Navigating payment tasks

Modified on Wed, 9 Jul at 8:02 AM

Overview

Payment tasks in TaxLab are used to manage provisional and terminal tax payments for entities. There are two ways to view payment tasks: by due date. or by entity. From either view, you can assign tasks, update their progress, filter by status, and export or send payment notices.

Accessing payment tasks

There are two ways to view payment tasks: by due date which allows users to view all entities with payments due on the selected date; or by entity, where users can view all payments due for a tax year for that specific entity.

Option 1: by due date, for all entities

This option allows users to see all payment tasks for entities they have access to, or have been assigned the task, grouped by due date.

From the Taxlab home screen, in the navigation bar select Workflow > Payments.
Select the relevant due date. Past due dates are shown in red.
Select from:
- the name of the group
- Not Grouped or
- All Payments.
This opens the payment tasks overview screen for that date, for the view selected.

Option 2: for the entity by tax year

From the TaxLab home screen, select the name of the entity.
Select the Tax years tab.
Select the relevant tax year; if the Payment Tasks check box has been selected, this will display all payment tasks for that period in the right hand panel. Select the name of the task will open it.

From this screen, tasks can be assigned to any user in your organisation. Assigning a task to a user will only give them access to that payment task, and not to the entity itself.

Navigating the payment tasks overview screen

The payment tasks overview screen displays all payment tasks for the selected due date where the user has access to the entity, or has been assigned the task.

The default view of the table is Payment summary which displays for each entity:

the tax number
the name of the entity as it has been entered into TaxLab
the tax type that the task is for
the period the task is for (P1, P2, P3, Terminal)
the balance date of the entity
the tax form
the GST frequency
whether the entity has extension of time (EOT)
the provisional tax method (uplift, estimate, GST ratio)
the tax liability, forecast, amount due, available credits, pending transactions, other and total amount payable
whether any notes have been added to the task
the progress of the task
the user who the task has been assigned to
the user which has been assigned the role of Partner for the entity

The settings cog enables view changes.

Selecting Send by Email Details updates the table view to show additional fields:

the Addressee (who the payment notice is addressed to) and the Email address of the recipient. These can be configured using the entity management feature.
the Theme of the payment notice, and the Office that the notice is addressed from. Branding for your organisation is available as part of organisation setup. TaxLab default formatting is available for all users. Theme and Office can be selected when the notice is selected for printing.
the Type of notice - this will default to Inland Revenue.
the Status of the email send.

Selecting Balance at due date includes:

the total Amount due
any amounts already Paid to IR
any amounts already Paid to the tax pool
any Pending transactions
The remaining Balance at due date

Selecting Balance today simply updates the Balance column to display the balance due on today's date. This view is useful to determine whether entities have made payment of their assessed amounts.

The Export button creates a Microsoft Excel file containing all records that have been selected using the check boxes. An exported file will contain all available data fields related to the task.

Selecting the check box next to any task will enable the Edit, Print and Send by Email (if this has been enabled for your organisation) buttons.

Selecting Edit allows you to bulk edit any of the selected tasks, and change the progress of the task, GST frequency and EOT status of the entity, and assign or reassign the task. If tasks have been selected with different progress or users, the fields will display [Mixed] and will be unable to be edited.

Selecting Print allows you to print to PDF tax payment notices for the selected entities, either as a Batch, a Group, a detailed calculation for a group, or to Copy and paste the notice. Selecting copy and paste will open the notice in a new tab, allowing you to select all and copy it, then paste into an email or other document and retain all the formatting.

Filtering with the sidebar

The left hand sidebar menu allows you to filter tasks by various items.

PROGRESS will filter tasks by the current job state they are in.
REVIEW allows you to filter by tasks requiring specific attention (nil balances, drafted, pending, payments to make, estimated amounts, refunds, or members of groups).
RECORDS filters by active tasks, ones ready to be archived, and those already archived.
ASSIGNED TO filters by those assigned to you, or to others.
PARTNERS filters by the name of the Partner assigned to the client.

Troubleshooting and FAQs

Payment tasks are missing

Tasks are only visible where an entity is active, the user has access to the entity or has been assigned the task, payment tasks have been enabled for the entity and the status of the task is not Automatically Closed. Check that you have access to the entity. Check that the entity has not been archived. Check that payment tasks have been enabled for that tax year. Check that the task you are looking for does not have a due date that is before the date the entity was created in TaxLab.

Tasks are displaying that shouldn't be

We recommend that if your entity is active and filing tax returns, that you keep payment tasks enabled even if they are expected to be nil each period. Disabling payment tasks runs the risk of tasks not displaying for future periods where there is a provisional tax liability.

Entities are not assigned to payment groups

Payment group assignment needs to be completed in the Entity Management module of TaxLab, and the creation of new payment groups can only be completed by an Administrator.

Payment task is automatically closed

The ‘Automatically Closed’ status is system generated. Any tasks in TaxLab where the due date was before the entity was created are automatically closed by the system. Users can change the record status of the task to ‘Active’. However, please note that once this has been changed, users will not be able to change the status back to ‘Automatically closed’. Going forward, the ‘Sent’ or ‘Not Required’ status can be used to close such tasks.