What's New in Sage 100 Payroll
The Payroll module has been modernized to improve performance and provide a better user experience. Also, the module is now available for Sage 100 Premium in addition to Sage 100 Standard and Advanced.
Many tasks have been reorganized to provide a better workflow and allow quicker data entry. This document includes a list of the major changes. Please see the help for more information.
Data Conversion
After upgrading to Sage 100 2018, the first time that you convert data for companies that include the Payroll module, each company must be converted individually. The Payroll Conversion Wizard automatically starts to walk you through the following:
- Changing any department numbers that contain special characters to use alphanumeric characters only
- Mapping your existing tax codes to the tax groups used in the tax calculation engine
- Creating tax profiles
- Mapping any filing statuses that are no longer valid to the filing statuses used in the tax calculation engine
Missing Employee Listing
A Missing Employee Listing has been added to the task list available in the Pre-Migration utility. This listing provides a list of employees for whom records exist in one or more Payroll history files but who have no record in Employee Maintenance.
If you want the records reflected in this listing to be available after migrating your data to a newer version of Sage 100, you must recreate the Employee Maintenance records before you migrate the data.
For more information, see Missing Employee Listing in the help.
TimeCard Compatibility
As a result of the extensive improvements to the Payroll module, the TimeCard module is not currently compatible with Payroll. However, a compatible version of TimeCard will be released in a product update during the first half of 2018.
If you currently use the TimeCard module and plan to use the updated version when it's released, two options are available:
- Postpone upgrading to Sage 100 2018 until the updated TimeCard module is available.
- If you upgrade to Sage 100 2018 before the updated module is available:
- Create a backup of your TimeCard data so that you can use Visual Integrator to import it when the updated module is available.
- Uninstall the TimeCard module from your current Sage 100 installation before running the Parallel Migration Wizard in Sage 100 2018.
Batch Processing
You can now enable batch entry for payroll processing. The batch feature allows you to have multiple payroll runs in progress at the same time. Therefore, you can simultaneously process payroll for groups of employees who are assigned to different pay cycles.
Each batch has its own pay cycle. Therefore, you can simultaneously process payroll runs with different check and pay period start and end dates by creating a separate batch for each run.
An open batch can be accessed by any employee provided that it's not set as a private batch. You can access another user's private batch only with the appropriate security setup.
Multiple users can access the same batch at the same time in Payroll Data Entry. However, you can select only one batch at a time when running other Payroll tasks, including Payroll Tax Calculation, Check Printing, and Check Register/Update.
Unlike other modules, you cannot merge or renumber batches or transfer records from one batch to another.
An employee can be selected in only one batch at a time. This applies to batches that originate in Payroll Data Entry and batches that originate when updating the Commission Edit Register.
To enable this feature, start Payroll Options and click the Entry tab. In the Batch Processing area, select the Enable check box.
User Interface Enhancements
These changes have been incorporated to make it easier to access data and complete tasks.
Payroll History
Payroll history is now saved for a minimum of four years. For more information, see History Tab in the Payroll Options section.
Encrypted Data
Personally identifiable information (PII) is now encrypted. PII includes names, phone numbers, and email addresses.
Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, and bank routing numbers are considered highly sensitive, so extra security precautions are in place to protect that information. The ability to view and edit highly sensitive PII is based on a security event, "Allow Viewing, Printing and Editing of Highly Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information."
If a user doesn’t have rights to view highly sensitive PII, it will be masked on reports and in task windows.
Visual Integrator
The Visual Integrator module also uses the "Allow Viewing, Printing and Editing of Personally Identifiable Information" security event to determine how PII is handled when importing and exporting employee data. If the security event check box is not selected, you can import data into highly sensitive PII fields only when creating new employee records.
Data File Display and Maintenance
Personally identifiable employee information is not visible in Data File Display and Maintenance.
Report Manager
When you add a report using the Menu Wizard, you’ll have the option to include a PII worktable. The worktable will be populated with unencrypted data when running the report from the report menu. The "Allow Viewing, Printing and Editing of Personally Identifiable Information" security event determines whether Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, and bank routing numbers are masked.
