We are targeting the release for around mid-December. A post will be made to the Announcements, News, and Alerts forum as soon as the year-end version is ready. As always, it will include government compliance changes for 4th quarter reporting and for 2020 year-end reporting, for U.S. and Canada. The 2021 tax table changes are targeted for later in December.   

So Is this different than the 20 release that is out? Or is this just a update to the payroll?

Hi - yes, it will have changes that are not in the current release of version 20. There will be database changes for both AP and PR, for government compliance. 

Hey Terry, so should I have our system upgraded to version 20.3 from 18.4.1(our current version) before the end of the year? And then after we upgrade to 20.3 we then need to update the 2021 tax table changes correct? I have a final payroll for the year that will run the last week of this month and I just want to be sure that I have my timeline mapped out because of the holidays. Thanks in advance.

Hi Valerie R - Thanks for the question! You'll want to install the year-end version before you print your govt forms for 2020/4th quarter. And update the tax tables to 2021 after your run your final payroll for 2020 and BEFORE you run your 1st payroll for 2021. Based on your plans, it appears that you can install the YE version either before or after your last payroll of 2020. Does that help? 

Hey Terry! Yes this does help. We're currently on 18.4.1, upgrading directly to 20.3 is fine, right? And also when will version 20.3 be released and where will the download and release notes be posted?

Hi Valerie R Yes, you'll be able to go from 18.4.1 to the YE version. As for when we will announce, I'm not able to provide exact dates right now but I can say that we are targeting the YE version announcement to be made in the first half of December, and the tax update to be announced during the 2nd half of December.   

Hey Terry!

Thank you for the information! 

We are currently on 20.2 - will we need to do any other updates before installing the year end update?

Hi Lisa Scheiding - you will be able to go directly from 20.2 to the year-end version.

Thank you!

In the release notes for 20.2, it says if on version 18.4 no data upgrade is required after installing version 20.2. For my planning, will a data upgrade be required going from 18.4 to 20.3 when it is released?

Hi jrafteryyes, the year end version will have changes that are not in the current release of version 20. There will be database changes for both AP and PR, for government compliance. These database changes require a data upgrade. 

I just upgraded to 20.1 last month, running the File Doctor took 6 hours prior to me running the updagrade, am I able to skip that when YE version comes out next week to save time?

Hi WillisF,

We do recommend running file doctor prior to updating the software to identify any possible issues with the data files that could prevent them from upgrading properly and potentially increase your down-time.

That being said, 6 hours sounds excessive, unless for some reason File Doctor was run from a workstation instead of the server (we do not recommend this) or perhaps something was preventing the server from running efficiently such as antivirus/malware programs or other restrictions.

If none of that applies and your data has gotten so large that File Doctor just takes that long, it would be a good idea to look at possibly purging old data from the database, reducing the amount of data File Doctor has to process. Your Sage Consultant could assist you with this process.

You can also reach out to Sage Support to review your system to see what would cause it to take so long.

Thanks!

We do generally recommend running file doctor prior to upgrading but since you just upgraded to version 20.1 last month and upgrading from 20.1 to 20.3 the only files that will require a data upgrade are AP and PR data files.   You can run the file doctor on just the AP and PR files to check which should not result in taking nearly as long to run. When you run UPGRADE files following the ugprade to 20.3, the program will skip any file that does not require an upgrade unless you check the box to FORCE the task to run the process on all files.

Thanks! I always disable AV, reboot prior to starting. And the File doc is run on the server and not a workstation.