Commercial Real Estate Tax Service

First American's Commercial Tax Service provides a variety of solutions including:

Order Confirmation Process

Due to the value of properties being serviced by First American's Commercial Tax Service, a zero defect approach to new order set up is followed. With each single or group of new orders set up with First American, customers will be provided with a set-up confirmation report including all agencies and tax identification numbers that pertain to each property.  This report is delivered within 60 days of the date in which each order is received.

Non-Escrow Reporting

First American will provide annual delinquency search listings for each non-escrow property 30 to 60 days after the economic loss date for each taxing jurisdiction. Where a property is taxed more than once a year per taxing agency, First American will provide semi-annual delinquency search reporting. This reporting will include the status of each property's real estate tax whether there are delinquencies found or not.

Escrow Reporting

To facilitate the payment of property taxes, First American will make every effort, on our customer's behalf, to obtain original bills using registration, agency audit, and bill request methodologies. Where an original bill is not available, First American can provide a memo bill that is acceptable to the taxing jurisdiction. The PC-based Commercial Tax Service (FACTS) platform supports flexible report customization and distribution scheduling. Leveraging other First American information delivery mechanisms, CTS can deliver information to the customer in formats that meet their specific needs and schedules.

Tax Payment Services

First American can perform a Tax Payment Service on any loan/asset under service on behalf of their clients. A file is generated as taxes become due that is sent to the client for review.  The client then identifies those taxes that they are ready to pay and returns them to First American. First American cuts the checks and mails them to the applicable taxing authorities. The parties will establish a clearing account to which the customer shall wire transfer tax payments advances as required.This service significantly reduces the client's liability for tax penalties and interest since the entire burden of processing tax payments is placed in First American's hands.

FACTSweb

FACTSweb offers First American customers direct access to information stored and maintained on their portfolio. Through this website, the customer can view order set up information, historical reporting data and reports. They can also set up, maintain and cancel their tax contracts on an individual basis. 
In addition to specific portfolio data, this website contains a wealth of information pertaining to tax collecting agencies, tax cycle information and industry news.

Tax Payment Verification

At a customer's request, First American can be contracted to determine the current tax status of a property, or properties not under tax service.Based on the tax identification numbers provided by the customer and information from taxing authorities, First American will check the payment status of current and prior year taxes and provide a simple paid/open report.

Delinquent Tax Search Verification (DTS)

Upon request, First American will identify all applicable taxing authorities and their applicable tax identification numbers and then perform a detailed search for delinquent real estate taxes.The results of this search will be provided via a property tax report reflecting the current tax status of each agency and tax ID associated with the property.

Tax Operations Outsourcing

Through tax operations outsourcing, First American takes on as much or as little of the lending institution's back-office processing as desired. From the post-closing process to the distribution of checks to taxing jurisdictions, customers can leverage First American's economies of scale and commercial servicing expertise to lower overhead expense and reduce the risk of loss.While complex tax operations outsourcing may not support customer business needs, First American can effectively outsource several business processes.

Delinquency Tracking and Follow Up

Following a non-escrow-reporting event, First American can be contracted to provide a direct mail and follow up service.Using a borrower name and address file supplied by the customer, First American can create letters on customer's letterhead and mail the letters to borrowers. Based on a schedule mutually defined by the customer and First American, follow up and tracking will be completed.