Enhanced Memo Functionality
The following memo-related enhancements have been added.
- Memo Manager Maintenance has been added to the Payroll Setup menu. You can use this task to view and manage memos on a system-wide basis. Also, you can now manage Payroll memos when accessing Memo Manager Maintenance from the Common Information Main menu.
- In addition to employee memos, you can now maintain memos related to specific Payroll Data Entry and Payroll history records.
- You can now add attachments to employee memos. In addition, the following fields have been added to the Employee Memo Maintenance window:
- Reminder Start Date
- Reminder End Date
- Expiration Date
- Auto Display
A Copy button has also been added to Employee Memo Maintenance, which allows you to copy a memo to a range of employee records selected by employee number.
Payroll Options
The Payroll Options task has been redesigned; three tabs have been added and two have been removed.
- The Forms tab has been removed. Non-graphical forms are no longer available.
- The Integrate tab has been removed. The fields have been relocated to other tabs.
- The fields related to tracking changes are now on the new History tab.
- The "Integrate Payroll with the following" module check boxes are now on the Main tab.
- The Default Answer to Auto Pay Employees field is on the Entry tab.
- All other fields are now on the Additional tab.
- The following tabs have been added:
- Time Off (For more information, see Time Off Tab.)
- Entry (For more information, see Entry Tab.)
- History (For more information, see History Tab.)
Main Tab
The following changes were made on the Main tab:
- The Require Multiple State or Local Earnings Entry check box, previously on the Main tab, has been replaced with the Allow Multiple Tax Profiles in Data Entry check box on the Additional tab.
Select the new check box to enter more than one tax profile (on a line-by-line basis) in Payroll Data Entry. For more information on tax-related changes, see Calculating Payroll Taxes.
- The following fields have been removed:
- Retain Perpetual Payroll History
- Retain Year To Date Check History
- Years to Retain eFiling Check History
The Years to Retain Payroll History field on the new History tab is used to determine how long all history is retained.
- The Default Local Tax Code field has been removed. Local tax reporting is now handled through Tax Profile Maintenance. For more information on tax-related changes, see Calculating Payroll Taxes.
- The following fields were moved from the Main tab to the Additional tab:
- Default State Tax Code, which is now used as a default in Tax Profile Maintenance
- Require Local Tax Reporting
- The Implement Qualified Employee Reporting field was removed.
Additional Tab
The following changes were made on the Additional tab:
- Fields related to benefit accruals have been renamed and moved to the new Time Off tab. For more information, see Time Off Tab.
- The ability to reactivate employees is now based on a new security event, "Allow Reactivation of Employees During Data Entry." The following fields have been removed:
- Reactivate Employees During Data Entry
- Reactivate Employee Password
- The following fields have been moved to the new Entry tab:
- Take Automatic Deductions in Selective Entry
- Method to Recalculate Deductions
- Recalculate Deductions in Data Entry
- Remove Earnings Lines with Zero Amount
- The Print Data Entry Audit Report in Detail check box has been removed. The Payroll Data Entry Audit Report task window now has a Print Summary Report check box that you can select or clear to control the level of detail included in the report.
Time Off Tab
The Time Off tab allows you to define three time-off types (formerly referred to as benefit types) and other time-off related settings. For more information, see Time-Off Types Replace Benefit Types on page 8.
A new field, Reset Time Off Hours Based On, can be set to Calendar Year or Anniversary Date. If you select Anniversary Date, accrued time-off hours are reset to zero and unused time is carried over to the next year based on the anniversary of the eligibility date entered in Employee Maintenance.
Entry Tab
The Entry tab includes settings related to entering and processing payroll. Most of the fields on this tab were previously located on the Additional tab.
History Tab
The History tab includes options for tracking employee changes and determining how long history is retained.
The Years to Retain Payroll History field replaces the check boxes that were used to retain perpetual payroll history, check history, and eFiling check history. History is saved for a minimum of four years, but you can increase this up to 99 years.
Deduction Code Maintenance
The following changes have been made in Deduction Code Maintenance.
- The Deduction Code field has been expanded from 2 to 6 characters. The Description field has been expanded from 13 to 30 characters.
