SIT Disbursements--Set Up

Last Revised:  March 18, 2020

When to run:

Once a year, at the beginning of the new SIT tax year.

What it does:

This document gives the steps needed to be done before the disbursement process is run.

Definition:  X-entity refers to an tax unit for which the tax office does not collect property taxes but does collect  SIT taxes..

Note: At the beginning of each step, the ACT module to be used is shown in brackets. TCS refers to the Tax Collection System.

User Entitlements

The following user entitlements are available on the Batch Menu. They are part of the Run SI Batch Processes task, which is part of the SI Batch Menu job. See Tasks, Entitlements, and Jobs for more information. Individual reports and processes must be assigned to each user.

SI_BATCHMENU: access the batch menu

SI_BATCHREQUEST: access the Batch Request screen

SI_FILE_UPLOAD: access and use the File Upload button

SIT Disbursement Set Up Procedures:

  1. Be sure the following client preferences are set correctly:

[TCS] CALCULATE_LEVY_YEAR = current tax year.

[TCS] CURR_YEAR = current tax year.

[TCS] SIT_SAME_ACCOUNT (Default is N) -- This must be set to Y if the CAD number is stored in the Dealer No. field for a particular tax office. If not, set this to ‘N’.  Nueces, Ellis, Jefferson, and Bexar counties should be set to Y.  Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris and Hidalgo Counties should be set to N.

Technical Note:  This used in the sit_utilities package when creating missing receivables.  All non-Harris County clients should have the job file for batch item #10222, Load Missing Receivables set to sit_utilities.act_load_missing_receivables.

[TCS] APPLY_SUPP_HC_ENGINE (Default is N) -- This is used in the Copy SIT Receivables to TCS process, batch menu item no. 10222. On the basis of this preference, batch_update_engine_hc1 or batch_update_engine_hc2 (Harris County Tax Office specific) is called. For all tax offices except Harris County, this preference needs to be expired or set to N. For Harris County it must be set to Y.

[TCS] LOCKBOX_FIDO – this must be set to 88888 and you must create a new fiduciary using number 88888 in the Tax Collection System with a Company name of SIT.  This is the same number you will use in the Mortgage Payment Entry screen in TCS later in these procedures.

[TCS] SIT_OVERAGE_TAX_UNIT:  Enter the unit to store any overage created in the SIT lockbox when using Special Rule 09. This overage is put in the current year, and the default is 8001. Currently only Harris County uses Special Rule 09, so this preference is not considered for other tax offices.

[SIT] USE_HC_RULE (Default is N) -- This is used to determine whether to run the load_receivable_taxes procedure for Harris County or other clients. Harris County must set this preference to Y so that load_receivable_taxes.hctax_load_receivable_taxes procedure is called from sit_load_receivable_taxes report, batch menu no. 12907. If it is not set or if set to N, load_receivable_taxes.act_load_receivable_taxes will not be called.

[SIT] TCS_SAME_ACCOUNT -- This is used in load_receivable_taxes package and the SIT-TCS Reconciliation Report. It has the same purpose as SIT_SAME_ACCOUNT but the difference is that it is created in SIT system as opposed to TCS. This preference is only used for tax offices other than Harris County. This client preference must be set to the same value as the SIT_SAME_ACCOUNTpreference.

[SIT] OVERAGE_CURRENT_YEAR – This is used to determine which year’s tax rates will be used when allocating funds.  Set to Y to use the the current tax year in the Tax Collection System or set to N to use the prior year (the year whose rates have been used in SIT for the past 12 months).  This is important when determining overage and spreading that overage across tax units.

[TCS] SIT_OVERAGE_TAX_UNIT:  Enter the unit to store any overage created in the SIT lockbox when using Special Rule 09 (Harris County only).

SIT: USE_HARRIS_TAXLEDGE_FROM_SIT: Set to Y to use Harris County rules for loading TaxLedge tables from SIT; all other counties should leave the default of N.

  1. [TCS] Enter rates for the current tax year's X-entities in the Tax Unit Maintenance screen.  The X-entities should roll over from year to year.

Note: If you need to add new X-entity units, follow the instructions for adding a new tax unit in the Tax Collection System - Adding New Tax Units.

Make sure that ACT has all of the current bank information for the X-entities if your tax office uses TaxLedge.

ACT recommends that each tax office sign off on these tax rates before continuing.

