The new edition of eFile Prep is now available for use in submitting eFile returns for tax year 2010 1099-MISC and W-2 forms and for tax year 2011 quarterlies.

Because the changes to the submission specifications for this tax year were generally minor, we are making a special offer for users who purchased the 2009/10 edition. If you have a registered copy of last year's edition you may purchase this year's edition for just $75. For those who did not purchase the eFile module for 2009/10 the price is $695.

One larger change to the W2 submissions was that HIRE program wages are now supported. Unless renewed, this will be the only year for HIRE program reporting. Otherwise the changes were limited to minor format specification changes.

To purchase at the special upgrade pirce, contact your Roundtable Software reseller with the serial number of your current eFile software. In addition, to receive the current version of the Roundtable Software Advantage Accounting System, have the serial number from your version 4 DOS software ready when you call your retailer.

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This patch primarily addresses end of the year Payroll changes and X-Charge updates. The patch can be downloaded on the website or you can order an updated CD from your dealer.

* W-2 printing in Payroll updated for reporting of federal HIRE program wages. This program to relieve employers of paying social security tax on new hirees was available for 2010 only (so far no indication that it will be renewed for 2011). Wages paid to employees must be paid in a separate set of pay types so that the wages may be broken out on the W2 in box 12 (new code CC). New prompting added to ask for these pay types in Payroll program 26 (Tax Returns).

Note: 1099-MISC reporting in General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Payroll and W2 reporting in General Ledger were not updated as no changes affected the way those programs calculate and print those forms.

* The latest version of X-Charge requires that users enter their User ID and Password each time the X-Charge interface is activated. If you prefer not to be prompted each time, you can now set two environment variables, XC_USERID and XC_PASSWORD, with the needed information, and RTS-Advantage will automatically log you in using these keys. To create the environment variables edit your AUTOEXEC.NT file in the Windows/System32 folder and add the lines:

SET XC_USERID=[MyUserID]
SET XC_PASSWORD=[MyPassword]

Replacing the square bracketed information with your actual X-Charge User ID and Password.

* Customer addresses passed to X-Charge were being cut off after the first blank in the address.

* Order Entry program 52 (Drop Ship Purchase Orders) incorrectly calculated the number of records needed to create POs and would in some cases report that there was not enough room even though there was.

* The ADSAPROG.DAT file was updated because of a new program added to the Windows PI module. If you download the PI patch it is important that you patch your 4.0 product as well to maintain compatibility between the two products.

New Versions:
PR26: 4.08
OE52: 4.02
EARTH: 4.09 (AR, PS, BL, QS updated for X-Charge enhancement)
ADPRSCFM: 4.07
ADSAPROG: 4.11
ADFMDATA: 4.15

The updated System Manager includes these changes:

* changed the way times are printed on reports -- now they are AM/PM times, not military time.

* Added the ability to toggle between key fields in lookup windows by pressing Alt-K (an alternative to clicking on the column headings with the mouse)

* Lookups ignored the characters '&' and '(' when typing in the search box.

* Updated program list and help for new and enhanced features in Point of Sale Invoicing

* the Security option allowed access by users who do not have permission to edit logins (though they could be kept out by restricting access to System Administrator program 4)

* Internal changes associated with new global features make this new System Manager required in order to use the latest versions of any other Windows module.

New Versions:
WinAdv: 5.08
ADWINLST: 5.07

The current version can be downloaded or you can order an updated CD from your dealer.

This new version addresses some problems and adds several new features to the Windows Point of Sale module. The latest version of System Manager must also be installed along with this new version.

* Added a new field on the Items tab of the Invoicing program to display the quantity in Inventory of the item currently being added or edited. In System Defaults you can choose for the quantity displayed to represet the total quantity on hand for the item, the warehouse quantity, or one of several options for adjusted quantities based on orders and allocations.