- A new field, Apply to W-2 Box, has been added. Use this field to specify whether box 12 or box 14 on the W-2 form is used for the deduction.
Tax Rule Field
The Taxes button, which opened the Reduce Taxable Income window, has been removed and replaced with the Tax Rule field. Click the Tax Rule Lookup button to select the appropriate tax rule to determine how pension and cafeteria plan deductions affect payroll taxes.
You must select a tax rule for each pension or cafeteria plan deduction before processing payroll.
Tax rules are not company-specific. When you select a tax rule, if you have the same deduction code set up in other companies, a message appears asking if you want to use that tax rule in the other companies provided that:
Tax Rules for Dependent Care and Nonqualified Plans
Tax rules for dependent care and nonqualified benefit plans mean that it is no longer necessary to manually enter the annual totals for these plans at year end. If the correct tax rule is selected, these amounts are now automatically updated during the Payroll Check Register update. The annual totals for dependent care plans print in box 10 on W-2 forms and totals for nonqualified plans print in box 11.
Department Maintenance
The following changes were made in Department Maintenance.
- The department number field has been expanded to 6 characters.
- Department numbers can no longer include special characters. If you are using department numbers with special characters, you’ll be asked to map them to new department numbers when you run the Payroll Conversion Wizard.
- Deductions and Security tabs have been added so that you can maintain all of the department information in one window. The Deductions and Security buttons have been removed.
- The following payroll expense account fields have been added:
- Employer Disability
- Employer Other
Department Security
The following security-related changes have been made.
- When setting up a list of users who can access a department, you must now enter users’ logon ID. Previously the user code was entered.
If you’re upgrading and were using department security, you’ll need to recreate the list of users for each department.
- When the selected data for a report includes records for departments that you are authorized to access as well as those that you are not, the report is generated with the records for the authorized departments.
If the selected data includes no records for authorized departments, you’ll be asked to change your selection criteria. If the report contains summary or recap sections, those sections will contain information only for the authorized departments.
The Check Register and the Employer Expense Summary are exceptions. You must have access to all departments included in the report data in order to print those reports.
- You must have access to all departments to access the following tasks:
- Tax Profile Maintenance
- ACA Applicable Large Employer Report
- Period End Processing
- Periodic Time Off Accrual (Formerly named Periodic Benefits Accrual)
- Federal and State Tax Reporting (Formerly two separate tasks named Federal eFiling and Reporting and State eFiling and Reporting)
- In lookup views that include a column for the department number, data will be filtered based on users’ department security settings. If a user does not have access to a department, the related records do not appear in the lookup view. The exception is in Department Maintenance. Users with access to Department Maintenance can access all department records in that task.
Earnings Code Maintenance
The following changes have been made in Earnings Code Maintenance.
- The Earnings Code field has been expanded from two to six characters. The Description field has been expanded to 30 characters.
- A new check box, Apply to Box 14 on W-2, has been added. Select this check box to include the year-to-date earnings for the earnings code in Box 14 on W-2 forms processed through Federal and State Tax Reporting (formerly Federal eFiling and Reporting).
- The Exclude from ALE Report check box replaces the Earnings to Exclude button on the ACA Applicable Large Employer Report task window.
Tax Rule Field
The Subject to Federal Tax and Subject to State Tax sections have been removed and replaced with a Tax Rule field. Click the Tax Rule Lookup button to select a tax rule to determine how the earnings affects payroll taxes.
You must select a tax rule for each earnings code before processing payroll.
Tax rules are not company-specific. When you select a tax rule, if you have the same earnings code set up in other companies, a message appears asking if you want to use that tax rule in the other companies provided that:
Workers’ Compensation Maintenance
The Additional button, which opens the Workers’ Compensation Cost Code Maintenance window, has been relabeled Cost Codes.
Time-Off Types Replace Benefit Types
Three user-defined time-off types have replaced the Vacation, Sick, and user-defined benefit types. The names of the time off types are defined in Payroll Options, and they are used throughout the Payroll module. Vacation and Sick are the default names for the first two time-off types, but they can be changed.
