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Converting SaxTax data into Personal Property Pro

Tax Year
    Changing the Tax Year

Open File Security Warning
    You get a message such as 'The Publisher Could Not Be Verified', when starting the program every time

Win7-8-10 Servers 2008/2012/2016/2019
    Instructions for installing PPP on a computer running Windows Win7-8-10/2008//20112/2016

Please click here for important information for Oklahoma renditions that use Beginning Balance Manual Entries, beginning in tax year 2024 (shown farther below).

Your county form may require a 'Beginning Balance' for each asset category.  There are three ways to get an accurate 'Beginning Balance':

1. [Preferred] Enter every asset your client owns into the program, setting the 'Year Reported' to the year in which it was acquired; for Tax Year 2006, Year Reported = 2005 etc).  The quickest way to do this is to use our Import Assets feature, but you can add them one at a time if you choose.  Once you are familiar with the hot-keys, manual entry of assets is very fast.
   
   Note: Beginning in tax year 2024, this is the best way to ensure that Fair Cash Values (Market) are calculated for all of the assets.
            Click here for more information.

2. Create a single asset entry for each asset category that has a prior year balance, with something like "Furniture & Fixtures - Beginning Balance" as the description, and enter the total cost of all of the assets for that category.  Be sure to use TaxYear-2 for the 'Year Acquired' so the amount shows up as prior year assets.  In future years, you will need to use the 'Add a Deletion' button to remove assets from this lump sum asset entry amount.

3. Enter the prior year beginning balances in the 'Beginning Balance Manual Entry' text boxes on the asset screen.  Leave these amounts the same indefinitely unless you later add all of the client's assets into the program.  We recommend getting all of the asset into the program as the best method (step #1), but to quickly create returns the first year you can simply use the 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries' to bring the return up to date.  Note that if you later delete assets that are contained in these 'Beginning Balance' entries, you will need to use the 'Add a Deletion' to mark an asset as deleted.
   Note: With the addition of Form 904-3-A we added in Tax Year 2007 we recommend you do not use 'Beginning Balance Manual Entry' fields, but rather import or key in all of the assets for each customer. Form 904 is a complete asset listing and does not include any 'Beginning Balance Manual Entry' amounts, nor does it include assets added as a deletion (to offset Beginning Balance Manual Entry amounts).

One advantage of creating a single asset entry for each category (step #2) versus using the 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries' (step #3), is that the single asset lump-sum amount will print on the 'Asset Listing' report and the totals will then match the totals on the Asset screen, however any assets created as a deletion will not show on Form 904-3-A because assets 'created as a deletion' are originally intended to be used to offset 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries'.

One disadvantage of using 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries (step #3), is that these 'lump sum' amounts do not print any asset listing report or asset form (such as form 904-3-A).

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In 2024 the Oklahoma Tax Commission added a new field on forms 901 and 901-P called 'Fair Cash Value (Market)', which is located in 'PART THREE: OKLAHOMA TAXABLE INVENTORY". This field applies only to the fixed assets.

We contacted Tulsa and Oklahoma counties and we were told this field at this time is not required. You might want to contact the counties in which you file renditions and confirm if the field can be left blank.

Below is the new field on the form itself:

Below are the instructions for the new field, found on the instructions page:

Note: The first time, If you don't open the client, but you rather preview or print the returm from the Client Selection screen, it will show the FMV total on the form.
After you open it, the 'Do not print the FMV on the form' checkbox will be checked and that field will not print on the form unless you uncheck that checkbox and then save the client.

Again, if you do not intend on printing that field, you can disregard the information below.
However, should you decide to print that field, follow the information below and the steps required to make the FMV calculations as accurate as possible.

Personal Property Pro (PPP) has always calculated the Fair Market Value for all assets entered into the system, it has never been a requirement to print anything on any form (although the FMV calculation for assets does show up in the 'Asset Listing - Generic with FMV calculations' and 'Asset - CrossTab Summary' report (page 2).

PPP takes the cost, age and asset category of each asset, and runs it through the State depreciation table to come up with a FMV calculation.

There are two things need to do in order for thse calculations are as accurate as possible if you plan on printing that field.

1) Making sure all used assets have their 'Age' adjusted to at least [Tax Year - Year Acquired] (this has been made very easy with one utility button).
2) Convert all 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries to lump sum asset entries (this is a little more complicated but requires only clicking a few buttons within each client).

