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If you want to issue or print a bidders statement  for a prior year, you must first go to the Account Master screen and use the Prior Year Lookup feature to bring up the data for that year.  You then must save that data (not just view it) before going to Online Products to generate the statement.  The Owner detail and Account Detail screens must have information in them in order to create a bidders statement.

User Entitlements

The following user entitlements must be set for each user who needs access to the Tax Certificate screen. They are part of the Manage Certificates task.

To create a bidders' certificate you must have one of these jobs: Cashier1, CashierNo2, Head Cashier. See Tasks, Entitlements, and Jobs for more information.

ACTCERT: Allow access to the Tax Certificate screen.

CERTIFICATE_SAVE: Check this entitlement for users allowed to create bidders' certificates.

(v1 security only) Users must have two roles assigned in order to work with bidders statements. No other roles other than Connect and Inquiry are necessary.

ACT_FOUNDATION: Provides the basic underlying permissions to work in the Tax Collection System.

MANAGE_TAX_CERTIFICATE: Provides the ability to work with tax certificates and bidders statements.

Client Preferences

BIDDER_OBJECT: Enter BIDDERS_STATEMENT (the default) or BIDDERS_STATEMENT_DALLAS (Dallas County).

CERT_FEE: Set this to the amount you want to charge for certificate and bidders statement fees.

BIDDER_FEE_TU: Set this to the tax unit you want to use to store bidders statement fees, for ex., 9600. If this preference is expired, the default tax unit is 9500.

TAX_CERT_COPIES:  If you want to print multiple copies of a tax certificate or bidders statement, set this to the number of desired copies.

PHONE_HEADER:  If this is set to Y, the phone number(s) for the tax office will print at the top center of the certificate or bidders statement.  If this is set to N, no phone numbers will print at the top of the receipt.

TC_ALWAYS_CURRYR: If set to Y (yes), only the current year will be entered on the Tax Certificate screen.  A setting of N (no) allows  the Through Year field to be changed.

CLIENT_LETTERHEAD_TYPE: Enter HEADER to use an image for the entire header of print products (statements, receipts); enter LOGO to use the image that is just the tax office seal.

APPRAISAL_DISTRICT_NAME:  Enter the appraisal district's name

APPRAISAL_DISTRICT_ADD1, APPRAISAL_DISTRICT_ADD2, APPRAISAL_DISTRICT_ADD3, APPRAISAL_DISTRICT_ADD4: Enter the address for the appraisal district.

CPA_TITLE, JUR_ADDRESS1: (Bidders List only) Enter the information to be used at the top of these certificates.

CERTIFICATE_LOV: Enter the certificate types to appear in the drop-down list. The default setting is BL (Bidder Statement),CB (Comptrollers Bidder Statement),SL (SOL Statement),TC (Tax Certificate).

 

1. From the Main Menu, select Update, then Tax Certificates, or click the Online Products icon (), then click the Tax Certificate button.
2. The Tax Certificate screen first displays any certificates already issued to the account. If no certificates exist, the screen will be in Insert mode, meaning that you are ready to begin issuing a new certificate or bidders statement.
3. If you want to search for a bidders statements on a different account, press F7, enter the account number or appraisal district number, then press F8.

If the Prev Selected and Next Selected buttons are blue, you can see the previous and next accounts in the group of accounts you selected in the Account Search screen. To leave the 'selected' group, go back to the Account Search and search for a different account.  If you remain on the Online Products screen and search for a new account, you will remain within the 'selected' group after the search is completed.

4. The table below will help you get started on issuing a bidders statement:

5. The Certificate Type field defaults to Tax Certificate.  Select either Bidders Statement or Comptrollers Bidder Statement.

Technical Note: The selections in this drop-down list are controlled in the Global Codes screen and the Global Code Set screen.  For the Global Codes, which only ACT personnel can access, the Type Code = LOV and the Code = CERTTYPE. In the Global Codes Set screen, query on CERTTYPE, then enter the values you want for the drop-down list.

