TX Levy Roll & Tax Statement Procedures

Print the following user guides. They will be needed during the Levy Roll and Tax Statements process.

• Collections Rendition Penalty Processing Guide
• Fiscal Year Processing & Rollover Guide
• Freeze Ceiling Maintenance Guide

Also print this checklist to quickly track where you are in the process, and to reveal steps you may have missed.

Task	Title
1	Perform the Fiscal Year Rollover (For more information, see the Fiscal Year Processing and Rollover user guide.)
2A	Verifying Appraisal Data and Imports
2B	Configuring Event Object Paths and Postscript Printer
3	Opening a Help Ticket
4	Preparing the System for Bill and Tax Statement Creation
5	Reviewing and Correcting Entity Tax Rates
6	Copying the Previous Year’s Tax Rates
7	Modifying Tax Rates and Attorney’s Fees
8	Performing the Freeze/Refreeze Process
9	Preparing the System for Bill/Tax Statement Creation 9a. Run monitors to check for duplicates
10	Creating Tax Bills
11	Undoing the Creation of Bills
12	Printing Levy Totals
13	Balancing Levy Totals
14	Creating Rendition Penalty Bills
15	Setting Up Levy Entity Groups
16	Setting the Tax Statement Format for the New Tax Year
17	Setting Form Defaults
18	Creating Levy Statement Runs
19	Exporting / Printing Levy Statements
20	Printing Levy Roll
21	Activating Newly-Created Bills
22	Moving the System to a New Collections Year
23	Populating the Fiscal Year
24	Informing Customer Support of Levy Process Completion
25	After Levy

Applicable Law

• Section 31.01 Tax Bills in Chapter 31 Collections of the Texas Property Tax Code

For more information regarding this process, the Fiscal Year Processing and Rollover guide is located on the Client Community Support Portal.

Select Activities/Year End Procedures/Fiscal Year Rollover. The Fiscal Year Rollover window will display.

If this window IS blank you DO NOT have to perform the fiscal year roll over and you can continue to “Verifying Appraisal Data Imports”.

If this window is NOT blank, look at the dates that are in the column named “End Fiscal Year”. If the dates listed are prior to the current day you are performing this process, then you WILL need to perform the fiscal year rollover steps for each of those entities.

If the date listed is after the current day you are performing this process, then you DO NOT have to perform the fiscal year rollover steps for those entities.

Be sure to check the BP entities as well as your regular entities.

Verify the following:

1. All supplements have been accepted and all supplement groups have the status Bills Created.  (Activities > Assessment > Supplement Functions > Supplement Group Maintenance)

Print/Balance Adjusted History Totals

Use the following procedure to print and balance the Adjusted Certified Totals. For shared CADs, you must confirm that the values add up for ALL external/imported and shared home CADs. If you do not import from any outside CADs, confirm that your totals balance back to your shared home CAD totals.

1. Run totals in PACS Collections: Activities> Assessment > Supplement Functions > Supplement Group Maintenance. Highlight the last supplement group that was processed in your system for the current year, right-click, and choose Details.
2. If you import for other Appraisal Districts make sure all imports are complete.
3. Click Print Totals.

   

   The Print Adjusted Certified Totals dialog box is displayed.

4. Select the current year and the greatest As of Supp # listed from the drop-down list.
5. Select the entities you collect for.
6. Select Print Grand Totals.

   

7. Click Print.

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Note:  These totals should balance for each entity as follows: Offices that DO import: The combined totals of the final imports on the system should balance to this report. This is the case for each CAD you import for. Offices that DO NOT import: The totals should balance to your CADs adjusted certified totals as of the last supplement accepted.

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• If you are a shared site (shared database between appraisal district and tax office) and your totals do not balance, creating the new year layer in PACS Appraisal could result in deleted properties being copied up to the next appraisal year.
• For Collections-only sites who manually update shared properties from another Central Appraisal District: If PACS Support copied your Collections-only properties to the new year and the data from your external CAD does not include some of those properties due to them being deleted at the CAD, this may cause your totals to not balance. Contact PACS Support for assistance with these issues.

Configure Event Objects

1. Select Tools > Event Object Maintenance > Server/File Location. The following dialog appears.

   

2. Select the Object type of “PUBLISHTS”
   • If the object displays with a path ending in “PublishTaxStatements”, then the path has already been set.
   • Select Ok.
3. Select the same menu options a second time and set the Object Type to “TAXSTMNT”. If the object location is already set, it will read with a path ending in “TaxStmnts”
4. If either one of these paths is not set, then browse to pacs_oltp\ and set the path for PUBLISHTS to the item named “PublishTS”, for TAXSTMNT set the path to the item named “TaxStmts” .

Confirm a Postscript Printer Exists 

1. Select Devices and Printers. See if you have a printer with a name that ends in PS.
   • Example: HP Color Last JET 2800 Series PS
   1. If a postscript printer exists on your system, proceed to the Postscript Printer Configuration Step.
   2. If you do not have a postscript printer on your system, see Appendix A that is located at the end of this document and follow the steps listed to install a postscript printer on your system.

Postscript Printer Configuration

In the Search Bar located on your computer, type “System Information”. Then click the System Information app that appears.  You will see the details of your computer. Make note of your computer name.

Then in PACS, click on Tools > Configure Workstation

Under workstation, see if your computer name is listed.

If your computer name is not listed, Click on New.

Click on Browse next to the Workstation Name box.

Locate your printer name and select it and click OK. Then Click Ok once more. After this step proceed to the next paragraph.

If your computer name is listed, or once you have created it, highlight the name and then select Set Postscript printer. A box will display. If the postscript printer is not displayed, click the drop down arrow and set the printer to the postscript printer that is on your system.

