Receive Payment
Summary
The Receive Payment page is where, as it's name suggests, payments are received. By using this page as it is intended, it will allow you to take and track your payments efficiently. The Receive Payment page is accessible under the Billing menu heading.
The Receive Payment screen is broken down into 3 main sections. hello
Information Section
This section displays all of the relevant information about the bill that could be necessary for taking a payment as well as housing a few action buttons. These action button will be mentioned later.
Transaction Section
This section will display all the relevant information about the current transaction being processed and contains three main tables.
- The table on the left hand side is the selected bills table. This table will show all of the bills that have been selected to be paid on the current transaction.
- The middle box is for the Payer information. This box is where the payer information is entered and added to the transaction.
- This section also contains a few buttons that will also be mentioned later.
- Finally, the last table is the payment item table. This table will display each of the payments that have been applied to the transaction.
Search Area
The search area has two sections.
Bottom Search
The bottom search area is a general search table. By selecting a specific search criteria or filter, it offers a variety of ways to search and filter through the bills available for you to collect.
Top Search
The top search area is a more specific search. By inputting a bill number, selecting a filter or selecting a district (only applicable if you collect for more than a single district), this search will allow you to directly select a specific bill to be paid.
Receiving A Payment
There are a few small variations on how to receive a payment using this site, but they all follow the same basic process. The example we will be using for this guide will be a single bill, single payment situation. For other situations, please refer to this section.
- Select the bill/bills to be paid.
- Add the payment/payments to the transaction.
- Submit the transaction.
Selecting A Bill
Bills are selected by using one of the two searching methods shown earlier. You can search by either entering a bill number using the top search or by filtering the bottom search using any search criteria listed in the select box.
If using the top search, there are two possible situations that might arise.
- If you only have a single bill with a given bill number, the after either hitting the enter button or clicking the search button, the corresponding bill will automatically be put into the selected bill table and its information will populate the information section. From here you can move onto the next step.
- If you have multiple bills that share a common bill number (This situation might arise if you have multiple billings and/or multiple districts), a screen will pop up showing you all of the bills that share that bill number. From here, you can click on the bill you intend to collect.
If using the bottom search, just double click on the record that you would like to pay.
Adding A Payment
Once a bill has been selected and added to the selected bills table, the next step is to add a payment. When the bill is selected, the payer info box will automatically be populated with the owner information for that bill. This information should match the information you have from the person that is paying the bill. If it does not, you should enter the correct information in the proper text input.
After the proper payer information is entered, the payment type and the payment amount should be checked. As with the other fields, the amount to be paid will automatically be populated by what is on the bill.
If the amount owed on the bill does not match what is on the check, the amount on the check should be entered regardless of if the payment is too much or too little.
Once the correct information is inserted, either click the add button located below the check number input or hit the enter key. Doing so will add the payment to the payment item table. If the payment is not added to the payment item table, the payment will not be counted in the transaction.
Submitting A Payment
When you are about to submit a payment, the first thing you should notice is the balance indicator at the bottom of the payment item table.
If the balance of the transaction is $0.00 and all of the payer information is correct, then there is nothing left to do but click the submit button.
If the transaction runs through the system properly a response message will pop up confirming that the payment went through.
If the balance indicator is not $0.00, then one of two situations has occurred.
Too Much
If the payment amount is more than what is owed on the bill and not within the tolerance you set, a screen will pop up letting you know that the payment amount is more than what is owed and you will prompted to generate a refund. If that amount difference is within your selected tolerance, no screen will pop up and the payment will still be able to be processed.
Too Little
If the payment amount is less than what is owed on the bill and not within the tolerance you set, a screen will pop up letting you know that the payment amount is less than what is owed. If that amount is within your selected tolerance, no warning will pop up and the payment will still be able to be processed.
Types of Transactions
There are a few different situations that can arise when taking payments. Following this heading, each of those situations will be discussed as well as how to process them.
One Bill One Payment
This type of payment is the most basic type of transaction and is used in the example above. Please refer this example on how to proceed.
One Bill Multiple Payments
For the situation where a tax payer sends in multiple forms of payment, the system allows you to include all payments on a single transaction. To take multiple payments, you would follow all the normal steps for selecting a bill first. From there, our first step is to enter all of the information about the first form of payment into the payer information box.
In this example, our total is $535.26.
Let's say that the person paying this bill has sent in $200 in cash and is paying the rest with a check. To take a $200 cash payment, we will change the payment type to CASH and put 200 in the amount input.
