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Below is a summary of the feature enhancements to the Sage 50 2020 product:

2020.0 Release

·      New and expanded data entry fields

o   Billing and mailing address from 30 to 50 characters

o   Deposit ticket ID’s to 20 characters

o   Item Type to 20 characters

o   Vendor notes now available – 255 characters

·        Additional payroll withholding fields

o   For new paid family leave legislation – require added formulas – special 1 and 2 now have special 3, 4 and 5

o   Tax bulleting – Sage 50 Payroll Solutions folder – Tax Service Bulletin file

·        Ability to email sales forms to additional customer contacts

o   Can now select to email a secondary contact from a drop down list

o   Available for quotes, SO’s, Proposals, Invoices, Receipts and CR memos

o   Only available on task windows and NOT when batch printing / emailing

·        New in-product messaging

o   Stored in the Sage message center – added a “Bell” inbox icon

·        Upgraded database engine

o   Pervasive PSQL Workgroup Database Engine upgraded to Actian Zen version 13

§  Improves performance in some database operations

§  Includes the latest security countermeasures to protect your data

§  Helps ensure compatibility with the latest Windows updates

§  Installs silently and functions in the same manner as Pervasive did

§  You CAN run releases 2019 and 2020 on the same computer using Actian Zen database engine for 2019, instead of Pervasive

§  2018 and earlier will NOT operate properly if 2020 is installed on the same computer

§  You may not be able to run Sage 50 on a computer that runs other software using Actian Zen or Pervasive PSQL, as possible conflicts may occur

§  Due to the database changes the Data Conversion Wizard will need to be ran to convert your company data to release 2020.0 format

·        Run the conversion on the server before trying to access your data on a workstation

·        2020 version can only convert databases that are in version 2014 or newer

2020.1 Release

·        New payroll tax law compliance and improvements

o   Employees hired on or after 1/1/2020 will be required to complete a revised W-4 form

o   Redesigned to comply with the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act

o   Employees hired before 2020 are NOT required to submit a new form because of the redesign

o   Employees hired prior to 2020 will need to use the new form if they want to adjust their withholdings

o   Changes were made on the Employees Withholding tab to accommodate the changes to the W-4 form

o   In previous version entering “99” in the Allowances field would effectively make the Employee’s status “Exempt” from federal withholding during payroll – for employee’s hired in 2020 or later you’ll need to enter “99,000” or greater in the Line 4b – Deductions Annual Amt field to effectively stop calculating federal withholding for the employee

o   Include amounts entered on Line 4 of the W-4 Multiple Jobs Worksheet in the “Addl Withholding” field as POSITIVE values and check the “Multiple Jobs” box

o   When upgrading to 2020.1 the “Employee Usses W-4 prior to 2020” box will be automatically checked for existing employees

o   The new tax formulas that calculate payroll are scheduled to be released with the January 2020 Tax Service in late December 2019

o   Payroll reports, such as the ax Liability Report will use the new tax formulas and values entered in the new withholding fields to calculate

o   When released by the IRS, a printable version of the redesigned W-4 will be made available in the Aatrix Payroll Tax Form selector

·        Improved 1099 eFiling process – you can eFile 1099-MISC and 1099-DIV forms

o   Previous steps:

§  Export a 1099 report and import the data into the Aatrix 1099 Preparer

§  Completing a data mapping process

§  Merging payments made to the same vendor into one filing record

§  If you needed to process many vendor 1099s the steps were time consuming and complicated

o   New steps:

§  Open the Aatrix 1099-MISC form and walk through the wizard to print and eFile your 1096 and 1099 forms – this requires an Aatrix eFile subscription

o   The following must be met to print and eFile 1099’s:

§  A 1099 Type must be defined within each vendor record

§  Payments must be posted to G/L accounts configured for 1099 reporting

§  Payments made to a vendor must meet or exceed lower limits

§  The payroll year in which 1099s will be printed must be open

o   Steps to submit your eFile information to Aatrix during this process include:

