“What’s New” on FMX

State agencies and institutions of higher education must report payables and binding encumbrances for first quarter fiscal 2019 appropriations no later than Dec. 30 to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Quarterly certification must be entered in the online form.

For more information, see Important Dates in the Reporting Guidelines of Encumbrance Report and Lapsing of Appropriations (APS 018) (FPP A.019).

USPS will be unavailable all day Saturday, Dec. 15, for the calendar year-end (CYE) file split.

See the schedule in USPS Calendar Year-End Close Process (FPP R.014) and Splitting Files in the USPS Calendar Year-End Close Manual for more information.

Contact the USPS Help Desk at (512) 463-4008 or your assigned USPS representative for questions.

Agencies that reimburse employees for state-related hotel stays are due a refund for the associated hotel occupancy taxes. USAS automatically generates the refunds each quarter.

The hotel occupancy tax refund for September through November will be available on DAFR reports 8190 and 8200 on Dec. 9.

For more information, see Hotel Occupancy Tax Quarterly Refund (FPP B.006).

Dec. 14 is the maintenance/corrections deadline for the fiscal 2019 First Quarter Veteran Workforce Summary Reports (Sept. 1 – Nov. 30). Copies of the quarterly reports will be sent via electronic file transfer (EFT) on Dec. 18. The online quarterly report acknowledgment form (with required complaint reporting included) will be available Dec. 18 and must be submitted by Dec. 31.

For more information, see Veteran Workforce Summary Reports and Veteran Complaint Reporting (FPP F.038).

Hotel Engine, a new platform for travel lodging, replaced the State Travel Management Program (STMP) Hotel Rate Agreements directory as of Oct. 1.

Fiscal Management is extending the audit grace period for state agencies until Dec. 31 to allow agencies time to transition users to the Hotel Engine platform while the vendor actively adds properties at General Services Administration (GSA) rates and adds the option for Direct Bill. More than 1,000 Texas hotels are now available for state agencies to book at or below GSA rates, and the Direct Bill option will be implemented for select agencies in early December. Agencies must still reimburse lodging at or below GSA rates during the grace period, or have valid exceptions.

For more information, including a helpful FAQ, see Traveler Resources on Comptroller.Texas.gov. For questions about STMP or the Hotel Engine contract, contact Nicklaus Watson, STMP manager at 512-936-8458, or Gerard MacCrossan, Contract Development manager at 512-463-4468.

Due to new 2018–19 GAA requirements, any state agency that receives, spends or administers revenue held outside the state treasury (local funds) is required to submit financial data on those funds to the Comptroller’s office.

Fiscal 2016–19 report data must be submitted by Nov. 30, 2018, using the new Excel reporting spreadsheet provided in Requirements for Local Operating Funds and Associated Local Funds (FPP S.009).

For more, see Additional reporting requirements per the GAA (Art. IX, Sec. 17.09) in Agency Requirements of FPP S.009.

State and federal holidays with no scheduled USAS cycle that are listed on the System Outages and Holidays calendar are excluded when determining the direct deposit settlement date of a payment.

Since financial institutions are closed, no direct deposit activity occurs on those days. Agencies must exclude these dates when determining when to process their payments to ensure prompt payment and avoid late payment interest.

Warrant pickup on Wednesday, Nov. 21 is only available from 8 – 10 a.m. See Payment Distribution for more information.

If you need to submit a USAS or TINS batch file on a weekend or holiday, see the USAS/TINS Input Record File Submission Schedule.

The State of Texas Annual Cash Report for fiscal year 2018 is now available. The report presents the state’s financial condition and details revenues and expenditures on a cash basis, as required by Government Code, Section 403.013.

Accounting policy statements (APS) Sources of Revenue Required to Pay Benefit Cost (APS 001) (FPP A.021) and Benefits Proportional by Method of Finance (APS 011) (FPP A.010) have been updated to:

• Reflect changes to paying benefit costs proportional to agencies’ or institutions’ methods of finance (MOF)
• Provide additional details related to revenue types and other financing by MOF
• Clarify funding types and the amount agencies and institutions must disclose or may exclude in each schedule
• Include additional guidance related to reporting interagency contract payments/proceeds and applicable benefits that are charged/collected

See APS 001 and APS 011 for more information.

USPS will be unavailable all day Saturday, Dec. 15, while we conduct the calendar year-end (CYE) file split.

All USPS ;payrolls finalized after the 2018/2019 file split must have a warrant date in calendar year 2019 and will be reflected in the 2019 files.

See USPS Calendar Year-End Close Process (FPP R.014) for more information.

For questions, contact the USPS Help Desk at (512) 463-4008 or your assigned USPS representative.

If you need to submit a USAS or TINS batch file on a weekend or holiday, see the USAS/TINS Input Record File Submission Schedule.

State and federal holidays with no scheduled USAS cycle that are listed on the System Outages and Holidays calendar are excluded when determining the direct deposit settlement date of a payment.

Since financial institutions are closed, no direct deposit activity occurs on those days. Agencies must exclude these dates when determining when to process their payments to ensure prompt payment and avoid late payment interest.

Warrant pickup on Wednesday, Nov. 21 is only available from 8 – 10 a.m. See Payment Distribution for more information.

The deadline for the fiscal 2018 annual financial report (AFR) is Nov. 20. The Financial Reporting section highly recommends all USAS entries related to the AFR be made and released by 7 p.m. on Nov. 19.

If your agency needs to make entries to USAS on Nov. 20, you must use USAS Batch Edit Mode 2 for all entries. No entries for fiscal 2018 may be made after Nov. 20 in USAS.

All entries for the fiscal 2018 AFR must be backdated using an effective date of 08322018.

Contact your financial reporting analyst for questions related to the AFR submission requirements and deadlines.

State agencies and institutions of higher education reporting compensation in Box 7 (non-employee compensation) of the 1099-Miscellaneous (MISC) form must file with the Internal Revenue Service by Jan. 31, 2019.

See USAS Procedures for 1099 Reporting for Calendar Year 2018 (FPP E.001) for instructions on requesting 1099 data from USAS.

State agencies that permit eligible employees to level their benefit replacement pay (BRP) must update their payroll/personnel systems for December payrolls paid in calendar year 2019.

Read more about Benefit Replacement Pay (BRP) Leveling Election (FPP F.035).