From there, click the add button to add the payment to the payment item table. Notice now that the balance left on the transaction is the remaining dollar value left on the bill.
This process is repeatable for any number of payments that the tax payer is using. To finish the transaction in our example, we will add another payment using the remaining amount.
Adding that payment will allow the balance indicator to be $0.00 and the transaction can be completed.
Multiple Bills One Payment
For the situation where a tax payer uses a single check to pay for multiple properties, the system allows you to include all selected properties on a single transaction. To select multiple bills, follow the steps for selecting a single bill. Then, using either method for selecting a bill, search for the next bill that you intend to pay and select that bill the same way you selected the first one.
Both of the selected bills will show up in the selected bill table. The information that appears in the payer information box will depend on the last bill that was selected. The total for those selected bills will automatically be calculated and put in the payment amount input.
From here, you can enter the check number for the payment and either hit enter or click the add button. As long as all the information entered is correct, the submit button can then be clicked and the transaction will be processed.
Multiple Bills Multiple Payments
This final situation is a combination of the two previous situations. You would first select all of the bills that being paid, then enter all of the payments that are going on the transaction. This situation on the Receive Payment page could look something like this.
Installment Payments
If the billing that you are collecting for supports taking installment payments, the system allow you to be very flexible with how you take them.
- The first step is to select a bill to be paid. Once a bill is selected to be paid, it will appear in the selected bill box (located below the bill information box).
- With the bill selected to be paid, the next step is to click on the bill in the selected bill box so that it is highlighted blue with white text. (Notice that when it is selected, the Discount, Face, and Penalty radio boxes will also be highlighted in blue)
- From here, take notice of the Installments button located at the top left of the Tax Amounts box.
- When that button is clicked, if a bill has installments, the installments will appear. (Notice that the radio boxes are highlighted in purple. If the bill was not selected, these would not be highlighted in purple).
- From here, the installments can only be selected sequentially.
- When an installment is selected, the amount being paid is automatically calculated and added to the total that is due on the transaction.
From here, the payment can be taken as normal. Enter the check number for the payment, add the payment to the transaction, then click the submit button.
Multiple installment payments can be done on a single transaction. If a check were to come in for multiple installments, the recommended procedure is as follows above. Then once at step 6, select the next installment payment until all of the intended payments have been selected. The system will automatically calculate the proper amount to be paid depending on how many installments are being paid be they at face or penalty.
- The payment can then be completed as normal.
Other Actions
Listed here are some auxillary features of this page.
Refunds
A refund on a transaction will only happen in the instance that a payment is either too much or the bill has already been paid. In either case, the amount that is trying to be paid is more than what is owed for the transaction. If your transaction needs to have a refund generated, a screen will popup indicating why a refund will be generated.
By selecting Confirm Payment, you will be brought to the refund page. This page is where you will specify what bill the refund belongs on and how much the refund will be. This page will display each bill and each payment item on the transaction. From here, you can select a payer for the refund to go to as well as the bill.
In the example above, we have a single bill and a single payment item. Displayed to the left is the single bill we have on the transaction. Displayed to the right is the single payment item on the transaction. In the center, we have the refund information. We have a single refund being generated for John Doe for the amount of $38.49 and the refund is being applied to bill A00001.
The refund is able to be processed when the Refund Left indicator, located above the bill number selector at the center of the screen, is $0.00. If the transaction is not able to be processed, the center box on the screen will turn yellow as a warning and display the amount left on the refund yet to be assigned.
If there is just a single bill and a single payment, the refund will automatically be set by default to the single payments information. If there is more than one payment, you can select which payment information to fill in by clicking on the payment item on the right. If more than one refund needs to be assigned for this particular transaction, just click the add button to add another.
The example above indicates that there is a single bill and single payment with two refunds being generated; the first for $20 and the second for $18.49.
Clicking the submit button will process the payment like normal with the refunds being accounted for.
Changing Collection Period
The site allows you to change what period you are collecting a bill in. There are two ways the system allow you to do so. If the situation does arise where you should need to change the billing period, you can either change the date credited on the bill, or directly change the value the bill is being collected at.
Date Credited
At the top of the screen next to the district selector and below the batch number indicator, you will see a date selector. This date selector defaults to the current system date. This date can be changed to back date some receipts. Back dating the receipt will automatically select the proper billing period for that bill.
