Configuring Tax Unit Control Records for Calculating and Printing Taxes

Tax Unit Control records are essentially the ‘container’ that holds each Tax Unit’s tax bills for each Tax Period.  This Unit Control record also contains the general configuration information used for that period’s tax bills. 

Tax Unit Control Records are generally created when a previous period is cloned.  This cloning shortcut save time and effort. However, because the information is copied exactly from a previous year, the new Control Records will need to be review and edited with current year information. 

The primary objective of this configuration step is to define the bits that will print on the tax bill.

1. Navigate to the Tax Roll Setup When navigating to this workspace the records will be shown as a list.  
2. Select (double click) the desired record from the list and then click ‘Tax Unit General Info’ to view the details for this record. You will notice each Tax Unit Control Record has details organized on various tabs.  It is important to review, update, and/or correct the information on each tab. 
3. Update the information on the General Tab.
   1. Click Edit.
   2. Confirm Treasurer’s Name and Address information is correct.
   3. Verify the details in the Administration Fee
   4. The dates and rates in Activation Dates section are used in the collections process and are not necessary for calculating taxes. You can choose to update this information, or skip for now, and edit later during collections.
   5. Enter the Tax Roll Date. It is recommended you use July 1 for Summer and Village and December 1 for Winter.
   6. Click Save

Tip: The ‘Copy To All’ button appears in many locations on these tabs. If you are a county processing taxes for multiple units, it can be used to copy related information to ALL ‘Tax Unit Control’ records for the tax period. In the example above, the ‘Tax Roll Date’ would be copied from the current record to all other ‘Tax Unit Control’ records enabling you to make one edit of common information and replicate it to all other applicable locations.

4. Update the information on the Notices, Messages, and Headings
   1. Click Edit.
   2. Update the Notices tab information.
   3. Click Save
   4. Repeat for the Messages and Headings
5. Update the information on the Delinquent Tab
   1. Enter a current message in the filed labelled Tax Bill Message for Prior Year DT Note: When the previous year’s taxes were turned over unpaid to the County Treasurer and they are still unpaid at the time the tax bills are printed, the ‘Tax Bill Message for Prior Year DT’ is printed on the tax bill.
   2. Settlement Date should be left blank.
   3. If desired, make a selection in one of the Add this to DT Base when Transferred This determines if the ‘Penalty’ and/or ‘Interest’ will be included in the Delinquent Base Tax for any tax bills transferred into the Pontem Delinquent Tax (DT) software system for collection.
6. Ignore the GL Accounts Tab.
   This tab is used to define ‘General Ledger’ accounts for the Asset/Revenue and Liability Accounts affected by tax collections. It is typically configured when a database is initially set up, and should require no changes.

The following image is a helpful visual reference to understand how the configuration of the Tax Unit Control records affects the printed tax bill.