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To add a tax unit to the system, use the Jurisdiction screen in Tax Unit Maintenance.

User Entitlements

The following user entitlements must be set for each user who needs access to the Tax Unit Maintenance screens. They are part of the Manage Jurisdictions task.

Only users having the Client Admin job can view this screen.  See Tasks, Entitlements, and Jobs for more information.

 ACT8038- View and query the Tax Unit Maintenance screens.

JURISDICTION_UPDATE - Make changes on the Tax Unit Maintenance screen if the user has ACT8038 checked.

1. From the Main Menu, select Administration, then Tax Unit Maintenance. The Jurisdiction screen will appear.

2. This screen is in query mode when you come to it. To begin adding a new tax unit, press F6.
3. Enter the Tax Unit, Year, and Unit type.

Note: If the Unit Type is PIDA or PIDB, the penalty and interest calculations for those units will be different from the norm. See Penalty & Interest Calculations for more information. Also, exemptions, frozen levies, and capped exclusions are not applied to these units.

PID units, which do not accept levy changes or refunds, must have the Unit Type set to NOCALC.

Enter RENCOMM if the unit is a county and this unit is used only for collecting rendition commissions. (Bexar County only) Enter LIQUOR or LIQRCOMM for escrow units used to store liquor collections or liquor commissions. The tax rate for these should be 0 but the Disburse to TaxLedge box should be checked.

4. If this jurisdiction once collected taxes by itself but now these taxes are collected by another entity. a Consolidation Date must be entered.   This should be the date the unit was merged into the different entity (for ex., when a school district's taxes start to be collected by a county).
5. If this jurisdiction does not allow exemptions, check the Disallow Exemptions box.
6. Enter the Name, Address, Phone, Fax, and E-mail if available.
7. Select the applicable fields in the Miscellaneous group box.
8. Provide the Fiscal Year Begin and End Dates.
9. Enter the Delinquency and Statement Dates.
10. Click the Discount Type drop-down list to indicate that discounts are given and begin the month after certified tax statements are mailed (for ex., November, December, and January). No indicates no discount is given, Code B indicates discounts are given in October, November, and December; Code C indicates that discounts are given in November, December, and January.
11. Enter any additional information in the Statement Names boxes.
12. In the DHCA ID Number field, enter either the tax entity ID number or the Central Tax Collector number. This number is used for filing mobile home liens and is put on the file sent to the state (it is put in the collector tax entity ID field).  DHCA is the acronym for the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
13. If a county collects only SIT for this jurisdiction, click the SIT Only check box. These will be the X-entities used during the SIT disbursement process.
14. If you process Harris County Appraisal District files, enter the tax unit number that is given on these files in the Appraisal District Code field (for ex., 004 in this field corresponds to unit 1 in CyFair). If RENCOMM was entered as the Unit Type, enter the county code number in the Appraisal District Code field.
15. If you want to include payments on the TC168 (batch  menu no. 5) that were made for a new tax year before the fiscal period for that year begins, check the Mid Year box.
16. If you collect taxes for this jurisdiction, click the Compute Taxes checkbox.

Note: For PID units, do not check this box; refunds and adjustments to the PID levy will be made if it is checked and PID units do not want these changes.

17. The Refund Type field is used if this unit has not also been entered in the client preferences OVERPAY and ADJUSTMENT_REFUND_TU. Click the star next to the Refund Type field and select OV for Overpayment or RF for adjustment refund. This information will then be used when running the Refund Report with Interest (TN536).  This tells TaxLedge whether refunds in this unit are from overpayments or adjustments.  

Note: When running the TC536, you will need to enter T in the Refund Type and the tax unit number in the Jurisdiction field.

18. If this unit allows freezes (frozen levies), check the Grant Tax Ceiling checkbox.

Note: (optional) Click the Exemption tab (if you are not already there), then click the star buttons in the Exemption Codes area to select DRH and O65 if the tax unit accepts frozen levies for this year. Most units will want both of these boxes checked. At this time levy is not calculated based on what is in these fields.If this jurisdiction assesses rendition penalties, enter the rendition tax unit numbers in the Rendition Penalty, Additional Penalty, and, Fraud Penalty fields.  These units must have already been created in order for rendition penalties to be calculated.

19. If this jurisdiction is a rendition penalty unit, enter the rendition percentage in the Rendition % field; the percentage cannot be more than 1.0, which is 100%.  Standard percentages are.10 (10%),.25 (25%), and.50 (50%).
20. If monies collected for this jurisdiction are sent through TaxLedge, check the Disburse to TaxLedge box.

Note: The TAXLEDGE_USER client preference must also be set to Y to disburse rendition penalty through TaxLedge. The Disburse checkbox affects which units appear on the 297F in TaxLedge (and are thus actually loaded there), but not those on the TC298 in the Tax Collection System.

21. The TaxLedge Name field contains the name of the jurisdiction as it is used in TaxLedge. This field can be edited only if the Disburse to TaxLedge field is checked.
22. Check the Non-Refundable box only if it is an escrow unit and the tax office does not want to refund money from that unit (it will transfer money from that unit to a different one for disbursement).
23. Check the Exclude from Monthly Reports if you do not want data from this unit to appear on the TC168 Period Balancing Reports, batch menu no. 5.
24. (Harris County only) The Annexed to Tax Unit field should be used only if accounts in the tax unit that was queried are being collected by another unit now.
25. (refund wizard use only) To set the default selection for this unit when creating batches in the refund wizard, click the On Hold drop-down list and select B (select both on and off hold refunds), Y (yes), or N (no).
26. The Exemption Amounts area on the Jurisdiction tab is view only.
27. In the Compression area, enter the TEA District ID and MCR Tier 1 Rate for school units; the MCR rates may be auto-populated. The Compression % is calculated as the MCR (Maximum Compressed Rate) from the selected year subtracted from the M&O rate in the prior year.
28. Click the Exemption tab, then enter the Mandated and Optional Exemption Amounts.
29. For optional local homestead exemptions, change the minimum amount (Homestead Min.) if it differs from the default value entered.
30. For each of the other exemptions granted by the tax unit, click the star buttons in the Exemption Codes area to select the exemption.