1) Making sure the age of Used assets have an age of at least [Tax Year - Year Acquired]

Until this year, when adding Used assets in Oklahoma, the asset was assigned a year of 1 and could not be increased when adding or editing a button.
To increment the age of your used assets (for any state), you would need to go to menu item 'File', then 'Utilities' and then click on the 'Increment Used Asset Ages by One Year button. This would add 1 to all of the Used assets within the entire system, for all states. Doing this annually, at the beginning of the year after installing the new software, keeps your Used assets incrementing with each new year release of the program. The utility is seen below
The utilty below still should be run just once per year after installing the new version.

Since using FMV calcuations requires an accurate Age, this presents a problem if the user has not been running the 'Increment Used Asset Ages' utility shown above.
If it has never been run, all of the Used assets in the system will have an Age of just '1', putting it at the top of the depreciation % good and cause a much higher FMV calculation.

There are two ways to fix this:

1) Asset Ages in Oklahoma can now be seen and modified per asset in the asset entry/edit mode.
2) All Used assets that have an age of less than 'Tax Year - Year Acquired', can now be automatically set to 'Tax Year - Year Acquired' with a new Utility button.

Changing the Age of an asset manually:
    Below is a a screen shot of adding/editing an asset, and beginning in 2024 you can also see both the asset's Age as well as the Life and the calculated FMV while adding/editing the asset details.
    You can now also override the Life of the asset, and if the asset is Used, you can also override the Age of the Used asset as well, as seen below.

As you can see above, assuming the Tax Year is 2024, the Age of the asset should be at least 3 instead of 1.
Now you have the ability to edit the asset and make sure the Age of a Used asset is at least [Tax Year - Year Acquired] (or more).

But there is a better way.

We have added a new Utility that will set all of the Used assets in the system that have an Age that is less than [Tax Year - Year Acquired], to [Tax Year - Year Acquired], as shown below:

When the utility above is pressed, the program will explain what it will do, and then give you the option to proceed or not.
After completion it will tell you how many Used assets had their age increased to [Tax Year - Year Acquired].
This will not affect assets that have an Age > [Tax Year - Year Acquired].
This utility cannot be undone.

2) Convert all 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries to lump sum asset entries (this is a little more complicated but requires only clicking a few buttons within each client).

Beginning Balance Manual Entries (refered to as 'BBME' below) were basically a way to take a client in Oklahoma, and just start with all of their totals for each asset category without entering or importing all of their individual assets. Though not the prefered or recommended way, if this was done, the way to remove any assets (and amounts) out of the BBME, was to add 'Asset Deletions', which would be negative asset amounts to offset it.

This worked well as the 901 forms just wanted the Beginning Balance (which would be any BBME entered in PPP, plus any assets added into the system in later years but prior to the current year, shown as 'Prior Assets' below, getting our 'Beginning Cost'), Additions, Deletions, and Ending Cost totals.

But... since we have no idea when any of the assets in the 'Beginning Balance' were acquired, we have no way to accurately calculate a FMV for that bundle of assets.
In fact, the system doesn't calculate any FMV for BBME since they are not actually assets within the system.

The example below shows $50,000 in Beginning Balance Manual Entry for Computer Equipment, with a few entries in the detailed asset screen shown further below:

The 'Total Assets' in the bottom-right corner is correct at $48,400, but note that the Total Calculated Fair Cash Value (Market) shows a negative amount of $512, which is incorrect.

Let's look at the asset detail screen behind this, and let's assume this client was added around 2017 starting with the BBME of $50,000:

They 'Added a Deletion' for a monitor that cost $400 and they marked it as acquired in 2019.
Both the Cost and the FMV amounts are negative since they would offset anything in the Beginning Balance Manual Entry of $50,000.

Then they got rid of an HP Server that cost $2400 and set the Year Acquired to 2021, another asset 'Added as a Deletion' (against a BBME),
Again, both the Cost and calculated FMV are shown as negative amounts.

Then they added a Dell laptop in 2022 that cost $1200, with both the Cost and FMV showing as positive amounts.

So right now, 'Net Cost of all Assets...' is -1,600 and the net FMV is -512.
In prior software versions, the net cost would still be -1,600 which is OK because it was reducing from the BBME, but the negative FMV presents a problem as shown above.


