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Taking payments is the most common activity at any tax office.  After you have created a deposit, you can begin taking payments.

Note: If an account has a Y in the Block Acct for Payment field in the Account Detail screen, you will be prevented from taking a payment on it.

User Entitlements

The following user entitlements must be set for each user who needs access to the Payment screens. They are part of the Take Limited Advanced Payment and Take Full Advanced Payment tasks.

Changes can be made with these jobs: Cashier1, CashierNo2, Head Cashier. See Tasks, Entitlements, and Jobs for more information

ACT8001 - Query Deposit Control.

ADVANCED_DEPOSIT - Take a simple or advanced payment.

CHANGE_DEPDATE - This defaults to N, so users cannot change the deposit date to something other than the current. Set to Y to allow this for individual users.

CHANGE_PAIDDATE - Change the receipt date for the entire deposit, but not for individual transactions within the deposit.

CHANGE_PMT_PAIDDATE - Change receipt date for transactions within a deposit, but cannot change the deposit or receipt date for the deposit as a whole.

NEED_REFUND_APPROVED - Default is N, so users do not need a supervisor to approve overpayment refunds for a particular user.

TAKE_PAY_ANY_DEPOSIT - Default is N, so users cannot take a payment in any deposit. Change to Y to make a payment in any deposit.

Client Preferences

Payments for current and delinquent years

CURR_YEAR_PAY_SCREEN: This client preference determines which year is paid in full first.  Set to FIRST to pay the most recent year first, or set to LAST to pay the oldest year first.  Set to HIDE to not show the Pay Oldest Year First checkboxes on the Payment screen but to pay the oldest year first.

Payments made by cash and/or check

CK_CHANGE_AMT: This allows change to be issued for overpayment by check. Set to the dollar amount you wish to use as the change limit.  If the change due is less than or equal to this amount, change will be allowed on a check payment.

MO_CHANGE_AMT: Allows change to be issued for overpayment by money order. Set to the dollar amount you wish to use as the change limit.  If the change due is less than or equal to this amount, change will be allowed.

REQUIRE_SYSDATE_CASH_PAY: Enter Y for this client preference to require all cash payments to have the current day as the receipt date;enter N to allow other dates as the receipt date for cash payments.

AUTHORIZE_NONSYSDATE_CASH_PAY: This should be checked for the users who can authorize the receipt date to be changed on a cash payment. This takes effect only if the REQUIRE_SYSDATE_CASH_PAY preference is set to Y.

SHOW_IRS_FORM_8300: Set to Y to show a popup message on online payments about cash payments made by the owner or the same fiduciary within the past 12 months that total more than $10,000. The cashier is advised to fill out IRS form 8300 Set to N to not show this message.

Overpayments

OVERPAY: Refunds will be placed in the tax unit specified in this client preference if CREATE_ADJUSTMENT_RECORD is set to Y. (If the CREATE_ADJUSTMENT_RECORD preference is set to N, the overpayment will be placed in the primary jurisdiction.  If no primary jurisdiction exists for an account, the refund is put in the lowest numbered jurisdiction.)

OVERPAY_TU_OVERRIDE: Set this client preference to Y to be able to select the overpayment refund tax unit; set to N to have these refunds go to the unit specified in the OVERPAY preference when you apply the payment.

OVERPAY_STATUS: Set this preference to OH to have refunds created by overpayments placed on hold automatically. Expire this preference if you do not want to have overpayment refunds put on hold automatically.

PAY_MAX_YEAR_ELIGIBLE: Set to N to have all overpayment refunds put in the current year, set to Y to have the refund go to the most recent year that was paid. The default is N.

User entitlements:

Need_Refund_Approved should be checked ONLY if you want a supervisor to approve overpayment refunds for a particular user.

Authorize_Refund should be checked ONLY for the user who is authorized to approve these refunds.

Spec_Auth should be checked to use the Special Authorizations screen, where you can to enter an Authorization Code.  These codes can be updated by employees having these roles: assistant_cashier, head_cashier, or remote_cashier.  These employees must also have the MGR_AUTHORIZATION role.

Overpayments can also be seen in the Payment Distribution screen.

Payments within tolerances

If no tolerance is desired, set OPAY_TOLER and UPAY_TOLER to zero.

OVERRIDE_OPAY_TOLER_TU: to change the tolerance overpayment tax unit for each payment, set this client preference  to Y.

