In this monthly feature, Paul Liese brings you the latest news from hsp’s headquarters in Hamburg. This time, the focus is on the Opti.Tax Update 22.0.18, due to be published on the day of the broadcast. During the livestream, Paul intends to discuss the changes and give a brief preview of the new developments expected over the next two weeks. The topic of property tax is currently a particular focus.

Two months ago, Paul and Customer Success Manager Samuel Königshoven gave a live demonstration of how to create and send tax assessment notices. Recently, there have been repeated enquiries from the community asking whether bulk sending is also possible in Opti.Tax. Paul confirms that this is the case and will demonstrate how it works on screen. Before doing so, he’ll show another feature. When a new client is created but no data is imported from ADDISON or DATEV, you can enter a custom client number. This can be done in the field next to the drop-down menu for the practice software. In project management, the client number is positioned on the far right of the table by default. However, this can be changed as required. The column headings can be sorted in any order by left-clicking and dragging and dropping.

But now we’re talking about bulk mailing. In this context, Paul also touches on bulk validation. To demonstrate, Paul opens a sample project containing 23 plots of land. None of these have been validated yet. The corresponding warning messages are listed below; these will only disappear once the Elster Rich Client (ERiC) has checked all the data. Paul now clicks on the ELSTER button below the menu bar. All properties are automatically validated one after the other, which is indicated by green ticks appearing next to the validated properties. Once everything has been successfully validated, click on the arrow next to the ELSTER button and select „Batch submission“. You can then choose individually which properties are to be submitted – whether one, several or all of them.

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Attention to detail to improve efficiency

Next topic: Checking the monthly statement from hsp. The statement lists the projects that have been successfully submitted. These can be checked for accuracy. The invoice contains a project ID and a transfer ID. If the project ID is now entered into the search field in Opti.Tax into the search field in Project Management, the project associated with that ID – which has been invoiced – will be displayed. In the process, Paul addresses a question from the community. He points out that there is no limit in Project Management regarding the number of projects. Nor is there a limit on the number of plots of land that can be created.

If a client or a project can no longer be found, you can check whether something has been deleted accidentally. This is done via the menu option „Window -> Show Window -> Audit Trail“. When this window is displayed, the log of all activities within the software is shown. It records in detail who did what and when. Among other things, this function can be helpful when it is necessary to provide evidence of transactions to third parties.

The community also raised the question of how, when viewing the list of plots in the project, one can distinguish between individual flats at the same address. Previously, each plot had to be clicked on individually to find this out. In future, the flat will be displayed within the list under „Current location“. A further improvement in the asset-based valuation method concerns the building type, whose drop-down list now uses the numbering system employed by the tax authorities. This is particularly useful because the tax authorities’ guidance on completing the form refers to these numbers when addressing queries about building types.

Opti.Tax also supports English

Next new feature: If the calculation report is to be saved as a PDF, from version 22.0.18 onwards the system will suggest the relevant property as the file name. This will save many users a fair bit of time. Paul then addresses the topic of international cooperation. There are instances where it is necessary to communicate with colleagues in English. If a user is on the Opti.Tax web interface, clicking on their name in the top-right-hand corner takes them to the settings. There, they can switch the language from German to English. This changes all text on the web interface to English, including the help texts. This is a clear example of the effort hsp puts into implementing user feedback.

Work is already underway on the next release, version 22.0.19, which will enable the import of agricultural and forestry data from the Excel template. The template is being updated and includes further features. For example, property tax exemptions and relief have now been added. In addition, three new columns relating to the standard land value have been added under „Cadastral districts & parcels“.