How to Use Municipal Property Tax — Reporting, Compliance & Year-End

This guide covers the reporting and compliance tools that help you monitor your tax operations, satisfy audit requirements, and close the fiscal year. It includes receivables aging, statements, the tax roll report, tax certificates, GL reconciliation, PSAS-compliant receivable classification, doubtful accounts, period accruals, multi-year comparison, and the year-end rollover process.

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Getting Here

1. Open the main sidebar and select a Bookkeeping Client.
2. In the client sidebar, expand Municipal Government → Property Tax → Reporting & Compliance.
3. Click any of the reporting pages. For Year-End Rollover, expand Configuration and click Year-End Rollover.

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Receivables (Aging & Balance Listing)

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Receivables

The Receivables page shows a detailed aging report of all outstanding tax balances. It is your primary tool for monitoring collections and identifying problem accounts.

The Receivables Table

Aging Summary

Above the table, summary cards show:

• Total Receivables — The sum of all outstanding balances.
• Current — Not yet past due.
• Over 90 Days — The most concerning aging bucket.
• Arrears Total — Balances carried from prior years.

Filtering and Export

Use the Tax Year dropdown and Classification filter to narrow the view. Click Export to download the full aging report as CSV or Excel.

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Statement of Account

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Statements

The Statement of Account page generates a formal statement for a specific property, showing all activity for a given period — notices, payments, charges, and the running balance. This is what you would provide to a property owner or their lawyer during a property sale.

Generating a Statement

1. Search and select a Property.
2. Optionally set a Date Range (defaults to the current fiscal year).
3. Click Generate Statement.

The statement shows:

• Header — Municipality name, property roll number, civic address, owner name and mailing address.
• Opening Balance — The balance at the start of the period.
• Transaction List — Every notice (debit), payment (credit), and charge (debit) in date order.
• Closing Balance — The balance at the end of the period.
• Aging Summary — How much of the closing balance is current vs. overdue.

Downloading and Printing

Click Download PDF to save the statement, or Print to send it directly to a printer. The PDF uses the notice template formatting.

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Tax Roll Report

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Tax Roll Report

The Tax Roll Report is the official assessment roll report — a complete listing of all properties, their assessed values, owners, and tax status for a given tax year.

Generating the Report

1. Select the Tax Year.
2. Optionally filter by Classification and Ward/District (if configured).
3. Click Generate Report.

The report includes:

• Every property with its roll number, civic address, and legal description.
• Owner name and mailing address.
• Land value, building value, other value, and total taxable value.
• Classification.
• Tax levy (total tax billed).
• Tax paid and outstanding balance.
• Exemption status.
• Assessment status.

Export Options

Download as PDF (formatted report with cover page), Excel (raw data for analysis), or CSV.

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Tax Certificates

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Tax Certificates

A Tax Certificate is an official document showing the tax status of a property — typically requested by lawyers during a property sale or refinancing. It confirms the current year's taxes, any arrears, and any special charges.

The Certificates Table

Issuing a Tax Certificate

1. Click New Certificate.
2. Select the Property.
3. Enter who Requested the certificate (law firm name, contact).
4. The system populates the tax status automatically:
   • Current year levy and payments.
   • Any arrears balances with years.
   • Any local improvement charges.
   • Any tax sale proceedings.
   • Any outstanding certificates.
5. Review the information.
6. Click Issue Certificate.

The certificate is generated as a PDF. It typically includes an expiry date (e.g., 60 days from issue).

Certificate Fees

If your municipality charges a fee for tax certificates, the fee is recorded as a separate receivable or can be collected at the time of issuance.

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Reconciliation (GL vs. Sub-Ledger)

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Reconciliation

The Reconciliation page compares the property tax sub-ledger (the sum of all individual property balances) to the general ledger tax receivable account. Any difference indicates a posting error that needs investigation.

The Reconciliation View

Performing a Reconciliation

1. Select the As Of Date (typically month-end or year-end).

2. The system calculates both balances and highlights any difference.

3. For each reconciling item, you can:

   • Accept — The item is valid (e.g., a manual journal entry).
   • Investigate — Flag the item for follow-up.
   • Create Adjustment — Create a correcting entry in either the sub-ledger or GL.

4. Once all items are resolved and the difference is zero, the reconciliation can be marked as Complete.

A history of past reconciliations is maintained for audit purposes.

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Receivable Classification (PS 1201)

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Receivable Classification

Under Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards (PS 1201), tax receivables must be classified as either current (collectible within one year) or non-current (long-term). This page automates that classification.