SHORT_PAY_GO_NEGATIVE:

• If you want the system to allow amounts applied to 'under tolerance'  to be taken from individual columns in the unit set in the PRIM_JURIS client preference (but not the escrow column), set this client preference to Y .  The preference SHORT_PAY_ALLOCATION is considered.
• Set this to N (or expire it) to have amounts applied to 'under tolerance' taken from the escrow column of 8003 (or the unit you set in UPAY_TOLER_TU) for the accounts being paid if no penalty and interest is due for the year being paid.
• If penalty and interest is due, and SHORT_PAY_GO_NEGATIVE is set to N, the under tolerance is taken from interest in the prim_juris tax unit. If discounts apply, see the following information about the preference SHORT_PAY_NEG_ADJ_DISCOUNT.
• Expiring this preference is the same as setting it to N.

SHORT_PAY_ALLOCATION

• The SHORT_PAY_ALLOCATION preference is ignored if SHORT_PAY_GO_NEGATIVE is set to N.
• If SHORT_PAY_GO_NEGATIVE is set to Y, then by default, tolerance underpayments are taken out of penalty in the tax unit set in the PRIM_JURIS client preference.
• If you wish to change where the under tolerance is taken from, set SHORT_PAY_ALLOCATION to one of the following: ATTORNEY, PENALTY, INTEREST or DISCOUNT. For examples of this, click here.

SHORT_PAY_NEG_ADJ_DISCOUNT

• If the preference SHORT_PAY_ALLOCATION is set (is not expired) and the preference SHORT_PAY_GO_NEGATIVE is set to N, then this client preference, SHORT_PAY_NEG_ADJ_DISCOUNT, can be invoked for tax offices having discount units.
• Set SHORT_PAY_NEG_ADJ_DISCOUNT to Y to maintain the current behavior of increasing the discount amount if a discount unit is underpaid within tolerance. (For ex., if a unit's discount amount is.10 and the unit is underpaid by.01, the discount will show as.11.)
• Set SHORT_PAY_NEG_ADJ_DISCOUNT to N to leave the discount amount alone and instead put the underpay amount in the escrow column of unit 8003 as a negative amount (for ex., the discount amount in the previous example remains .10 and a -.01 is put in the unit 8003's escrow column.

OVER_PAY_ALLOCATION:

• To have tolerance overpayments go to either penalty or interest in the tax unit set in the PRIM_JURIS client preference, set the OVER_PAY_ALLOCATION preference to either INTEREST or PENALTY.
• If this preference is used, the REFUND_PI_SWITCH preference must be set to Y.
• To have tolerance overpayments go to the tax unit set in OPAY_TOLER_TU, expire OVER_PAY_ALLOCATION.

OPAY_TOLER and OPAY_TOLER_TU: Set these preferences to the amount and unit, respectively, to use for overpayments within tolerance. The OPAY_TOLER_TU preference is used only ifOVER_PAY_ALLOCATION is expired or set to something other than INTEREST or PENALTY.

UPAY_TOLER and UPAY_TOLER_TU: Set these preferences to the amount and unit, respectively, to use for underpayments within tolerance.

Payments in discount months

DISCOUNT: Set this client preference to Y if you accept discounts

DISCOUNT_REPORT: Set this client preference to Y to show discounts on receipts.

DISCOUNT_WRITE-OFF: Set this client preference to Y to see the Discount column on the Account Status screen. Agricultural rollbacks do not receive discounts.  Discounts are given only to current year balances.

Payments in penalty & interest months

Note: if partial payments are made in penalty & interest months on accounts that also owe fee units, these fee units will be ignored when adjusting amounts according to ACT's rounding rules

WEEKEND_LOGIC_FOR_PANDI: If set to N, penalty and interest will always increase on the first day of the month. If this is set to Y, penalty and interest will not increase until the second business day of the new month if the last day of the month is on a Saturday or Sunday. This applies to current and prior year delinquent amounts. When taking a payment, the receipt date of the deposit will observe this rule also; if, for example, February 28 is on a Sunday and this preference is set to Y, additional penalty and interest will not be added to accounts until March 2, a Tuesday. Payments with a receipt date of March 1 will be charged penalty and interest as if it were still February. The default setting is N.

Multi-account payments (up to 25 accounts; if more than that, create a portfolio)

ACT8001_PART_PAY_REQ_ACCT_AMT: Set to Y to require account amounts to be entered for multi-account payments where the total payment amount is less than the total due. Set to N (the default) to not require this and instead apply a certain percentage of the payment to each account.

