Sage Fixed Assets Support and Insights

By Bob McElroy, Certified Trainer, Sage University

The textbook that we use to teach Principles of Fixed Assets Accounting, one of the classes offered through Sage U, is currently being revised.  This new textbook revision will include the new tax extenders in 2020.  Here below is a recap of these updates to applicable tax law.

Section 179

The expense limit will be $1,040,000 in 2020.  As a review, here’s how that new figure…

IRS has finalized Safe Harbor QBI rules under Section 199A for rental real estate property.

Is it better to use Actual Costs or the Standard Mileage Rate for car expenses?

Sage Fixed Assets two main features, among others, added in 2019: Bulk Edit and Section 199A Report for QBI and UBIA. In 2020 coming features include: Delete multiple asset groups at one time; Ability to rename and copy more books; and Adding more depreciation books.

This brief on IRS Revenue Procedure 2019-33 summarizes how to make a late bonus election or revocation of elections related to 100% bonus under 168(k) using a Form 3115 Application for Change in Accounting Method instead of filing an amended return.

Conforming to section 163(j) rules for fixed asset depreciation

A new feature, Bulk Edit, and two new depreciation methods, RH and RM, are available in Sage Fixed Assets-Depreciation 2019.1 and later to easily change the depreciation method and life for multiple assets. 

The features were prompted by an election available under section 163(j), added by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) and available for real property…

Taking a Section 250 deduction? Learn how to set up the fixed assets (i.e. QBAI) portion of the calculation in Sage Fixed Assets.

Dive deeper into your Sage solution this summer—sign up now for 20% off SageU training.

You already own great business software—but are you truly taking advantage of all it has to offer? Make a splash with your productivity this summer by enrolling in Sage Fixed Assets courses on Sage University, now available at a special 20% discount.*

Whether you’re a seasoned user or just getting started, there’s a class…

IRS issues Safe Harbor rules in Revenue Procedure 2019-13 for Luxury Autos claiming 100% Bonus. This article compares the 2019 Safe harbor rules to the 2011 Safe Harbor rules and the advantages of taking 100% Bonus over Section 179.

Call volumes in January can often result in longer than normal wait times to speak with us. Which is why, when hold times are longer than usual, you may be asked to have your place virtually held in line through our Courtesy Call Back feature. Below are some frequently asked questions—and tips—about Courtesy Call Back:

1. When will I be called back? 
   If you enter your call-back information, we call you back within…

In this Anytime Learning course you will see the integration between Sage 100 and Sage Fixed Assets from Accounts Payable, Purchase Order and Fixed Assets.  This course is available to all at no charge.  Click here to register.

How to use Sage Fixed Assets Depreciation to calculate the capital limitation for IRC Section 199A

This blog post contains steps, as well as links to applicable Sage KB articles, for three of the most common reasons why Sage Fixed Assets customers have contacted us for help recently: changing critical deprecation fields, installing a client, and performing a custom import. 

Change Critical Deprecation Fields

You already own great business software—but are you truly taking advantage of all it has to offer? Make a splash with your productivity this summer by enrolling in Sage University, now available at a special 20% discount.¹

Training: more than just convenient, it’s cost effective

Whether you’re a seasoned user or just getting started, there’s a class to help make your job easier and ensure you’re fully utilizing…

“I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career.” – Retired CIA Agent Bryan Mills portrayed by Liam Neeson, from the movie Taken.   

Being able to work with data in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet requires a certain set of skills.  And some of the most skilled people I have ever met were on the Accounting staff…

I was out sick with pneumonia for the first time in my life and it sucked. I am used to moving and working at warp speed, always. Stuck in bed, bored, and feverish... what's a person to do? Reflect on fixed asset accounting? Perhaps, but not just 'fixed assets' in general... specifically, the trials and tribulations of fixed asset accounting and procedural workflow. 

Trials and tribulations? In fixed assets…

By Kathleen Donaghy and Ann Donie

If you were busy with year-end, you may have missed some expired tax incentives and credits that were extended in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 signed into law by the President on February 9, 2018.  Typically, these tax breaks are extended yearly for one or two years at a time, usually right at year end.  This year they were later than usual and rolled into the bipartisan budget act…

Involve All Departments

Although fixed asset management projects are typically initiated either by Finance, Tax or IT, they should involve all departments.

It is not uncalled for that each department may have their own set of lists and ideas about what qualifies for a capital asset versus expensed. In addition, everyone should be aware of the rules and processes for disposing, the differences between transferring or moving…

Construction in progress accounting for fixed asset management can have many names, but in the end, it's all the same. Tracking all costs associated with incoming 'pre-fixed assets' during your capital project. These can include both, intangible and tangible assets. Either way, they all need to be properly tracked, organized and accounted for.

Time and time again, I have witnessed assets getting missed when…

President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97) (The Act) into law on December 22, 2017. The Act provides the most sweeping change to the U.S. tax code since 1986. This historic bill calls for lowering the individual and corporate tax rates, repealing countless tax credits and deductions, enhancing the child tax credit, boosting business expensing and more.  The final law varies from the first version passed…

About courtesy call back or virtual queueing
You spoke and we listened! Last year we implemented a new way for you to call Customer Services for help and hold your place in line by receiving a call back when it’s your turn. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions and some helpful tips for using the feature:

1. When will you get your call back?
   If you enter your call-back information, we call you back within…

Regardless if your assets were purchased through Stock or Asset acquisition, the costs for the internal/GAAP assets will change. However, if your M&A was a stock purchase, all of your Federal Tax, State and AMT values need to remain as they are and continue forward with their original values, methods, lives and placed in service dates. Whereas an asset purchase, they all change.

When I review clients' data after an…

Need a little extra help getting ready for year-end…who doesn’t?!  That’s why we’ve enlisted the help of our in-house Sage Fixed Assets experts! 

• Sage Study Hall: Updating your Sage Fixed Assets software for year-end hosted by Lovisa Taylor | Thursday, January 18, 2018 ON DEMAND 
  • Preparing company and assets for year-end
  • Running depreciation, standard reports, and tax reports for year-end
  • Closing…