Sage 50cloud US New Enhancements for Release 2021.1

3 minute read time.

On the heels of our July Release 2021.0, we are excited to announce that Sage 50cloud Accounting—US Edition is providing enhanced and expanded features for payroll users.  We’re delivering a highly requested enhancement in this release - expanded payroll types for payroll employees.  We are also providing integrated Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) information into the Form 941 workflow.

Click on our release video below to learn more about these requested enhancements. 

If you haven't loaded the July release yet, see below for a quick recap of more new features, including many focused on remote working and cloud connectivity.  Let’s take a closer look at the latest release features.

Expanded Pay Types for Payroll Employees

Currently, a company is limited to configuring 20 Pay Types for Hourly Employees and 20 Pay Types for Salaried Employees.  With this release, you can now setup an unlimited number of Pay Types for both hourly and salaried employees.  The interface will remain essentially the same, but users will no longer be limited to just the 20 fields each.  They can continue to add as many types as desired.    

The expansion of Pay Types will also help firms who must accommodate tracking of the COVID-19 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) compensation as well as potential future programs.  We released guidance to use an additional three (3) Pay Type fields to accommodate tracking of this information so it can be traced and included in the employers Form 941 quarterly filings.

Although companies can setup an unlimited number of types, Employees will still be limited to 20 Pay Types per pay period/check.  Below is a snapshot of the Maintain Employee screen, Pay Info tab:

  • You will now see all Pay Types setup for the designated Pay Method (Hourly or Salary).
  • You can enter up to 20 amounts in the Pay Rates column. If you enter more than 20, an error message will appear upon exiting the screen.  
  • Also new on this release is the way Salary Pay Types display when you are entering payroll amounts.  Pay Types that are setup for the employee must have an amount setup or have the “Use Default” checkbox removed to display when you are creating paychecks.  We recommend you check in advance by calling up your salaried employees and ensure that the Types you need display.  If not, you can quickly open the Maintain Employee window for that client and unselect the “Use Default” checkbox for any Pay Types you want to always display when entering payroll amounts. 

Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) Form 941 Reporting

Another enhancement with this release is the ability to extract the amounts paid for Sick and Family leave allowed under the FFCRA and include it on the quarterly Form 941 filing.  An external wizard was developed and released in July that allowed you to extract this information for the 2nd quarter filing in July.  At that time, you had to manually add the calculated amounts to the Form 941.  With the release of 2021.1, this functionality is integrated directly into the Form 941 workflow. 

Below is a visual that shows you the recommended pay level names for the paid sick leave options within the Reports & Forms module (under Payroll Tax forms, Form 941).  When you select Form 941, it prompts you if any employees received paid sick leave or family and medical leave as defined in the FFCRA.  If you select Yes, you will be asked to select the Pay Level names used for Sick and Family Leave. 

The extracted amounts will be placed on lines 5a (i) and 5a (ii) automatically.

 

What else are we doing with this release?

We’re always listening! You reported issues related to mouse freezing or lagging. This has been fixed.

REMINDER:  If you have not upgraded to Release 2021.0, here’s some of the key enhancements you will get when you load Release 2021.1. – to get more information click here.

We have made it easier for you to access accounts data & work remotely, connect your bank, make & accept payments and collaborate with your Accountant or Bookkeeper with our July 2021.0 Release.

Key features:

  • Easy sign-on - with a single sign-on, you can easily connect to the data & services you need and the people you collaborate with, on-site or remotely.
  • Do more with Sage 50cloud by unlocking practical tools – automate your bank feeds into Sage 50 to save time and reduce the risk of manual reconciliation errors.
  • Get paid faster & securely with invoice payments.
  • Empower your staff and Accountants with the flexibility of Remote Data Access while retaining full administration control.
Parents Comment Children
  • The 2021.1 update has been a headache. The update may not be available at this time. They have to release a patch to the update. For example, with the 2021.1 update I couldn't open some companies. Technical support advised to go back to the 2021.0 version. I did that, but now I cannot open the companies that had been opened under 2021.1. I'm currently waiting to get through on the phone to technical support since my issue is too complex to handle over the online chat. Not what I want to be doing with quarterly reports to complete.