Web Site Technologies

ACT User Conference 2013

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E-Statements Shopping Carts Secure FTP

What Will We Talk About?

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2011 Legislative Change – HB 0843 Effective with 2012 tax year Owners can register to have certified

statements sent electronically Must register on or before September 15 Once registered, emails are sent annually

until revoked in writing

E-Statements

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EMAIL_ADDR_OF_E-STMT_SUBMITTER: email address to use as the 'From' address for emails sent from TCS. This does not need to be a valid address unless your tax office wants to track which e-mails bounce back (i.e., fail to reach the recipient).

E-STMT_EMAIL_DO_NOT_REPLY: If set to Y, a DO NOT REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL message appears on the e-mails sent to taxpayers. If it is set to N, then the DO NOT REPLY does not appear.

JUR_ADDRESS1, JUR_ADDRESS2, JUR_ADDRESS3

Client Preferences

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E_STMT_BEGIN_YEAR: First year an account with a new request can receive emailed statements (change to next year after Sept. 15 of each year)

STMT_IMAGE_URL: Directory path used for storing the e-mailed statement pdf files for retrieval on the E-Statement screen. The default path is https://actweb.acttax.com/act_images/

statements/[client]/

Client Preferences

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Entitlements:◦ E_STATEMENTS: View the E-Statement screen.◦ E_STATEMENTS_UPDATE:  Ability to expire

requests, update the Bad Address flag, and add new requests on the E-Statement screen.

Task – Manage E-Statements ACT Jobs - Cashier1, CashierNo2, Head

Cashier

User Security

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Click link

Tax Office Web Site

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Owner?If not, you

cannot register.

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Email to TaxpayerEMAIL_ADDR_OF_E-STMT_SUBMITTER

E-STMT_EMAIL_DO_NOT_REPLY

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Web Site

Email

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Request Date - Date the request was made on the tax office web site.Expired Date - Date the request for this account and email address was expired.Sent Date - Date the statement was produced for that year and link was emailed.

Year – Most recent tax year of the certified statement.Stmt Seq - Tax year of the statement unless it was

created by a print vendor.

E-Statement Request Screen

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Manage emailed statements that bounce back due to a bad email address.

Possible only if the preference EMAIL_ADDR_OF_E-STMT_SUBMITTER is set to a valid (real) email address and if the IT (information technology) department at your tax office can provide a way for you to see which messages were bounced back.

Bad Addresses

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Click in the correct request row, then click the Bad Address box.

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Expire RequestsTo prevent emailing of statements in the future, click the Expire box for the correct row.

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After Changes

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Click in blank line. Enter account no., press Tab. Enter Email Address. Click Save New Requests button, then

OK.

Add New Request Manually

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If multiple requests exist for same account, one statement per email address is sent.

Statements are not emailed to account/email combinations flagged with a bad address.

Statements are not emailed to accounts with requests that are expired.

Things to Remember

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Run batch menu no. 1346 (Create Fiduciary Requests for E-Statement Accounts) to create fiduciary requests with type of 'ES' for active e-statement requests.

Used during the certified statement billing process to either include or exclude these requests from files being sent to print vendors.

After September 15...

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Create Fiduciary (if needed)

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More fiduciary requests than email statement requests because –• E-statement requests require owner information the year the request

is made.• Fiduciary requests can be made for future years, when owner

information is missing.• In this case, owner information is missing for some accounts for 2012

(assume, for ex., that certified roll is not loaded yet for 2012). After certified roll is loaded, the receivables and

owner will exist and statements can be printed.

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Exclude these accounts from the printing vendor's file (done by ACT on the statement wizard by selecting/deselecting 'Group 5', the e-statement accounts group.)

If not using the statement wizard, you can prevent statements from printing by setting the ES fiduciary to have a Processing Option for certified roll of Tape to Tape in the Fiduciary Master screen.

Certified Roll

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Run batch menu no. 1646 (PDF Statements for E-Mailing) to create the statements.

Email is sent with a link to the statement. Request without current year receivables

will not receive a statement. Only links to certified statements with a 5-

year history will be emailed. These will be the current statement format

available from Online Products.

After Certified Roll Is Loaded...

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Statement Source: I – in house, V – vendor (only if individual .pdf files from vendor are loaded into ACT database first).

Sequence No.: leave blank if Source is I. If V, enter statement seq. no. for the .pdfs that are loaded (contact ACT for the number).

Extra Files: additional files must be 'uploaded' first (if you have an extra flyer, for ex.).

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• 3 emails sent for 2012.• Account 19748's request date is after Sept. 15, 2012, so no

2012 statement was sent. A 2013 statement would be sent after the 2013 roll is loaded.

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Move requests with bad email addresses to trigger table, batch menu no. 1087. ◦ Statements can then be printed and mailed.◦ Sets expired date to prevent statements from

being printed the next time this batch menu process is run.

Set expired date on bad email address requests without moving to trigger table – batch menu no. 1089.

Change Bad Address to Expired

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Uses 'captcha' feature

Dallas County

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Dallas County tax office approval required for each request.

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Certified statements include e-bill ID code. On tax office web site, taxpayers enters the

e-bill ID when requesting e-statements. E-bill ID changes if owner changes. Use TCS batch menu processes for fiduciary

coding and emailing link to statements.

Harris County

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An alternative to portfolios for paying multiple accounts at once.

No login required, but accounts and amounts are not saved after exiting.

Start with single account search, 'Click to Pay Now', then begin new search for next account.

Shopping Cart

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Account 1

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Account 2

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Account 3

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Before changes to payment amounts

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After changes to payment amounts

Owes 2011, 2010

Owes $ but is paying escrow for future year

Owes 2012

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Collector Solutions web site

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One convenience fee; one transaction for multiple accounts is being processed.

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Email Web site

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Pending payment message

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Post Payments – Select Accounts

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Post Payments - Lockbox

Nothing has changed from the normal Internet posting lockbox. This is run first in edit mode.

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Lockbox report shows amounts and years to pay

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Lockbox Posting – Post Mode

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2013 year shows escrow payment, but for more than $100

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Deposit Status screen shows the $100 escrow payment

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https://sftp.publicans.com/ Client preference:

FTP_DIRECTORY_NAME◦ For ex., Brazoria

https://sftp.publicans.com/ftp_Brazoria_mortgage

https://sftp.publicans.com/ftp_Brazoria_office

Login name and password are required FileZilla

Secure FTP