Waiver Codes

Waivers can be charged to the customer for protection on your rental equipment to cover problems such as loss, damage or liability.
Damage Waiver is an industry accepted way for your firm to build a reserve for uncovered losses when/if an incident does happen.
In addition, Damage Waiver is a revenue source and some stores in the industry capture 2% to 4% of their total revenue through damage waiver fees.

Two approaches to calculation the Waiver are provided:

• With the Standard Damage Waiver method multiple waiver codes can be setup in this Waiver Code table with the taxes and posting information, but only one DW rate is applied to the total eligible rental amount on each document.
  Refer to Company Alternate Waiver Settings for configuration.

• With the Alternate Damage Waiver method only the "blank" waiver code is required in this table for description and the posting accounts, and the DW formula uses either a base value or uses the extended rental charge on each product detail line, times one of two different waiver percent rates defined by the product Group, to determine the DW amount to charge by product on the document.
  This means two different percent rates can apply to the rentals on the same document, depending on the product Group.
  Refer to Company Alternate Waiver Settings for configuration.

  The Standard or Alternate calculation method can be activated in the Company Contract Parameters.

An operator must be assigned a Security Role that allows permission to the Accounting - Waiver Codes in order to access this table.

Setting up the Waiver Rates

Once the waiver codes are defined in this Waiver Codes table, the rates can be assigned at the company, division or customer level as follows:

Company Default:
Waiver codes can be assigned a rate to be billed as a percent of eligible rentals, at the company level in Company Standard Waiver Code Maintenance or Company Alternate Waiver Settings.

Division Level:
Waiver rates can also be defined at the divisional level in the Division Standard Waiver Settings or Division Alternate Waiver Settings that would over-ride the company rates according to the specific waiver code.

Customized by Customer:
With the Standard calculation, if the feature to Respect Waiver Codes By Customer has been activated in the Company Contract Parameters, rates can also be setup in the Waiver Codes by Customer window for eligible customers in Customer Information, that would over-ride both the division and company rates for the waiver code.

With the Alternate calculation, the customer specific rates can be setup in the Customer Damage Waiver Settings.

Note: When the Waiver flag or the Waiver percent is changed for a customer in Customer Information the option is provided to update Open Documents.

The Waiver on the Rental Document:

Waivers apply only to eligible rental equipment on the Counter Worksheet, Contracts, Reservations, Miscellaneous Invoices, and Quotes.
Specific classes of products can be flagged as eligible or exempt from Damage Waiver charges in Rental Product Classes.

With the Standard calculation, when multiple waiver codes could apply to a document (e.g. loss, damage, etc.), a window is triggered in the rental document header to allow the operator to choose the waiver code for the document.

Note: When choosing the waiver from the selection window on the document, if both the company and the division have been assigned rates for the same waiver code, the percent for the division over-rides the company percent for that waiver code.
If company and/or division, and the customer have a rate setup for same code, then the percent for the customer applies.

The charge waiver flag can be over-ridden on the document if your firm does not Use Damage Waiver Per Item Value Limits as set in the Company Damage Waiver Parameters.
If Use Damage Waiver Per Item Value Limits is activated, the Damage Waiver flag assigned in the Customer Information will be enforced, so that so that only customers flagged as 'Optional' will have the choice to accept or decline the Damage Waiver on the document.

The parameter to Allow User Access to Waiver% in the Divisional Contract Parameters controls whether the operator also has the ability to change the percent rate charged for any waiver code in document entry on the header or in the Damage Waiver pop-up window.
This divisional control is set according to the division of the document, regardless of the operator division.

Note: When a new document is generated automatically by the software and multiple waiver options could apply, the first waiver in the list, defaults to the document.

Billing the Waiver:

A default Damage Waiver flag of 'Yes/No/Optional' is assigned to each customer in the Customer Information that can be over-ridden on the document, unless the Use Damage Waiver Per Item Value Limits feature is activated in the Company Damage Waiver Parameters and then this flag will be enforced, so that so that only customers flagged as 'Optional' have the choice to accept or decline the Damage Waiver on the document.

If the customer accepts the waiver on the rental document, then a percent of the rental charge for eligible rental equipment determined by the selected waiver code, will automatically be billed on all Cycle Billing invoices and on the Rental Return invoice.

The default for specific customers that always decline Damage Waiver can be flagged accordingly in Customer Information.

Note: The FIFO Rental Return feature is not allowed for a customer who has been charged varying Waiver rates, as the percent of rental to charge may not be consistent across the contracts.

The information to setup the initial waiver codes includes:

SEQ

The next sequential sequence number is assigned to track the records in this table.

CODE

Enter the Waiver code.
The rate to charge can later be assigned as a percent of eligible rentals at the company, division, or customer level.

Note: The Blank waiver code is mandatory and cannot be deleted.