If you have some clients where you started with BBMEs, we recommend one of two things:

1) Manually enter, or use our Asset Import feature to get all of the assets into the system that made up the BBME, and then delete the BBME on the Asset Summary window.
    (long and cumbersome but the most accurate way)
2) Add a single asset entry for each asset category for which you have a BBME
        ...setting the Year Acquired and Year Reported to at least two years before you did the client's initial return.
        ... example: If you did their first return in 2022 and you used BBME, set the Year Acquired to the newly created bulk asset to 2020 or earlier (if you know the average age of assets was more than 2 years old, you might reduce it more).
        ...settting the Cost to the same exact amount as the BBME that you have for that asset category.
        ...and then delete the BBME for that asset category on the Asset Summay screen.

Here's what that would look like:

I added a new asset with the cateogry Computer Equipment, calling it 'Computer Equipment - Beginning Balance' (whatever you want to call it).
I set the Year Acquired to 2017 (since it's listed as a New asset, the Year Reported will be the same).
Note that the Age is 7 [tax year 2024 - 7], and can't be edited since we are reported as a New asset.
7 years is beyond the asset category's Economic Life of 5, which puts all of those assets in the lowest percent good calculation (20%) since we are 7 years past when we did this client's first return.
I added 50,000 as the Original Cost.
And saved it.

Note that the Net Cost for All...' is now $48,400

And now let's look at the summary screen after we removed the BBME for Computer Equipment which was $50,000:

1) The BBME of $50,000 for Computer Equipment is gone after we removed it.
2) Prior Assets used to be -2,400, but is now $47,000 ($50,000 newly added asset minus the $2,400 deletion)
3) Current Year Additions are the same.
4) Current year Deletions are the same (the $400 monitor that was created as a deletion against the Lump Sum asset we added to replace the BBME.
5) The Total Calculated Fair Cash Value (Market) is listed as $9,488, which matches the asset detail screen.

 A couple of things to note:

1) If for example you have clients that you added more than 10 years ago, and you started with a BBME but then deleted it and replaced it with a single asset entry, setting the 'Year Acquired' to 2014 or earlier, the calculated FMV should be more accurate (less any wear and tear or other circumstances that would cause you to manually override the calculated value of individual assets or the entire calculated amount). This is because almost all asets in the system have a maximum Economic Life of 10 years, and a Year Acquired of 2014 would put them well into the bottom of the FMV calculation as regards the Percent Good factor.
2) If you have clients you have added recently (plan to this year, did last year, or in the past years but less than 10 years) and you used the BBME but want to replace them with a bulk single asset, the FMV calculation is going to calculate based on the Economic Life of the single asset you add to replace the BBME, based on the Year Acquired for that single lump sum asset entered. This means some assets in the bulk might be ony 1 year old, 3 years old, 5 etc.. This means the FMVwill not be 100% accurate, so consider when adding a single asset bulk entry to replace a BBME, what might be the average Age of the assets that the client had. If you filed a rendition for the client the first time in 2020, you would want to set the Year Acquired to 2019 or earlier.
3) If you continue to use BBME for new clients, the FMV calculation will never be correct as to FMV calculation is done on BBME's. It would be better to add a single asset with the client's existing total for each asset category, and set it at least 2 years before the current tax year. If you set it to just one year before the tax year (the prior calendar year), it will show up as a bulk 'Addition' for the current year.

Economic Life Values:
Note that Computer Equipment is 5 years.

Present Value Table:
Highlighting the values for an asset that has a 5 year Life.

More flexibility:

To handle this, we first added several items to the asset entry detail window (pictured below):

1) A new 'FMV' column that shows the calculated FMV for each individual asset.
2) A new 'Age' field, which displays the age of the asset.

    Note: If the asset is 'New', this cannot be modified as the age is calculated based on the Year Acquired.
             If the asset is 'Used', you can now override the age of an individual asset. Previously this could only be done clicking on menu item 'File' then 'Utilities', then clicking the 'Increment Used Asset Ages by One Year' button, which should still be done annually at the beginning of each year, as that will increment the age of ALL used assets by one year.

3) A new 'Life' field, which is the Life of the asset based on the default economic life for that asset category.
    The Life of each asset is initially assigned by the default Economic Life of the asset category.
    These Economic Life values for asset categories can be seen by clicking the green 'FMV Opts' button below (in the upper-right corner), or by clicking menu item 'Setup' then 'FMV - Method, Present Value Table, Economic Life'.
    There may be instances where, for example, an asset that is categorized as 'Machinery and Equipement', which has a default economic Life of 10 years, may be needed to change to 8 or 12 etc. based on what type of machinery it actually is. Being able to change the Economic Life of an individual asset is new this year.

    Setting an Economic Life that to a value does not exist in the Economic Life table will result in an FMV calculation of zero, so do not use 1, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 or 19.

    (a screen shot of Economic Life Values for Oklahoma are shown farther below)

4) A new 'FMV Calc' display-only field, which shows the calculated FMV dynamically as you enter/edit either the Age, Life or Cost.
5) A new 'FMV Entry' field, where you can override the calculated FMV value for an individual asset.

We believe this gives you great flexibility for each asset regarding calculating the FMV for each asset.

On the asset summary window, we have added two new fields:

1) 'Total Calculated Fair Cash Value (Market)' (in yellow below).
    This is the sum of all FMV amounts for every asset in the system... either the calculated value or the override for each asset.
2) 'Override' (in yellow below), which lets you override the total calcluation that is to the left of it.

Note: If you do not enter anything in 'Override', the 'Total Calculated...' will print on page 1.
         If you enter -1 in the 'Override' field, nothing will print on page 1.
         This gives you the ability to either submit nothing, or manually write something in that field.

Please let us know if you find any errors in this explanation.

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If your tax or asset software can export assets, Personal Property Pro can open these asset files and import the assets directly into its database, significantly simplifying the initial process of setting up your assets, and making it easy to add new assets and mark deletions in subsequent years.

Click Here for line by line instructions for Lacerte
Click Here for general instructions for CCH ProSystem fx
Click Here for line by line instructions for CCH ProSystem fx Fixed Assets
Click Here for line by line instructions for Creative Solutions Fixed Assets CS
Click Here for line by line instructions for BNA Fixed Assets Desktop

Exporting your client/property assets from your tax or asset software
Open the tax or asset software you use, and for each client/property export the asset information into a separate file.  If possible, save it to a CSV (comma separated value) or ASC (ASCII) text file.  The steps for this process will be similar to this (depending on your software):

1. Create a folder for the files you will be exporting.
2. Open (select) a client
3. Click 'File/Utilities/Export' or 'File/Export' ... something to export your asset data.
   (This will vary depending on your software.  Within your software, click on 'Help; and search for 'export').
4. Choose to export the depreciation (or asset) information
5. If possible, choose no heading information.  In particular you need the Description, Date Acquired and Cost columns.
   If given the choice, save as either a CSV or ASC (text) file (do steps 2-6 for each client)
6. Save the file(s) to the folder created in step 1
7. If necessary, open the saved CSV file and do the following:
   Format the 'Cost' column as 'General Number' which will remove any dollar signs and commas.
   Remove any commas from any Description fields.
8. Make sure the file name corresponds to your client/property name so you can pick it out of several files
   
   A file's raw contents might look something like this (this example doesn't have any column heading rows at the top):
   
   "Computer","1/01/96",2570.00,"0.00","",2570.00,"0.00",2570.00,"0.00","200DB"
   "File Cabinets","1/01/92",10942.00,"0.00","",10942.00,"0.00",10942.00,"0.00","200DB"
   "Laptop","1/01/93",3428.00,"0.00","",3428.00,"0.00",3428.00,"0.00","200DB"
   "Carpet","6/17/98",1262.60,"0.00","",980.89,56.34,1037.23,225.37,"200DB"
   "Air Conditioner","8/17/00",529.33,529.33,"",529.33,"0.00",529.33,"0.00","200DB"

        If you want to view the raw contents of an exported file, right-click the file and then click 'Open With' and choose 'Notepad' or Microsoft Excel.  You can also view the raw file by clicking on the 'View File' button while in the Asset Import window (upper-right corner) within PPP.

Importing Assets into Personal Property Pro

1. Open Personal Property Pro and select the 'Clients' window
2. Select (just highlight) the client you wish to import assets for (use a test client until you are familiar with the process)
3. Click on the 'Asset Import' button (or press Alt-I)
   
   The main Asset Import screen will open.

   The first step is to locate the file that contains the assets you wish to import for this client.

1. Click the button that says 'Locate the File' that contains the assets for [company - contact name]
2. A drive/folder navigation window will pop up
3. Navigate to the drive and folder where you saved the client/property exported asset file (C:\Program Files\YourTaxSoftware\Data?...)
4. Select the file that contains this client/property's assets by clicking on it
5. Click the 'Open' button

1. The number of 'Column Headings' that the file contains.
   Some tax/asset software programs will provide one or more rows of 'column heading' information when it exports data.  Usually it will be just one row (if any), but it can be as many as five or more rows.  The 'column heading' row is used to help define what each column of information represents, such as the 'Asset Description', 'Date Acquired', 'Cost', 'Prior Depreciation', 'Depreciation Convention', 'Life' etc.
   