6. Enter the desired year in the Year field.  This is the year that will print on the certificate in the statement "all taxes..have been paid.. up to and including xxxx", with xxxx being the year.  For ex., if you enter 2001 in the Through Year field, the statement will read "up to and including 2001."   All delinquent years will be noted on the certificate regardless of what year is entered in this field.  Values given on the certificate are those of the Year.

Note:  If your tax office always wants to have the Year be the current year, set the client preference TC_ALWAYS_CURRYR to Y.  If you want to be able to change the Year, which defaults to the current year, set this preference to N.

7. If there is more than one owner for this account, enter that number in the Owner No. field.

Note:  Placing 1 in the field refers to the second owner, placing 2 in the field refers to the third owner, etc.  The default is 0, which means the account has only one owner.

8. A fiduciary number other than 0 is required for both bidders statements. Either enter a Fiduciary No. or search for one as follows:
9. To search for a fiduciary or alternate payer number, click the Alternate Payer button, enter either the number or name of the fiduciary, then press F8.  A list of matching fiduciaries will appear (one fiduciary per screen, use the scroll bar to see others).
10. To enter a new alternate payer, click CTRL + Q, then enter the name, address, city, state, zip code and, optionally, the phone and fax numbers. Click OK.  A new fiduciary number is generated and put in the Fiduciary No. field on the Tax Certificate screen.
11. You cannot issue a bidders statement to an expired fiduciary.

9. If appropriate, enter the loan number in the Account Reference No. field.
10. In the Paid drop-down list, select Yes.  Selecting No means the statement cannot be saved and printed.

Note:  The Collected by field will auto-fill with the user's ID. Otherwise, it will remain blank.

14. Click the button () next to Payment Type and select the method of payment.

Note:  Do not choose Mixed Payments.  This option is reserved in the database for certificates issued in earlier versions of the ACT or UGSA systems.

15. A deposit will be generated automatically by the system for this payment.  However, you can override this by entering a deposit number in the Deposit No. field. Click the button () next to Deposit No. and select the deposit you want.  The deposit must be opened, not closed.

Note:  If the deposit is not open, the message  "This deposit is not available for posting" will appear when you try to save.

15. If desired, change the number of copies to be printed in the Copies field.
16. If you want a 'taxes not calculated' message to print, check the Tax Calculation Message checkbox and, in the Tax Calculation for Year(s) field, enter the years you want to appear in the message.
17. To indicate any parent account numbers associated with the account on this certificate, click the Parent Accounts button, enter the applicable account numbers, then click OK.

Note: Prior year levy balances on certificates include levy owed on parent and other linked accounts.

18. Click Save and Print Certificate. If you selected Bidders Statement, the statement will be printed.

Notes: If the account has no receivables for the year entered, you will get a message asking if you want to issue the statement.

Once you have saved the certificate, you cannot edit the information. All exemptions are listed on the certificate.

19. For Comptrollers Bidders Statements, a message appears that says you must enter bidder statement information. Click OK. Enter the following information on the Comptroller's Bidder Statement Information screen

• Request Date - this defaults to the current date but can be change. This date appears on the bidders statement and controls the statement's expiration date a year later.
• No Delinquent Taxes or Delinquent Taxes - check the box that describes the account's payment status.
• If you checked Delinquent Taxes, enter the year(s). unit name(s), and amount of delinquent tax.  Enter one unit per row.
• If you do not know about the delinquent taxes for some jurisdictions, enter the names of those units in the Taxing Units Not Reporting area.
• Click OK.
• Click Save and Print Certificate.

20. Click OK on the Transaction Applied and Saved message.

Note:  The Certificate No. is assigned by the system. Certificates issued from April 2007 on are stored as PDF files in the ACT database and can be retrieved by clicking Duplicate Certificate.

The amounts due will reflect any discounts on the account.

If no receivables exist for the current year for the account, the list of tax units is taken from the year on the certificate.

A note is created for each statement.

Bidder statement fees appear as levy, not fees, on the TC 298 Deposit Distribution reports. After they are paid, they are displayed individually in the Receivable screen, but they are not included in the Account Status screen, either before or after payment.

Deposit Proof Lists for tax certificate/bidder statement deposits must be run from the batch menu, not from the Deposit Control screen.  

To void a tax certificate, you must query either the account number or certificate/bidders statement number.