Window names, field names, and reports have been updated to reflect this change. For more information, see Renamed and Removed Tasks on page 5.
Calculation Change for Time Off Register
The exact employee pay rate, with a decimal precision of 3, is printed on the Time Off Register (formerly named the Benefits Register) and used to calculate the dollar value of the accrued time off. The calculated value is then rounded. In prior versions, the pay rate was rounded before it was used in the calculation.
Calculating Payroll Taxes
The new payroll tax calculation program gives you more flexibility in setting up employees’ payroll taxes and eliminates the need to maintain tax tables and tax calculation steps in Tax Table Maintenance. That task has been removed from the Setup menu, an the company-specific information is now maintained in Company Tax Group Setup.
New Tax Calculation Engine
Tax rules and tax rates that are not company-specific are maintained in the online tax calculation engine. When you run Payroll Tax Calculation, the information from the tax calculation engine, along with the check date, tax profiles, filing statues, tax rules, and other settings, are used to calculate payroll taxes. Therefore, you must have an internet connection when you run Payroll Tax Calculation.
The tax calculation engine contains a list of tax location codes, and each location is associated with a tax group. In addition to the Federal tax group, there are tax groups for each state -- one state-wide tax group and tax groups for individual municipalities within the state. Tax groups for Puerto Rico and Guam are also included.
Option to Run Tax Calculation on Server or Workstation
A Process Tax Calculation on the Server check box has been added to the Preferences tab in System Configuration. Processing the Payroll Tax Calculation program on the server is typically faster than processing it on a workstation. Your server must be connected to the internet to use this option.
If you select the check box to process the tax calculation on the server, but the program cannot reach the online tax calculation engine when someone runs Payroll Tax Calculation, the program will then automatically process on the workstation.
Tax Profile Maintenance
In Tax Profile Maintenance, located on the Payroll Setup menu, you can create tax profiles that consist of one or more tax locations and their associated tax groups. You can view a list of taxes included for each tax group and specify whether each tax should be calculated for employees to whom the tax profile is assigned.
Tax profiles are system-wide, so it’s not necessary to set them up more than once for multiple companies.
To use Tax Profile Maintenance, you must have access to all of the companies set up in your Sage 100 system. If you are using payroll departments, you must have access to all departments to access Tax Profile Maintenance.
Company Tax Group Setup
Company Tax Group Setup, located on the Payroll Setup menu, is used to maintain the following for each tax group:
- The tax ID number
- The general ledger account numbers for each type of tax
- Any tax rates that are specific to your company and, therefore, are not maintained in the tax calculation engine.
The Company Tax Group Setup records are company-specific, so you can set up separate tax IDs, accounts, and tax rates for each company.
Employee Maintenance
The Employee Maintenance task has been reorganized, and five tabs have been added.
- The employee’s last name field has been expanded to 40 characters, and the first name field has been expanded to 25 characters.
- Fields for the employee’s middle name and a suffix have been added.
Main Tab
The following changes were made on the Main tab.
- The Tax Summary, Renumber, Direct Deposit, and ACA buttons on the Main tab have been removed. Click the arrow in the top-right corner of the window to access these features.
- The Earnings button that opened the Earnings and Vacation Inquiry window has been removed. Earnings information is now available on the Earnings tab and accrued time off is now shown on the Benefits tab. For more information, see Earnings Tab and Benefits Tab.
- The Voluntary Deduction Maintenance window accessed by clicking the Deductions button has been replaced with the Deductions tab. The button has been removed. For more information, see Deductions Tab.
- An Employee Status field and a Status Change section has been added, and the Change Status button has been removed. The Status Change section includes separate Inactive and Termination date fields.
- An E-mail field has been added for the employee’s email address. This email address is used for Federal and State Tax Reporting (formerly Federal and State eFiling and Reporting). It is no longer necessary to set up Paperless Office to email tax forms to employees.
- A Country field has been added.
- A field for a second telephone number has been added. For both telephone fields, you can enter an extension, select a type, and you can specify which is the primary phone number.
- The obsolete Qualified (Form W-11) field has been removed.