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Note:  Every computer that will run tax statements will need to have a postscript printer set up on it.

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1. On your computer’s desktop, search for Printers and select that.
2. Click Add a Printer or Scanner at the top of the window.
3. Select The Printer That I Want Isn’t Listed.
4. Select the option for Add a local printer…manual settings. Then click the Next button.

On the existing port dropdown, select FILE: (Print to File) and click the Next button:

Select HP from the Manufacturer side and on the Printers side, locate the first PS driver you see (HP Color LaserJet 2800 Series PS in this example):

Click the Next button and choose the option to use the existing driver.

Click the Next button and enter a name in the Type a printer name window:

The next window is the Printer Sharing screen. Leave as Do Not Share and click the Next button:

Click the Finish button on the You’ve successfully added window.

Return to the Levy Documentation: Step 2B Section Postscript Printer Configuration.

Purpose

Set the Forms Maintenance to most current form.

Procedure

• User browse to Activities>Assessment>Tax Statements>Forms Maintenance
• Click Add to add the current year
  • Update Year
  • Update Format
    • Currently we use Forms 2005.  If there is an update to the Tax Form, choose the most current form.
  • Expire Format (optional)
    • Check the checkbox and insert date if user would like to expire the format

Use TeamSupport for questions that you have throughout the entire levy process. By entering in a ticket, we are able to monitor your progress and have it documented for reference purposes.

• Go to https://harrisgovern.na2.teamsupport.com/login/user to login and open a help ticket.

For more information about opening a help ticket, see TeamSupport Customer Guide .

Purpose

Use this procedure to set values and activate the yearly process for bill and tax statement creation.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Prepare System for Bill/Tax Statement Creation.
2. You are prompted to prepare the system for the current appraisal year’s statement process. Click Yes.

   A message is displayed stating that the Tax Statement Preparation process has finished without error.

3. You are prompted to acknowledge that the system has completed the process successfully. Click OK.

Result

The system has been activated to begin the yearly process for bill and tax statement creation.

Purpose

Use this activity to see if the tax rates have been copied up to the current year and detect any errors for an entity, involving tax rates and exemptions that could appear on tax statements. Review these values even if you carefully imported and entered entity rates, to verify that the rates are accurate prior to performing Levy.

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Note:  Users cannot change exemptions after certification is complete. If you believe any data is incorrect, contact PACS Support.

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All entities must be included, even BP and VIT only entities that you collect taxes for.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Review Entity Tax Rates.

   The Print Entity Tax Rates & Exemptions dialog box is displayed.

2. Enter all of your entities. Be sure to include the ones that are marked as VIT only entities, BPP entities and year. Then print or preview the report.
3. Once the Entity Tax Rates report prints or displays, review the report and confirm that the tax rates exist for all of your entities.

Next Steps

If the Entity Tax Rates report shows accurate current year tax rates and exemption amounts, then proceed to step 7, Modifying Tax Rates and Attorney Fees.

If the current year rates and exemptions do not exist on the report, then proceed to the step 6, Copying the Previous Year’s Tax Rates.

If the current year tax rates and exemptions already exist and are correct (as displayed in the Entity Tax Rates report generated in the previous step), then skip this procedure and proceed to step 7, Modifying and Reviewing Tax Rates, Attorney’s Fees, and Exemption Info.

Purpose

Use this procedure to copy the previous year’s tax rates and exemptions into the current year’s record if tax rates do not exist for the upcoming tax year.

Procedure

Copying Tax Rates

1. In PACS Collections, click the Entity button in the top tools bar.
2. In the Entity List window, right-click any entity record and choose Copy Tax Rates.

   The Copy Entity Tax Rates dialog box is displayed.

3. Do one of the following:
   • To copy tax rates for all entities, click All Entities.
   • To copy tax rates for a single entity, click Selected Entity and use the drop-down to specify the particular entity.
4. In the From Year field, enter the year you wish to copy from, and in the To Year field, enter the year you want to copy the data to. Then click Copy.
5. You are prompted to acknowledge that any existing tax rates for the To Year you specified will be deleted. To continue the copy, click Yes.

Result

Tax rates from the previous year are available for review or modification in the current year’s record. If you need to modify tax rates, see step 7, Modifying Tax Rates, Attorney’s Fees, and Exemption Info.

In the Entity List window, right click any entity record and choose Copy Exemptions. The Copy Exemptions dialog box is displayed.

To copy exemptions for all entities, click All Entities. To copy tax exemptions for a single entity, click Selected Entity and use the drop-down to specify the particular entity.

In the From Year field, enter the year you wish to copy from, and in the To Year field, enter the year you want to copy the data to. Then click Copy.

You are prompted to acknowledge that any exemptions for the To Year you specified will be deleted. To continue the copy, click Yes.

Purpose

Use this activity to:

• confirm any existing rates to match a newly-adopted tax rate
• confirm exemption types and exemption amounts
• confirm and set fields prior to creating bills
• every entity that you will assess a BPP Penalty to or collect taxes for will need to be reviewed

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, click the Entity button in the tools bar.
2. From the Entity List window, open an entity and click the Tax Rates/Exemptions/PI Schedule tab.

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Note:  these steps should be repeated for all entities that you collect taxes for including the BPP tax rates. If you only collect SIT taxes for an entity those entities need to be reviewed also.

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Select the current year and click Details.

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CAUTION   Failing to review the Tax Rates, Exemptions, Discounts and Attorney Fees for each Entity and verifying that they are correct could result in you having to re-send out Tax Statements.

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1. Click the Tax Rates/Exemptions tab.

   

2. In the Collection Option section, select one of the following as required:
   • None – Appraisal Entity – An entity that the CAD appraises for but that the tax office does not collect for.
   • Collect All Taxes – An entity for which you normally collect taxes.
     

