Summary

The Fee Maintenance window is used to create and maintain fee codes. Fees are user-defined codes used to generate an associated transaction on a business account. Fees are attached to tax types and then tax types are used to assess taxes on businesses.

Fee codes are attached to tax types using the Tax Type Maintenance window (BT> Maintenance> Tax Type).

Step by Step

1    View existing fee codes.

• Open the Fee Selection window (BT> Maintenance> Fee).
• The Fee Selection window displays all of the fee codes that have been created in the application.
• Highlight a fee code and press DELETE or click the Delete icon if you would like to delete a fee code.
  • Fee codes that are attached to existing Tax Types cannot be deleted.
• Highlight a fee code and press ENTER or click the Modify icon to edit an existing fee code.
• Press INSERT or click the Create icon if you would like to create a new fee code. This will open the Fee Maintenance window.

2    Create or edit a fee code.

• The Fee Maintenance window is separated into two sections. The top section is the Maintenance section and contains the basic fee information.
• Click the Copy icon if you would like to create a new revision of the selected fee. This will copy the fee details and create a new revision below the current revision on the Fee Selection window. You can then open the new revision and make the desired changes.
• The Code field is used to identify a unique fee type. The code field can be up to eight characters long. This is a required field.
  • The code cannot be changed once the fee has been saved.
• The Description field is used to enter a description of the fee code. The description can be up to 60 characters long.
• The Fee Type drop-down menu is used to select a fee type to attach to the fee.
  • The fee type you select will affect which of the remaining fields are active.
  • Select Standard to create a standard fee.
    • An example of a Standard fee would be an administrative or processing fee.
  • Select Penalty to create a penalty fee.
    • Selecting Penalty in the Fee Type drop-down menu limits the Fee Unit Type field to Days or Months.
    • An example of a Penalty fee would be a non-sufficient funds fee.
  • Select Interest to create an interest fee.
    • This selection also opens an editable Percentage field in the lower Interest Rate section of the Fee Maintenance window. You can enter a percentage value that will be used to determine the amount of the fee.
    • An example of an Interest fee would be a past due fee based upon a user defined percentage of an unpaid account balance.
    • Selecting Interest in the Fee Type drop-down menu limits the Rate Type field to Percentage and the Fee Unit Type field to Days or Months.
  • Fee Unit Types are created and maintained in the Fee Unit Type window (BT> Maintenance> Fee Unit Type).
  • The fee type cannot be changed once the fee has been saved.
• Specify an Effective Date for the current fee revision.
  • Once the fee has been saved, the effective date cannot be edited. This field will default to today's date.
• The Revision Number field will display the current fee revision.
• The Rate Type field is used to select whether the fee rate will be a flat fee or unit based.
  • Select Flat Amount to attach a flat fee to the fee code. When the fee is assessed, the amount specified in the Fixed Amount field below will be charged to the business.
    • This activates the Fixed Amount field and disables the Minimum and Maximum fields. Enter a fee amount in the Fixed Amount field and that amount will be billed to the customer when the fee is assessed.
      • The lower Rate section will be disabled when creating a flat rate fee.
  • Select Unit Based to attach an adjustable fee to the fee code. When the fee is assessed, the amount charged will be determined by the number of subject units associated with the business.
    • Selecting Unit Based disables the Fixed Amount field and activates the Minimum and Maximum fields below.
    • The amount charged per unit is calculated using the rate schedule set up below.
• There are two Fee Unit Type fields on the Fee Maintenance window.
  • The first Fee Unit Type drop-down menu is used to specify if a fee will be computed daily or monthly. This field will only be active if Penalty or Interest is selected from the Fee Type drop-down menu. See step 3 below for more information on how your selection in this field will affect the amount charged.
  • Click the second Fee Unit Type field label to select a fee unit type for the fee. This field will only be active if Standard is selected from the Fee Type drop-down menu.
    • Fee Unit Types are created and maintained in the Fee Unit Type window (BT> Maintenance> Fee Unit Type).
• The Payment Priority field is used to assign a priority level to the payment of the assessed fee. The Payment Priority value can be anything from 00 to 99. In the case of a partial payment, the system will allocate money to pay fees in Payment Priority order. If there is not enough money to pay a certain level of priority, the system will allocate the payment across all the fees with the same priority level.
  • Payment Priority codes are created and maintained on the Payment Priority Maintenance window (BT> Maintenance> Payment Priority).
• Associate the Revenue, Accounts Receivable and Cash accounts with the fee.
  • When charges are generated, the system will debit the AR account and credit the Revenue account.

• When payments are received, the system will debit the Cash account and credit the AR account.