- The following fields have been moved to the Additional tab:
- Sort
- Marital Status
- Sex (renamed Gender)
- Emergency contact fields
- Race Code
In addition to being relocated to the Additional tab, the Race Code field has been renamed Ethnicity/Race, and you can now select from a drop-down list. The following options are available.
During data conversion, any codes not listed below are mapped to Not Reported.
- A (Asian)
- B (Black or African American)
- C (White)
- H (Hispanic)
- N (American Indian or Alaska Native)
- O (Other)
- P (Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander)
- X (Not Reported)
Additional Tab
In addition to the fields relocated from the Main tab, the Additional tab contains the following new fields:
Also, the Emergency Contacts section includes fields for two contacts. You can indicate the relationship of the contact to the employee, and select a type for the contact phone numbers.
Benefits Tab
This Benefits tab displays the employee’s year-to-date benefits and accumulated time off. The tab contains the following new fields:
- Eligibility Date: This field can be used to determine when the employee starts to accrue time off and when time-off hours are reset on an annual basis. For more information, see Time Off Tab in the Payroll Options section.
- Medical Coverage and Effective Date: The Medical Coverage check box and related Effective Date field are for informational purposes only. They are not used for ACA reporting.
- Last Date Reset: This field shows when the employee’s annual time-off limites were reset to zero.
If you need to select the Pension/Profit Sharing check box or edit the values in the W-2 section, click the arrow in the top-right corner of the window, select Tax Summary, and then click Benefits.
Taxes Tab
The Taxes tab contains fields that were previously on the Tax Status window in addition to new fields used to calculate payroll taxes. Use this tab to:
- Select one or more tax profiles, which will add the related tax groups to the grid.
- Select residence and work tax locations and tax location codes.
- Indicate whether the employee has provided consent to receive W-2 and 1095C forms electronically.
- Set up overrides of the tax calculation.
- Maintain other tax-related information, such as filing statuses, Workers’ Compensation codes, and exemptions.
For more information, see Calculating Payroll Taxes.
Pay Defaults Tab
The Pay Defaults tab has replaced the Wages tab. Many of the same fields remain, including the ones used for the Auto Pay feature, and new ones have been added.
- You can enter up to nine different pay rates for employees.
- The Alternate Employee Check Name field provides the option to print a different name on the employee’s pay checks and direct deposit stubs.
- Summarize Pay Details on Check Stub: If you select this check box, when a check has multiple data entry lines using the same earnings or deduction code, the lines with the same code are combined into one line on the employee’s pay stub.
- The Tax Status window that was previously accessed from the Wages tab has been replaced with the Taxes tab; therefore, the Taxes button has been removed.
- The SUI State field has been removed. The state codes used to determine how taxes are calculated are now based on the employees’ tax profile(s). For more information, see Calculating Payroll Taxes.
- The E. I. C. Code field has been removed.
- The Benefit Code field has been moved to the Benefits tab and renamed Time Off code.
Earnings Tab
The Earnings tab has replaced the Earnings and Vacation window that was accessed from the Earnings button previously on the Main tab. This tab displays the employee's earnings and quarter-to-date and year-to-date hours recorded for each earnings code. A secondary list box displays the employee's year-to-date and quarterly earnings totals for all earnings codes combined.
You can view earnings information from a prior year, and click the Earnings Detail button to view a monthly breakdown for an earnings code.
Deductions Tab
The Deductions tab has replaced the Voluntary Deduction Maintenance window that was accessed from the Deductions button previously on the Main tab. This tab displays the employee's year-to-date and quarterly deduction totals for each deduction code. A secondary list box displays the employee's year-to-date and quarterly deduction totals for all deduction codes combined.
You can view deduction information from a prior year, and click the Deduction Detail button to view a monthly breakdown for a deduction code and manually edit deduction amounts for the current year if needed.
You can click the Add Deduction button to add a deduction code that will be applied when using the Automatic Deductions feature in Payroll Data Entry.
You cannot delete a deduction that has been used during payroll processing if the associated history is still on file.
Pay History Tab
The Pay History tab has replaced the Checks tab and displays the employee's gross and net wages, withholding taxes, deductions, and hours for each check or direct deposit. The secondary list box displays the employee's year-to-date totals.