The Classification View

The page splits receivables into two groups:

Running Classification

1. Select the As Of Date.
2. The system analyzes every outstanding balance and classifies it based on age, payment plan terms, and tax sale status.
3. Review the classification. You can manually reclassify individual accounts if needed.
4. The classification can be exported for inclusion in the municipality's financial statements (Note disclosure for tax receivables).

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Doubtful Accounts (PS 3510)

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Doubtful Accounts

PS 3510 requires municipalities to assess the collectibility of receivables and establish an allowance for doubtful accounts. This page helps you calculate and manage that allowance.

The Allowance Calculation

The page shows:

Adjusting the Allowance

1. Review the calculated allowance.
2. For any specific accounts you know are uncollectible, add a Specific Provision — enter the amount and reason.
3. The total allowance = calculated allowance + specific provisions.
4. Click Post Allowance to create the GL entry:
   • Debit: Bad Debt Expense
   • Credit: Allowance for Doubtful Accounts (contra-asset)

The allowance can be updated at each reporting period.

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Period Accruals

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Period Accruals

Period accruals ensure that penalty and interest revenue is recognized in the correct fiscal period, even if the charges have not yet been formally applied. This is important for accurate financial reporting at month-end, quarter-end, and year-end.

Running Accruals

1. Select the Period End Date.
2. Click Calculate Accruals.

The system analyzes:

• Overdue notices that have not yet had charges applied.
• The number of days past due for each.
• The applicable charge rules and their rates.

It calculates the interest and penalties that have been "earned" but not yet posted, and creates an accrual entry:

• Debit: Accrued Interest/Penalty Receivable
• Credit: Interest/Penalty Revenue

When the charges are formally applied, the accrual is reversed.

Accrual History

A log shows all past accrual calculations with dates, amounts, and whether they have been reversed.

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Multi-Year Comparison

Path: Reporting & Compliance → Multi-Year Comparison

The Multi-Year Comparison page lets you analyze trends across tax years. It is a powerful tool for budget planning and identifying long-term patterns.

The Comparison View

Select up to five tax years to compare side by side:

The data is presented in a table and can be exported to Excel for further analysis or inclusion in council reports.

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Year-End Rollover

Path: Configuration → Year-End Rollover

The Year-End Rollover is a critical annual process that closes the current fiscal year and prepares the system for the next tax year. It transfers unpaid balances to arrears, flags tax-sale-eligible properties, and optionally advances the tax year setting.

Before You Begin

⚠ Warning: The year-end rollover is a one-way process. Once executed, it cannot be undone through the UI. Make sure you have a backup and that all reconciliations are complete.

Prerequisites checklist:

• All tax notices for the closing year have been generated.
• All payments have been recorded and posted.
• The GL reconciliation is complete and differences are resolved.
• The next year's assessment roll has been prepared.
• Mill rates for the next year have been configured.
• Requisitions for the next year have been created (if applicable).

Year-End Checklist Page

The Year-End Rollover page shows a New-Year Readiness checklist that verifies setup for the upcoming year:

Each item has a View link that takes you to the relevant page to complete the setup.

Selecting the Closing Year

1. Use the dropdown to select which fiscal year to close.
2. An arrow points to the next year (closing year + 1).

Preview

Once a year is selected, the system loads a preview showing:

Review these numbers carefully before proceeding.

Rollover Options

Four toggles control what the rollover does:

Executing the Rollover

1. Review the preview numbers.
2. Set the rollover options.
3. Click Execute Rollover.
4. A confirmation dialog appears — read it carefully.
5. Click Confirm to proceed.

The system processes the rollover and shows a completion message. The new tax year is now active.

Post-Rollover Checklist

After the rollover is complete:

1. Verify the arrears balances on the Tax Arrears page.
2. Review the tax-sale-eligible list on the Tax Sales page.
3. Confirm the new tax year appears as the default on the Dashboard.
4. Check that mill rates, assessments, and requisitions for the new year are all in order.
5. Send out the new year's tax notices.

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Practical Year-End Workflow

Here is a recommended order of operations for year-end:

1. Complete all collections — Record every payment received in the closing year.
2. Run final penalty/interest charges — Apply all overdue charges for the closing year.
3. Run period accruals — Accrue any earned-but-unposted charges.
4. Reconcile GL to sub-ledger — Resolve all differences.
5. Classify receivables — Run PS 1201 classification.
6. Assess doubtful accounts — Update PS 3510 allowance.
7. Prepare next year — Import assessments, configure mill rates, create requisitions.
8. Run the Year-End Rollover — Transfer arrears and advance the tax year.
9. Generate new year notices — Bill property owners for the new year.

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All Features Covered

This concludes the Municipal Property Tax tutorial series. The seven guides cover every page in the Property Tax module: