• Magnetic Media for Tax Year 2001 Released
• Patch 6: Updated Tax Tables
• Making Year-end Backups
• Understanding and Using W2 Changes for 2001
• Do You Have A Legitimate Copy Of The Software?
• On The Horizon
• Double Wide W2s

The new edition of our Magnetic Media reporting system for W-2 and 1099-MISC is ready and will start shipping on Wednesday, January 2, 2002.

This new version not only includes a complete rewrite of the W-2 handling for the new MMREF federal specifications, but also includes new support for reporting of 403b, 408k and 408p plans, plus new support for state quarterly unemployment insurance submissions! In addition, an all new editing program allows you easy access to your IRSTAX and W2REPORT files--you no longer have to be an expert to edit your submissions--all the fields have descriptive labels, and your input is automatically reformatted to required specs. MM 2001 purchasers will also receive all new documentation for the module--we've rewritten and greatly expanded the MM user guide to make sure it answers all your questions and guides you smoothly through the magnetic media reporting process.

Because of major changes in the W-2 MMREF requirements, we no longer provide support for foreign employers or employees subject to taxes in Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands or Mariana Islands. However, with the addition of our new editing program, you can manually deal with these and other unusual payroll situations easily and quickly without having to be a magnetic media submission expert.

The suggested retail price of the Magnetic Media 2001 Edition is $249 ($395 for the Unix version). Call your authorized dealer to order it today. You must have version 3.3 of the Roundtable Software Advantage Accounting System in order to use Magnetic Media For Tax Year 2001.

In addition to revised tax tables, the patch contains the files necessary to add a new field to the Employee Master; Country Code. This field is necessitated by new Magnetic Media W-2 requirements. To download this patch, click here. Complete instructions for proper loading of the patch are provided.

There are few things more important to the smooth running of your business than making frequent backups of your computer system.

For those of you who run Payroll, the most important backup of the year is the one you perform after running your final payroll. Before cutting W-2s or 1099s, before running MMRS, back up those Payroll files! Don't force yourself into a situation where you have to complete all your year-end payroll functions before the next pay period ends. If there's any way of guaranteeing that you'll start hitting snags, that would be it.

The ideal way to keep your year-end payroll intact is to make a copy of the Payroll company. This way you can keep running your live payroll and also have access to the year-end payroll continuously as long as you need it. Your dealer can walk you through this procedure in just a few minutes. Just make copies of all your company-specific payroll files, changing the company number in the file names to something different, preferably indicating the year (perhaps using company number 01 or M1 this year). Now you can access this set of data by simply changing company numbers in the Payroll module.

The best part is that you can keep these historical companies forever, giving you access to your Payroll for any prior year. Just keep using different company numbers every year and you can have a historical record that would be the envy of any business. And of course this doesn't have to be limited to Payroll--you can do this with any of your modules.

If you run Payroll it's very important that you understand all the changes to the W-2 this year. To help you understand the changes, how they have been implemented in the Roundtable Advantage Payroll module, and what you need to do to properly update your system for printing the new W-2s, please click to review this information. This takes you to another page on this site that discusses what's new and how to implement it.

In order to receive the best customer service possible, or help in case you lose your original copy of your software, it is very important to register your product. Every product we sell includes a postage-paid registration card. Please be sure to fill in your registration card and send it in.

If you did not receive a registration card with your software, or the software you purchased was not in a sealed Roundtable Software envelope, or your CD does not have a serial number printed on it, please contact us at (352) 253-9779.

We have heard from several dealers asking why there are no double-wide W-2 formats in the 2001 tax year W-2/1099 patch. The reason is that the federal government, in redesigning the W-2 form, apparently decided to stop publishing standards for double-wide W-2 forms. This means that the forms manufacturers were left on their own to design double-wide W-2 forms. This creates a problem in that we can no longer provide a standard double-wide format because each forms company's product is likely to be a little (or even a lot) different. Some scrunch the left-side form, others the right, and we have even heard that one manufacturer has a version with both forms compressed (which is against the rules as we understand them).

In any case, if your company ordered double-width W-2s you can still use them. What you'll have to do is make a copy of the regular dot matrix W-2 report in System Administrator program 11, then edit the created report format. First you'll make a copy of everything on the single-wide W-2 form and simply duplicate the whole thing shifted to the right of the existing fields. Once you've got two identical W-2s, one beside the other, look at your forms to move fields around, either on the right or left side form,  as necessary to conform to it.

Running test reports will be necessary to fine-tune your new report format. SA program 11 has a print option that will print a dummy copy of your report with an optional ruler header. Place the dummy report on top of one of your forms, making sure to line up the paper edges, and hold it up to the light. This will show you exactly what needs to be moved to get the format perfect.

Before you run your 'live' W-2s, be sure to go into the Form Size option of System Administrator program 11 and change your new report format to a Report Width of 132 instead of 80.
 
 

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