   Above the grid, on the left side, select the number of rows of 'column headings' that you see (or select '0' if you don't see any).  As you do, PPP will make all of the column heading rows BOLD and BLACK and change the 'Asset Category' column to 'Column Heading'.  These rows will not be imported.
    
2. The column that represents the 'Asset Description'.  Locate the column that contains the Asset Descriptions (column 1 - ??) and choose that column in the drop-down combo box.
   PPP will change the grid column heading you select from a simple number (1-##) to ## - Desc?
3. The column that represents the 'Date Acquired'.  Locate the column that contains the Dates Acquired (column 1 - ??) and choose that column in the drop-down combo box.
   PPP will change the grid column heading you select from a simple number (1-##) to ## - Date?
4. The column that represents the 'Cost'. Locate the column that contains the Asset Costs (column 1 - ??) and choose that column in the drop-down combo box.
   PPP will change the grid column heading you select from a simple number (1-##) to ## - Cost?

    These are the four items that must be marked to be able to import assets.  PPP will remember these four settings on subsequent Asset Imports.  Once these are set, they should remain the same unless you change tax/asset software or if your software changes its export file format.  As you change these settings, PPP will change the Column Heading rows to bold black,  the Asset Description column data to blue, the Date Acquired column data to red, and the Cost column data to green.

Once you have correctly set these four items, click the 'Reload File' button in the upper-right corner.  PPP will open and process the file again, and this time it will do a 'Smart Search' of the Asset Descriptions as they are read in, trying to automatically assign the Asset Categories for you.  You should only have to reload a file just this one time after you have initially set your Description, Date and Cost columns correctly.  Reloading the file will override and reset any Asset Category changes you might have made.

How Smart Search Works -  If for example, your county has a category such as 'Furniture and Fixtures', as PPP is reading in an asset record, it will search the Asset Description column value for keywords such as 'Furniture', "Fixture", "Chair", "Furnish", "Cabinet", "Folder" etc (not case sensitive).  If PPP finds ANY of the keywords for 'Furniture and Fixtures', it will:

• Automatically assign the 'Asset Category' for this asset to 'Furniture and Fixtures'
• Check the 'Import?' checkbox
• Put a 'YES' next to the checkbox
• Stop the Smart Search for this asset and go on to the next asset

If Smart Search does not find any matching keywords for 'Furniture and Fixtures' in the Asset Description, it will then search the same Asset Description for the NEXT Asset Category's keywords, and so on, until it either finds a match, or finishes looking through your county's Asset Category keywords.  Then PPP gets the next record etc.  In a test of 2,000 assets with about 40% of the assets having a match, it took only about 5 seconds to open and process the entire file.

If Smart Search finds a match for an asset and flags its category properly, the asset is ready to be imported.  We have attempted to build a reasonable database of 'keywords' that Smart Search uses, but there will be instances when assets are incorrectly auto-assigned.  There will also most likely be several assets that don't get auto-assigned.  In either instance you will need to assign these asset categories manually...

Assigning Asset Categories Manually - If 'Smart Search' doesn't auto-assign some assets (or some are incorrectly auto-assigned), you can assign them manually by any of the following methods:

1. Assigning a SINGLE asset:
   
   Double-click a single asset (or press ENTER or Alt-A[ssign] when an asset is selected/highlighted)
    
2. Assigning MULTIPLE assets the same category at the same time (this can really speed up the process!):
   
   Hold down the CTRL key and click multiple assets (they do not have to be contiguous), then press Alt-A or click the 'Assign Category to Selected Assets' button.
           OR
   Click one asset, hold down the SHIFT key and click another asset (highlighting all assets in between including the outer two), then press Alt-A or click the 'Assign Category to Selected Assets' button.

Once you have done any of the above selection methods, a small Asset Category Picker window will pop up just beneath the lowest selected asset.  This floating window contains a combo box that contains all of the asset categories that PPP uses for the county where this property is located.  As you change the asset category (using either the up/down arrow keys OR by typing the first letter of an asset category), the selected asset(s) will change to the new asset category, their 'Import?' checkbox will be checked and 'YES' will be printed next to the checkbox.  If you select the FIRST item in the combo box (Unassigned), all of the selected assets' Asset Category will change back to 'Unassigned', and the Checkbox will be unchecked.

