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Use the Frozen Amount screen to transfer a frozen levy from one account to another during a tax year.  You can transfer a freeze from one homesite to another. In this case the new freeze will be a different amount but will have the same percentage of tax savings that the original freeze did.  For example, if the original freeze levy was $100, but without a freeze the owner would have paid $200, the freeze percentage is 50%. The owner can transfer the 50% to a new homesite; the new frozen levy amount is 50% of what the new levy would be after exemptions were deducted, but before a freeze was calculated; this is the Full Calculated Levy field in the Receivable screen.  

The receivable levy for the taxpayer who is 'porting' his freeze to his new property may be, for the year of the port, either the newly calculated frozen levy or the frozen levy of the previous owner of the property, whichever is lower.

Ported accounts are in effect for just one year; they revert to 100% freezes the year after the freeze.

User Entitlements

The following user entitlements must be set for each user who needs access to the Frozen Amount screen. They are part of the  Make Frozen Levy Account Master Changes and View Only Major Screens tasks.

Users having any job can view the Frozen Amount screen. Changes can be made with the CAD Changes Save and Calc AG Rollback and CAD Wizard jobs, although the latter job only allows changes to be made in the CAD tables. See Tasks, Entitlements, and Jobs for more information.

ACT8002 : Allow users to view the Account Master screens.

PRIOR_YEAR_BUILD : Allow users to click the Prior Year button.

ACCTM_SAVE_AND_CALC_BUTTON : Allow users to click the Save and Calculate button.

ACCTM_FROZEN_AMOUNTS_UPDATE : Allow users to change and insert information on the Frozen Amounts tab.

OVERRIDE_FREEZE_CALCTYPE: Check this to allow users to manually change the Calculation Type on the Frozen Amount screen. Uncheck this to forbid users to change the Calculation Type; this field will be grayed on the screen. ACT recommends that this be unchecked for each user.

Client Preferences

CALCULATE_LEVY_YEAR: If this is set to a prior year, you cannot recalculate levy for the current or future year. You can make the changes on the Account Master screens, but the Save and Calculate button will be disabled. You can use the Save (F10) button but this will not recalculate the levy.

KEEP_FREEZE_CALCTYPE_S: Enter Y to allow the Calc Type on the Frozen Amount screen to remain the same when changes are made on that screen manually. Enter N to have the Calc Type change from 'S' to 'U (user)' in this case. The default and ACT-recommended setting is N.  If the frozen levy is changed manually a '-U' is added to the end of the Operator ID on the Frozen Amount screen.

FREEZE_CALC_METHOD: Set to APPRAISED to use appraised homesite value when calculating freezes. Set to TAXABLE to use taxable homesite value (appraised minus exemptions) for freeze calculations. This affects freezes with new improvement.

COUNTY_CODES_NO_UPDATE_PORT: If expired (the default), allow ported freezes to be updated for all counties when processing appraisal district files. Otherwise, enter the county codes (separated by comma) for counties not wanting ported freezes to be updated as a result of an appraisal district load.

CALCULATE_FREEZE_ONLINE: Set to Y to calculate frozen levy when pressing Save and Calculate Levy. Set to N to not do this, in which case frozen levies must be set on the Frozen Amount tab of Account Master. If this is set to Y, port percentage fields for city, county, and school appear on the Account Master Summary screen.

OWNER_EXEMPTION_EFFECTIVE DATE (used to be USE_OWNER_DATE):Enter OWNER to use the owner effective year as the primary criteria for determining whether a name change has occurred when comparing the production to the CAD tables. Enter EXEMPTION to use the begin date of the qualifying exemption to determine if a new freeze should be entered. If this is set to EXEMPTION, the Start Date for HOM, O65 and DRH exemptions is required. For ported freezes with a port percentage of 0, a frozen levy of $0.00 is created. If the port percentage is 100%, a full frozen levy is calculated. The port year must be the same as the tax year. Expire this preference to allow the program to look for changes in the certified owner name when setting new freezes

TA_FREEZ_USE_0_AND_100_PORTPCT: Set to Y to set True Automation ported freezes to $0.00 if the freeze transfer percentage in the file is '0' and set freezes to full calculated amount if the transfer percentage in the file is '100'. Set the preference to N to ignore percentages of 0 and 100 and treat the accounts as normal frozen accounts.

1. From the Main Menu, click the Account Status () button or select Inquiry, then Account Status, or click the Go To drop-down list and select Account Status.  The Account Status screen will appear.
2. If the account has carried over from a previous screen, go to step 3.  
   
   If the Account Number field is blank, enter the account number, press F8, then go to step 3.
   
   If you need to enter a different account number, press F7, key in the new account number, press F8, then go to step 3.

Note: If you don't know your account number, see Locating an Account. Check the current levy and current tax units

3. In the Account Status screen, check the levy and tax units.
4. From the Go To list, click Account Master.  The Account Master Summary screen will appear.
5. If you need to transfer a frozen levy for a current year, skip to step 9.  If you need to transfer a frozen levy for a prior year, follow the steps below:

1. Click Prior Year(s).
2. Click Prior Year Rebuild.
3. Click Prior Year(s.
4. Using the drop-down list, select the year to view.  The list contains only those years that have been archived. If you want to see another year, key in that year in the year field.
5. Click OK. The Account Master Summary screen will display.

WARNING: If you want to view data for a paid account in a prior year and your tax office has had its paid account data loaded into ACT's archive tables, the property values and jurisdictions for the rebuilt year will be inserted. Please check them for accuracy. Enter any exemptions into either the Account Master Summary or Special Exemptions tabs.  Remember to return to the Account Master Summary screen and press F10 (Save).

For unpaid prior year accounts and paid accounts that haven't been put into the archive tables, zeroes will show in the value fields for the year you rebuild if the client preference POPULATE_EQUAL_VALUES is set to N.  If the preference is set to Y, the property values will be populated with data from the Receivable and Property Value screens.   If no values exist for that year in those screens, $0.00 values will be inserted. Please check the values for accuracy.  Remember to enter any exemptions, then press F10 (Save).  

A Receivable is not created unless it existed in the archive tables or in the regular production tables before doing this Prior Year rebuild.

6. Click the Frozen Amounts tab.  The Frozen Amounts screen will appear.

Note: If the client preference CALCULATE_FREEZE_ONLINE is set to Y, you do not need to go to this tab. Instead, make sure you are on the desired year of data on the Account Master Summary screen, then enter the port percentages in the fields there. Next, click Save and Calculate Levy. The steps below are not necessary.

7. Enter the Tax Unit for the school district or CED.
8. Click the star button () next to Exemption, select the correct exemption, then click OK.
9. Enter the Port Year.  
10. Enter the port percentage to be transferred in the Port % field (50% is entered as.50; 75% is entered as.75). A maximum of seven digits can be entered after the decimal point.
11. If the owner of the levy to be transferred is different from the owner listed as the Certified Owner for this account, enter the port owner's name in the Ceiling Owner field.

Note: If the Appraisal District change of ownership has not been entered into the ACT 7 system, you will need to perform this step.

12. Click Calculate Port Ceiling. The Freeze Year and Frozen Levy amount will be displayed.

Note: To calculate the ported ceiling, multiple the Port % by the amount of the Full Calculated Levy for each tax unit that applies to the homesite.

13. Click the Summary tab.
14. Click Save and Calculate Levy.
15. Click OK to the confirmation message.
16. Return to the Account Status and Receivable screens to verify that the levy has changed as expected.