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     Caution   Do not select this option if you collect only VIT escrow.

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   • Generate Statements Only – An entity for which you print tax statements but do not collect taxes.
   • Collect Special Inventory Only – An entity for which you collect only special inventory (VIT) escrow.
3. If the entity grants a freeze ceiling, then select the Enable Calculation of Freeze Ceiling check box. Selecting this option for the new year allows the system to calculate freeze ceilings during the Freeze/Refreeze process.
4. Select Ready to create bills/statements so that the entity is ready for the Levy process.
5. In the Rates section confirm that all rates are entered correctly. If your entity has a sales tax rate it should be entered in this section. For BPP entities the rates should be 0.
6. In the Exemption window, confirm all exemptions granted by the entity are listed. Use the horizontal scroll bar to view and verify the freeze ceiling, freeze transfer, state amount, local amount, and local percentage. Make corrections as needed.

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Important   Failing to correct bad data could result in inaccurate freeze calculations and tax amounts on tax statements.

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Click the P&I Schedule tab and enter the tax Statement Date 10/01 of the current year. This populates penalty information. If the entity offers a discount, select the Discounts Offered option.

Review and enter or update the attorney fee percentage for the new levy year bills. Incorrect attorney fees result in inaccurate values on tax statements. If the attorney fee rate is 20%, enter 20 rather than .20.

Be sure that you have entered the correct date and “year” for this date. Example 2015 attorney fee date is 7/1/2016. Review or modify the attorney fee rate and date.

The Personal Property/Mobile Home Attorney Fee section is used only for P (Personal) and MH (Mobile Home) property types. If attorney fees are applied in April to your district’s personal and mobile home-only properties, confirm that the Apply Attorney Fees checkbox is selected and the corresponding attorney fee date is up-to-date. Otherwise, if your district does not apply early attorney fees, the check box should not be selected and no date entered.

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Note:  If this field is left blank the system will calculate attorney fees for all property types, based on the Attorney Fees Date listed in the above “Attorney Fees” section.

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Before You Begin: See guide titled “Freeze Ceiling Maintenance with a Collections-only Database

Purpose

The following steps can help ensure that freeze ceilings are calculated correctly for the levy roll process.

All clients, regardless of database type, should run the freeze/refreeze process.

Freeze ceiling maintenance is performed during levy to calculate new freeze amounts and freeze transfers for the upcoming tax year.

Prerequisites

The user right Freeze Ceiling Maintenance must be assigned to your user ID. For more information about setting up user rights, see the User Rights User Guide.

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Caution 

• When performing the freeze/refreeze steps, do not allow any other users to supplement properties on your database. All supplement groups should be in an Accepted or Bills Created status prior to performing freeze/refreeze.
• Properties in a pending supplement will not be included in the freeze/refreeze process.

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If you have already completed step 7, Modifying and Reviewing Tax Rates, Attorney’s Fees, and Exemption Info, proceed through the following checklist.

If you are viewing this file electronically, click the links below to go directly to the relevant section.

Task	Title
8.1	Running the Newly Approved Entity/Freeze Type Wizard
8.2	Running the Freeze/Refreeze Wizard
8.3	Utilizing Freeze Ceiling Reports
8.4	Process Freeze Ceilings

Purpose

This procedure is required only if an entity has adopted a new freeze ceiling. (For example, this procedure is required if a city, county, or junior college has adopted a freeze ceiling that they did not grant prior to the current year.) This step calculates the freeze ceiling for the new entity/freeze type.

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Note:  If you did not have any entities adopt a new freeze ceiling for the first time this year, then skip this step and proceed to step 8.2, Running the Freeze/Refreeze Wizard.

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Procedure

Depending on your system type, follow the procedures described in either the Freeze/Ceiling Maintenance with a Collections–Only Database user guide or the Freeze/Ceiling Maintenance with a Shared or Appraisal–Only Database user guide.

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Note:

All clients, regardless of database type, should run the freeze/refreeze process in PACS Collections during the Levy process.

If possible, prior to you performing levy, True Automation-client CADs whose data you import should run the freeze/refreeze process with accurate tax rates and send it to you via a supplement. This makes the Freeze/Refreeze process easier and more accurate.

If your office has a shared database, then those changes need to be placed into a supplement when the freeze/refreeze is performed.

If you are a tax office that is not a shared database, after running the freeze/refreeze process, provide the updated freeze ceilings to your importing CADs by sending them the Change Report and the Exception Report (Activities > Freeze Ceiling Maintenance, right-click the run and choose Reports). The Change Report shows freezes that changed, and the Exception Report shows freezes that could not be changed.

Run the freeze/refreeze process from PACS Collections even if your True Automation-client CAD is unable to run the freeze/refreeze process with accurate tax rates prior to your performing levy. That CAD will need to run the freeze/refreeze as soon as possible and put the changes into a supplement to sync their data with the data sent out at levy. If they choose not to run the freeze/refreeze process, they will need to manually update these freezes from the reports provided by the tax office, after running the freeze/refreeze process with correct tax rates. All of this is to ensure properties with set levy freeze amounts are not overwritten with previous inaccurate freeze information.

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Purpose

Use the Freeze/Refreeze Wizard described in this topic to do the following:

• Set freeze ceilings for the selected year and the current appraisal year (if not the selected year) unless the freeze ceiling already exists in the particular year, and the Freeze Override check box (accessed by choosing Details in the Exemption section of a property’s Entity-Exmpt tab) is set in the particular year.
• Restore, when possible, any freeze ceilings missing from the selected year layer.
• Calculate the new freeze ceiling
• Recalculate a freeze ceiling when a homestead exemption has been added in the selected year.