Note: ACT recommends that you do this, as ACT is implementing code changes to link levy changes to the exemptions listed in this screen.

30. If you do not want the exemptions to be calculated in the default order (XMP, CAP,  PRG, HOM, O65 (all varieties), DRH, VTX, VET, all others (including OSP and TIM), PRO), then enter the exemption codes in the desired order on the ride side of the Exemption tab. Select either State Mandated or Option from the Exemption Type drop-down list, select the Exemption Code by clicking the Star button, then select the priority level (1, 2, 3, for ex.). The mandated exemption should be given higher priority than the optional exemption for the same type of exemption (over 65, for ex.). All exemptions granted by the jurisdiction must be entered here.
31. Click the Tax Rates tab.  
32. For units numbered less than 8000, enter the Rate Type, (e.g. MO, IS), Rate Seq., and Tax Rate.  Units numbered 8000 or greater are not required to have a tax rate or attorney percentage.  All fees must be entered as a unit numbered 9000 or higher.  Court costs should be put in units 9000 - 9009 and  abstract fees should be placed in units 9010 - 9090.  Other fees can be in units higher than 9090.

Note: A $0.00 tax rate can be entered, but make sure this is what you want, because total tax rates cannot be changed once receivables have been created that unit and year.

33. If you entered a tax rate on the Jurisdiction tab, only an M&O rate will be auto-populated. Enter I&S rates on the Tax Rates tab if needed.
34. If the jurisdiction will allow extended delinquency dates for half payments, check the Half Pay Split Flag box for the current tax year record. The default setting for this flag is Y, which means that if this preference is missing, the payment program assumes each unit accepts half pays unless the Half Pay Split Flag is specifically set to N).
35. Click the Attorney Information tab. If this unit allows freeport exemptions, check the Freeport Allowed box.  These exemptions cannot be calculated if this box is not checked.
36. Click the Star button () next to the Attorney ID field, select the tax unit's delinquent attorney in the Attorney Description window, then click OK.  The Attorney checkbox will be checked and the 33.07 33.08, 33.11% fields will auto-fill with.15%.  The Name/Address lines at the bottom of the screen will also be filled.

Note:  You must add each attorney as a separate tax unit in this screen in order to have them display in this window.  Assign them a tax unit number and enter ATTORNEY as the Unit Type.   To add other miscellaneous attorney fees, you will also need to create a separate tax unit for that attorney or specific fee.

37. If the delinquent contract for this jurisdiction requires.20 percent, change the percentage from 15% to 20% in the 33.07 33.08, 33.11% field.

Note: If the account is flagged with an M in the Penalty Control field of the Receivable screen, attorney fees of 15% will be charged, regardless of what the Attorney percentage is in the Tax Unit Maintenance screen. If you are changing the Attorney ID, you will get a message asking you to verify the percentage.

38. If this jurisdiction will collect 33.48 fees, check the 33.48% field.
39. If appropriate, check the boxes for Collect 33.11, Attorney Fee Passed, and/or Attorney Fee Passed Bankruptcy.
40. If the unit assesses 33.11 penalties, enter the date to start collecting the additional money in the 33.11 Date field.
41. Click the Jurisdiction CAD Relation tab.
42. Enter the CAD Tax Unit number. This is the appraisal district code assigned to this unit by each county.  For jurisdictions being represented by more than one county, a separate row must be entered for each county.
43. Enter the County Code for the tax unit. The link to Texas County Codes is at: https://fmx.cpa.state.tx.us/fmx/sprs/mc/docs/tab/tbcntycd.php .
44. Choose one of these Ceiling Control options:

• ACT - if ACT calculates the freezes for this county's appraisal district.
• CAD - if the appraisal district for this county provides ACT with the freeze amounts.
• None - no freezes are given for this unit.

45. In the  Days Exempt Num Days to Adjust field, enter the number of days taxable needed to adjust the calculation of PRO exemptions to match the amount given by that entity's appraisal district.  (This field replaces the client preference DAYS_EXEMPT_NUM_DAYS_TO_ADJUST.)

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

46. In the CAP Amount drop-down list, select Whole or Partial, depending on how your appraisal district sends capped amount information.  This should be set to WHOLE if the appraisal district gives you the full capped value of the account, and set to PARTIAL if the district gives the amount of the difference between the full capped value and the appraised value.  
47. The Resolve Fixed Local Option field in the Jurisdiction CAD Relation screen indicates whether to use the Exempt % when also calculating local option exemptions. The county code field in the Account Detail screen is used to determine which jurisdictions to consider in the Jurisdiction CAD Relation screen when looking at the Resolve Fixed Local Option settings. If the Resolve Fixed Local Option setting for any unit having that county code is Y, then all units for the account that have a local option percentage will also use the Exempt % when calculating exemptions. If the Resolve Fixed Local Option setting is N for all units, then the Exempt % is not used in addition to the local option percentage when calculating exemptions. State-mandated exemptions are not affected by the Resolve Fixed Local Option setting and always consider the Exempt %.

Note: Currently, for Harris County Appraisal District files, the Resolve Fixed Local Option flag must be set to Y if you want local option percentage calculations for capped accounts to use the capped value instead of the full appraised value.

48. (optional) In the Disaster Date field, enter an appropriate date if accounts in this jurisdiction, county, and tax year are eligible for a disaster exemption.
49. Click F10 (Save) to save changes.