Version 8.5.0.3 - December 30, 2010

Each user should refresh their AccuBuild screen after an update is installed so that new menu options and reports (as applicable) may be visible. Instruct each user to follow these steps to refresh their screen. Open the AccuBuild program and open the company.  Click on the down-arrow on the main screen that is located under the X that is used to close the AccuBuild program.  Click Add or Remove Buttons; click Reset Toolbar.

PAYROLL

•Tax Table Updates for 2011 are included in this release.

•W-2 Format changes are included in this release for 2010 W-2s.

•MISC Format changes are included in this release for 2010 1099s.

•Electronic W-2 File Specifications for the EFW2 File have been updated for the 2010 W2s including new field changes for the 2010 HIRE Act.

•A new function to validate the FICA rates for the current payroll year is now called before calculating payroll taxes AND when closing the payroll properties screen – If the tax rate for employee FICA does not match the rate for the current payroll cutoff year (starting with 2010) then a warning message will be displayed to help notify the user of FICA Rate problem.

•Payroll Properties Screen now shows employer's FICA and Medicare rates on the screen – these rates cannot be modified.

•Starting with Payroll for 2011, the following fields will be used to track FICA Tax amounts and wages:

•TaxAmount1 holds Employer FICA Tax Credit for 2010 HIRE ACT (2010 PR Only)

•TaxAmount2 holds Employer FICA Wages Credit  for 2010 HIRE ACT (2010 PR Only)

•TaxAmount3 holds Employer FICA1 (Soc Sec) starting in 2011

•TaxAmount4 holds Employer FICA2 (Medicare) starting in 2011

PAYROLL - Changes for 2010 New HIRE Act

•If you used the HIRE Act tax exemption on any of your employees in 2010, you do NOT need to uncheck the box before doing payroll in 2011.  AccuBuild will only calculate the exemption on payroll checks that were dated between 3/19/2010 and 12/31/2010.

•The W-2 Box 12 Info Group on the Payroll > Employees > Federal Tab has the new option 'CC' for 2010 W-2s which is used to report the exempt FICA wages under the 2010 HIRE Act.  When option 'CC' is selected for any of the Box 12 Fields (A-D), the system will calculate the FICA wages for all payroll checks that were written within the qualified period which runs from 03/19/2010 through 12/21/2010 and update the Box 12 amount automatically.  The display of this amount on this screen is for reference purposes only and the amount will be recalculated when W-2s are created.  If you make changes to the historical check records AFTER setting the Box 12 to 'CC', you can drop down the Box 12 Letter Control and close it back up to refresh the displayed amount on this screen.

•A new MAR report has been created called the '2010 HIRE Act Exempt Wage Report' which will list all employee wages for 2010 on employees who are marked for the HIRE Act.  This report will be helpful in determining the amount for Box 12 on the W-2s.  Make sure your qualified HIRE Act employees are marked in the employee list before running this report. Please note that all 2010 payroll checks are included on this report and only the checks that were dated between 03/19/2010 through 12/21/2010 inclusive will be included in the Exempt Wage Totals for the HIRE Act.  The reports includes state totals for each employee as these are necessary for multi-state payrolls.

•Note: This report will show the Box 12 (CC) Amount for each employee as well as the total amount that will be required on Form W3 in the new box number 12b titled 'HIRE Exempt wages and tips'.

PAYROLL - Several Payroll Reports were updated for 2011

•Prrep15b.rpt – Payroll Check Register and Burden Report (Traditional Report) has been updated to compute the Employer FICA taxes for 2011.  Any checks from 2010 or earlier will use original formulas and payroll checks for 2011 and later will use the TaxAmount3 & TaxAmount4 fields.

•Prrep16c.rpt – revised the Traditional version of the Employee Transaction Totals report to use the new TaxAmount3 and TaxAmount4 fields for employer FICA Tax for 2011 Payroll Checks.

•The Traditional versions of the Employee Transaction Report – both the Detail and Employee Total versions have been discontinued and are now available ONLY under MAR Reports.  The Totals Only Traditional version is still available and continues to be used as part of the automatic payroll reports during the payroll posting process.  Any attempt to run the discontinued reports will result in a information screen indicating that these reports are now available under MAR.

•Prcktax.rpt – the Pre-check Tax Register (Traditional Version) has been modified to exclude the FICA Tax Burden Amounts.  These Employer paid FICA Taxes are now computed during the payroll posting process in order to handle the new differences between employer and employee FICA tax rates for 2011.

•The Quarterly Payroll Tax reports under the Payroll Reports Menu (Traditional Version) have been modified to handle the new FICA Calculations for the Employer portion of FICA:

•Prrep07a.rpt – Payroll Quarterly Report (Tax Liability Record)

•Prrep07b.rpt – Payroll Quarterly Report (Tax Information Report)

•The following MAR Payroll Reports have been updated to handle the new employer FICA Tax burden amounts for the 2011 payroll tax changes:

•Prrep16a.644 – Employee transaction report – detail – transaction date

•Prrep16b.644 – Employee transaction report – employee totals – transaction date

•Prrep16c.644 – Employee transaction report – totals only – transaction date

•Prrep16d.645 – Employee transaction report – detail – WE date

•Prrep16e.645 – Employee transaction report – employee totals – WE date

•Prrep16r.645 – Employee transaction report – totals only – WE date

•Prrep17a.644 – Federal Tax Liability Report

2010 AccuWage Info Link: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/accuwage/index.html

AccuWage 2010 Program Link:   http://www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/accuwage/ty10/accu10.exe