Employee Tax Summary
The State Tax Summary and Federal Tax Summary windows have been replaced with the Employee Tax Summary window. The window has three tabs, Federal, State, and Local. The information shown is based on the selected tax group, year, and quarter. From this window you can:
- Click Detail to open the Employee Tax History Detail window. In this window you can select one of the following view options:
- Wages
- Employee Tax
- Employer Tax
- Time Worked
Click the Tax History Detail button to open the Employee Tax History Detail Drill Down window, which shows a breakdown of wages and taxes by check date. On this window, you can click the Fix button to edit amounts if needed. The Fix feature has been improved so that all related files are updated and kept in sync when you manually edit the amounts.
The Fix feature has been improved so that all related files are updated and kept in sync when you manually edit the amounts.
- Click Benefits to open the Benefits window in which you can:
- Specify whether the employee participates in a pension or profit sharing plan.
- Manually enter the employee’s year-to-date benefit totals; however, these fields are automatically updated when you process payroll.
- Click Time Worked to view a summary of the employee’s quarter-to-date and year-to-date hours, days, and weeks worked.
Employee Inquiry
The Employee Inquiry task has been added to the Main menu to provide view-only access to employee information.
Paperless Office
You can now create pay checks in PDF format through the Paperless Office module. The following related changes were made in the Paperless Office module.
- In Forms Maintenance, a check option has been added to the Documents list for the Payroll module.
- The Employee Viewer task has been added to the Main menu. The Form Type field has Check and Direct Deposit Stub options.
- In Employee Self Service, the View Documents button has replaced the View Stubs button. The button opens the Employee Viewer window in which you can view both checks and direct deposit stubs.
Pay Cycle Window
The following changes have been made to the Pay Cycle Window.
- The Check Date must now be entered on the Check Printing window. This date is used to calculate some payroll taxes. If you change the date, you must rerun Payroll Tax Calculation.
- A Period Starting Date field has been added to the window. When you select a pay cycle and enter a period starting date, the ending date is automatically calculated, but you can change it. If you enter the period ending date without entering the starting date, the starting date is automatically calculated.
- The Tabs button has been removed.
- You can no longer pay a combination of pay cycles in one check run.
Payroll Data Entry
The following changes have been made in Payroll Data Entry.
- You can select employees only if their pay cycle entered in Employee Maintenance is the same as the current pay cycle.
- A Reverse Check button has been added to simplify the process for reversing a check or direct deposit transaction from the current quarter. After you click the button and select a check or direct deposit transaction, the information is pulled from the history files, and the appropriate amounts have a negative value. When reversing direct deposit transactions, you must still contact the bank to remove the deposit from the employee’s account.
- The Pay Check Totals section has been moved from the Header tab to the bottom of the main window so that it is always visible.
- The Social Security Number field has been removed.
- The following changes were made on the Lines tab:
- A Recalculate Deductions button has been added above the primary grid on the Lines tab. This button replaces the Recalc Deductions button.
- Line details are now entered in data entry grids.
- The Tax Profile Code field has been added to replace the State and Local tax code fields. For more information, see Calculating Payroll Taxes.
- The Date Worked field is now available for all lines with associated hours. Previously the field was used only if Payroll was integrated with the TimeCard module or Sage Abra.
Payroll Check Printing
The following changes have been made in Payroll Check Printing.
- SAP Crystal Reports forms are now the only option for check forms. The Form and Options buttons have been removed from the Check Printing window. To modify a check form, click the Designer button to use the SAP Crystal Reports Designer.
- A Paperless Office Output field has been added. You can select whether to print all checks, create a PDF version of all checks, or both. PDF versions of checks can be emailed to employees based on settings in the Paperless Office Delivery Options window accessed in Employee Maintenance.
Before using the Paperless Office features, you must set up payroll checks in the Forms Maintenance task on the Paperless Office Setup menu.
- A selections grid has been added to the Payroll Check Printing window. You can select which checks to print based on the employee number, employee last name, check entry number, and the sort field.
- The Check Date field is now view-only. The date is now entered in the Pay Cycle window.
