Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey (MWTS) FAQs General

General

1. What is the Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey (MWTS)?

The MWTS provides national estimates of monthly sales, end-of-month inventories, and inventory-to-sales ratios by kind of business for merchant wholesalers, excluding manufacturers' sales branches and offices, located in the United States. Specifically, the MWTS covers wholesale merchants who sell goods on their own account and includes such businesses as wholesale merchants or jobbers, industrial distributors, exporters, and importers.

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2. Why should my company fill out this form?

The MWTS produces sales and inventory statistics for your segment of the economy. It is a valued economic indicator, and the sales and inventory data are used as part of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates.

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3. What if my company is no longer in business?

Complete the survey with the data for any period of time during the last month that the company was in operation. We also need the date that the company went out of business. If you sold your business, record the following in the Remarks section:

The name, address and telephone number of the company that purchased it
The purchaser's kind of business
The date of sale

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4. What if my company is not a wholesale distributor?

Indicate this information in the remarks section of the form and return it.

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5. Why don't you get the information you need from the IRS?

The Census Bureau uses IRS administrative data whenever possible. However, the IRS data does not provide the level of detail needed in most Census Bureau surveys.

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6. How can I be certain that my information is kept confidential?

Section 9 of Title 13, United States Code requires that we keep all entries from your report in full confidence. It may be seen only by persons in the bureau sworn to uphold the confidentiality of Census Bureau information and may be used only for statistical purposes. Copies retained in your files are immune from legal process. You may visit our website at http://www.census.gov/privacy/data_protection for more information.

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7. How did you get my Employee Identification Number (EIN)?

The Census Bureau obtains a list of EINs regularly from other government agencies that use this information, for example, the U.S. Social Security Administration. We are authorized to obtain this information by Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue code.

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