Revised 11/6/2024



Overview.

 

Taxes can be imported into the Operator Dashboard. This feature allows us to adapt to tax rate changes quickly. 


The general process is: a spreadsheet that outlines each location's tax rate is uploaded to the system with an 'effective date'. On the 'effective date', the GLIDEPARCS will begin using the imported tax rates.


Importing.


If your Operator Dashboard account has the necessary permissions, you can import tax rates:


  1. Visit the Operator Dashboard: www.premiumparking.com/manage
  2. Select Manage
  3. Select Taxes
  4. Select Import
  5. Select "Choose File" button & attach the spreadsheet that contains the tax rates you want the system to use.

        

      The spreadsheet must follow a strict format - you can find a template on import tax page by selecting the "example"               hyperlink. Note: You MUST upload a spreadsheet that is either in xlsx or csv format. Also view the section below that                outlines notes and requirements for the spreadsheet.


       6. Select inside the "Effective Date" field and select a FUTURE date. The time is in Central time zone.


          The date you choose here is when the system will begin using the tax rates in the spreadsheet. This allows you to                     schedule tax rate changes that will be in effect in the future. For example, if today is 9/17/2024 and you want to have              new tax rates effective at the start of the next month, you would use the calendar to select 10/1/2024 12:00AM. The                 time is in CST.


  1. After selecting a future date/time, you can click into the field to modify the effective date if, for example, the time picker doesn't provide you with the exact time you want. If you wanted the effective date to be 12:30AM CST, you could select 12:00AM and then manually modify it to be 12:30AM.

       7. Select "Import Taxes". If the system accepted your spreadsheet, you would see a green success message: "Tax Import               Successfully Created. Effective Schedule Date 10/01/2024 12:00AM (CDT)". The effective schedule date would update               based on what you chose in step 6 above. Keep in mind that this does NOT mean that the taxes in the file are                           immediately live of used by the system. The system will begin using the tax rates on the effective date.


Summary Line.

 

Once you've successfully uploaded the tax spreadsheet, you will see a "summary line" directly below the filters (shown below in yellow rectangle) If you do not see a summary line, this implies that the system did not accept the uploaded file (and you should have seen an error message as well).

 

 


Some notes about the summary line:

  • Shows all future scheduled tax imports. If you have multiple.
  • Shows when each tax import is scheduled (in the above example, the imported tax rates will become effective on 10/01/2024 at 12:00AM CDT
  • You can download the imported file by selecting "Download imported file" hyperlink. This provides you with clarity on what issues (if any) exist with the uploaded file.
  • You can select "here" hyperlink to cancel the import ("Click here to cancel the update.")
  • You can see how many rows in the imported file will process on the effective date and how many will not. In the above example, my spreadsheet had 4 rows (essentially 4 locations) 2 of those location's new tax rates will import successfully and 2 will not. I could download the imported file to see more information on which locations have errors vs the ones that do not.

 

File Requirements & Notes


  • Aside from row 1 *(the header), each row should contain a unique location
  • The file headers (row 1) are important to keep exactly as the template has them. Do NOT change them or there could be issues with the imported file.
  • Location code = the P# of the location. This column's entries must start with the letter P and have 4 numbers after the P.
  • While the Total Applicable Rates column is shown on the spreadsheet, this is not truly being used by the system.
  • Each tax rate MUST have a % symbol in it. For example, the State tax % for P1234 should not be shown as "3.56" but instead "3.56%" 
  • It will be OK to upload a file that has "Reason for Differential" column, but this column must not be one of the first 5 columns
  • The main requirement is that the first 5 columns are in the exact order and those 5 column headers are exactly as outline:
    • Column A header is "Location Code"
    • Column B header is "State Sales Tax"
    • Column C header is "County Sales Tax"
    • Column D header is "City and Local Sales Tax"
    • Column E header is : "Parking/Special/Other"


Understanding Tax Upload Output File.


When viewing the tax spreadsheet output file, a new column (labeled "Errors" is introduced to show what happened for that individual locations tax. The below outline explains what you might see in the "errors" column and what those mean.


  • If you see "{}", implies there are NO errors for that row and the system sees this row as valid and therefore will implement those rates on the effective date/time.
  • Location Name "must start with "P" followed by 4 digits" implies the location in that row isn't in the specified format (P1234, P0012, P0400)
  • Location doesn't exist
    • Shown when a location in the spreadsheet is not found in the system. The location you may have in your spreadsheet could be and 'archived' location and the system is only looking for active locations.
  • ["Other tax must be less than or equal to 20.0"]
    • You may see this error or one like this when the tax % amounts exceed the threshold at the time the file was uploaded. The message also identifies which exact individual tax amount exceeds the threshold. In this example, the "other tax" % amount exceeds the 20% threshold. This implies that this entire row was not uploaded/updated.


Tax Rate Limits.


When a file is uploaded, the system will check each individual tax rate against the individual tax rate threshold. The system will also check the total tax for the row against the total tax rate threshold. If any of those checks fail, the row will not be viewed as valid and therefore the system will not use that row's information when the effective date occurs.


If your Operator Dashboard account has enough permissions, you can edit the tax limits:

  1. Visit the Operator Dashboard: www.premiumparking.com/manage
  2. Select Manage
  3. Select Taxes
  4. Select Tax Rate Limits: You can view the current tax rate limits.
    1. Max individual tax rate %:  This controls the maximum each individual tax rate can be. For example, if this is set to 20%, the state tax rate, the county tax rate, the city tax rate, nor other tax rate can individually exceed 20%
    2. Max total row tax rate %:  This controls the maximum the entire rows tax rate can be. For example, if this is set to 40%, the sum of the state tax rate, the county tax rate, the city tax rate, and other tax rate cannot exceed 40%.
  5. To edit the limits, select the "Edit" link
  6. Update the limits as needed. Nore: Do not include a % symbol, this will be automatically added to the system.
  7. Select Save. The new tax rate limits will immediately be in effect. This implies that if you have a future scheduled tax change and your new tax rate limits now make a few previously valid rows no longer valid, the now invalid rows will not be used.
    1. For example, if you upload a file that says P1234's total tax rate is 20% & at the time you upload, the max total tax rate is 25%, the output file & summary line will count this row as valid. If you then, before the effective date, change the max total row tax rate % to 15%, P1234's total tax rate is no longer valid and therefore P1234's tax rate will not be updated on the effective date.

Note: The system checks TWICE to ensure that the tax rates are within the limits: one check occurs when the file is initially uploaded, and the other check occurs when the effective date/time is reached.



FAQ


If I don't have a location on the imported spreadsheet, what happens to that location's tax rate?

The system will continue to use the existing tax rate for the missing location. For example, if P1234's tax rate is 10%, and you do not have P1234 on the imported spreadsheet, the system will continue to use 10% as P1234's tax rate.



A new tax upload became effective today, but I see the updated at times for certain location as in the past (not today). Why?

The system will only update the "updated at" timestamp when the tax rate materially changes. For example, let's say you have 0% tax for P1234 which shows an updated at time of 9/01/2024 at 12:01AM CST. On 11/01/2024, you have a tax update become effective which has 0% tax rate for P1234. Since the tax rate did not change at all, the system did not truly update that tax rate so for P1234, it will show the updated at time of 9/01/2024 at 12:01AM CST instead of reflecting 11/2/2024.