Payments for half pay, quarter pay, and disaster accounts

ACTIVE_HP_BUTTON: To flag an account as a half pay without checking to see if the tax is actually half paid, set this client preference  to Y; otherwise set to N to disable that button.

ACTIVE_QP_BUTTON: To display the Quarter Pay button when paying an account that is eligible to make a quarter pay, regardless of the amount being paid, set this client preference to Y; otherwise set to N to disable the button. See QPAY_PAY_ORDER (below) for options on how to allocate payments on quarter pay accounts. See also CHECK_PYMNT_WHEN_SET_QPAY_FLAG.

CHECK_PYMNT_WHEN_SET_QPAY_FLAG: On the Online Payment screen, this is considered if ACTIVE_QP_BUTTON is set to Y. On the Account Master screen, the ACTIVE_QP_BUTTON preference is not considered. Set this to Y to not set the Split Payment Flag to Q if a payment of less than 25% of the levy is made on a quarter-pay eligible account. (On the Online Payment screen, the Quarter Pay button must be clicked first to invoke this preference.) Set to N to set the Q even if the payment is less than 25% of the current year levy.

ACTIVE_DISASTER_BUTTON: Set this client preference to Y to allow a button labeled Disaster to appear on the Remittance tab and a button called Installment Letter to appear on the Advanced Payment after a payment is applied. Set to N to not allow this. If set to Y, a D will also be put in the Split Payment Flag field in the Account Detail screen.

QUARTER_PAY_VET: Enter veteran exemption codes that are eligible for quarter pay status (default is VET,VTX).

ACT8001_EXTEND_DUEDATE: OBSOLETE. (Set this client preference to Y will change the due date on quarter pay and disaster accounts to 08/01/YYYY. If set to N, the due date is not changed.)

QP_CHECK_EXEMPTIONS: Set this client preference to Y to display the quarter pay and late quarter pay buttons only if the account has a qualifying exemption. Set to N to display the button without checking for these exemptions. The default is N.

QPAY_PAY_ORDER: Set to 1 (the default ) to pay the earliest quarter due and put remaining money on the next quarter. Set to 2 to pay the current quarter first and put remaining money on earliest quarter due. Set to 3 to require users to select which quarter to pay. Set to 4 to allow users to pay across all quarters.

LATE_QTR_PAY_END_MONTH_DAY: (Not applicable starting in tax year 2015) Set to the day following the last day to accept late payments for the first quarter. The default is 3/1 of the tax year + 1. From Feb. 1 until the day before this date (for ex., Feb. 28), a Late QTR Pay button will be visible on the screen. If this is not expired, the Late QTR Payment button is enabled on the screen. A payment amount that is 25% of the base levy plus 6% penalty and 1% interest (based on the 25% levy) is required.

LATE_QTR_PAY_SET_Q: Set to Y (the default) to set a Q in the Split Payment Flag field of the Account Detail screen when the Late QTR Payment button is used while taking a payment. Set to N to show only the payment amount for the late first quarter (see above).

MIXED_HALF_PAY_UNITS: Set to Y to accept payments on accounts where some units allow half pays and others do not. If all half pay units are paid in full, any remaining money is put into escrow. Set to N to take payments only if all units accept half pay or no units allow half pays.

Notes: On the Tax Rates tab of the Tax Unit Maintenance screens, the Half Pay Split Flag box must either be set to Y or left blank for each jurisdiction that will allow extended delinquency dates for half payments for the current tax year. The default setting for this flag is Y. If this preference is missing or set to something other than N, the payment program assumes each unit accepts half pays.

If non-half pay units are paid in error, batch menu no. 156, Transfer Levy Paid on Non Half Pay Units to Half Pay Units, can be run to move the money to the half pay units on each account.

(v2 security) To update the Split Pay Flag on the Account Detail screen at the same time you take a payment, you can be assigned the Split Pay Flag - Temp job, which includes the Update Split Pay Flag - Temp task. This task has no entitlements, but instead has a table-level privilege to update the table containing the Split Pay flag. This can be assigned without assigning a user any other Account Master-related jobs or tasks.

MIXED_HALF_PAY_END_DATE: Enter the date on which to end the messaging about mixed half pay units in advanced payments (for ex. 12/01/yyyy). You may not want this date to occur on a weekend. The preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_UNITS must be set to Y.

