Frequently Asked Questions
Taxpayer Appeals
Will email and phone numbers entered at registration show up on their owner account in pacs?
We will push the email address into PACS to the Online Portal email address field. We are not pushing the phone number upon registration.
What is the publish location for PACS documents so the API can put them on the taxpayer’s portal?
Harris
Can we turn off the Request for Documents?
Yes, there is a setting in the Admin Portal to turn off the request for documents.
Can we use the Owner ID instead of the e-file pin?
Yes, there is a setting in the Admin Portal to register by Owner ID and PIN.
Can protest date windows be set by property type? For example Real accounts protest window May 28-June 27 and Personal Property May 23-Jun 22.
No, there is not a setting in the Admin Portal to set dates by property type. But you could run your notices by property type with different deadline dates.
Just to confirm, the login for the portal is the same as last year?
Yes, if your taxpayer registered to the portal last year, they will use the same login.
This is strictly for Property owners not agents correct?
Yes, the webinar demo’d the taxpayer portal and taxpayer appeals.
Are there how-to’s for how to “publish” the documents to the portal or are we going to have a alternate way to upload to the portal?
Harris
Is there a way to filter on the admin portal for new applications that need to be approved?
In the Admin Portal you can filter by Online Portal Registration Status. This will filter the registrations that need to be approved. The Electronic Communication Agreement does not need to be approved.
Will we be able to delete evidence if something is uploaded in error?
No, you cannot delete district evidence in PACS that has already been published to the online portal.
Where can we confirm published documents to the property owner (such a notice of hearing, etc)
There is a record in the Letter History at the property level or under Events and Codes in the protest screen.
Can videoconference option be removed?
Yes, there is a setting in the Admin Portal to turn it off.
Also is the limit size for all CADs or do we set our own limit?
The 19mb file upload size applies to all CADs.
Since we have the taxpayer portal then there won’t be an option to have notice/evidence request sent my email?
All online appeals will receive an email when those documents are available in the Taxpayer Portal.
Is the evidence upload a one-time option or can the taxpayer add additional evidence after they’ve submitted their appeal?
The taxpayer can upload additional evidence after they have submitted their appeal.
Did you remove the chat / comment function?
No, we still offer the chat/comment function. There is a setting to turn it on/off.
Will we have the ability to log in as the taxpayer and see what they see? This was a very helpful feature in the Harris Govern protest portal when customers were having problems
We do not have this functionality yet, but it is on our radar for the future.
How are email logs associated with the property? Is it associated with any requests made by the taxpayer?
There are email logs for Taxpayer Appeals under Contact History on the protest screen in PACS. All requests made by the taxpayer are stored in the BIS Admin Portal.
Can we make the “opinion of value” box a requirement for them to fill out?
Yes, there is a setting to make this a required field.
Do the documents push over into the ARB images?
No, uploaded evidence is pushed into the evidence tab.
Is it required to change the status when we schedule a formal hearing in order for the hearing notice of publish? I thought we could just publish the hearing notice w/o changing the status. This would be a new step for our district.
No, you don’t have to change the status to publish the hearing notice. The taxpayer will get email notification when the hearing notice is published. When you change the status, the taxpayer will get an email telling them their hearing has been scheduled.
If we send an email reminder, will it show up under the events on PACS? or how can we track when the email reminder was sent?
Yes, email reminders that are sent via the Taxpayer Portal will be logged under Contact History in PACS.
On the Contact History Section, can we add an event manually?
No
In the PACs contact history can we view the email or just a record of it?
You can view the contents of the email sent.
Can the appraisers still chat in the Online Appeals?
Yes, we still have the chat/comment feature. There is a setting to turn it on/off.
Is the request for documents alert only in the admin portal or can we set it to send an alert to an email.
We have a setting in Admin Portal to send the requests to an email account.
If a taxpayer sends an email to your work email, it would not be put in PACS but if they send a request through the portal it would be put in PACS, correct?
Requests submitted through the Taxpayer Portal are stored and managed in the Admin Portal. They are not pushed into PACS.
How long will the dashboard be around after the season?
The Admin appeals dashboard will be available year round.
How do you assign protest to appraisers?
You assign the appraiser in PACS under Hearing Minutes.
Where can you see all appls. submitted online?
In the Admin appeals portal, you can see a list of All Active Appeals.
Are settings from previous years still in place or do we have to reconfigure them?
The settings are still in place, but you should review them prior to the season starting.