2018 - The Year of the Tax Change

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Dateline: Oct 19, 2017 – Sage 100 2018 Released with Payroll 2.17.0

A brand-new Payroll module on the Business Object Framework.  All new input screens, all new data file structure, all new history files, and perhaps most important of all – a brand-new, cloud-based payroll tax calculation engine that eliminated the need for manual tax table updates. No more backing up data sets to process the current payroll only to then restore from back up to process period and year-end reports, and then restore back to the previous files to continue processing current payroll checks.

Dateline: Mar 7, 2018 – IRS Announces 2018 Tax Rates, Standard Deductions

Ah, yes! Sweeping changes from the federal government! Changes to tax rates, standard deductions, withholding eligibility and exemption amounts, and more. But that was just the beginning!

Meanwhile…

Individual states, reacting to the Federal changes, began to institute their own tax changes.  Many of the state legislatures became quite creative with the methods of taxation they wish to implement, many of which require structural changes to tax tables. 

Compliance made easy

The good news is that the new on-line tax calculation engine enables Sage to react to these changes in an effective and efficient manner. The necessary changes are developed and implemented in a single location and then seamlessly disseminated to any on-plan customer who needs them.  Because these changes are date driven, customers can be assured that the appropriate changes are applied in a timely manner. The challenge is that not all customers are currently using the newest release of Sage 100 Payroll (2.18.x).

Legacy support

It has been a long-standing policy of Sage to provide on-going support to legacy releases of the solution for, at minimum, the two prior versions, thereby allowing customers the required time to upgrade customizations and enhancements. That policy still stands from a support perspective, and to the best of our ability for tax table updates as well. 

Exceptions based on required update

However, in some instances where the state or local tax changes require a modification to the tax table structure, such as the Oregon State Transit Tax, we can accommodate those changes ONLY in the latest payroll release (2.x). In these instances, the required changes will not be provided in tax table updates for Sage 100 version 2017 and earlier.  

If your employees live or work in an affected state, and you are unable to upgrade your system to the latest version of the Payroll module, we recommend that you install version 2018 and Payroll 2.18.x on a separate computer so that you can process payroll until you are able to upgrade.

Note: We cannot guarantee that any alternative or proposed workaround other than the above suggestion will provide the desired results during an eventual upgrade, or that the changes would transfer to Aatrix for reporting and filing purposes