Payment agreement payments

PAY_AGREE_PAY_STATUSES: List the payment agreement statuses (for ex., AC, D1) for which payments can be made in the Advanced Payment screen when the payment agreement number is entered on that screen

Ag rollback payments

MIX_AGROLLBACK_ONLINE: Set this client preference to Y in include ag rollback amounts in the total due. Set to N to exclude ag rollback amounts from the amount due.

Fees

FEES_PAY:Set to FIRST to pay all fees (including Returned Check Fees) first, before any levies or penalties and interest. Set to LAST to pay fees last. Any other setting will cause an allocation of money across all units, including fee units..

Note: For Bexar County only, setting FEES_PAY to FIRST will pay all fee units first except the storm water fee, which is paid after all current year levy has been paid.

For El Paso only, liens are paid after all property taxes and other fees have been paid. If more than one lien exists on an account, the oldest lien (determined by the lien file date) is paid in full first. The fee in unit 9111 is paid last. This payment order occurs regardless of the setting of FEES_PAY.

Inactive accounts.

If you want to take a payment on an account and year that is inactive (that has units in the 7000 range), you need to activate it before taking the payment. To do this, go to the Account Detail screen for that account and press Activate Account, then press F10 (Save). After taking the payment, you can inactivate the account again, but only the unpaid levy will be inactivated.  The paid levy remains with the unit(s) that were paid.

Payments can be made for other, non-inactive years on such accounts. You will get a warning message about the inactive year(s), and the total due will be reduced by the amount of inactive levy owed.

Voids

ALLOW_VOIDS: Set this client preference to Y to allow users with the roles of Super, Head Cashier, and Cashier to void payments; otherwise set to N.

AUTHORIZE_VOID: If the preference ALLOW_VOIDS is set to Y AND the Authorize Void user entitlement is checked in the User Administration screen, then this preference can also be set to Y to cause an authorization window to appear after clicking the Void button. A user name (not the logged in user) and password must be entered before the user can void a payment. Set to N to avoid having this popup appear.

Receipts

EMAIL_PAYMENT_RECEIPT: Set to Y to allow users to email receipts to payers from the Advanced Payment screen. Set to N (the default) to not permit this.

FROM_EMAIL_FOR_PAYMENT_RECEIPT: Enter an email address to serve as the 'from' address for a receipt emailed from the Advanced Payment screen.

Other important client preferences include:

BLOCK_BANKRUPTCY_PAYMENT: ;Set this client preference to the desired legal status  to prevent bankruptcy accounts from being paid in online deposits (advanced and simple payments); set the Expire Date to a prior date to allow these payments.

OVERRIDE_LANGUAGE: Set this client preference to Y to allow printing of refund notice letters in Spanish from the Advanced Payment screen. Set to N to allow the letters to print only in English.

CALCULATE_LEVY_YEAR: Payments cannot be taken for any year after the one entered in this preference. This can be used when a new year's data is loaded in the database but the tax office is not ready to take payments or change levy for the data.

ALERT_ACT8001: Set this client preference to Y to always display the Alert button when entering the Advanced Payment screen for accounts with appropriate alert conditions.  Set to N to avoid having the Alert button display on this screen.

PAYMENT_BLOCK_ENFORCE: Enter ACCOUNT in this client preference to block payment for an entire account; enter YEAR to block payment only for specific years of an account. The Block Acct.for Payment flag must be set in the Account Detail screen for each year if the preference is set for YEAR.

ACTIVE_DISASTER_BUTTON: Set this client preference to Y to allow a button labelled Disaster to appear on the Remittance tab. Set to N to not allow this.

DELQ_STMT_ONLINE_DEFAULT: Set to either SUMMARY or DETAIL, depending on which statement type you want to be the default for printing statements after payments are completed.

RECEIPT_APPR_DIST_NO_LABEL: Enter the label you want to use for the appraisal district number on receipts. The default is 'Appr. Dist. No.' '

INITIAL_LIEN_TRANSFER_STATUS: Set to the lien status (for ex., TR or RQ) to use when creating liens from the Advanced Payment screen. The payment must be for the full amount due in order to create the lien. If this preference is expired, the checkbox for creating the lien is hidden. The statuses must match the global codeset for LIEN_ACTION.

ACCT_STATUS_INTERNET_BUTTON: Set to Y to display the Internet Payment button on the Account Status Detail and Advanced Payment screens when a credit card or eCheck payment has been taken on an ACT 7 web site. Set to N to always hide this button.

RECEIPT_COPIES: Enter the number of receipt copies to print automatically from the Deposit Control screen (default is 1).