If you type Alt-N (or press the 'Next' button) while in the Asset Category Picker window, the focus will move to the NEXT asset in the grid while keeping the Asset Category Picker open.  Typing Alt-P ('Prev' button) will move to a PREVIOUS asset.  Alt-N and Alt-P work well when assigning one asset category at a time since you don't need to Close the Asset Category Picker window when going from one asset to the next.

Once you get the hang of it, you will find it takes just a few seconds to change the category for each asset, and even less time if you select MULTIPLE assets at a time, and then press Alt-A to change all of the selected assets at once.

When the Asset Category Picker window is shown, several buttons on the Asset Import form are disabled.  Pressing the ESC key or the 'Close' button will close the Asset Category Picker window, and the disabled buttons will be enabled again.  Pressing ESC from the Asset Import window will close the Asset Import window itself.

TIP: If you sort the entire grid by Asset Description you might be able to group several asset types together making it easier to select them. For example, if you want to sort by Asset Description, click on the grid column heading of the Asset Description (it will read ## - Desc? depending on which column it is).  You won't be allowed to sort if you have one or more 'Column Heading' rows in the export file.  You can delete your Column Heading rows by highlighting the rows and then clicking the 'Delete Selected Rows' button, or PPP will do it for you by asking you if you want to delete them after you have tried to sort on any column of the grid when you have designated one or more Column Heading rows.  PPP does not actually delete rows in your Export file, but only removes them from the grid.  When in doubt, Reload the file again.

Now We're Ready - Once you have all of the assets you want to import flagged (Checked with 'YES' next to the checkmark), click on the 'Next Step' button near the top of the asset import form.  PPP will load a new grid with ONLY the assets you have selected for import, showing just the Asset Category, Asset Description, Year Acquired, Cost, and a note if any (Date fields that are erroneous or blank will be converted to TaxYear-1 and so noted. An asset with a zero cost will be noted).  Initially the new grid will be sorted first on the Asset Category column ascending, then sorted within each category by Year Acquired descending.  You can sort on any column by clicking on the grid column heading (sorting is always in Ascending order when you click on a column).  You can print a report of this grid of information by clicking on the 'Print Report' button.  You also need to decide whether to APPEND or OVERWRITE the assets for this client/property.  If you APPEND, PPP will simply add the current list of assets to this client/property's assets.  If you choose to OVERWRITE, PPP will DELETE any existing assets for this client/property and then add these assets.  PPP will remember the Append/Overwrite setting you choose for the future when you import assets, but not specifically for each client/property.

Importing ONLY Assets within a range of years - When you first setup your clients you will most likely want to import ALL assets (but skipping assets that are NOT reported on your County Rendition form, such as Vehicles in Oklahoma, or real property, etc).  In subsequent years, if you decide to import new assets for clients rather than key them in manually (this is usually not the case but it can be done), you can might want to check the 'Flag all assets acquired from YYYY to YYYY checkbox in the bottom-left corner of the window.  If this is checked, PPP will scan the Date Acquired column when reading in assets, and ONLY flag (check the checkbox) the assets whose Date Acquired column value is within that range of years.  It will flag these assets regardless of whether or not 'Smart Search' can auto-assign an asset category.  With 'Auto-Flag' turned on, if you are in the Asset Category Picker, pressing Alt-N or Alt-P will move not just to the next or previous asset, but the next/previous asset that is flagged to import, skipping the unchecked assets.  If you do not have any 'Column Heading' rows, PPP will automatically sort by the 'Import?' status, moving all of the Flagged (checked) assets to the top, making it even easier to assign categories that were not auto-assigned or need to be changed.

Deleted (sold/removed) Assets - If you have prior assets within PPP for a client/property and the asset has been removed, the Asset Import routine will not automatically mark that asset as deleted, since we don't have a direct link to your software.  You will need to open each client/property, click on the 'Assets' tab, click on the 'View All Assets' button, and 'Mark as Deleted' any assets that were in the system in previous years but that have been removed this year.  However, if you decide to import all assets each year (this is usually not done), you can overwrite all of the assets in the final process of importing assets.  This will remove all of the assets that are in the system for this client, and replace them with the assets that are being imported.