• The system will not validate what type of account was entered, so you can enter any account for the Revenue, AR and Cash accounts.
• The Deposit Liability Account and Deposit Cash Accounts are not required, but if an account is specified for one, an account must be specified for the other.
  • These accounts can be used if your organization prefers to track deposits associated with fees differently than standard fees.
  • When charges are generated, the system will debit the Deposit Liability Account and credit the Deposit Cash Account. When payment is received, those charges are reversed.
• The Fixed Amount field is used to attach a fixed amount fee to the fee code.
  • This field is only used when creating Standard or Penalty fees that have Flat Rate selected in the Rate Type field.
• The Minimum and Maximum fields are used to specify the minimum and maximum fee amounts that can be assessed. These fields are only active if Unit Based is selected from the Rate Type drop-down menu.
  • If the calculated fee amount is less than the amount entered in the Minimum field, the minimum amount will be assessed. If the calculated fee amount is more than the amount entered in the Maximum field, the maximum amount will be assessed. Penalty fees that fall between the minimum and maximum will be assessed as calculated.
• The Fee to Discount field is used to specify a fee code that will be discounted when processing a business's tax return. This field is only used by organizations that track minimum net profit prepayments.
  • When using a minimum net profit fee, an organization will collect the minimum net profit amount from a business before that business's full tax liability is calculated. Once that full tax liability is calculated and the business is being processed through the CR Returns process, the value of the previously collected minimum net profit fee will applied as a credit to business's full tax liability. The fee that will be credited is the fee specified in the Fee to Discount field.
  • The collected minimum net profit amount will be recorded as revenue received in the current year.
  • The Discount Next Tax Year toggle is used to instruct the system to automatically apply the prepayment amount to the tax return for the next tax year. If this toggle is NOT checked, the system will apply the prepayment amount to the tax return for the current tax year.
  • When returns are processed in Cash Receipts, the Prepayment column in the Line Item data grid will display the prepayment amount associated with this fee and that amount will be applied to the return.
• The Active toggle is used to activate a fee code. Only active fee codes can be assessed.

3     Add rates to the fee.

• The rates section at the bottom of the Fee Maintenance window is used in conjunction with the fee units specified on the fee. The rates section tells the system how much to charge for each unit. The title of this section will change to reflect the selection in the Fee Type drop-down menu.
• If the Fee Type is set to Standard, the rate section is used to set up fee rate tiers.
  • Click the Create icon to add a new row to the Rate Tiers section.
  • The Level Break field is used to specify the level at which the rate tier changes and the Rate field is used to specify the percentage rate or flat amount charged on that level break.
    • All amounts greater than the current level break amount and less than or equal to the next level break amount will fall within the current rate tier.
    • The Rate values are decimal based. For example, 1.000000 is equal to 100%, 0.100000 is equal to 10% and 0.010000 is equal to 1%.
    • The BT system automatically accumulates the rates for each tier, meaning the fee total is determined by calculating each tier amount and adding up those tier totals.
    • For example:

• If the Rate Tiers section is set up as displayed above, the assessed tax fee on a $15,000 unit amount total would be $1,200 (7% on the first $5,000 (0 through 5,000) = $350, 8% on the second $5,000 (5,001 through 10,000) = $400, and 9% on the last $5,000 (10,001 through 15,000) = $450, so $350 + $400 + $450 = $1,200).
• If the Flat toggle is checked, the amount entered in the Rate field will no longer represent a percentage, but rather a flat amount that will be charged if the unit amount falls within that level break.

• Fee Unit Types are created and maintained in the Fee Unit Type window (BT> Maintenance> Fee Unit Type).

• If the Fee Type is set to Penalty, the rate section is used to set up penalty levels.
  • Click the Create icon to add a new row to the Penalty Levels section.
  • As with the Standard fee type, the Level Break field is used to specify the level at which the rate tier changes and the Rate field is used to specify the percentage rate or flat amount charged on that level break.
  • Penalty fee types use only Days or Months as the Fee Unit Type. When using Days, the value in the Level Break field will represent the number of days overdue. When using Months, this value will represent the number of months overdue.
  • As with the Standard fee type, all amounts greater than the current level break amount and less than or equal to the next level break amount will fall within the current rate tier.
• If the Fee Type is set to Interest, the rate section is used to set up the interest rate.
  • Interest fee types will be assessed when they are specified as the interest rate on a Tax Type (BT> Maintenance> Tax Type> Interest Code field).
  • Enter the desired interest rate in the Percentage field.
    • The interest rate values are decimal based. For example, 1.000000 is equal to 100%, 0.100000 is equal to 10% and 0.010000 is equal to 1%.
    • The Level Break field is not enabled on interest fees.
• Click the Save icon when complete.