Tax Seasons on EscrowCloud represent each period of time that your agency collects taxes. It could be a full year, a half year, or even an installment. Managing your Tax Seasons on EscrowCloud allows Payers in your network to make escrow payments to your agency.

EscrowCloud also allows you to run Mortgage Registrations (also known as Pre-Commitments or Bill Requests) prior to your Escrow Payment period. This will allow Payers in your network to prepare their portfolio and send you a preliminary file of which items they intend to pay. This is also a great opportunity for them to resolve any duplicates with other Payers on EscrowCloud to further eliminate refunds on items that may have changed hands. Many agencies utilize these files to reduce mailing bills to property owners who have their taxes escrowed.

Accessing the Tax Seasons Page

From the navigation menu, click Tax Seasons. 

Under Manage Tax Seasons, you will see one or more collection season cards. 

• If your office has one annual collection, you will see a single card labeled Full Year. 

• If your office has multiple collection periods (such as first and second installments), each collection period will appear in its own card with a separate + button. 

To create a tax season, click the blue + button for each collection period.

Best Practice: If your office has multiple collection periods, we recommend setting up all collection seasons at the beginning of the tax year. If future dates have not yet been finalized, enter estimated dates. You can always return later to update them, and this provides EscrowCloud payers with visibility into upcoming collection periods.

Creating a Tax Season

After clicking the + button, a pop-up window will appear.

Mortgage Registration Season (Optional)

If your office conducts a Mortgage Registration season before accepting Escrow Payments, select Yes next to Include Mortgage Registrations.

This will display an additional date range for your Mortgage Registration season.

What are Mortgage Registrations?

Mortgage Registration is the initial add/delete process that allows EscrowCloud payers to submit their Mortgage Registration files. These files contain only the parcels they intend to pay and can be downloaded from EscrowCloud and uploaded into your tax software to identify and code parcels associated with each escrow payer.

Many tax offices use these files to prepare their tax database before bills are printed. Some offices also choose to suppress tax bills or apply a watermark for parcels identified as being paid by an escrow payer.

Escrow Payment Season

Next, enter your Escrow Payment season dates.

Collection Date Range

Select:

• Start Date – The date your tax season will open for escrow payments. 
• End Date – The date your tax season will close. 

Important: Before opening your tax season, ensure your tax file has been certified and is ready for escrow payers to begin downloading.

Economic/Discount Loss Date

Enter your Economic/Discount Loss Date, which represents the last day payments can be made before penalties or interest begin to accrue.

Important: Most tax servicers use this date to determine their payment timelines. We recommend that your End Date be no more than one week before your Economic/Discount Loss Date whenever possible.

Once all information has been entered, click +Create.

If your office has additional collection periods, repeat these steps by selecting the next + button and entering the appropriate dates.

Best Practice: Configure All Collection Periods

If your office has multiple collection periods (such as first and second installments), we recommend configuring all collection seasons when setting up your tax year—even if the dates for future installments are only estimates.

Doing so provides EscrowCloud payers with visibility into upcoming collections and helps prevent a collection season from accidentally being overlooked. Once your official dates are available, simply return to the Tax Seasons page and update the dates.

Example of a Complete Setup

Example of an Incomplete Setup

Important: A collection period displaying the blue + button has not been configured and will not be available to EscrowCloud payers until it is created.

Editing a Tax Season

To modify an existing tax season:

Click the Edit button for the collection season you wish to update. 

Make the necessary changes.

- If you make any changes to your season dates, you will need to reselect the date range.

- If you are extending the season beyond the current Economic/Discount Loss Date (ELD), you must first update the ELD and then extend the season dates.

If the changes should be communicated to escrow payers, select the Notify all payers of these changes option at the bottom of the window. 

Click Save. 

Recommendation: Always enable the notification option when changing season dates so escrow payers are immediately informed of the updates.