey Byars as our new Territory Manager.  Byars will be responsible for the sales and implementation of OTS’ product line in the south, southeast and northeast portions of the United States.  He comes to OTS with an extensive trucking and software background in Decision Support and Vendor Managed Inventory systems that optimize trucking operations.  Trey also spent many years with Pepsi-Cola in a variety of positions.

OTS’ Director of Business Development, Orrin Stone states, “Trey brings years of account management skills to OTS and will provide our prospects and customers with an experienced, professional approach to utilizing OTS’ products and services to their benefit”.  Byars main focus will be developing new clients for OTS’ full range of tax outsourcing solutions with for-hire and private fleets within his area.

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OTS HIRES BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Stow, Ohio, March 1, 2006 - Trucking and communications industry veteran Orrin Stone joined OTS today as Director of Business Development. Stone will be responsible for developing and overseeing OTS’ Sales and Marketing Department. He comes to OTS with an extensive trucking and communications background in semi trailer sales and leasing, wireless communications sales/management and onboard computer/GPS sales to Fortune 500 companies throughout North America.

According to OTS CEO and co-founder Al Uritis, “Orrin’s breadth of knowledge and contacts within the trucking industry will immediately help OTS increase our market share in the tax outsourcing sector. We are thrilled to have him join our team.”

Stone will focus on developing new clients for OTS’ full range of tax outsource solutions for major fleets, nationwide operators and independent companies. He will operate from an office in Minnesota and call on OTS clients and prospects throughout the U.S. and Canada.

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OTS AND STRATEGIC CONCEPTS ANNOUNCE INTEGRATION CAPABILITY

Stow, Ohio, March 14, 2003 —OTS (formerly Operating Tax Specialists, Inc. and Operating Tax Systems, LLC) has partnered with Strategic Concepts, Inc. of Bentonville, Ark. to provide an integrated tax solution to Charter Express, a refrigerated trucking line based in Springfield, Mo. “OTS and SCI have been providing independent solutions to Charter Express,” said OTS’ Orrin Stone, “but our newly developed interface now allows OTS’ tax preparation systems to communicate directly with SCI’s Strategy5™ transportation management solution.”

The interface allows current and future Strategy5 users to easily and seamlessly flow data from their management system directly into OTS’ RoadTax.net® software and/or send all tax relevant information to OTS for fuel tax and IRP preparation, DOT log auditing and other OTS tax management services. Data can be sent via CD or magnetic media, or downloaded directly to OTS using their Virtual Private Network (VPN), available to all OTS tax management clients.

According to SCI’s Dave Stevens, “the new interface allows Strategy5 users to choose a “best of breed” third-party specialist like OTS for tax preparation, tapping into their expertise in the often confusing arena of transportation taxes.”

“We have been on the Strategy5 system for almost four years,” said Charter Express’s Chief Financial Officer, Lois Doyle, “and used OTS for tax recovery in 2002 when they found ‘substantial’ savings for us. We wanted to integrate both systems to reduce our costs and get the most from our technology investment.” The integration of OTS’ tax expertise with SCI’s dispatch, management and accounting capabilities gives Charter Express a turnkey management and financial solution that allows them to reallocate personnel to other tasks while ensuring their tax burden is minimized.

OTS and SCI developed the data interface specifically to meet a request by Charter Express, but they are making it available to all Strategy5 users. It is now possible for carriers to effortlessly and efficiently calculate various fuel, mileage and registration taxes and fees using either OTS’ Fuel-Tax Reporting services or their RoadTax.net® fuel and mileage compliance software.

The interface between OTS solutions and Strategy5 provides carriers the ability to extract all required fuel tax data from SCI’s Strategy5 software to accelerate the transfer of data to either of the OTS systems. “We were glad to work with OTS on this project for Charter Express,” said Stevens. “We can now deploy more robust solutions to our clients. This eases the burden of tax preparation and allows them to devote their resources to other pressing business issues.”

OTS serves Charter Express with tax management, fuel tax preparation and DOT log auditing programs. “We are very pleased with their performance to date,” said Doyle. “They deliver what they promise—on time, accurate tax filings and cost savings. What more can you ask for?

