How to Correct Void Transactions Posted with the Wrong Accounting Date

INTRODUCTION
We often get calls from treasurers who have posted a void transaction in Pontem Tax Receipting using an incorrect accounting date. Once payment for a tax bill has been posted, the local treasurer must be very careful to use suitable accounting dates while voiding receipts and/or applying payments after tax bill edits.

This Help Document will explain how to correct void transactions posted with the wrong accounting date in Pontem’s Tax Receipting software.

A NOTE ABOUT SETTING DEFAULT ACCOUNTING DATES
When a new database is created the default is set to ‘Current Date.’ Pontem Tax Receipting allows users to override this default and set a desired accounting date for void receipts.

In the example below the default is set to use the ‘Receipt Date.’ To re-set this default to your preferred accounting date, select ‘’Edit | Adjust System Preferences | TR Configuration | Receipts’ from the Menu Bar.

During the Void Receipt Process when the following dialogue box appears, simply enter the accounting date you wish to use. Note that you have total control over which date to use.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BACKING UP YOUR DATA
We often get calls to assist users with unraveling a series of payments and voided receipts with a tax bill edit thrown in for good measure. The first thing our Help Desk Technicians always ask is: “Do you have a backup file which can be used to restore your data?”

Restoring your database from a backup file is often the cleanest way to get your data back into the condition it was before you went down the path of payments and voided receipts with tax bill edits.

Pontem’s Tax Receipting software has built-in backup and restore utility accessible via the File menu. Instructions about how to use this essential tool can be found in Pontem’s Online Training and Support Center (OTSC). Simply go to www.pontem.com and click on the Support tab to
log in to the OTSC.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVISING A PLAN BEFORE CORRECTING OR VOIDING TAX RECEIPTS
Before you begin the process of correcting a tax receipts consider what the end result should be for reporting. Map out beforehand the process you will follow. Remember the Payment Date controls the penalty and interest calculations when you post a payment. The Accounting Date is the date most often used and included on the Tax Receipt Summary for paying the authorities for whom you have collected taxes. You will want any voids and payments made to reflect properly on your latest reports so dates selected are particularly important.

Editing a Tax Bill with Payments Resulting in an Increased Amount Due
If you receive an order from the Board of Review or MTT to increase a tax bill that has been partially paid or in full, there is no need to void the original receipt/s. Because you are adding to the bill, the original receipt has now become a partial payment.

In Pontem’s Tax Receipting software you do a Board for Review edit to change the bill. Board of Review edits create a receipt which begin with an R and always use the current date (today) for the accounting date.

Editing a Tax Bill with Payments Resulting in a Decrease to the Amount Due
The ‘Edit Tax Bill’ feature in Pontem’s Tax Receipting software automatically manages the voiding of receipts if a post-payment edit decreases a tax bill. For your information the following steps are those which the system uses to process the receipts and tax bill:

• The original receipt will be voided using the Current Date for the accounting date regardless of what the default configuration is set to in ‘Edit/Adjust System Preferences.’
• To properly apply interest and penalty to the void, the Payment Date used will be the payment date from the original receipt.
• If there were one or more partial payments, they will be each be voided using the same rules for the accounting and payment dates as described above.
• ‘Edit Tax Bill’ will create a receipt that has a prefix of “R.” It will always have the current date used as the accounting date.
• At ‘Save’ the system will recreate the original payment receipt/s with a replacement receipt. The final replacement receipt will show the refund amount due to the taxpayer.

• On the Menu Bar select Reports | Transactions | Overpayment Report to retrieve a list of the bills where a refund is now due to the tax payer.

Do I Want Pontem Tax Receipting to Automatically Manage the Voiding and
Re-Application of Payments During a Tax Bill Edit That Will Decrease a Bill?
This is a question you must consider prior to performing an edit to bills that will decrease the amount due.

Do the bills have full or partial payments applied to them? If you allow the system to automatically manage the voids and edit process, re-application of payments will all use the current date for an accounting date. Typically, this is the way most users will want to post these transactions. However, if you don’t want to use the current date for the accounting date you will not want your Pontem Tax Software to manage this process automatically.

Making Corrections When Voids Span Two or More Accounting Dates
If you have multiple payments and voids that span two or more accounting dates, how do you go about making corrections? Here is an example of the approach to take when correcting this type of situation:

1. Print a ‘Tax Receipt Index w/Comments.’ This report can be found in ‘Reports | Tax Receipts | Tax Receipt Index w/Comments.’
1. Filter by the appropriate tax period and enter one parcel number with problem transactions. The parcel number will go into the Beginning and Ending parcel number range.
2. Select all check boxes under ‘Include’ to see the full scope of the transactions that affect the bill. This report will help you with determining the steps you will have to take to get your payments on the correct accounting date.
2. Run the same report for the same parcel only for Regular Tax Payments.
3. Determine on what day you want the final payment to be reflected.
4. Examine the second report and determine what has happened on each accounting date for that tax bill.
5. Construct a table to display pluses and minuses in accordance with the payments and voids on each accounting date.

Here’s an example of what your ‘Tax Receipt Index with Comments’ report might look like:

Once you have run a ‘Tax Receipt Index with Comments’ report, create a table like the one below which will help you decide what your course of action should be in the event, for example, you need the payment to be posted on 8/12/2009.

This is a very simple example. In this scenario, basically the user must back into the desired results as illustrated in the table. Going through the thought process to determine the correct course of action is what takes the most time but is crucial to properly correcting such errors.