Special Note to Oklahoma - If a property is in Oklahoma (but not Oklahoma County) and you are using 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries', you should not import all of your client/property assets since you will be duplicating the asset costs.  You can however clear out the 'Beginning Balance Manual Entries' if you have been using them, import all of your clients assets, and make sure you end up with the same 'Beginning Balances' for the next year.

Other:
    Sorting - We can't accurately sort on the DATE or the COST columns with this grid.  Trying to do so will give you a message that it's not possible.
    Multiple Sets of Records - Some software might write out all of the assets as 'Current Year' and then duplicate all of the records beneath these rows, but showing 'Next Year' data etc.  If you get more than one set of data you will need to highlight all of the rows below the initial set and delete them.  If this is the case, try and limit the amount of information that is exported from your tax/asset software to just one set of asset information.

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Issue: On many 'Signature' forms, the account number is often printed somewhere as a barcode to expedite processing by the county.  If instead of a barcode you see the account number in a large font (often surrounded with asterisks[*]) and the bottom of the number gets chopped off, OR you don't see anything at all, the barcode font ('FREE3OF9.TTF') did not get correctly installed onto the computer in the C:\Windows\Fonts\ folder.  This can happen when PPP is installed from a workstation to a mapped drive on a server but it also happens on occasion on workstations that have Windows 7-8 operating systems, due to security settings on the computer.

Resolution: Close Personal Property Pro if it us running.  Click Here and SAVE this font file FREE3OF9.TTF somewhere such as to your downloads folder or to your desktop.  After the font file is saved on your computer, open 'My Computer' and open the C:\Windows\Fonts\ folder.  Drag and drop the font file from your downloads folder (or desktop) into the C:\Windows\Fonts\ folder. Windows will register the font automatically.  Start Personal Property Pro, select a client and preview the return. You should see the barcode now.  If you have a multi-seat license, you might need to install the font in the \Font\ folders on both the server and the workstations, but usually installing the font on the workstations is all you need to do.

If you still have the problem after copying the file into your Fonts folder: Try rebooting your computer and check again.  If that doesn't work, click the windows Start button then click on Control Panel.  Double-click 'Fonts'.  The fonts folder will open up showing you all of your fonts.  Click on the menu item 'File' then click 'Install New Font'.  Find the font file FREE3OF9.TTF in the C:\Windows\Fonts\ folder.  If the font file is still saved it to your desktop you can find it at C:\Documents and Settings\YourComputerName\Desktop\ (Windows XP machines) or C:\Users\YourComputerName\Desktop\ (Windows 7 and above).  Select the file and click OK to register the font.  Tada!

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Personal Property Pro now calculates the Fair Market Value of assets for you.  This is especially helpful in Texas and Florida, where the return itself can ask what a fair market value is for assets.  To calculate this, the program uses the following items:\

Note: In 2024 Oklahoma added a new field regarding Fair Market Value. Be sure to click here for more information.

    1. The Cost of the asset.
    2. The Year Acquired (from which the Age of the asset is calculated).
    3. The Economic Life of the asset (based on the asset category the asset is assigned to).
    4. The 'Present Value' table (sometimes called 'Percent Good') for Economic Lives of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,10, 12, 15, 18 & 20 years.

You can choose instead to use 'Straight Line' calculations along with a 'Salvage Value' percent.

For the 20+ largest counties in Texas, 19 counties in Florida, as well as Tulsa and Oklahoma county in Oklahoma, we provide you with preset tables.  In most cases we have acquired this data from county websites.  If you find any discrepancy in any of our preset tables, please notify us by following the instructions in the program when you make any changes.  You can make changes to these tables and use the changes immediately.  For all other counties, we have preset 'State Default' tables that you can use.  These 'State Default' tables are not necessarily provided by or approved by any state and/or county but are general values.  We can add any other county's Present Value table to our program, so if you are doing a return in a county where we do not have a preset table and you choose not to use the 'State Default' table, and you know the Present Value table percentages are available from the county, please notify us so we can add this table for future releases!  Some county's also have an 'Inflation Index' or 'Factor' that is used in calculating the 'Present Value' table.  Where available, we have included this in the Present Value percentages.  We encourage you to check the accuracy of the 'Present Value' table and Economic Life values for county's that you use.