  • Open the Tax Unit Maintenance screen and enter the rate in the Jurisdiction tab.
  • Be sure the SIT Only checkbox is checkedonly for tax units for which SIT taxes are collected but tax levy is not collected .
  • Be sure the Compute Taxes checkbox is checked for each X-entity. ONCE THIS IS DONE, DO NOT MAKE LEVY CHANGES IN THE TAX COLLECTION SYSTEM.  THIS INCLUDES APPLYING FROM CAD TABLES TO PRODUCTION TABLES AND PRESSING SAVE AND CALCULATE IN ACCOUNT MASTER. YOU MAY NEED TO DO SIT DISBURSEMENTS AFTER BUSINESS HOURS. THIS CHECK MUST BE REMOVED AFTER SIT DISBURSEMENTS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.
  1. [TCS] Be sure all SIT accounts have the SIT Account flag checked  on the Account Detail screen of Account Master. This is stored in the taxdtl table.

Note: This flag should be copied over to the Account Detail screen when certified and supplement files are applied to production.

The table below gives some of the patterns used to determine which accounts are SIT accounts (and therefore should have the SIT Account flag set).

Tax Office SIT Account No. Rule
Bexar Account no. between 750000000000 and 789999999999
Ellis County N/A
Fort Bend County ?
Harris County Roll code = Q in HCAD file
Hidalgo County Account nos. have a '93' in the 6th and 7th positions - e.g.,. A123493000000001.
Irving ISD Account no. starts with 99B, 99H, 99M or 99P
McLennan County Account nos. have either a 4, 5, 6 or 7 in the 4th position.  4 -Motor Vehicle,  5 -Boats,  6 -Heavy Equip,  7 -Mobile Homes
Refugio County N/A
  1. [SIT] Print the SIT-TCS Reconciliation Report, batch menu no. 12405.  This report identifies detailed information about the difference between how much the dealer owes and how much has been collected throughout the year.  Note that this report includes dealers in business as of January 1 of the current tax year.  Accounts that are inactive in TCS (taxes are not being collected for the current year) are not included. If no start date exists in the Owner record, ACT assumes the dealer is active for the entire year.  Remember that the amount owed by SIT dealers is based on the previous year’s sales regardless of how well or poorly they may have done during the 12-month current collection period. Once run, escrow collected should be compared to dollars in the bank only if a zero was entered in the Amount parameter.

In the Tax Collection System, the SIT Account flag must be checked in the Account Detail screen for all SIT accounts.

The report is divided into 5 categories:

  • Accounts in SIT and not in TCS.  The CAD  no., dealer no., dealer name, and escrow collected in SIT are given.
  • Accounts in TCS and not in SIT.  The data provided includes the TCS account no., CAD no., certified owner, and levy due in TCS. The paid amount column should always have $0.00; this information is given in the fourth section now.
  • Accounts in SIT and TCS with an amount difference as stated in the parameter. The report lists the CAD no., dealer no., dealer name, TCS levy paid, SIT escrow amount collected, and the difference between levy and escrow amounts.
  • Accounts with payments made to levy in TCS for the current year. These payments must be transferred to escrow in TCS before proceeding. The report lists the CAD no., dealer no., dealer name, levy paid in TCS and amount in escrow (refund) in TCS.
  • Accounts in SIT but not active in TCS. The report lists the CAD no., dealer no., dealer name, and SIT escrow amount collected. These may have been rolled up from the prior year but have no receivables.

Note:  If this does not run correctly, contact ACT and ask them to check synonyms and permissions.

  1. Make sure all deposits have been closed.
  2. From the Main Menu, click Batch Menu.  The SIT Batch Menu will appear.  
  3. Click the SIT-TCS Reconciliation Report line, batch menu no. 12405.
  4. Press Enter.  The parameter screen for this report will appear.
  5. Enter your SIT Client ID number.
  6. Enter your TCS Client ID number.
  7. Enter the Tax Year being processed.
  8. Enter the minimum Amount to be shown on the report. Amounts below this number will not be shown on the report.
  9. In the Sort Order field, enter 0 to sort by dealer number, 1 to sort by dealer name, or 2 to sort by appraisal district number.
  10. (optional) Enter an As Of Date to limit data to accounts with payments made since that date.
  11. Click Submit Job.
  12. Click OK on the "OK to Submit Job" pop-up screen.
  13. Research the accounts to determine why the discrepancies exist.  Escrow collected should be compared to dollars in the bank.  You may need to manually enter new SIT accounts into TCS.  