RECEIPT_BASIC: Set to Y to use the fast receipt on the Advanced Payment screen. Set to N (the default) to use the original receipt. Both look identical; the only difference is in the printing speed.

DAYS_DIFF_DEP_AND_REC_DATE_MSG: Set to the maximum number of days apart that the Deposit Date and Receipt date can be on a deposit or individual payment without showing a warning message to the user. If set to 0 or expired, this preference is ignored.

To process an advanced payment,

1. Open or re-open an online deposit. The Advanced Payments screen will appear.
2. A.  If you are taking a payment on an active installment agreement account, click Payment Agreement:

1. Enter the Payment Agreement number.
2. Click OK.  The accounts in the agreement that are still unpaid will display.  The monthly payment amounts appear in the Account Amount fields. If a final payment is being made, the amount due on each agreement account appears; this may be less than the monthly amounts from the agreement.

Fully paid accounts will not appear.  If the status of the agreement is either not AC or it is not listed in the PAY_AGREE_PAY_STATUSES client preference, you will get a warning message and will not be able to make a payment for this agreement. If the status is listed in the client preference, you will still get a warning message but will be able to make the payment.

2. Go to step 6.

B. If you want to pay the group of accounts you selected in the Account Search screen (by checking the boxes in the left column of that screen), you can click Import on the Advanced Payment screen to bring those accounts to this screen. On the popup that appears, click Selected Accounts.  

C. If you entered a group of accounts into the Statement (Trigger) Table, you can click Import on the Advanced Payment screen to bring those accounts to this screen. Enter the Request Seq. No. of the selected accounts, then click the Statement Table button. If any year on the accounts is blocked for payment, you will get a warning message to that effect and the amount due for the blocked year(s) will be excluded on the Payment screen.

3. If the account has carried over from a previous screen, go to step 4.  

If the Account No. field is blank, enter the account number, appraisal district number, or scan line number, then go to step 4.

If you need to enter a different account, appraisal district number, or scan line number, highlight the current number, key in the new number, then go to step 4.

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

You cannot enter the same account more than once.  If you do, a warning message will appear when you click Detail or Remittance.

4. If you want the cursor to move to the next line (so you can enter more accounts), check the Next Line button. This will move the cursor to the next line instead of to the Account Amount field when you press Tab in step 5. This action can be programmed into your scanners; contact ACT for assistance in doing this.
5. Press Tab; the Certified Owner and Total Due will appear.  To see the complete name and address, double-click on the account line.

Notes: You do not have to press Tab before clicking Detail or Remittance if this is a single account payment, but doing so allows you to see the amount due first so that you can verify it is correct.

If the account has any inactive years, a popup message appears. Click OK to continue. You must go the Detail tab and exclude the inactive years before going to the Remittance screen.

If you have changed the receipt date, be sure that the Total Due changes as expected.

The Total Due reflects any discount amount or penalty & interest applicable that month. It also includes any ag rollback or quarter pay amounts that are due.

If the account has a bankruptcy on it and the client preference BLOCK_BANKRUPTCY_PAYMENT is set to the same legal status as the account (for ex., A for active), a warning message will appear. Click OK; a check is put in the Bankruptcy Pending column and the remaining buttons on the screen are disabled, preventing the payment from being made.  You cannot continue further.

If PAYMENT_BLOCK_ENFORCE is set to YEAR, amounts due only for years not blocked for payment will be displayed.

For some tax offices, each owner on a multi-owner account will be displayed on a separate line. No more than 25 accounts can be entered.  To post more than this number, use the Portfolio system.

6. If you need to change the receipt date so that it is different from the receipt date provided when you created the deposit, enter that date in the Receipt Date field, press Tab, then enter the account number. The CHANGE_PMT_PAIDDATE entitlement must be set in order for this to be permitted.   If you have already entered Account Amounts (see step 5) before changing the receipt date, those amounts will not be recalculated.

Note: If the receipt date is later than the deposit date by more than the number of days specified in the client preference DAYS_DIFF_DEP_AND_REC_DATE_MSG, you will see a second message. If the receipt date if more than 20 years ago, you will receive a message asking if you want to continue using that date.

7. For a payment on multiple accounts, enter the amount you wish to apply towards each account under Account Amount.  This is an required if the client preference ACT8001_PART_PAY_REQ_ACCT_AMT is set to Y.

Notes:  Tolerances are NOT observed if you enter amounts in this field. If you enter an account amount on a fully paid account and the total due for the transaction is also $0.00, when you click either Detail or Remittance, you will get a message stating that you cannot do this. Remove the account amount and enter the overpay amount when you are on the Remittance screen (see below).

