Setting up Association Fees
Setting up Association Fees
Association assessment fees are fees due from the homeowner paid to the association. These are fees/charges that are typically fees that are billed to most if not all homeowners on a regular schedule. Examples of these fees would be HOA dues, maintenance fees, or special assessments. CINC Accounting’s flexibility allows the setup of various payment frequencies and ways to target the amount billed to each homeowner through ratio billing or section billing.
NOTE: It is important to first set up the assessment names that appear in the Assessment Type dropdown.
To set up association assessment fees:
Select Setup > Association Fees. If you are using universal navigation, click Accounting > Settings > Association Fees.
Select the association using the Association Search field.
Choose the Fiscal Year that applies to the fee.
Click New to create a new assessment fee for the association chosen. The Association Fee Setup screen is displayed.
Complete the fields in the General Information section as needed:
Description: Enter a description of the fee that can be used as the charge description on the homeowner’s ledger when generating billing.
Assessment Type: Choose from the dropdown. If the desired assessment type is not in the dropdown, the assessment has not had a GL code (typically income) linked to it on the System > Assessments screen. If you are using universal navigation, click Accounting > Settings > Assessments.
Regular Annual Fee: Enter the total amount that a single homeowner will pay for a full year’s assessments.
NOTE: If the association bills the homeowner annual fee using ratios, the Regular Annual Fee should be the combined fee for all homeowners and Uses Homeowner Ratio? should be toggled on. The system will automatically calculate the amount owed by the homeowner after entering their percentage on the primary homeowner information screen.
Round to: If setting up a Ratio billed assessment, use the dropdown to define how the system will round charges (1 cent, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, dollar).
Adjust Last Payment: Toggle the option on to have the system adjust the last charge if the calculation of charges cannot be divided evenly over the number of payments in the fiscal period.
Extra Fee Account: Enter the (general ledger) number. Use the Search field to link the account. Leave the field blank if no extra fee is assessed.
Complete the fields in the Frequency section as needed. The system has multiple payment plan options, and at least one must be set up:
Complete the fields in the Delinquent section as needed:
Balance older than: Number of days after the due date the payment is delinquent. CINC recommends that the day of the month not exceed 28 to accommodate the month of February.
with Minimum Fee Balance: Dollar amount of the minimum fee balance required for a fee to be delinquent.
Frequency:
By Charge: Will assess a late fee one time for each charge date with a delinquent balance. For example, if the homeowner has three assessments but is delinquent on only one of them, the delinquent fee will be based on the balance of that single assessment.
Monthly: Will assess a late fee on the balance of the assessment with a delinquent balance. If Monthly is chosen, the late fees will continue until the charge is paid. For example, if there is a one-time charge on 01/01 that is not paid by the late date setup in the delinquent section a late fee will be charged. If that same charge is not paid by the late date in the next month, there will be another late fee charged and this will continue until the charge is paid in full or is below the day's w/Minimum Fee Balance value.
NOTE: The most common use of the Monthly option is for assessments that are billed annually that should be charged a late fee each month until the charge is paid.
Day of Month: Day of the month that the late fee batch will generate. For example, if a charge is assessed to the homeowner on February 1 and the balance older than is set to 28, and by February 28 the charge is still unpaid, the late fee would assess on March 1 based on the Day of Month selected.
NOTE: The system will determine whether to assess the delinquent fee in the month charged by adding the balance older than days to the charge day. If the result is more than the Day of Month selected, the delinquent fee will generate in the month following the charge date as reflected in the example above. Another example is: A charge is assessed to the homeowner on July 1 and the Balance older than is 10. If on July 11 the charge is still unpaid, the late fee would assess on July 11 based on the Day of Month selected.
Delinquent Account: Enter the GL account number and click the Search icon to link the account.
Delinquent Amount: Select a delinquent amount option and enter a dollar amount or percentage based on the option selected:
Fixed Fee: Enter a flat dollar amount.
Percentage: Enter a percentage.
Greater Of: Enter the greater of the dollar amount or the calculated percentage amount.
Lesser Of: Enter the lessor of the dollar amount or the calculated percentage amount.
Collection Account: If charging a collection fee for each delinquent fee, enter the GL account number and click the Search icon to link the account.
Collection Fee: If charging a collection fee for each delinquent fee, enter the fee amount.
Complete the fields in the Interest section as needed:
Balance older than: Number of days after the due date that interest is applied. CINC recommends that the day of the month not exceed 28 to accommodate the month of February.
with Minimum Fee Balance: Dollar amount of the minimum fee balance required for interest to be applied.
Day of Month: Day of the month that interest will generate.
Interest Account: Enter the interest account GL number and click the Search icon to link the account.
Interest Percent (APR): Enter the percentage (APR), without the percent sign, for interest to be applied. For example, a 10% rate is entered as 10, and 10.5% is entered as 10.5.
and Minimum Interest Charge: Enter the minimum interest charge.
Click Save.
Single Payment Frequency
1 on: This option is for annual payments. To choose this option, toggle the option to on and enter the month and day the payment is due. See Multiple Payment Frequency for an explanation of Extra Fee field usage and purpose.
2 on: This is for two payments per year. To choose this option, toggle the option to on and enter the two dates the fees are due.
4 on: This option is for four payments per year. To choose this option, toggle the option to on and enter the four dates the fees are due.
Monthly on the: This option is for fees due every month of the fiscal year. Generate the fee monthly by toggling the option to on and choosing the day of the month the payment is due from the dropdown.
Custom Dates: This option is for custom payment amounts and dates. It allows setting a specific amount for each payment that is due. It also allows setting the dates weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. See Custom Dates.
Multiple Payment Frequency
CINC supports associations that offer multiple payment frequency options. For example, if the dues are $1000 annually due on January 1 but can be paid in two installments or any combination of the frequencies shown on this screen, the setup will be handled as follows:
Check the box next to 1 and enter the month and day (01/01) in the field provided.
Then place a check in the second frequency option and enter the month/day for each frequency.
If the association has approved charging a fee for the ability to choose multiple payment frequencies enter the fee in the extra fee field provided by the second payment frequency.
NOTE: The system will automatically split the charges on the homeowner’s ledger and create an Extra Fee batch when the delinquent fee Day of Month is reached, and the full single charge amount has not been paid. The next section is for setting up the delinquency information.
Custom Dates
To use Custom Dates option:
Enabled the Custom Date option.
Select the Starting date for the payments.
Choose whether the payments are due Weekly, Bi-weekly, or Monthly.
Click Search next to the # of Payments. The system will calculate the next due dates and amounts due for each payment. You can then make any necessary changes to the due Date and/or payment Amount.
NOTE: Using custom frequencies limits the ability to generate coupons from CINC Accounting or for a third-party vendor.