DESCRIPTION

Enter the description for this code as it should be printed on the customers' rental documents.
e.g. Damage Protection, Breakage, Loss, Liability

CUST O/R

This flag only applies to the Standard Damage Waiver calculation and controls whether the rate charged for this waiver code can be over-ridden at the individual customer level.

Uncheck this box if rates should only be defined at the company level in Company Waiver Code Maintenance, or at the division level in Division Standard Waiver Settings for this waiver code.

Check this box to permit the rate for this waiver code to be customized for specific customers as setup in Waiver Codes by Customer which would then over-ride any division or company rate for this code.

TYPE

This flag only applies to the Standard Damage Waiver calculation.
Select one of the following customer types for this waiver code:

• Type A or select On Account from the drop-down list to only use this waiver code for customers flagged as "On Account" in Customer Information.
• Type B or select Both if this waiver code applies to all customers.
• Type C or select Cash to only use this waiver code for customers NOT flagged as "On Account" in Customer Information.

WAIVER TAXES

The ability to change the Tax Codes is controlled by operator permission setup in Security Role Permissions.
The waiver Standard tax fields are always accessible when initially adding a new waiver code.

There are three tax processing methods, each of which impacts this Damage Waiver tax window differently.
Refer to Tax Codes Maintenance to review the regulations determining the tax selection using either taxing method.

• Standard or Vertex Taxing
  For the Standard simple two tax processing the two tax codes are displayed and the prompts are:

  TAX CODE 1

  For Standard taxing, enter the Tax 1 (GST or State Tax) to be charged on this waiver code.
  

  The exemption flag for Tax 1 as set for each customer in the Customer Information is respected for Damage Waiver.

  
  TAX CODE 2

  Enter Tax 2 (PST or County, Local or Municipal Tax) for taxing on this on the waiver code.
  

  The exemption flag for Tax 2 as set in the Customer Information is respected..

• Enhanced Taxing
  The purpose of the Enhanced Tax method is to allow more than two tax codes to be tracked according to Location, and to be charged on products, services, and Damage Waivers, and to allow for tax exemptions on any or all of these charges.
  The Enhanced taxing method can be activated in the Company Taxing Parameters.

  WAIVER EXEMPTIONS

  This field provides a window to enter any additional tax exemptions for Waiver codes as explained in Tax Exemptions.
  Waiver exemptions apply regardless of Site, Customer, or Division taxes.

• Vertex Taxing
  For the third-party Vertex software two tax codes are displayed as follows:

  TAX CODE 1

  For Vertex this tax code is always checked, but can be changed on the document as required.

  
  TAX CODE 2

  For Vertex this tax code is always unchecked and interpreted as NTX, as all taxes are included in the Tax 1 value.

G/L ACCOUNT

Enter the default revenue account to be credited with waiver amounts paid by the customer, or select it from the G/L Account Search window.

G/L BY CURRENCY

The waiver revenue can be posted by currency if required.
Window on this field if the revenue for this waiver needs to be posted to a specific G/L account by currency, and enter the information as follows:

SEQ

The next sequential sequence number is assigned to track the records in this table.

CURR

Enter the currency or select it from the drop-down list.
If a special G/L account is not setup for a currency, then the default account specified in the G/L Account field is used for the revenue posting.

G/L CODE

Enter the revenue account to be credited with waiver amounts paid by customers for this currency, or select it from the G/L Account Search window.

DESCRIPTION

The account description displays.

ALT LANGUAGE DESC

Click EXP/CON to access the Alternate Language Description for the waiver code.
Accept the same waiver description displayed if Alternate languages do not apply.

If an Alternative Language applies, over-type the displayed waiver description with the appropriate description to print on documents for customers flagged as preferring the Alternate Language option.
The Alternate Language feature can be activated from the Company Miscellaneous Parameters.

Finished?

Click ACCEPT when all the waiver codes to be used by the company, division, or customer are entered, or CANCEL to abort.

Assigning the Rates with the Standard Damage Waiver calculation:

The waiver codes can now be assigned in the relevant tables, including the Company Waiver Code Maintenance, Division Standard Waiver Settings, and Waiver Codes by Customer.
If multiple waiver codes apply on the rental document a window is provided for the operator to select from applicable waiver codes.

Note: The customer rate always over-rides the division and company rates for the same waiver code, and if there is no customer rate then the division rate always over-rides the company rate for the same waiver code.

The parameter to Allow User Access to Waiver% flag in the Divisional Contract Parameters controls whether the operator has the ability to change the percent rate charged for the waiver code selected in document entry.
This divisional control is set according to the division of the document, regardless of the operator division.

ACTIONS:
Additional actions provided by buttons on the Waiver Code screen include:

• Delete a Waiver Code:
  The DELETE button is only active when the role assigned to the operator in Operators has permission to delete a waiver.
  The role permission is setup in Security Roles on the Security tab of Configure System Settings.

  Click on the DELETE button, then select the Waiver code to be deleted from the window, and proceed as outlined in Delete Waiver Codes.