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• You can search for specific information (such as a state name) in this article. Details

  Follow these steps.

  1. Expand the text for the applicable sections or click the Show expandable text link at the top of this article to expand all text in the article.
  2. Press CTRL+F on your keyboard to open a search field above the toolbar.
  3. Enter the search term in the search field. As you type your search term, the Help & How-To Center highlights all instances of the term in the body of the article.
• If you are looking for a specific update, but it doesn't appear in this bulletin, try checking the Accounting CS Alerts & notices article. 
• New features and new reports that are released in this version might be protected by security privileges. If your firm has enabled firm security, please evaluate all enhancements and update your security groups as needed.

Reports

• We have addressed an issue that caused the Total UI rate to display incorrectly in the Client Information payroll report for Maine clients.

Report Designer

• We have addressed an issue that caused the following variables to display incorrectly for Maine clients.
  • Client > State Tax Information > Unemployment > Current Total Rate
  • Client > State Tax Information > Unemployment > Latest Total Rate
• We have added the following variables to the Client > COVID-19 Acts Information section of the variable tree.
  • Claim Third Quarter 2021 Employee Retention Credit
  • Claim Fourth Quarter 2021 Employee Retention Credit
• We have added the following variable to the Employee > COVID-19 Settings section of the variable tree.
  • Exclude from Employee Retention Credit

General - Payroll

• We have added the ability to print check stubs for employee payroll checks that have a printed or handwritten status. For more information, see Printing payroll check stubs. (Idea Incubator 330)

COVID-19 changes

• We have made the following changes to the application in response to the extension of several COVID-19 payroll provisions that were included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, which was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021.
  • We have added three options to the Special type field in the Main tab of the Setup > Payroll Items screen for creating new paid sick leave and family leave pay items. Details
    The ARPA special type items will have a new set of available hours that became effective on April 1, 2021. Because of differences in the tax treatment and credit calculation between the existing COVID-19 special type items and the new ARPA special type items, new pay items need to be created for these special types and used on payroll checks that have a period begin date or period end date on or between April 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021.
    • ARPA self care
    • ARPA other care
    • ARPA extended care

    For more information, see Setting up and using ARPA sick leave or ARPA paid sick leave – Calculation examples.

    Important – Any payroll checks entered in the application prior to v.2021.1.1 that need to reflect ARPA-related paid leave wages will need to be reversed/voided/deleted and re-entered using the appropriate special type pay items.

  • We have added the Third quarter and Fourth quarter checkboxes for 2021 in the Employee Retention Credit section in the COVID-19 Acts tab of the Setup > Clients screen as a result of the credit being extended to the end of 2021.
  • We have added the Exclude from Employee Retention Credit checkbox in the COVID-19 settings section in the Payroll Taxes tab of the Setup > Employees screen. (Idea Incubator #487) Details
    Marking the checkbox will prevent the liability for the Employee Retention Credit from generating on the payroll check and stop the employee from being included in the calculations of the Employee Retention Credit on the Federal 94x forms and payroll reports.
  • We have updated the following reports that are available in the Accounting CS Library to include the various COVID-19 credits that have been extended into 2021. For more information, see COVID-19 – Custom reports. (Idea Incubator #2362)
    • Cash Requirements and Deposits - COVID-19
    • Depository Totals - COVID-19
    • EFTPS Payment Worksheet - COVID-19
    • EFTPS Phone Payment Worksheet - COVID-19
    • Employee Retention Credit Summary
    • Preprocessing Summary - COVID-19
  • We have added the following variables to the Client > COVID-19 Acts Information section of the variable tree in the Report Designer.
    • Claim Third Quarter 2021 Employee Retention Credit
    • Claim Fourth Quarter 2021 Employee Retention Credit
  • We have added the following variable to the Employee > COVID-19 Settings section of the variable tree in the Report Designer.
    • Exclude from Employee Retention Credit
  • We have updated Form 943-X to the latest version released by the IRS for tax processing period 2020 and later.
  • We have updated the Payroll Tax Form analysis tool (accessed via Actions > Analyze Client Activity > Payroll Tax Form when Form 941 is selected for processing in the Actions > Edit Payroll Tax Forms screen) to display the correct FICA-SS ER (Calculated) amounts. Details
    Previously, in cases where Form 941 included COVID-19 paid sick leave wages for the quarter, the Payroll Tax Form analysis tool displayed incorrect FICA-SS ER (Calculated) amounts.