If no amounts are entered under Account Amount, then the system automatically applies a certain percentage of the payment to each account. Refunds and over tolerance amounts, however, are applied to the first unpaid account listed.

An exception to the above occurs when all accounts are fully paid.  If you attempt to make a payment, this message appears: "When creating a refund, only one account no. can be entered."  You must enter only one account in this case in order to continue the payment; the refund will go to that payment.  You can either back out of the payment program and come back in, entering the single account, or you can stay in the payment program, and use the Delete button  ( ) to remove the multiple payments.

If you accidentally put in an amount in the wrong format, the field will be highlighted and the status bar will show a message explaining the proper format in which to enter the data.

8. To pay the oldest year first on any particular account, click the Pay Oldest Year First checkbox if the client preference CURR_YEAR_PAY_SCREEN is set to FIRST.  To pay the most recent year first, leave the checkbox unchecked.

Notes: If you see a box labeled Pay Most Recent Year First instead, the client preference CURR_YEAR_PAY_SCREEN has been set to LAST.  The oldest year of taxes due will be paid first unless the box is checked.

Some tax offices have two additional checkboxes: Quarter Payment and Half Payment.

9. If you want to exclude a year, unit, rec type or receipt number from a payment, click Detail; the Payment Detail screen will appear:

10. By Year, click the Year drop-down list and click the year to exclude. For accounts with inactive years, you must exclude the inactive years before going to the Remittance screen.
11. By Tax Unit (excluding the unit for every year), click the Tax Unit drop-down list and click the tax unit to exclude.

Note:  If you are paying on an installment agreement, this screen will display only the units and amounts associated with a particular delinquent tax attorney.

12. By Rec Type, click the Rec Type drop-down list and select the rec type to exclude.  For example, you may exclude TL, leaving only OS (Ag Rollback) payment details.

Note:  If a quarter pay account has been split, and a payment is to be made for only one of the Q units (Q3, for ex.), you must select the rec types to exclude at this time.  For ex., to pay Q2, you must exclude Q3 and Q4.  If you do not exclude these rec types, the payment will be spread across all Q units having amounts due (Q3 and Q4, for ex.)

13. By Receipt No., click the Receipt No. drop-down list and select the receipt number to exclude.  Ag rollback receipt numbers are listed here.
14. Another way to exclude a Tax Unit is to click the Excl box () next to that unit, placing a checkmark there.  The Total Due will change automatically

Note: To Include years or units you have previously excluded, return to the exclude or include list and select those years and/or units again. The checkmarks in the Exclude column will disappear.

15. Click Remittance; the Remittance screen will appear, showing the Total Due.

Note: If you are making a payment on an account that has split quarter pay receivables and the preference QPAY_MUST_SELECT_RECTYPE is set to Y, you will see a message box asking you if you want to select the quarter(s) to pay or pay the account in full. If you do not select a quarter, the payment will be allocated across all quarters still due.

 If you making a payment on an installment agreement associated with a particular delinquent tax attorney, the Apply Total will be the remaining installment agreement amount due and the Total Due will be the total due on the account, including the installment agreement amount.

If the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_UNITS is set to Y and the receipt date is before the date entered in the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_END_DATE, a message appears: 'A Non Half Pay Tax Jurisdiction is Present'.

16. To flag an account as a half pay, quarter pay, late quarter pay, or disaster even if less than 25% or 50% has been paid, click the appropriately named button. These are visible only by client preferences described above. Click Yes to the confirmation message.  An H, Q, or D, respectively, will be put in the Split Payment Flag field in the Account Detail screen after the payment is applied. For late quarter pays, a payment amount that is 25% of the base levy plus 6% penalty and 1% interest (based on the 25% levy) will be displayed.

Note: For half payments, if one or more of the accounts in the transaction is being paid in full, a popup window will appear.  Check the Set Half Pay box for the accounts that are to be set as 'H'. The unselected accounts will not have an 'H' set. Click Save to return to the Remittance screen. The Half Pay amount will be displayed in red above the Check No. field.

Also, if the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_UNITS is set to Y and the receipt date is before the date entered in the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_END_DATE, the Include Non HP Units box will not be checked in the popup window. The number of units not accepting extended delinquency dates for half payments will be given in the Non HP Unit Count column. If you want to apply the payment to all units, not just those that accept half payments, check the Include Non HP Units box. Click Save to return to the Remittance screen, where a message giving the half pay amount is displayed. The Apply Total will be the total due for the half pay units only.