About OTS
OTS is the leading tax compliance and preparation outsource service for the transportation industry and the only full-service tax center serving North America. OTS offers a wide array of tax solutions and technologies that ensure compliance, minimize tax exposure and recover overpayments. Solutions include turnkey tax preparation, in-house system development, tax audit review and tax planning. For more information contact OTS at (877) 445-2058 ext. 202 or  otsinfo@ots.net

About Strategic Concepts
Strategic Concepts, Inc., is a leading supplier of automation tools and technical services for the transportation industry. Strategic Concepts provides tools that enable small and medium-sized companies to compete with much larger competitors by utilizing the same highly integrated technologies currently being implemented by the industry’s largest carriers. For more information contact Dave Stevens at (800) 407-7771 or sales@strategy5.com

About Charter Express
Charter Express is a 60-year old national refrigerated carrier based in Springfield, Mo. They employ over 100 people with a fleet of 100 power units and 150 trailers. For more information call Lois Doyle at 800-999-6111 or ldoyle@charterexp.com

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OTS AND AURORA SOFTWARE ANNOUNCE JOINT EFFORT

Stow, Ohio, February 26, 2003 —OTS (formerly Operating Tax Specialists, Inc. and Operating Tax Systems, LLC) has partnered with Aurora Software of Plymouth Meeting, Penn. to provide an integrated fuel tax compliance solution to Davis Express of Starke, Fla. “This is the first of many joint efforts between OTS and Aurora in solving unique customer problems,” said OTS’ Al Uritis. “Davis Express had previously used OTS to recover tax overpayments and to prepare for audit, but they needed a total tax system that would seamlessly share data with Aurora’s transportation dispatch, management and accounting system.”

After Davis had experienced an exhaustive audit they found that they needed to present tax information in a more “auditor-friendly” format. President Jimmy Davis brought in OTS because of his previous experience with them and their unparalleled expertise in tax services for the transportation industry. “They speak the trucking industry language and regulatory language equally well, which was big for us,” said Davis. “They were able to build an interface and extract data seamlessly from our Aurora system, which has led to a better understanding of our tax situation and cleaner information for future audits.”

OTS and Aurora developed the data interface specifically to meet Davis’ challenges, but they are teaming up to deliver similar solutions to other Aurora users. It is now possible for carriers to effortlessly and efficiently calculate various fuel, mileage and registration taxes and fees using either OTS’ Fuel-Tax Reporting services or their RoadTax.net® fuel and mileage compliance software.

The interface between OTS solutions and Aurora provides carriers the ability to extract all required fuel tax data from Aurora’s Trans*Eaz software to accelerate the transfer of data to either of the OTS systems. “We're elated to be working with OTS on this project for Davis,” said Bob Murphy of Aurora. We can now deploy more robust solutions to our clients. This eases the burden of tax preparation and allows them to allocate more resources to business development, operations and customer service, the real core of their business.”

About OTS
OTS is the leading tax compliance and preparation outsource service for the transportation industry. OTS offers a wide array of tax solutions and technologies that ensure compliance, minimize tax exposure and recover overpayments. Solutions include turnkey tax preparation, in-house system development and tax audit review and tax planning. For more information contact OTS at 1-877-445-2058 ext. 202 or email us at otsinfo@ots.net

About Aurora
Aurora Software develops and supports information technology for the transportation industry. TransEaz is a complete and integrated set of software modules for operations and accounting. First launched in 1984, TransEaz was designed to increase productivity and improve profitability for truckload, LTL, inter-modal and air freight trucking companies. Aurora’s total transportation solution includes interfaces to satellite communication and mileage systems, EDI, internet applications for trucking businesses and Aurora’s own TransDoc imaging software. For more information call 800-489-8985.

About Davis Express
Founded in 1979, Davis Express is a regional and long-haul truckload carrier based in Starke, Florida. Davis employs over 100 people with a fleet of 100 trucks and 140 trailers. For more information call 800-874-4270.


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