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Adding Pro-rated Exemptions

Last Revised :March 12, 2019

 

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If you need to add a pro-rated exemption for the current or prior years, follow the steps below.  Pro-rated (PRO) exemptions may need to be made, for example, if a property has been condemned and a jurisdiction takes ownership of the account for the remaining portion of the tax year, or if a charitable organization takes ownership of a property during a tax year.  Pro-rated exemptions can be made on both qualifying and non-qualifying portions of an account.

To calculate pro-rated exemptions, subtract all exemptions except for the PRO exemption from the market value. Multiply that value by the number of days exempt (adding or subtracting the number entered in the Days Exempt Num Days to Adjust field in the Tax Unit Maintenance for this county code), then take that result and divide it by 365. This gives the exemption amount for the pro-rated exemption. (Note: Montgomery County - Software Group subtracts local exemptions after subtracting the prorated exemption amount.)

Exemptions can also be prorated for 100% disable veteran (VTX), 100% Surviving Spouse (STX), both 100% veteran and 100% surviving spouse, surviving spouse active duty (MSS), DSTR (disaster), and IRE (immediate residential). These are not given a PRO exemption. See Standard Exemptions for more information.

To add a pro-rated exemption for a future year, see Estimating Partial (Pro-rated) Exemptions.

Note:  Some tax offices refer to pro-rated exemptions as their pro-rated over 65 exemptions.

ClosedUser Entitlements

The following user entitlements must be set for each user who needs to view, add or change exemptions on the Account Master screen. They are part of the Make Value and Levy Account Master Changes and View Only Major Screens tasks.

Users having any job can view this screen. Changes can be made with the CAD Changes Save and Calc AG Rollback job.  See Tasks, Entitlements, and Jobs for more information.

ACT8002: Allow users to view the Account Master screens.

PRIOR_YEAR_BUILD: Allow users to click the Prior Year button.

ACCTM_SAVE_AND_CALC_BUTTON: Allow users to click the Save and Calculate button

ACCTM_CHNG_DELQ_DATE_BUTTON: Allow users to click the Change Delinquency Date button and make changes to the dates.

ACCTM_ACCOUNT_DETAIL_UPDATE: Make changes on the Account Master Account Detail screen

ACCTM_EXEMPTIONS_UPDATE: Allow users to change and insert information on the Special Exemptions tab. Includes the fields on the Summary tab as well.

 

ClosedClient Preferences

ROUND_VALUE_FACTOR: If you want exemption values rounded to the nearest $5.00 or $10.00, set this to 5 or 10.  If you do not want any rounding, set the same client preference to 1.

ADJ_REFUND_STATUS: set to OH to have refunds created by levy adjustments placed on hold automatically. Expire the preference to not place adjustment refunds on hold.

COUNTY_CODES_PRORATE_COUNT_365: Enter the county code(s) that use a 365 day calculation for pro-rations even for leap years. If it is a leap year and the preference is either expired or does not contain the county code for the account, the program will use a 366 day calculation.

 

In the Tax Unit Maintenance screens, set the Days Exempt Num Days to Adjust field on the Jurisdiction CAD Relation screen to the number of additional or fewer days taxable that are needed to make the calculation of PRO exemptions match the amount given by that entity's appraisal district. (This field replaces the client preference DAYS_EXEMPT_NUM_DAYS_TO_ADJUST.)  

Warning! This number is considered only when doing a Save and Calculate Levy on the Account Master screen and when loading Software Group appraisal district files.

Note: These numbers are not consistent from one district to another. They could, for ex., be set to 0, 1, 2, or -1, -2.  The Days Taxable field in the Account Detail screen will always show what is given by the appraisal district, but the actual calculation will add or subtract days based on what is entered in this field for each county.  For ex., if this field is set to 1 and the days taxable for an account on the appraisal district file is 17, the calculation will use 18 days to reach the amount provided by the district.

If the client preference CALCULATE_LEVY_YEAR is set to a prior year, you cannot recalculate levy for the current or future year. You can make the changes on the Account Master screens, but the Save and Calculate button will be disabled. You can use the Save (F10) button but this will not recalculate the levy.

If an account has been written off due to a legal situation such as a judgment or bankruptcy, you will get a warning message if you try to make a levy change on the Account Master screen.

  1. From the Main Menu, click the Account Status () button or select Inquiry, then Account Status, or click the Go To drop-down list and select Account Status.  The Account Status screen will appear.  Check the current levy.
  2. If the account has carried over from a previous screen, the screen will fill with data.  

    If the Account Number field is blank, enter the account number, press F8, then go to the next section.

    If you need to enter a different account number, press F7, key in the new account number, press F8, then go to the next section.

Note: If you don't know your account number, see Locating an Account.

  1. From the Go To list, select Account Master.  The Account Master Summary screen will appear.
  2. If you need to view the summary of an account for a prior year, use the scroll bar on the right side of the screen. A popup will appear just before you get to the last year available if additional years have been archived (moved to a different part of the database to allow faster querying in the main database).
  3. If you want to view a year that is not available on the screen, follow the steps below:
    1. Click Prior Year(s).  
    2. Click Prior Year Rebuild
    3. Click Prior Year(s)
    4. Using the drop-down list, select the year to view.  The list contains only those years that have been archived. If you want to see another year, key in that year in the year field.
    5. Click OK. The Account Master Summary screen will display.

    WARNING: If you want to view data for a paid account in a prior year and your tax office has had its paid account data loaded into ACT's archive tables, the property values and jurisdictions for the rebuilt year will be inserted. Please check them for accuracy. Enter any exemptions into either the Account Master Summary or Special Exemptions tabs.  Remember to return to the Account Master Summary screen and press F10 (Save).

    For unpaid prior year accounts and paid accounts that haven't been put into the archive tables, zeroes will show in the value fields for the year you rebuild if the client preference POPULATE_EQUAL_VALUES is set to N.  If the preference is set to Y, the property values will be populated with data from the Receivable and Property Value screens.   If no values exist for that year in those screens, $0.00 values will be inserted. Please check the values for accuracy.  Remember to enter any exemptions, then press F10 (Save).  

    A Receivable is not created unless it existed in the archive tables or in the regular production tables before doing this Prior Year rebuild.

  4. Click the Account Detail tab.  The Account Detail screen will appear.
  5. Make sure the Exempt checkbox is not checked.

Note:  If the Exempt checkbox is checked, that will exempt the account from all taxes for the entire year.  

  1. Click the Owner Detail tab.  The Owner Detail screen will appear.
  2. Make sure the Exempt checkbox is not checked.
  3. Enter the Days Exempt given on the Appraisal District form.

Note:  This is the days exempt, not the days taxable.

  1. Click the Summary tab.  
  2. Click Save and Calculate Levy.
  3. Click OK at the confirmation message.

Note:  The system will recalculate the levy based on the partial exemption information.  However, the Appraisal Cap, if any, will remain as it was before the partial levy was applied.  See the calculation formula below.

The system will not allow the exemption value to be more than the taxable value before the exemption was added.

If a user has changed the number of days exempt, the begin or end dates will adjust accordingly to match the revised exemption calculation. If the begin date is January 1, the end date will be adjusted; if the end date is December 31, the begin date will be changed.

  1. Return to the Account Status screen to verify that the levy has changed as expected.

The Account Master screen will display the exemption amount as a PRO exemption.