Discount Face Penalty
In the information section of the page, under the box titled Tax Amounts, there are three check boxes labeled Discount, Face and Penalty. These check boxes are the manual overrides for a selected bill. To use the override, you must first select the bill from the selected bills table that you want to override. The image below shows a single bill in the selected bill table that is selected.
You will know that a bill is selected when it is highlighted in blue with white text.
Once the bill is selected, you can click on the checkbox corresponding to the billing period you wish to select. Doing so will change the amount that appears in the payer info box as well as the total that is due for that bill.
Action Button
The action button is a button that will start an auxillary action for you. Included in these actions are Viewing the Original Tax Bill, Viewing the Payer Information, and Viewing/Creating Comments on bills.
Viewing the Bill
Reprinting a tax bill is an easy process. To reprint a tax bill, first you must select a bill, then click on the action button menu to select View Bill. Once View Bill is selected, clicking the button will generate the original tax bill.
Then tax bill that is generated will be dependant on which County you are collecting the bill for, and which billing period the bill belongs to.
Viewing Payer Information
Viewing the payer information follow a similar process as viewing the tax bill. First you must select a bill, then select the Payer Info option from the action button options, then click the action button. Doing so will generate a popup that displays the information about all of the payments that were taken on the specified tax bill.
Viewing/Creating Comments
Viewing/Creating a comment on a bill is a new feature that allows you to attach any notes or statements about a tax bill to the tax bill's record. First you must select a bill, then select the View Comment option from the action button options, then click the action button. Doing so will generate a popup that displays the comments already on the selected bill.
To create a comment on a bill, you would click the create button located at the top of the view comment popup and this screen will show up.
You would then type out the comment in the text area and attach the comment to the bill, just click the submit button. Once the comment goes through, you will be taken back to the view comment screen and your comment will be displayed there.
Uploading Mortgage Company Files
Mortgage company files may not apply to every County, but if they do, the site can bulk process those payments. There is a button located at the top of the information section of the page next to the clear screen button.
Clicking the Upload File button will open a popup that prompts you to upload the mortgage company file.
You can either drag and drop the file onto the file upload or click in the file upload area to open your file explorer and select the proper file. Once you do this, clicking the process button will begin processing the file and display to you all of the bills that are to be processed. From there, you can view any discrepancies that may show up, such as a bill already being paid. If that is the case, then a refund will be generated for those discrepancies. You can then enter a name for the mortgage company and click submit.
The files that can be uploaded need to be in a specific format. The format is described below.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| File Format | Text File => .txt |
| Total Line length | Fixed line length 57 characters each |
| Control number | (6 digits without the district and ward): 123456 |
| Bill Number | (5 digits Left padded with spaces): 444 |
| Amount | (9 spaces left padded with zeros): 000123412 => $1234.12 |
| Check number | (6 characters left padded with spaces): 999999 (Check Number can be left blank but the spaces must still exist) |
| Name | (31 characters right padded with spaces): Jane Doe |
EX. 123456 444000123412999999Jane Doe
Credit Card/E-Check Payments
Credit card payments may not apply to every County, but if they do, the tax collector site integrates directly with our partnered payment processor MSB. There is a button located at the top of the information section of the page next to the clear screen button. This button is an action button just like the View Bill button. By clicking the arrow to the right of the text, you can change which action the button will do.
To initiate a credit card payment, you first need to select a bill that has not been paid yet. Currently, only a single bill may be paid with a credit card at a time. If a bill is not valid to make a credit card payment, a screen will pop up communicating that what is wrong with the selected bill.
Once a valid bill has been selected, clicking the button will open a new tab within the tax collector site. This tab is the online payment page. This page will show MSB's page where the credit card information can be entered, as well as a progress bar at the top. When this page pops up, you will need to enter the credit card information of the tax payer and click the "Submit Payment" button.
The progress bar is there to indicate when the payment has been posted back to GSS. When a transaction is complete, the progress bar at the top of the page will indicate when the payment has been received by GSS and the blue "Done" button in the top right corner will be enabled. Clicking the done button will launch a dialogue that will ask you if you want to print a receipt. Clicking confirm will produce a receipt for the recent web payment and clicking no will take you back to the "Receive Payment Page".
Previous Payer Information
A button has been added to the payer information section for retrieving the last payer information that has been processed.
Clicking this button will fill in the name, address 1, address 2, city, and state fields with the last payment information.