Sage 50 U.S. Edition 2021.1 is scheduled to release on September 30, 2020.

This update resolves mouse over issues and addresses Payroll Tax as well as 941 filings.

If you are currently using Sage 50 2021.0 or need access to the new Covid pay features, take the upgrade. If you are still on Sage 50 2020.2, we suggest that you create a good backup of your company file and save it in a secure place before upgrading. Install the upgrade using the instructions below. Try it out. If you are not having any issues, you are good to go.

Update Instructions For Those Entitled

First, you will need to open Sage 50 on your server. Next, click on Services Tab and click on Check for Updates. If you are entitled to the update, follow the prompts on screen. Lastly, install updates on all other workstations.

Here is what’s new and improved in update 2021.1:

Resolved Issues

– Sage is always listening!

You reported issues related to MOUSE freezing or lagging. Sage fixed it.

Expansion of Pay Types

With this release, you can now set up an unlimited number of Pay Types for both hourly and salaried employees. The expansion of Pay Types will also help firms who must accommodate tracking of the COVID-19 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) compensation. We released guidance to use an additional 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 you can set up an unlimited number of Pay Types, employees can only have 20 Pay Types per pay period or paycheck.

Important! We have changed how Salary Pay Types display on paychecks when you are entering payroll amounts. Pay types set up

for an employee must have an amount OR you must clear the Use Default check box for a pay type you want to appear when you are
creating paychecks. We recommend reviewing in the Payroll Entry Window each employee set up for a Salary Pay Type to ensure the
pay types display correctly. If the pay types are not displaying, open the Maintain Employees/Sales Reps window and select the Pay Info
tab. Clear the Use Default check box for any Salary Pay Type you want to display when entering payroll amounts.

Sage 50 will not be adding the ability to opt-in or out at the company level. Employees will need to be manually configured if you wish to defer the withholding for them on how to configure the withholding as a memo item so the amounts are accumulated without actually being withheld. This will allow you to determine the total amounts deferred at year end and setup the new withholding in 2021 to cover both current and the previous amount deferred.

Government Compliance

The FFCRA and Form 941 Reporting

To help you comply with financial reporting, you can easily extract the amounts paid for Sick and Family Leave allowed under the FFCRA and include them on the quarterly Form 941 filing.

In the Reports & Forms module, if you select Form 941 under Payroll Tax Forms, you receive a prompt asking if any employees received paid sick or family and medical leave as defined in the FFCRA. If you select Yes, you then have to select the Pay Level names used for Sick and Family Leave. The associated amounts are extracted and placed on lines 5a (i) and 5a (ii).