Applicable Year

The Freeze/Refreeze Wizard operates on the most recently certified appraisal year using prior year information to calculate the freeze. It then forwards the information to the current non-certified appraisal year.

Procedure

1. Choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Freeze Ceiling Maintenance.

   The Freeze Ceiling Run History window is displayed.

2. Preview freeze ceiling calculations.
   1. Right-click and choose Freeze/Refreeze Wizard.

      The Freeze/Refreeze Wizard – Overview window is displayed.

   2. Click Next.

      The Freeze/Refreeze Wizard – Entity/Freeze Types dialog box is displayed.

   3. Ensure that the appropriate year is selected.
   4. Select the entity/freeze types to be included in the freeze ceiling calculation.
      

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      Tip  To select multiple entity/freeze types at the same time, press CTRL and click the required entities. Then click Include.

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   5. To review the entity/freeze types that are not available, click Show Unavailable Entity/Freeze Types.
   6. Click Next.

      The Freeze/Refreeze Wizard – Summary window is displayed.

   7. Click Finish.

      A message is displayed indicating the progress of the process.

   8. You are prompted to acknowledge that the freeze ceiling run is complete. Click OK.

      The status of the run is set to Previewed.

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      Note:  A status of Previewed indicates that the system has calculated the freeze ceilings, but has not yet applied them.

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      The Freeze Ceiling Exception Report, Detail Report, and Change Report are displayed.

3. Review the Freeze Ceiling Exception Report, Detail Report, and Change Report to analyze the results of the calculation, and then make corrections as required.
4. Right click on the run ID you just created and select Reports. Generate and review the Change Report and the Exception Report. These two reports are the primary reports that need to be reviewed and submitted to your CADS for any possible corrections.

• Exception Report – This report provides details about properties that did not have enough information to calculate a freeze ceiling.
  

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  Note:  Any properties that have the Override flag checked the exemption amounts will need to be reviewed manually. The freeze/refreeze process will not updates these amounts.

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  Note:  The information in the exception report may not necessarily indicate actual errors. Sometimes the information can be considered a warning only.

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  For example, the exception report may indicate that information did not exist in the prior year. If the information was not applicable in the prior year, you would not need to correct any errors.

  True errors, however, must be corrected, as described below.

  To correct instances of properties on this report not having had a freeze calculated as expected, Provide your CAD with a the list of properties so that the CAD may supplement the properties and make the corrections.

  Remember that every property listed on the Exception Report may not be incorrect. Review the details of each property to understand why it was included on the report.

• Change Report – This report displays all freeze ceilings which were both calculated and changed, including those which will not be applied.

  Freeze ceilings are not applied when:

  • The freeze was overridden at the property level.
  • The Enable Calculation of Freeze Ceiling check box was not selected for the entity.

  Freeze ceilings are changed when:

  • A recent appraisal included new construction, resulting in the additional taxes being added to the ceiling.

  On this report, we recommend that you compare the New Freeze Ceiling Column to the Current Freeze Ceiling Column to see if the current freeze ceiling has increased over last year’s freeze ceiling amount. If it has, then investigate this prior to finishing levy because, although there are valid reasons why this might occur, this could indicate errors.

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  Note, For Standalone Non-shared Databases:  If you imported entities from a CAD that does not use TA as its software vendor, then provide this report to those CADS so that they can update their freeze information to match yours. Also, you must provide this report to CADs that do use TA as their software vendor if the CAD does not run the freeze/refreeze process.

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Next Steps

The Exception Report displays various error messages. For your reference, a list of report messages and their implications can be found in the full version of the freeze/refreeze user documentation: Freeze/Ceiling Maintenance with a Collections–only Database or Freeze Ceiling Maintenance with a Shared or Appraisal–Only Database.

Purpose

During Levy, use this procedure when you process freeze ceilings to allow the system to reprocess the relevant data, taking into account any changes or corrections that were made.

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Caution   Once you process freeze ceilings, you cannot undo them. If you need to make any changes after processing freeze ceilings, you must do them manually.

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Procedure

1. Choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Freeze Ceiling Maintenance.

   The Freeze Ceiling Run History window is displayed.

2. Right-click and choose Process Freeze Ceilings.
3. The Freeze/Refreeze Wizard – Overview window is displayed. Click Next.
4. The Freeze/Refreeze Wizard – Entity/Freeze Types dialog box is displayed. Select the appropriate entities.
5. Click Next.
6. For Non-shared Standalone Databases, you will not be prompted for a supplement. Skip to Step 9.
7. For Shared system-types, if any properties need to be supplemented in order to be processed, the Supplement window is displayed. Select Supplement Properties.
   1. Select New supplement group to create a new group.
   2. Select the supplement code and enter a description. Then click Next.

      

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      Important   We recommend that you choose to put the freeze/refreeze changes into a supplement. Failing to do so (1) could change your certified totals for the year to freeze adjusted taxable and (2) prevents you from exporting those changed freeze ceilings in the form of a sup group to tax offices that may require the changed freeze ceiling information after receiving certified information.

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   3. Click Next.

      The Freeze/Refreeze Wizard–Summary window is displayed.

   4. Review the list of properties. Click Finish.

      

   5. A progress message displays. Then you are prompted to acknowledge that the freeze ceiling run is complete. Click OK.

      The status of the run is set to Processed.

8. The Freeze Ceiling Exception Report, Detail Report, and Change Report are displayed. Review the reports to analyze the results of the calculation, and then make corrections as required. For more information about analyzing the reports, see the Utilizing Freeze Ceiling Reports guide.