§  Login in to Aatrix with your User ID and Password

§  Verify your enrollment information

§  Review payment details and credit card information

§  Select desired 1099 submission dates

§  Verify your mailing address

§  Confirm and submit your 1099 information for processing

·        New Aatrix Human Resource Forms & Compliance

o   Select from Reports & Forms -> Forms -> Human Resource Forms and they launch like the payroll tax forms do but an eFile subscription is required

o   After an initial setup wizard a list of packets and individual forms will display (over 80 of them)

§  Packets contain groups of forms for events such as Pre-Hire, New Hire, Probation and Termination

o   You can populate the forms and packets by selecting an employee from the drop down list

o   Packets and forms are customizable but you can NOT add a new data field from Sage or an empty data-entry field

o   History tab displays previously edited and printed forms

o   If alerts are enabled during setup, the Alerts tab will list employees that have been recently added to your employee list, have completed their probationary period, or have been terminated

o   You can then print out the appropriate forms packet and make sure the proper paperwork is submitted and/or filed on time

o   There is also an Employee Manual that can be customized in Word

·        And more!

o   In-product messaging about new features and the value of connected services and the Sage 50 Cloud

o   Golden badges next to a menu item indicate there are new features

o   Cloud & Mobile area is being converted to Apps & Services – this is where you can access:

§  Microsoft Office 365

§  Cloud Backup

§  Sage Bank Feeds

§  Sage Drive

§  Paya

§  Invoice Payments

o   There’s a “Visit” link to access the Sage US marketplace in order to find additional add-on apps

o   Mobile Invoicing setup is on the main file menu

o   California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was enacted on June 2018 and becomes effective January 2020 (with 12-month look back period)

o   The CCPA applies to all for-profit businesses doing business in CA, that collect CA consumers’ personal information, or companies which have such information collected on their behalf

o   The CCPA sets out the responsibilities of businesses in relation to:

§  The transparency under which they must operate with regard to personal information

§  The rights they must give CA consumers and households with regard to their personal information

o   Sage U has training courses on the CCPA- live and eLearning

 2020.2 Release

·        New attachments functionality

o   You can drag and drop attachments into the Attachments window – you CAN drag multiple files at a time

o   Functionality will NOT work if you open Sage 50 in the “Run as Administrator” mode

o   List views now have an “Attachments” column to see which records have attachments linked to them

§  List windows currently supporting this feature include:

·        Customers

·        Sales Invoices

·        Purchase Orders

·        Purchase Invoices

·        Payments

·        New default cash account option for receipts

o   By default Receive Money remembers the last cash account selected

o   A new default “cash account” can be enabled and selected on the Customer Defaults -> Terms and Credit tab

§  This does NOT override the custom Cash account selected on the Maintain Customers -> Payment & Credit tab

·        Expanded Invoice Number fields on Payments and Receive Money task windows

o   Previously expanded the field size on Purchase Invoices and Sales Invoices

o   Newly expanded fields – Payments and Receive Money columns that display the longer invoice reference fields

·        New Inbox Notification Panel

o   Inbox icon on the main screen located next to the system date will now show if there are messages

o   When you click the icon it will dock a “Feed” screen showing the messages

·        Updated navigation center and access points

o   You can now access the new HR forms added in 2020.1 from the Employees & Payroll Tasks window under the “Forms” icon

o   The “Cloud & Mobile” area in the navigation center (left pane) has been renamed to “Apps & Services” – the “Apps & Services” area now has the following:

§  Connects to online features such as Office365, Sage Drive and Sage Bank Feeds

§  You can link to the Sage Marketplace to find other apps (add-ons) such as Avalara Sales Tax mgmt. and Credit  Hound Collections Mgmt

·        And there is still more!

o   Microsoft has discontinued support for Windows 7 as of January 14^th, 2020

§  It is recommended to upgrade your system to a supported version of Microsoft Window before installing Sage 50, such as Windows 10

§  Beginning with release 2020.2, Sage 50 will display a warning message when installing on a Windows 7 computer

§  Although you CAN currently install Sage 50 Release 2020.2 and earlier on a Windows 7 system, some features may NOT function properly

§  Future new functionality will NOT be tested on Windows 7 and future updates can NOT be guaranteed to install