If the receipt date is after the date entered in the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_END_DATE, you can pay only the non-half pay units by checking the Non HP Amount box.

Quarter pay amounts to be paid are displayed in red above the Check No. field after clicking the Quarter Pay button.

17. If the INITIAL_LIEN_TRANSFER_STATUS preference is not expired, the Create Lien checkbox appears. To create a lien on the account, check this box. The payment must be for the full amount due. If it is not or if the account is fully paid, you will get a warning message.
18. If the payment is not from the certified owner, either enter the fiduciary number for the alternate payer or create a new alternate payer by clicking the Payer button.

• Key in part of all of the name of the alternate payer you are looking for. You cannot make a payment using an expired fiduciary.
• Press F8. The most recent alternate payer (determined by fiduciary number in descending order) that matches the name you entered will appear.  Use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to see additional payers.
• To create a new alternate payer, press CTRL+Q. A new fiduciary number will automatically display.
• Enter the name, address, city, state, and zip code of the new alternate payer.
• From the Type list, select a fiduciary type.
• Click OK.  The fiduciary number will appear in the Payment Remittance screen.

19. Select the Payment Type in the drop-down list:  Cash, Cashiers Check, Check, Credit, eCheck, EFT, Mixed Payment, or Money Order.
20. If you are making a cash payment for a receipt date other than today's date, and the client preference REQUIRE_SYSDATE_CASH_PAY is set to Y, a message will appear. This message states that cash payments must be authorized. Click Yes to continue.
21. A Receipt Date Authorization popup window appears. Someone having the user entitlement AUTHORIZE_NONSYSDATE_CASH_PAY checked must enter his/her user name and password or a special authorization code (see step 21 below), then click OK in order for the payment to continue. If no one has the user entitlement checked, you will not be able to make this cash payment unless the receipt date is today's date.

20. If applicable, enter the check number.  If you are paying by credit card, enter an Authorization No.   this may include both letters and numbers.
21. Enter the total amount of the payment in the Payment Amount column.

Hint:  Enter $100.00 as 100; enter $100.34 as 100.34

22. Press Tab; the Applying Amount will appear.
23. Change the Applying Amount if desired.
24. If the Payment Amount for a cash transaction is more than the Applying Amount, the amount of change will appear in the Change Due column. The Applying Amount cannot be more than the total due.
25. If you entered Account Amounts in the Advanced Payments screen, then the Applying Amount must equal the total of the Account Amounts.  If it does not, you will receive a warning message.

24. If you have set the client preferences ACTIVE_HP_BUTTON or ACTIVE_QP_BUTTON to Y, you have to option of clicking the Half Pay or Quarter Pay buttons to flag those accounts as half or quarter pay accounts.  See the top of this page for more information.  A confirmation message appears asking if you really want to flag the account. If you click Yes to the quarter pay message, the quarter pay amount will be displayed on the screen in red text. If you are paying multiple accounts, a popup appears with the quarter pay amounts for each account. You can then select which accounts to pay the quarterly amount.
25. Click Apply; a Confirmationmessage may appear for partial payments, overpayments, quarter payments, and for payments within tolerance amounts (see top of this page).  Click Yes; the message 'transaction complete, 1 record applied and saved' will appear in the status bar. You will be returned to the Payment screen.
26. If the client preference EMAIL_PAYMENT_RECEIPT is set to Y, a popup box will appear where you can enter the email address of the person receiving the receipt. An email is sent with a link in it to retrieve the receipt. These receipts are viewable from the Deposit Status screen for users having the VIEW_RECEIPTS_DEPSTATUS entitlement.

Payment Notes:  Rendition penalty is collected first.

For partial payments, the payment will pay off the either the newest or oldest year first, depending on whether the client preference CURR_YEAR_PAY_SCREEN is set to FIRST or LAST.

If the payment is an overpayment within tolerance and the client preference OVERRIDE_OPAY_TOLER_TU is set to Y, a message will appear:  'Overpayment is within the overpay tolerance. Select the overpayment tax unit.' To send the tolerance amount to the jurisdiction normally reserved for overpayments over tolerance (for ex., 8001), click Refund Tax Unit.  To send the amount to the assigned jurisdiction for tolerances payments (for ex., 8003), click Tolerance Tax Unit. In the Account Status screen, overpayments within tolerance will be displayed in the Refund column. Fee units are not touched when adjusting amounts according to rounding rules,

If the payment includes a refund that is greater than the tolerance amount and the client preference OVERRIDE_OPAY_TOLER_TU is set to Y, a message will appear asking if you want to override the default overpayment unit. You may click Yes to select an escrow unit other than the one entered in the OVERPAY client preference.