Every time a client return is opened, previewed or printed, the program recalculates the FMV for all of the assets for that client.  If you have opened a client return, you can access the assets of the client, and see the FMV calculations for each individual asset.  You can override the default LIFE for any individual asset, rather than accepting the default Economic Life that the program uses.  Several existing reports now include the FMV calculations, including the Cross-Tab Summary, Additions & Deletions (TX & FL), generic 'Asset List', and the new  'Asset List All Companies' reports.

Accessing the FMV setup window: Click on the menu item 'Setup' and then click 'FMV - Method, Present Value Table, Economic Life' menu item to access the FMV setup screen.  On the left side, you can assign a system-wide default for all clients regarding FMV calculations (Use Manually Entered FMV Values, Use FMV Table Calculations, or use Straight Line Depreciated Values with a Salvage Value percentage).  If you have selected a client from the Clients window (or actually opened the client) for Texas or Florida return and then opened the FMV setup screen, you will also see beneath this section, a section where you can specifically assign the settings for this individual client (choose to either use the system-wide default, use Manually Entered FMV Values, Use FMV Table Calculations or use Straight Line Depreciated Values with a Salvage Value percentage).  On this FMV setup screen, you can select any State and County within that State.  As you do, the program will show you the State Default table for that county as well as the Economic Life used for each asset category..  For any county, you can then 'Load' the preset Present Value table for any specific county that is in the list, although that is not necessary since the program uses the county specific data where available.  Some counties use the same Present Value percentages as other larger counties.  In that case, you can select any county in the list, and load it for use for returns in the county you have selected.  By default, if the program contains a preset Present Value table for any county, it will use those values even if you have not 'loaded' it for that county.  In this case, it will show 'State Default' numbers in the table while turning the 'Load Table' button and county drop-down GREEN, showing you that it has values for that county.  You can then 'load' this specifically for the county so you can see and verify the Present Value percentages.  If you change any values, it will use your changes.  Also on this screen, you can see the 'Economic Life' that is assigned for any county in any state.  Many counties are assigned the default Economic Life that ships with the program.  You can change these defaults from this screen as well.

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This has been tested with Vista Home Premium, Win7-8-10 Pro and Windows servers 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019

If you are installing PPP on a stand-alone computer (or server) that is running Win7, Win8, Win10, 2008, 2012, 2016 or 2019:

Allow users 'Full Control' (full rights) to the folder where PPP was installed by following steps 1-12.

NOTE: Version 7.0 installation and beyond now automatically does this! You need to do the steps below only if you have an error such as 'Path/File access' error.

1. Log on as an administrator and be sure nobody else is logged on (switch users to verify this)

3. Uninstall ANY PPP product using Control Panel/Programs and Features (formerly 'Add-Remove Programs')

   Download and install the newest version of Personal Property Pro, noting where you install it to.
   Do NOT start the program yet.
4. Double-click My Computer
5. Navigate to the destination folder where you installed PPP to.
   By default, the installation program installs to C:\Program Files\Personal Property Pro\ on a 32 bit machine,
   or C:\Program Files (x86) \Personal Property Pro\ on a 64 bit machine.
6. Right-click this folder
7. Click 'Properties'
8. Click the 'Security' tab
9. Click the 'Edit' button to change permissions
10. In 'Group or user names:' select 'Users (YourComputerName\Users)'
11. In 'Permissions for Users' to the right of 'Full Control'  check the 'Allow' checkbox.
    This will also give users full access as well as 'Modify' and 'Write' rights in this folder and folders beneath it.
12. Click OK twice.  You are done with these instructions.  If you were moving your data from another computer to this computer click here.

If you are installing PPP on a client (workstation) computer that is running Win7, Win8 or Win10:

1. Uninstall ANY PPP product on the client machine
2. Download, Save and Install the newest version of 'Personal Property Pro Workstation'
   Note: You will have to have Admin rights to start the installation program.
3. Open My Network on your desktop.
4. Find the network location or mapped drive where 'Personal Property Pro' was installed to.
5. Right-click and drag the file named 'Personal Property Pro.Exe' to your desktop and let go.
6. Select 'Create Shortcut' (do NOT copy the file to your desktop).
7. Go to Internet Explorer Options, Security, Local intranet, Sites and either:
         Uncheck the 'Automatically detect intranet network', check all 3 checkboxes and click OK

                  OR check 'Advanced' and add the server where PPP is installed to the web zone:
                        Example: //HP-Server1    or     //SomeServer/SomePathToPPP/

If you skip step 7 Win7-8-10 will ask if you want to run "MergePDF.bat' whenever you save returns are PDF files.