Next Steps

For Shared Sites:

After you finish the freeze/refreeze process, do the following:

• Accept the supplement group by choosing Activities > Assessment > Supplement Functions > Supplement Group Maintenance.
• Right-click, select Details, change status from Coding to Locked. Select OK.
• Right-click on the supplement group, select Accept Supplement Group. The status will change.
• Right-click on the supplement group and choose Create Bills for Supplement Group.
• Print the Adjusted Certified Totals Report and confirm the freeze amounts that are now listed (Activities > Assessment > Supplement Functions > Supplement Group Maintenance, select a supplement group and right-click Details. Then click Print Totals.

Export the supplement group to any tax offices as needed.

For Non-shared Sites:

Print the New Adjusted Certified Totals:

• Choose Activities > Assessment > Supplement Functions > Supplement Group Maintenance.
• Select a supplement group and right-click Details. Then click Print Totals.
• The Print Adjusted Certified Totals dialog box is displayed. Make selections to generate the adjusted certified totals report.

Confirm the freeze amounts that are now listed.

Purpose

During levy and tax statement processing, all system types use this procedure to update data with data from any supplements that have been accepted after beginning Levy Roll and Tax Statement Procedures listed in this guide. Perform this step once again to ensure that all values are set accurately before continuing.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Prepare System for Bill/Tax Statement Creation.
2. You are prompted to prepare the system for the current appraisal year’s statement process. Click Yes.

   A message is displayed indicating that the system is being prepared for tax statements.

3. You are prompted to acknowledge that the system has completed the process successfully. Click OK.

Result

The system has been activated to continue the yearly process for bill and tax statement creation.

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Note:  If you do not want to create bills or properties under ARB review, contact PACS Support to remove those properties at this time.

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The following monitors should be run on your system to check for:

1. Multiple Mortgage Codes on a property – Properties returned from this monitor will be coded with multiple mortgage codes. To view the multiple codes pull up the property and selecting the “Mtg-Permits” tab
2. Multiple Agents – Properties returned from this monitor will be coded with multiple agent codes. To view the multiple agent codes pull up the property and select the Owner-Agent tab (right click and edit to ensure the year is correct)
3. Multiple Owners – properties returned from this monitor will show any property with multiple owners with the exception of UDI properties.
4. Duplicate Primary Situs – To view the duplicates pull up the property and select the Situs drop down arrow
5. Duplicate Primary Address – To view the duplicates pull up the owner and select the Address tab drop down arrow. (right click aand edit nd ensure the year is correct)

If any items are listed the properties should be checked and corrected before proceeding to the next steps.   If assistance is needed in correcting these codes please contact PACS Support

Purpose

Use this activity to generate the database records required for the tax bills.

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Important 

Shared sites (offices in which the CAD and tax office share a database):

Do not enter or modify data in the system during levy creation. Do not record ownership changes in PACS Appraisal at this time. New ownership changes could result in tax statements printing blank.

Clients have reported that their tax bills generated with incorrect ownership information due to ownership changes being entered in PACS Appraisal while bills are being created in PACS Collections.

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Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Create Bills.

   The Create Bill Wizard dialog box is displayed.

2. Select all of the entities for which you want to create bills. At this time, do not include BPP Entities. Only entities that are selected/and highlighted blue, will have bills created for them.

   Tip 

   • To highlight all entities, click once on the first entity, press SHIFT, and then click once on the last entity listed.
   • To highlight multiple entities at the same time, press CTRL and then click multiple entities.
3. Once all your entities that you want to create bills for are highlighted click Finish.

   A message is displayed indicating that the system is creating tax bills.

4. You are prompted to acknowledge that the bills have been created. Click OK.

Purpose

Use this activity for the following situations:

• If a mistake was made during the creation of bills (for example, if a tax rate was entered incorrectly).
• If your levy totals do not balance when calculated. For more information, see Balancing Levy Totals.
• If you have not encountered either of the above scenarios, continue to Step 12.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Undo Create Bills.

   The Undo Create Bill Wizard dialog box is displayed.

2. Select the entity that needs to be corrected.
   

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   Note:  You can undo only one entity at a time. To undo multiple bills, this process must be repeated for each individual entity.

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3. Click Finish.

   A message is displayed indicating that the tax bills are being deleted.

4. You are prompted to acknowledge that the bills have been deleted. Click OK.

Result

The system is cleared of the bills created incorrectly. You can modify tax rates and create tax bills again as required.

Purpose

Use this activity to generate a report that provides information about total levy amounts for an entity, such as total land, improvements, tax amounts, and exemption amounts.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Print Levy Totals.

   The Print Levy Totals dialog box is displayed.

2. Complete your entries as required.
   • Year – The year you want to print levy totals for.
   • Show “Appraise for” Entities Only – When selected, limits the entities to only those you appraise for.
     

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     Note:  This option is intended for:

     • CAD(s) that do not collect for an entity but do appraise for an entity.
     • Any entity not collected for.

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     Available entities – Use this list to select the entities you want to print totals for.

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     Tips 

     Levy totals do not print for rendition penalty entities, so you do not need to select those entities.

     • To select all entities, click the Select All button. BPP Entities do not need to be included in these totals. SIT only entities do need to be included in these totals.
     • To select some of the entities at the same time, press CTRL and click multiple entities. Then click the Selectbutton.

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     Sort Order – Allows you to sort totals either by entity code or entity name.

3. Do one of the following;
   • To view the levy totals, click Preview.
   • To send the levy totals to the printer, click Print.

     The levy totals are either displayed or printed.

Purpose

Use the following balancing procedure to confirm that the current year tax bills are accurate. If values are out of balance, taxpayer bills will show incorrect tax amounts.

