Why don't my transaction and fee reports agree with each other?

You run two reports for the same month and the totals do not match, or a report total does not match what you see on the records. This happens more often than you might expect, and it is usually not a data problem. Each report answers a different question, so each one counts different lines and filters on a different date. Any user who can open the record and run reports can work through the checks below before asking for a report fix.

Why two reports can show different totals

Before comparing numbers, it helps to know what can make two correct reports disagree:

• Fees versus payments. Some reports total what was charged (fee lines). Others total what was collected (payment lines). A permit issued in March and paid in April shows up in different months on each kind of report.
• Which date is used. The Transactions tab records a date on each transaction, and that date is editable when the transaction is entered. A report with a Date Range parameter filters on a date, and a transaction dated outside the range is left out even if the record itself is in the period.
• Waived, refunded and corrected lines. A transaction can be a Payment, a Waived entry or a Refund. A Refund is a separate line that offsets a payment; it does not remove the original payment. A correction made by deleting and re-adding a transaction changes what a report shows for the day it was corrected.
• Different reports count different fees. On a construction permit, for example, the Permit Activity Report includes waived fees in what it shows, while the List of Transactions shows what was actually collected, by payment method.

PLACEHOLDER: Confirm with the GovPilot team which date field each commonly compared report filters on (transaction date, payment date, or record date), and whether any transaction report excludes lines that have no fee or product code. Several customers have asked specifically about fee-by-type reports and credit card exports dropping lines.

Check the Transactions tab before asking for a report fix

Pick two or three records that you think are counted wrong, and look at each one:

1. Open the record and click the Transactions tab.
2. Read every row in the grid. Note the Date, Type (Payment, Waived or Refund), Amount and Payment Type on each line.
3. Compare the dates on the lines with the date range you ran the report for. A payment dated the day after the period ends will not appear in that period's report.
4. Look at the summary totals at the bottom: Amount Paid, Amount Waived, Amount Refunded and Balance Remaining. Decide which of these the report you ran is supposed to match. A report of money collected should line up with Amount Paid, not with the total fee.
5. Check for duplicate or offsetting lines, such as a payment entered twice with a refund added to cancel one of them. Both lines still count on a report of all transactions.
6. On a construction permit, also open the Payment tab. Fees are calculated there from the subcode entries, and that is where waivers are applied. If the fee itself looks wrong, the fix is on the Subcodes tab, not in the report.

Which report to use for what

These are the standard reports available in the Construction Permit module. Other modules have their own set; open the Reports dropdown in the module to see what is available.

• List of Transactions (date range): every transaction by date and payment method, with the total collected. Use this to reconcile against bank deposits.
• Permit Activity Report (date range): permits issued and fees collected, including waived fees, in the period. Use this for management summaries and revenue tracking, not for deposit reconciliation.
• Quarterly DCA Report (quarter and year): the formal report submitted to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) with the quarterly payment. This is the report to use for state remittance.
• DCA Monthly Report (Account Settings): the monthly state file. Since October 20, 2025 it is submitted automatically on the 5th of each month; you can check the DCA log to confirm.

If a report you need does not exist, or you need a different layout or grouping, that is a request for our team. For a simple list of records with the columns you choose, a Data Viewer view exported to Excel is often faster, and you can build that yourself.

When to reach out to our support team

If you have checked the records and the report still leaves out or doubles a transaction that should clearly be in the period, reach out to our support team. Include:

• The module and the exact names of the two reports you are comparing.
• The parameters you used for each (date range, quarter and year, department).
• Two or three record numbers where the totals disagree, and what the Transactions tab shows on each.
• The total you expected and the total each report gave.

✅ Pro Tip: Click Refresh in the report toolbar before you download or print. If a coworker added a payment a few minutes ago, the report you are looking at may not include it yet.

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