- If the number of stub lines for a check exceeds the maximum entered in the Stub Lines field, the first check form printed will be the actual check, and the extra stub lines will overflow to the next check form, which will be voided. Previously the overflow stub lines printed first.
- The Marbled form template is no longer available.
Direct Deposit
The following changes have been made to tasks on the Direct Deposit menu.
Direct Deposit Maintenance
The Direct Deposit Interface Setup task has been renamed Direct Deposit Maintenance. The task has been updated and reorganized to provide a better workflow.
- The Primary tab has been renamed Records. This tab is available only if you have Manually Send ACH File selected in the Direct Deposit Interface field in Payroll Options.
- The Advanced tab has been renamed Additional. This tab is available only if you have Manually Send ACH File selected in the Direct Deposit Interface field in Payroll Options.
- The following fields are now on the Records tab:
- Character to Preceded Company ID
- Company Discretionary Data
- Company Entry Description
- The following fields are now on the Additional tab:
- Add CR/LF After Each Record
- Add CTRL+Z at End of File
- The Pad File to Block Size of 10 field has been replaced with a Pad File to Block Size check box. When the check box is selected, you must select one of two new option buttons: Block Size to 9 or Block Size to 10
- When setting up a bank code, you can click the new Copy button to copy information from another record.
Purge Direct Deposit Batches
Purge Direct Deposit Batches has been added to the Direct Deposit menu. This option was previously available on the Direct Deposit Processing window.
Use this task to delete processed direct deposit batches based on transmission dates. Only the direct deposit transactions files are purged, not the generated ACH files.
This task works with the direct deposit method in which you generate an ACH file and manually send it to your bank. It is available only if Manually Send ACH file is selected in the Direct Deposit Interface field in Payroll Options.
Reports, Registers, and Forms
Report and form task windows have been redesigned and several standard options have been added.
- Report setting options now appear on the header area of the applicable report window. You can avoid reentering selections each time you print a report by creating a new report setting. For more information, see Create a Report Setting in the help.
- SAP Crystal Reports is now used for all reports and forms. Non-graphical forms are no longer available.
- Selection grids have been added so that it’s easier to filter report data.
- A Calendar Year field has been added to applicable reports. The years available in the field’s drop-down list depend on the number of years selected in the Years to Retain Payroll History field in Payroll Options.
- The option to keep the task window open after printing or previewing a report has been added for additional reports.
- The Print to File option previously available in the Printer Setup window has been moved to the Export option accessed from the Printer field, and it uses the SAP Crystal Reports engine. For more information on how to export or print reports to a file, see Export or Print to a File in the help.
- The process for deferring the printing of a report or listing has changed. The Deferred option is now accessed from the Printer field. For more information, see Defer a Report in the Help system.
- A Setup button has replaced the Printer Setup button on report task windows. The Setup button opens the Windows Print window. The output options that were previously available in the Printer Setup window, such as Deferred and Export File are now in the Printer field drop-down menu.
For more information, see the following articles in the help:
- Export or Print to a File
- Print Deferred Reports
- E-mail, Fax, or Print a Report as a PDF using Paperless Office
Check History Report
When printing the Check History Report, you can select whether to print check and direct deposit details, as well as earnings, deductions, and taxes.
The report now includes information that was previously available on the Perpetual History Report; therefore, the Perpetual History Report has been removed from the Reports menu.
Deduction Reports
The Perpetual Deduction History Report and the Consolidated Deduction History Report have been combined with the Deduction Report.
The Pension Plan History Report that was previously accessed from the Deduction Reports Menu window is now available on the Payroll Reports menu.
Pension and Cafeteria Plan Register
You are no longer asked if you want to print the Pension Plan Deduction Register when printing the Deduction Register. You can now print the register from the Main menu, and it has been renamed Pension and Cafeteria Plan Register.
Report Manager
When adding a custom Payroll report using the Add Report to Menu wizard, you must select the option to include a PII worktable if you want to include personally identifiable employee information in the report. For more information, see Encrypted Data.
Federal and State Tax Reporting
Federal eFiling and Reporting and State eFiling and Reporting have been combined into one task named Federal and State Tax Reporting. The following changes were made in the task window:
- A Form Type field has replaced the Form Selection option buttons.