Procedure

1. Balance levy totals for more than one Appraisal District. Add up all the Certified totals for all the Appraisal Districts you import for balance the overall total to the Levy Totals. Verify that Assessed Value and Taxable Value balance to the overall totals generated during the Certified Appraisal Import. For more information, see Balancing Adjusted Certified Totals in the Certified Appraisal Data Import guide.
2. Use one of the three calculations listed to manually calculate the tax amount based on the Calculations listed on the next pages. Then compare the figures to the Total Levy that is listed on the Levy Roll.
   

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   Caution   If the calculations do not come within a small rounding margin (in most cases, we would define this as anything under $20), stop and contact Harris Govern Client Services before proceeding further.  If the rounding differences are acceptable within your office continue to Step 14.

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For Entities That Do Not Grant Freezes

To create BPP Rendition Penalty Bills, print out the Collections Rendition Processing user guide. Go through the checklist listed on this guide. Be sure to complete all steps and run the Monitor listed in the guide to confirm that the BPP Rendition bills were created on your system. When you have finished rendition processing, resume levy processing with the next step, Setting Up Levy Entity Groups.

 

Important: Run the monitor titled BPP Multi Owner Bill by Year – this monitor returns properties whose BPP bills have one owner_id and the levy bills have another owner_id (right click on monitor and edit to change year criteria).  If you have any bills appear in this monitor, contact PACS Support to have them corrected.

Purpose

You can direct the system to group entities on tax statements. Use this procedure to set up an entity group to be used for tax statements runs.

Each entity group can be printed in separate statement runs. For example, a CAD may set up one entity group to collect county taxes, and another entity group for which it prints statements but does not perform collections.

If your office is collecting BPP penalties, you must include all the BPP entities in the tax statement group. If you do not include the BPP entities, the penalty will not be included on the tax statement. Also include any Special Inventory Entities that you collect for.

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Important   If you are collecting the 5% CAD fee, you must include the CAD BPP entity in the tax statement group along with all other BPP entities. If you do not, the total rendition penalty on the statement will be incorrect.

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Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Levy Entity Group Maintenance.

   The Entity Tax Statement Groups dialog box is displayed.

2. Click New to set up a levy group. Then enter the year for which tax statements will be produced, and enter a description for the group, such as County Group, Collections Group, or 20XX Tax Statements (where XX is the current year).
3. Click Apply.
4. Click Add.

   The Add Entity to Statement Group dialog box is displayed.

5. Select an entity to add to the group, and then click OK. Repeat as needed for each entity.
6. Click OK to save your entries and return to the Entity Tax Groups Maintenance window.
7. Add additional groups as needed.

Purpose

Use this activity to set the format for the new year tax statements, and to maintain the prior year statements in their correct format.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Tax Statement > Forms Maintenance.

   The Tax Statement Forms Maintenance window is displayed.

2. The Default Format drop-down list is empty. Click Add.

   The Year Details window is displayed.

3. In the Year drop-down list, select the year for which you are printing the tax statements for.
4. In the Format drop-down list, select Form 2005 so that the 5-year history details will be included on the second page of the statement.
5. In the Expire Format field it should remain blank and unchecked.
6. If you receive a message that the Parameter is incorrect. Select OK and disregard this message. Continue to step 17, the message will not affect any items in the process.

Result

The correct format is set for the individual tax years.

Purpose

Use this activity to make settings needed to print the tax statement and stub in-house.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Tools > Set Form Defaults.

   The Set Form Defaults dialog box is displayed.

2. Select the report type, and then select the following options:
   • Adjustment Factor – Adjusts the form up or down so that it prints correctly on the page.
     

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     Note:  You will need to print sample statements with different adjustment factor settings to determine which adjustment factor to use. Note that this is just a sample and it may print for a different year other than the current year.

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   • Stub Location – Indicates whether the tear-off portion of the tax statement should appear at the top or bottom of the form.
     

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     Note:  This option accommodates different brands of folding machines.

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3. Click OK.

Purpose

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Note:  If properties have not been coded with Mortgage codes, this can be done at this time before you Create Levy Statement Runs.

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Use this activity to specify parameters for levy statement runs based on entity groups, property types, and sort order.

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Caution   Creating Levy Statements may require a large amount of data resources. We recommend that you do not have any other processes running simultaneously that could slow the process down. If you have access to the server we recommend that this step is run from the server.

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Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Levy Statement Maintenance.

   The Levy Statements window is displayed.

2. Right-click on a levy group and choose Create Levy Statements.
3. The Levy Statement Wizard dialog box is displayed. The statement group displayed will be for the current tax year. The Entities that are listed will have statements created for them. Confirm the entities listed in this group are accurate before selecting NEXT.

The Levy Statement Wizard dialog box is displayed.

Enter the following data:

1. • Generate by – If you select Property, the system prints one statement per property with no consideration of the owner. If you select Owner, the system prints one statement per owner that includes all properties for a single owner.
     

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     Note:  The Owner option is intended for mineral statements only and is not available for other property types. If you have a large number of mineral properties, select the Owner option for your mineral properties. If you do this, you will need to create a second run of statements for the other property types and select Generate By Property.

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   • Property Types – Selected check boxes indicate the property types to be used for creating statements. To exclude properties based on property types, clear the property type check boxes as required.
   • Sort Order – Choose the sort order in which you need the statements to be generated (alpha, geo, or zip order). This determines the order in which statements print.
     

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     Tip  If you print statements in-house, and you plan to print the statements in a specific sort order, make a note of the sort order you selected. Selecting the same sort order later allows you to resume the print job from a particular statement ID if the print run is interrupted. You do not have this option if the print sort order is different from the generate sort order.

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2. To include comments in statement runs about delinquent taxes or an escrow balance on a property, select one or more of the following options.
   • Include “Delinquent taxes exist…” Comment on Statements – If selected, a comment about delinquent taxes is printed on the statement.
   • Include “Escrow balance exists…” Comment on Statements – If selected, a comment about an escrow balance is printed on the statement.
     