Accounting CS Payroll, for live payroll processing

In addition to any changes made for general payroll features listed above for after-the-fact payroll processing, the following changes have been made for the live payroll processing features specific to Accounting CS Payroll.

• For every release, be sure to check the Updates for payroll tax rates, limits, and minimum wage rates (year to date) article to stay on top of changes that may affect your firm and clients.

Payroll compliance

• We have addressed an issue that, in certain circumstances, prevented the Year field from displaying correctly when Corrected 1099 was selected as the Form type in the Actions > Edit Payroll Tax Forms screen.
• Connecticut. We have added the ability to file the CT-PFML Worksheet electronically via FSET. For more information, see Connecticut payroll tax information.
• Georgia. We have addressed an issue that, in certain circumstances, prevented Form G-7(SW) from being available for processing in the Actions > Process Payroll Tax Forms screen or the Actions > Edit Payroll Tax Forms screen.
• Vermont. We have addressed an issue that caused an error to occur during attempts to process Form C-101 in the Actions > Process Payroll Tax Forms screen or the Actions > Edit Payroll Tax Forms screen. 

Updates for payroll tax forms, tax agents, and new hire files

To search for a specific state, locality, form, or file in one of the sections listed below, follow these steps.

• Payroll tax forms added

  We have added the following forms, internet files, and electronic files.

  State

  • Connecticut – We have added the CT-PFML Worksheet electronic file to support the filing requirements of the Paid Family Medical Leave.
• Payroll tax forms updated

  We have updated the following forms, internet files, and electronic files to the latest versions available from the agencies. Those forms marked with an asterisk (*) were released via an alert between application updates, not as part of the current release.

  Federal

  We have updated the following forms.

  • Form 1095-C Test File – We have updated the Form 1095-C test file that is generated from the Transmitter Information dialog (accessed via the Actions > Process Internet/Magnetic Files screen).
  • Form 941 – We have updated the form calculations to accommodate the new Exclude from Employee Retention Credit checkbox that was added in the COVID-19 Settings section in the Payroll Taxes tab of the Setup > Employees screen.
  • Form 943-X

  State

  • Oregon – We have updated Form OQ with the correct Special Payroll Tax Offset rate used in the calculation of line 16.

  Local

  • New Jersey
    • City of Newark – Payroll Tax – Form Newark Payroll Tax Statement
• Tax agents added

  We have added the following tax agents.

  Local

  • Oregon– We have added the ER EXP – City of Eugene tax agent to better accommodate the payment processing of the employer Eugene Community Safety Payroll Tax liabilities.
• Tax agents updated

  We have updated the following tax agents.

  Local

  • Oregon– We have separated the City of Eugene tax agent into the following two tax agents for better payment processing of the employer and employee Eugene Community Safety Payroll Tax liabilities. The default payment method on both tax agents will be set to the current selection on the City of Eugene tax agent.
    • City of Eugene
    • ER EXP - City of Eugene

Accounting CS includes two interactive tools that provide valuable payroll tax information.

• The Payroll Form and Filing Information portlet provides information on federal, state, and certain local tax agents in the Home Dashboard or Firm Dashboard.
• The State-specific payroll tax form information article provides information on state payroll tax forms, processing tips, due dates, filing methods, agency information, tax payment details, state ID formats, e-filing notes, new hire reporting requirements, and more.