- A Form Name field has replaced this form list box. A Lookup button has been added for selecting a form.
- The fields for entering miscellaneous earnings and deduction codes on W-2 forms have been removed. Instead, use the following methods for earnings and deduction codes:
- In Earnings Code Maintenance, select the Apply to Box 14 on W-2 check box.
- Deduction Code Maintenance, select either 12 or 14 in the Apply to W-2 Box field .
The email address entered in Employee Maintenance is now used for sending tax forms. It is no longer necessary to set up Paperless Office to email tax forms to employees.
In addition, if you are using departments, you must have access to all departments to access Federal and State Tax Reporting.
Period End Processing
The following changes have been made in Period End Processing:
- The option to select quarter-end or year-end processing has been removed. Year-end processing now occurs automatically based on the current quarter entered in Payroll Options.
- The Only Consolidate Check History and Purge Perpetual Payroll History options have been removed. Payroll history is now automatically retained for a minimum of four years and possibly longer based on the Years to Retain Payroll History Field in Payroll Options.
- The Period End Report Selection task has been added to the Period End menu. Use this task to select which reports will print when processing period end.
- A Print Period End Reports check box has been added to the P/R Period End Processing window. If you select this check box, the P/R Period End Reports window opens when you click Proceed. The reports selected in Period End Report Selection are listed, and you can select which ones that you want to print. If no reports are selected in Period End Report Selection, the check box is not available.
- If you are using departments, you must have access to all departments to access Period End Processing.
ACA Tasks
The following changes were made to tasks on the ACA menu.
ACA Applicable Large Employer Report
- If you are using departments, you must have access to all departments to access the ACA Applicable Large Employer Report.
- The Earnings to Exclude button has been removed from the ACA Applicable Large Employer Report task window. To exclude an earnings code from the report, select the Exclude from ALE check box in Earnings Code Maintenance.
- The default calendar year is determined by the current processing year set in Payroll Options.
Payroll Change in Business Insights
To protect sensitive employee information, the Workforce Statistics option has been removed from Business Insights Dashboard.
Service Notification Maintenance
A new task, Service Notification Maintenance, has been added to the following locations:
Use this task to manage who will receive e-mails related to the Tax Calculation Engine and other Sage services. E-mails are sent to let you know about scheduled maintenance, unplanned outages, or other events that affect your ability to use the service.
Until you designate at least one person to receive service notifications, a message appears each time anyone accesses the Payroll module alerting them that a user must be set up in Service Notification Maintenance.
Payroll Setup Wizard
A wizard is available to help you set up the Payroll module. You must complete the wizard before using any Payroll tasks. A message asks if you want to set up the module when you try to access a Payroll task if the module is not set up.
The wizard guides you through entering settings related to employee records, taxes, time off, payroll data entry, direct deposit, retaining history, and other options.
Renamed and Removed Tasks
The following tasks have been renamed or removed.
- Benefits Schedule Maintenance has been renamed Time Off Maintenance.
- The Benefit Accrual Report has been renamed Time Off Accrual Report.
- Periodic Benefit Accrual has been renamed Periodic Time Off Accrual.
- The Employee Masterfile Audit Report has been renamed Employee Audit Report.
- Direct Deposit Interface Setup has been renamed Direct Deposit Maintenance.
- Federal eFiling and Reporting and State eFiling and Reporting have been combined into one task, Federal and State Tax Reporting.
- Tax Table Maintenance has been removed. For more information, see Calculating Payroll Taxes.
- The Paperless Office Stub Viewer has been removed from the Direct Deposit menu. Employees can now view check and direct deposit stubs using the Employee Viewer on the Paperless Office Main menu.
- The Perpetual History Report has been removed. The information included in that report is now available in the Check History Report.
- The Quarterly Governmental Report has been removed from the Period End menu.
- The Employee Totals Verification report has been removed from the Period End Processing menu.
- The Payroll Check History Report has been renamed Check History Report.
- The Quarterly Pay Period Recap report has been renamed Quarterly Pay Recap.