Note: If the amount on this report does not match the money in the bank, you may try running batch menu no. 12212, SIT Daily Payment by Deposit, for the deposit date range of the SIT tax year. If this matches, you can continue with step 5.

For Harris County only, accounts that are in SIT and not in TCS may be put into TCS by loading the inventory file using the normal supplement processes. Uncertified accounts will be given an 'XA' status and have only their owner and taxdtl records created. Receivables for these accounts will be created when the Load Missing Receivables for SIT Tax Units in TCS, batch menu no. 10222, is run (see step 9 below).

  1. [TCS] If on the Reconciliation Report run in the previous step, you have accounts listed that have levy payment made in TCS for the current year, these payments must be transferred to escrow in TCS before proceeding. To do so, run the Transfer SIT Payments to Escrow process, batch menu no. 10413
  2. [SIT] Run the SIT Jurisdiction Rollover process, batch menu no. 12401, which copies the tax unit information from the current year to the new year.  This process copies tax unit information from the current year to the new year.  At this point, you are running it for the current year in order to roll over any new units that may have been added during the year. Tax rates for the new year do not need to be entered, because the rates to be used are those of SIT's prior year.  For example, if you will be taking payments for the 2010 SIT year, you will roll up the jurisdictions from 2009 to 2010.  The SIT payment programs will be using the 2009 tax rates from TCS, however, but the 2010 fee units must have been created already.
  1. From the Main Menu, click Batch Menu.  The SIT Batch Menu will appear.
  2. Click the SIT Rollover line, batch menu no. 12401.
  3. Press Enter.  The parameter screen for this process will appear.
  4. Enter your tax office's Client ID.
  5. Enter the new SIT Tax Year.
  6. Leave the Year + 1 Tax Units field blank to roll over all units, or enter one or more units separated by comma.
  7. In the Process Option field, enter E to see an edit report or U for update (to actually do the rollover).
  8. Click Submit Job.
  9. Click OK on the "OK to Submit Job" pop-up screen. The report lists as errors any tax units that have already been rolled over. If the error given is 'duplicate tax unit,' it is okay to continue with the next step. The 2008 tax rates are rolled over to SIT in the next step.
  1. [SIT] Run the Copy Tax Rates from TCS to SIT process, batch menu no. 12404. This may be run in Edit or Update mode. It copies the rates from the current year in TCS to the same year in SIT.  The rates for unit 94 are not copied over.
  1. From the Main Menu, click Batch Menu.  The SIT Batch Menu will appear.
  2. Click the Copy Tax Rates from TCS to SIT line, batch menu no. 12404.
  3. Press Enter.  The parameter screen for this process will appear.
  4. Enter your tax office's Client ID.
  5. Enter the Tax Year to which you want the data copied.  This should be the current tax year in TCS.
  6. In the Process Option field, enter E for edit or U for update. ACT recommends running the edit first.
  7. Click Submit Job.
  8. Click OK on the "OK to Submit Job" pop-up screen.  Make sure the new tax year’s tax rates are now in SIT (i.e. if 2007 rates have been used in SIT during the past year, but it is now the 2008 tax year in TCS, the 2008 rates must be put in SIT to use for taking payments for the 2009 tax year).  You may need to enter rates manually for the units for which taxes are not collected in TCS.
  1. [TCS]  Run the Load X-Entity Tax Units and Rate from SIT to TCS process, batch menu no. 10221.  This is a once-a-year process that verifies that all SIT tax units and rates that are not already in the Tax Collection System are put there.  Any missing units (the X-entities) that are in SIT for each account but for which there are no taxdtl or receivables in the real tables are entered. Jurisdictions that do not have the SIT Only flag checked in TCS are not updated; these will be listed on the log file for unit numbers greater than 1000. The fiscal begin and end dates will be taken from the prim_juris unit in the Tax Collection System. This program may be run in Edit or Update mode.  This report looks at the SAME_ACCOUNT client preference setting.  A recap report is provided for review when the program is run in either mode.   For Dallas County only, units between 1000 and 7000 are moved; for other tax offices, only units less than 1000 are moved.

BEFORE YOU RUN THIS PROCESS IN UPDATE MODE:  Ensure that all tax units are setup in SIT for the current year to be disbursed.