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     Note:  The options above are disabled if you chose to generate the statements by owner.

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   • Include “Return Service Requested…” Comment on Statements – If selected, the phrase “Return Service Requested” is printed on the statement.
3. Click Finish.

   A message is displayed indicating that the system is creating the statements.

4. A message is displayed indicating that the statements have been created. Click OK.

Result

Levy statements are created. In the Levy Statements window, you can view details (such as statement count and sort order) about runs you have created.

You can now validate your tax statements by viewing the event at the property level for property-type statements. Owner mineral tax statements can be seen in events only after they are printed.

We recommend that you preview and manually calculate a representative sampling of property tax statement events to verify that all bills created correctly, including rendition penalties. Check all information listed on the statement to confirm that everything is accurate.

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Note:  Mineral/owner statements can not be viewed at this time. They will be viewed after Step 19.

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Purpose

Use this procedure to generate the levy statements for statement groups.

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Tip  Before printing, we recommend you spot check the statements that have been created for each property type, including those with business personal property penalties. Creating statements in the previous step generated statement events at the property level. If you haven’t already done so, check statements for accuracy by viewing the event. Owner tax statements have to be printed to enable previewing of the event at the owner level.

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Prerequisites

You must have done the following:

• Balanced levy totals. For more information, see Balancing Levy Totals.
• Set up levy entity groups, which are the statement groups used in this activity. For more information, see Setting Up Levy Entity Groups.
• Created levy statements. For more information, see Creating Levy Statement Runs.
• Set form defaults. For more information, see Setting Form Defaults.
  

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  Note:  If you have experienced time out errors with an export or print job in the past, we recommend you contact TA support and request that your data be re-indexed prior to the export / printing of statements.

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Procedure

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Tip  As with any major process that requires vast data resources, the exporting and printing of statements usually performs better when run from the server and not from an individual computer on the network, if possible.

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1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Levy Statement Maintenance.

   The Levy Statements window is displayed.

2. Right-click a levy statement line item and choose Print Levy Statements.

   The Print Levy Statements Wizard dialog box is displayed.

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   Note:  The following options are automatically retrieved from the settings made during the creation of levy statements: Statement Group, Sort Order, and Property Types.

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3. Select one of the following Print By options as required to print statements for:
   • Property – All properties within the statement group.
   • All Mortgage Companies – All the mortgage companies within the statement group.
   • Mortgage Company – Only for a specific mortgage company. Select the mortgage company from the drop-down list.
   • All Agents – Properties with agent assignments.
   • Agent – A specific agent. Select the agent from the drop-down list.
   • Undeliverable – Property owners with addresses coded as undeliverable.
   • Special Inventory – Those properties flagged as special inventory properties.
   • Foreign Address – Property owners with any address other than a U.S. address.
   • All Taxserver – All tax server coded accounts.
   • Taxserver – A specific tax server.
4. Click Next.

   Another Print Levy Statements Wizard dialog box is displayed.

5. Select the agent, mortgage, and tax server printing options.
   1. Select one of the following print options:
      • Print Agent Statement Copy – Send a statement to the tax agent (and the taxpayer if required) that has authority over the property.
      • Print Mortgage Statement Copy – Send a statement to the mortgage company of the property (and the taxpayer if required).
      • Print Taxserver Copy – Send a statement to the tax server (and the taxpayer if required) of the property.
   2. Select the following agent, mortgage and taxserver printing options as required.
      • Print Agent/mortgage/tax server & Taxpayer Copy – If you want a copy of the tax statement to be printed to the taxpayer and any and all agents/mortgage companies/tax servers on a property, select this option.
      • Print Agent Copy Only – If you do not want the taxpayer to receive a copy of the tax statement, select this option, which generates statements only to the agents/mortgage companies/tax servers on a property.
      • Do not print Agent or Taxpayer Copy – To skip properties with an agents/mortgage companies/tax servers, select this option.
        

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        Note:  If you prefer to run your taxpayer statements in one group and your agent statements separately, select this option. You can then make a second print run and select Agents on the first Print Levy Statements Wizard screen.

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6. Select the following options as required to:
   • Include Undeliverable Addresses – Include statements in the run for property owners with addresses coded as undeliverable.
   • Include Foreign Address – Includes statements in the run for property owners with any address other than the US.
   • Include Statements with Zero Tax Due – Override the PACS default that suppresses statements from printing with zero tax due.
   • Include Statements with Zero Tax Due if OV65 – Override the PACS default that suppresses statements with zero tax due if the OV65 / OV65S applies.
     

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     Note:  You may wish to use this option to send out zero tax due statements to elderly taxpayers that will use the zero tax statement as a receipt that they do not owe any taxes.

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   • Include Special Inventory Accounts – Include statements for special inventory properties in the run.
   • Print Summary Statements – Print statements in owner ID order. For owners that have multiple statements, a summary statement is printed after the last statement for that owner.
   • Sort Option – Select alphabetical, geographical or zip code order.
     

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     Tip  Selecting the same print statement sort order as the generate statement sort order allows you to resume the print job from a particular statement id if the print run is interrupted. Is printer set to duplex – Check this box for printing statements sorted by property id. Mineral Statements can not be Duplexed.

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   • Print beginning with statement ID – Reprint groups of statements starting with a specific statement ID number.
   • Suppress History on Statement – Prevent the 5 year history from printing on statements. For mineral properties only.

   If you are publishing an electronic tax statement, check the Publish Electronic Tax Statements checkbox on the second page of the Print Levy Statements Wizard dialog.  This checkbox will publish electronic tax statements for accounts that have an agreement, in effect to the web portal.

