One of the top reasons most people dread dealing with the government is the amount of paperwork involved. The paperwork required by most government entities is so complex that it’s almost a cliche. Government workers and civilians alike often have difficulty following the paper trail that some government functions require. However, streamlining the process with paperless automation can make the process run more smoothly for both staff and the public. By developing the Automated Tax Warrant System (ATWS) for county sheriff departments, Lieberman Technologies has improved the process for 76 Indiana counties.
What Is a Tax Warrant?
Businesses and individuals sometimes fall behind on paying their income taxes, triggering a collection process for the outstanding tax debt. The Indiana Department of Revenue (IDOR) tracks these outstanding debts and attempts to make contact with the responsible party to collect the amount owed. This process begins with a mailed notification and, if the debt is not paid, ends with the court granting a judgment against the party. The IDOR passes the judgment to the county sheriff for collection.
What Happens When You Receive a Tax Warrant?
Once a judgment is issued and a warrant is generated, the sheriff can take a number of actions to resolve this debt. Wage garnishment, bank levies, and property sales are all possible during this process. Settling the debt often involves paying with a cashier’s check or money order, either in person or by mail, at the sheriff’s office. This can be inconvenient to the citizen as well as to the personnel in the sheriff’s department.
Paperless Automation Makes the Process Easier
Although tax collection is part of the responsibility of the sheriff’s department, it can be a complicated process. In order to streamline the process, Lieberman Technologies designed an automated system that tracks the warrants. This custom software system automatically generates collection letters, calculates exact amounts owed, and creates deposit reports for monies received and electronically reports that information to the IDOR. Automating this process allows sheriff staff to accurately track outstanding debt as well as debts that have been settled.
The ROI of a System that Pays for Itself in One Month
Processing, serving, and enforcing these warrants can create a significant burden on a sheriff’s department whose primary focus is keeping the peace. Using ATWS shifts the burden to the automated system and places greater responsibility on the taxpayer with an outstanding tax debt. Users can visit a secure payment portal and enter the Tax ID and the unique number found on the system-generated letter. That two part ID logs allows taxpayers to see the outstanding amount on their account and allows them to pay the balance with a credit card. Taxpayers can pay outstanding tax debts from the comfort of their own homes or businesses. No more trips to the bank to get a cashier’s check or money order, and IDOR is quickly notified. Counties using ATWS have seen a significant increase in both the number of payments and total revenue as well as a significant reduction in labor to process outstanding tax warrants. (You can see the site at https://indianataxwarrants.com/ but you won’t be able to get in without a letter from your sheriff.)
To provide additional ease in operation of ATWS, Lieberman Technologies maintains a support staff to answer questions about the software. This allows sheriff departments to provide exceptional service to their customers.
Response time is outstanding. If I email a problem, I receive a call or email usually within an hour or two. The support staff is patient particularly when they are dealing with someone who has limited computer knowledge. I think the support staff of Lieberman Technologies is the gold standard that all support staffs should strive to emulate.
From tracking outstanding warrants to allowing payments via credit card, ATWS has enabled many counties to collect unpaid taxes that otherwise might have remained unpaid. ATWS boosts revenue and allows a rapid ROI.
Document Management Software is Like Compounding Interest
Paperless automation, such as with ATWS, saves customers time and money and provides a better experience. It also makes office staff more efficient in their daily tasks, which reduces operating costs. In fact, automating a process has some instant returns:
- Less human error from typos or missed parts of the process
- Automated scheduling makes a system dependable no matter the staff’s schedule (No more delays because of busy days!)
- Happy employees because they don’t have to do tedious and repetitive work, they can do work that really needs a person to do it.
Paperless automation saves time, increases revenue, and provides enhanced accuracy for repetitive processes. Much like compounding interest, each benefit builds on the one before it. If your business would benefit from automating one or more of its processes, give Lieberman Technologies a call. We can help you to identify ways to improve your business by performing daily tasks more accurately and efficiently.
If you want to make next year more productive than this year, give us a call at 812-434-6600.