  1. From the Main Menu, click Batch Menu.  The TCS Batch Menu will appear.
  2. Click the Load X-Entity Tax Units and Rates from SIT ti TCS line, batch menu no. 10221.
  3. Press Enter.  The parameter screen for this report will appear.
  4. Enter your SIT Client ID number.
  5. Enter your TCS Client ID number.
  6. Enter the Tax Year being processed. This is the current TCS tax year.
  7. Select processing option E for edit or U for update. ACT recommends running the edit first.
  8. Click Submit Job.
  9. Click OK on the "OK to Submit Job" pop-up screen.
  10. After running in Update mode, make sure that the correct bank account information for the x-entities is in TaxLedge.
  1. [SIT] Ensure that the following tax units are created in SIT  for the current tax year:

Tax Unit = 7500      Year = current TCS tax year      Type = TX_ALLOC       Name = TAX ALLOCATION

Tax Unit = 7520      Year = current TCS tax year      Type = OV_ALLOC      Name = OVERAGE ALLOCATION

If these are not present: Authorized users can add a new tax unit on the Tax Unit Maintenance screen.  

Note:  If you begin adding a new unit, then decide to leave the screen without saving the information you will get a 'record must be entered or deleted first' message.  To avoid this, click Record on the menu bar at the top of the screen, then Clear.

  1. From the Main Menu, click the Maintenance tab, then select Tax Unit Maintenance.  A blank Tax Unit Maintenance screen will appear.
  2. Press Ctrl+Q to leave search (query) mode, or if information for an existing tax unit is displayed on the screen, press F6 to get a blank screen.
  3. Enter a Tax Unit number.
  4. Enter the Year to be associated with the tax unit.  To have a tax unit apply to multiple years, you must add the unit for each year.
  5. Enter the Type specified above for each unit added.
  6. Enter the Name specified above for each unit added.

Note: Normally a tax rate would be needed when a new tax unit is added, but in this case that is not necessary. There should be no rates for these units as they are being used for allocation and not to compute levy.

  1. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
  1. [TCS] Run the Load Missing Receivables for SIT Tax Units in TCS process, batch menu no. 10222.  This loads the receivables for all tax units in TCS into the CAD tables, where the user may view and change the data prior to loading the data into the real tables.  As part of this, the X-entity receivables are built in the CAD tables. The county code is populated in the TaxDtl_CAD.  this process uses the apport percentages for each unit in SIT when creating receivables in the CAD tables.

Make sure all supplement loads have been processed before running this. Also, make sure that in the Tax Collection System, the SIT Account flag is checked in the Account Detail screen for all SIT accounts.

  1. From the Main Menu, click Batch Menu.  The TCS Batch Menu will appear.
  2. Click the Load Missing Receivables for SIT Tax Units in TCS line, batch menu no. 10222.
  3. Press Enter.  The parameter screen for this report will appear.
  4. Enter your TCS Client ID number.
  5. Enter the Tax Year being processed. This is the current tax year in TCS.
  6. Click Submit Job.
  7. Click OK on the "OK to Submit Job" pop-up screen. Accounts that are considered to be duplicates for some units are listed as errors.  The Fiscal Period levy and Certified Levy should be set to $0.00 for X-entity units. The Recap report lists accounts for which receivables have been added and includes the tax units and levies that were added.
  1. [TCS] Run the Apply Supplement/Correction File process, batch menu no. 754.  This step copies the receivables from batch menu no. 10222 into the production tables in the Tax Collection System.  Once this is complete, all SIT receivable information should be in TCS.
  1. From the Main Menu, click Batch Menu.  The TCS Batch Menu will appear.
  2. Click the ApplySupplement/Correction File line, batch menu no. 754.
  3. Press Enter. The parameter screen will appear.
  4. In the Client ID field, enter your ACT 7 Client ID.
  5. Enter the Year.  This is the same year as entered above.
  6. Enter a File Label Wanted.
  7. In the Staging Tables Request Seq. No. field, enter the request seq. no. generated when you ran the Load Missing Receivables for SIT Units in TCS process.
  8. Click Submit Job.
  9. Click OK on the "OK to Submit Job" pop-up screen.
  1. [TCS]  Remove the Compute Taxes flag from all X-entities in the Tax Unit Maintenance screen.  This will allow you to process levy changes once more.

Once these steps have been completed, proceed to the steps for SIT Disbursements--Allocate and Disburse.