               

1. Select print or export options.
   • Print – When selected, sends statements directly to your printer.
     

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     Note:  To print to PDF format, we recommend that you use PrimoPDF, and not Adobe Distiller or Adobe PDF Writer.

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   • Export – When selected, allows you to create a print-image file that you can either copy to storage media or e-mail to a printing company.
     

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     Note:  If you selected Include “Return Service Requested…” Comment on Statements in the Levy Statement Wizard and you are sending the export to a print vendor, you must inform the print vendor that he must include the comment.

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2. Click Finish.

   A message is displayed indicating that statements are being printed.

Next Steps

To view a property tax statement for a property after the statement has been generated, do the following:

1. Open the property record. Then click the Event tab.
2. In the Event filter, select TS (Tax Statement).
3. In the pane listing the tax statements, select the statement you want to view and then click Details.

   The Event – Tax Statement dialog box is displayed.

4. Either click Preview to view the statement, or click Print to generate a PDF or print the statement.
5. If statements are printed we recommend you spot check multiple statements confirming all information and calculations are accurate.
6. If statements were exported or printed to a .pdf file, we recommend that you open the file and view the data to confirm information is accurate before printing.
   

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   Note:  For an owner tax statement, you can repeat the same steps from the Owner/Taxpayer record instead of the property record.

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Purpose

Use this activity to print the levy roll.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Print Levy Rolls.

   The Print Levy Roll dialog box is displayed.

2. Choose the year you want to run levy roll for from the Tax Year drop-down list.

   

3. Select an option to print levy roll for:
   • All Entities
   • Entity – An individual entity
   • Select Entities – A group of entities
     

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     Note:  To set up a group to print for, select Select Entities, and then click Add as needed to specify the entities to be included in the group.

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4. Select any or all Property Types to print levy roll for.
5. Choose the print sort option from the Sort Oder drop-down list.
6. In the Paper Type field, specify the paper size to be used for the levy roll.
7. Specify the page range for the levy roll run.
8. Select Sampling to print the first 10 pages of your roll to verify content and layout.
9. Do one of the following:
   • Select Export to send a file to a printing company, or to a party who requests a print-ready file of your output.
   • Select Print to send the output directly to a printer.

Purpose

Use this activity to activate bills for the current year so that they can be collected.

Prerequisites

You have reviewed your levy roll by using the Printing Levy Roll activity.

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Important   Do not activate bills until you have reviewed hard copies of the tax statements.

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Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Activate Newly Created Bills.

   The Activate Bill Wizard dialog box is displayed.

2. Select the bills to be activated.

   Tips 

   • To view the most recent years together, left-click on the column header for Year, then use the scroll bar to navigate to the bottom of the list.
   • To highlight a group of adjacent entities, click an entity, press SHIFT, and then click on an entity below it.
   • To highlight multiple entities that are not adjacent to each other, click an entity, press CTRL, and then click on the additional entities to select.
3. Click Finish.
4. You are prompted you to acknowledge that bills have been activated and that all users should log off and log on again. Click OK.

Purpose

Use this procedure to prepare a new year for collections. The process completes quickly.

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Important   After you perform this procedure, the year prior to the current levy year will display on all reports as delinquent. If you would like to have a record showing the prior year as current, then generate the Tax Collections Activity Reports (Reports > Collections > Daily > Tax Collections Activity Report – By Year), Current/Delinquent (Reports > Collections > Daily > Tax Collections Activity Report (Current/Delinquent) – By Year) and the Month to Date Recap (Activities > Month End Procedures > Month End Reports) and the Year to Date Recap Report (Activities > Month End Procedures > Month End Reports) before you proceed.

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Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Move System to New Collection Year.
2. You are prompted to set the current collection year. Click Yes.

   No message displays when the process completes. The process completes quickly.

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   Note:  All users must log off and then log on again for this change to take effect.

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If you do not use Fiscal Totals then skip this step and proceed to the next step, Informing Customer Support of Levy Process Completion.

Purpose

Use this procedure to populate all of the entities’ fiscal data with beginning levy totals generated from bill creation.

Completing this procedure inserts the current levy M&O and I&S balances into the fiscal data. For fiscal year processing, we recommend that, after this procedure, you review each entity’s fiscal data to verify that the levy totals match the beginning balances that were just created upon bill creation.

Procedure

1. In PACS Collections, choose Activities > Assessment > Levy Functions > Populate Fiscal Year.
2. The Populate Fiscal Year dialog box is displayed with the entities for which fiscal year amounts will be calculated.
3. Click OK. A message is displayed indicating that fiscal year totals are being populated.
4. You are prompted to acknowledge that new year fiscal totals have been populated. Click OK.
5. To confirm that the totals were populated, open the entity, select the Fiscal Year tab, select the fiscal year and click Details. Check the fiscal year beginning balances and the totals that were just inserted.

Purpose

Use this activity to inform PACS Support that you have completed the levy process.

• Go to https://harrisgovern.na2.teamsupport.com/login/user to login and update the ticket created at the beginning of this process.

See Also

For more information about working with help tickets, see TeamSupport Customer Guide.

After levy procedures have been completed, we recommend you consider doing the following:

• Before you Copy Bill Adjustment Codes to the current Tax Year (Activities>Update Bill Adjustment Codes on Bills), review Codes. Not all Codes need to be copied at this time. You can run the Adjustment Code Listing report (Reports>Collections>Adjustment Code Listing Report) to help determine which Codes need to be copied.
• Set the property search year for every computer in your office in PACS Collections to the new current year (Tools > User Settings > Set Property Search Settings).  Users must logout and back into PACS for this settings change to take affect.
• Apply escrow payments to the current year bills (Activities > Mass Post Escrow to Current Year Bills) and run the Escrow Balance Report (Reports > Escrow & SIT > Escrow Balance Report).