Add Payment Plan

Quick Reference Follow these steps to enter a payment plan: Click [Pmt Plan] button on Property form Click [Add Payment Plan] button on Payment Plan form Check box by year to include in the payment plan Enter the Deposit Amount and adjust other defaults Click [Add Installments] button Click [Create Flags] button to keep out of sales Click [Print Payment Plan] and have taxpayer sign Close the Payment Plan form Click [Rec. Pmt.] and add a receipt for the deposit amount, if needed REMEMBER! Create the payment plan before accepting the deposit payment.

Add Payment Plan starts a new payment plan and fills in the following default information:

Origin Date: Today's date

Start Date: First day of the next month

Payment Count (Pmt Cnt): 12

Status: Active

End Date: Last day of the 12th month

A Current Balance List by year with interest calculated to the End Date. Balances for claims prior to the current year are checked for inclusion in the payment plan.

Amount Due: Sum of the checked balances in Current Balance List.

Deposit Amount: $0.00

Balance Due: Amount Due - Deposit Amount

Installment Amt: Balance Due / Payment Count

Once you have created a Payment Plan with these defaults you may change the Origin Date, Start Date, Payment Count, Amount Due and Deposit Amount. The End Date is computed automatically by adding the number of months indicated in the Payment Count to the Start Date. If the End Date changes the program recomputes the Current Payment List to reflect interest through the new End Date. The Amount Due can be entered manually or by checking and unchecking the Include boxes in the Current Balance List. The Balance Due is computed by subtracting the Deposit Amount from the Amount Due.

Checking the Stay box is an alternative to entering the Payment Count that forces the program to conform to the requirements of a Stay of Sale agreement. If checked it will create a payment plan with four payments, each three months apart, beginning with the month and year from the Start Date.

Deposits

A Deposit Amount can be entered here so that it will be made part of the calculation of the Installment Amount and appear on the Printable Payment Plan described below. Entering the amount here does not replace creating a receipt; that needs to be done as a separate step on the Receipt Form as you would usually to receive a payment. If you have already posted a payment for the Deposit Amount you should not include it on this form because it will reduce the Balance Due below what is actually owed. If you have already posted the Deposit Payment and want it to show on the payment plan you can enter it here and manually increase the Amount Due by the amount of the Deposit. This may be confusing, however, because the Amount Due will not match the sum of the Current Balance list.

Add Installments

This button will add an installment record for each month starting with month and year specified in the Start Date according to the number entered in the Payment Count. If the Stay box is checked the program will create four payments, three months apart, starting with month and year specified in the Start Date.

Create Flags

The Create Flags button will create a Stay of Sale flag for each tax claim year that has been selected in the Current Payment List to be part of this payment plan.

Print Payment Plan

This button creates a printable version of the payment plan including all payment amounts and dates. It also includes the legal wording for a Stay of Sale agreement notifying them that as long as they adhere to the agreement their property will not be taken to sale and that if they violate the agreement then will not be eligible for another one for three years.

Create Receipt

When a tax payer brings in a payment the entering of the receipt should begin here in order to maintain a history of whether the tax payer has conformed to the terms of the payment plan. Enter the date the payment was received and the payment amount on the line corresponding to the payment being satisfied then click the Create Receipt button. This will open the Receipt Form where you can continue processing the payment as normal. If the tax payer is satisfying more that one payment at a time enter the payment information on the last one that the payment satisfies completely then click the Create Receipt button. On the preceding installments enter the date of payment but leave the amount set to zero.

Recording payments on this form is important because the program uses this information to generate Payment Plan Reminder letters for tax payers who have missed payments. These letters are available from the Reports Menu.

Changing Payment Plan Status

At some point you will need to change the Status of the Payment Plan. If the tax payer successfully finishes the payments you should change the status to Completed. If the tax payer fails to complete the plan in a timely fashion you should change the Status to Defaulted. If you replace the payment plan or for any other reason no longer need it then you should change the Status to cancelled. Only Payment Plans with a Status of Active are evaluated for Payment Plan Reminder Letters. If a Property is completely paid off the program will automatically change the Status of all Active Payment Plans to Completed.