If the client preference QPAY_MUST_SELECT_RECTYPE is set to Y and you are paying a split quarter pay account, a message will appear that tells you to go to the Payment Detail tab and select which quarter(s) to pay.

If the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_UNITS is set to Y, the receipt date is before the date entered in the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_END_DATE, and you did not click the Half Pay button, a message appears asking if this is a half pay transaction. If you click Yes, you are taken to the Half Pay popup (see above for details). If you click No, the payment will be applied to all units, not just those that will extend the delinquency date for half payments.

If the payment is an overpayment when the preference MIXED_HALF_PAY_UNITS is set to Y, the overpay amount is put into escrow instead of paying non-half pay units.

If the cash payment is being made on a paid account, the Applying Amount field will remain $0.00 and a warning message is displayed. The payment is not processed until you either an Applying Amount, which will be given back as change due.

If cash payments made within the past 12 months to the same fiduciary total more than $10,000 and the preference SHOW_IRS_FORM_8300 is set to Y, a popup message alerting the cashier to fill out IRS Form 8300 appears. Click OK to continue. The form is not available in TCS.

27. If the Need_Refund_Approved user entitlement is checked in the User Administration screen, an authorization popup appears. Enter either a Username and Password or an Authorization Code.

Note: Remember thatNeed_Refund_Approved should be checked ONLY if you want a supervisor to approve overpayment refunds for a particular user.  Authorize_Refund should be checked ONLY for the user who is authorized to approve these refunds.

28. To enter an Authorization Code, the user entitlement Spec_Auth must be checked in the User Administration screen. This allows the Special Authorizations screen to be accessible from the Main Menu's Administration drop-down list. To use this screen, follow these steps:
29. From the Main Menu, click Administration, then select Special Authorizations.
30. The Authorizing User is the person currently logged in.
31. In the Type field, press F9 to see a list of Authorization Code Types.
32. Select RE (Refund), then click OK.
33. Press Tab. The Code, Issue Date, and Expiry Date are auto-populated.
34. Change the Expire Date if desired.
35. In the Requesting User field, press F9 and select the user who asked for the authorization from the list of Valid Users.
36. Press F10 (Save) to save the information. The code can only be used once to authorize the specified transaction tpe.
37. This information can be updated by employees having these roles (v1 security only): assistant cashier, cashier, head cashier, or remote cashier.  These employees must also have the MGR_AUTHORIZATION role.
38. The deposit containing the payment that creates an overpayment must be opened by the Requesting User.  That user should enter the Code generated in the Special Authorizations screen.
28. If you are not set up to print receipts automatically, click Print Receipt.  For payments on multiple accounts, a separate receipt will print for each account.

Note: This button does not appear until you have processed a payment.  To print receipts automatically after each payment, set the client preference AUTOPRINT_RECEIPT to Y; otherwise, set it to N.

Page numbers will be printed on these receipts. If the Receipt Copies box on Deposit Control was set to 2 or more, each copy will appear in a separate .pdf.

29. To print a statement for the account, click either Print Current Statement or Print Delinq. Stmt.  Delinquent statements will be either Summary or Detail, depending on how the client preference DELQ_STMT_ONLINE_DEFAULT is set.  To include an Over65 message on the delinquent statements that can printed after posted a payment, set the client preference STMT_O65_MSG_CHECKBOX to Y.
30. If you have made an error in the payment, you or your supervisor may be able to undo it by clicking the Void button to display the Unpaid window, then placing a check in the Unpaid box next to the amount in error, and clicking Process.  For more information, see Voiding a Payment.
31. To print a Refund Notice Letter for overpaid accounts, click Print Refund Letter.  If the client preference OVERRIDE_LANGUAGE is set to Y, a popup window will appear in which you can select the letter to be printed in English or Spanish.  Users must have one of these the following roles in order to print these letters: cashier, head cashier, assistant cashier, remote cashier, or temporary cashier. (At the Harris County tax office, the appropriate roles are refunds_level_2, refunds_level_3 and super.)
32. To print an Installment Letter for a quarter pay or disaster account, click the Installment Letter button that appears after the payment has been applied.