* Added a new option in System Defaults that allows you to choose if invoice, due, discount and delivery dates should be automatically recalculated by the system when you retrieve a transaction from hold. Currently dates are not recalculated, they must be edited manually if you want them changed. There are separate options for invoices, layaways and estimates.

* Customer Expert (available in full version only), was enhanced to automatically scroll the Sales History list for the customer to the first occurrence of the item number currently being entered/edited on the Items tab of the Invoicing screen.

* A new program has been added that will perform batch reprinting of transactions from both current and archive files of PI. You can find the new program under the Transaction Reporting section of PI.

* Added a new option, configurable separately for each clerk, to hide costs on the Items tab of the Invoicing program except when the clerk is actually editing the field.

* The latest version of X-Charge requires that users enter their User ID and Password each time the X-Charge interface is started. If you prefer not to be prompted each time, you can now enter your X-Charge User ID and Password in the Merchant Services program. That information will be passed along to X-Charge so that you will automatically bypass the login window.

* When interfacing with the X-Charge credit card processor, we did not force X-Charge to lock the Transaction Amount field.

* In some cases, after a transaction was put on hold and then retrieved it did not print using the expected report format specified in Terminal Defaults.

* If leading spaces were added to an Item Number or Preset Number, the invoices they were on would not update to AR and Inventory but get stuck in PI.

* Some reports for PI were set by default to 66 lines per page -- all reports in the module are now standardized at 60 lines per page, which is the preferred number of lines for printing on laser and inkjet printers.

* Added page numbers on second and subsequent pages for multi-page invoices.

* When selling a Preset item, the Warehouse field was always defaulting to 1, not the warehouse number specified in Terminal Defaults.

* In Custom Lookup, if you selected Add with no field selected it would add a blank field to the lookup.

New Versions:
PI02: 5.01
PI04: 5.02
PI13: 5.02
PI16: 5.02
PI20: 5.00 (new program)
PI50: 5.01
PI52: 5.03
PI53: 5.01
AR40: 5.01
ADPI00FR: 5.02
ADPI00PL: 5.02
ADPIDICT: 5.01

The patch can be downloaded or you can order an updated CD from your dealer. Patches are available for all three installation types: full version, remote version and Limited Edition. You will need to run System Manager ... Update Files to bring your data files up to date after installation.

This new version addresses some compatibility problems between Web Commerce and the latest version of PDG's Commerce software. It also updates Web Commerce to work with the latest version of System Manager, which should also be updated when you update Web Commerce.

* Removed extraneous spaces from header record of item export files.

* Customer export changed to make Customer Category field 4 characters long with leading zeros.

New Versions:
WC05: 5.06
WC09: 5.04

The patch can be downloaded or you can order an updated CD from your dealer.

This new version is released mainly for compatibility with the new version of System Manager.

* In Custom Lookup, if you selected Add with no field selected it would add a blank field to the lookup.

New Versions:
BR52: 5.04

The patch can be downloaded or you can order an updated CD from your dealer.

This new version is released for a new feature, fixes for minor problems and for compatibility with the new version of System Manager.

* Added child quantity on hand column to Inventory Expert's Assembly tab.

* Inventory Expert did not properly show the Source Module for allocations created in the PI module.

* Conversion Code master would give an error on entry if there are no conversion codes defined.

* In Custom Lookup, if you selected Add with no field selected it would add a blank field to the lookup.

New Versions:
IN09: 5.01
IN40: 5.02
IN58: 5.04

The patch can be downloaded or you can order an updated CD from your dealer.

Q I use the Windows Printing Utility in my version 4 software. When I print and choose Windows Printer and see the list of available printers they seem to be in a random order. I'd really like the printer I use most often to be at the top of the list. Is there any way to do that?

A To populate that list we ask Windows which printers are installed, and this is the order in which they are reported to us. Windows reports them to us in the order in which you installed them on your system. If you'd like to change the order of the printers in that list you would have to uninstall your printers in Windows, then reinstall them in the order in which you'd like them to show up on that list.