Payroll tax forms & tax service in 2009

[joe3045]

We have been using version 2006 Complete successfully. Normally I upgrade every 2 years to keep the upgrade costs down yet still have a product that is supported by Peachtree. I recently upgraded to 2009 to keep current and installed this morning. I have not subcribed to the tax service and have instead updated the tax tables myself as well as taken the standard tax forms (W-2, CA DE 6, etc) and modified them to print out on preprinted forms each year or quarter. Updating the tables and forms was simple and this way I avoided having to pay for the tax service each year.

When I try to review the W-2 form that came with 2009 as a test I received the error messages: "Failed to load XML schema definition file" and "Form cannot be loaded properly". When I contacted Peachtree, the rep told me that in order to access and print out the tax forms in 2009, I needed to subscribe to the tax service. Also, once these forms were available after subscribing to the tax service, they could not be modified. None of the custom tax forms I had created in 2006 appeared or were available in 2009. The rep told me that this functionality has been deleted since version 2007. However, I can still maintain the tax tables myself but I would still need to buy the tax service if I wanted the ability to print out tax forms from Peachtree. I can't see manually inputting W-2 by hand for over 100 employees.

I was wondering if any other users have had a similar situation and what they did. Other than returning 2009, getting my money back and going back to 2006, are there any other options other than purchasing the tax service? Of course, the rep also told me that they will no longer support version 2006 as of 12/31/08 so if I have a problem later with 2006, it won't be supported.

[cowvets]

Please fill me in on the thought process here because I hear this a lot and do not understand it. The tax service is about $250. For me with only 15 employees, it is well worth the money. I would spend much more than that just trying to figure out the tax table to enter much less filling out w-2, NY45, or 941. With 100 employees, I would think it would be worth even more to have it do all it does. Why not just spend the money on the service?
Chris

[SMC]

I'm not aware of any alternatives that would cost any less than buying the tax update. Also, when considering moving back to 2006, keep in mind that it won't work with Windows Vista and XP sales as scheduled to end in June.

[budman]

I just ran into the same garbage. Just another way to force more money out of us.

I have 25 employees and it is not worth the $250 because I understand how to use the tax tables and can modify them in a matter of minutes.

Edit: And before anyone says anything about errors. I have been doing payroll since 1991 and have never paid a penalty to the IRS.

[CharlieJ]

I am the only employee in my business and got the same message!
Nowhere was this "feature" mentioned in any of the information I received before upgrading from 2006.
$250 for one employee is absurd!

[rick Prindivill]

You can define your own personal fixed tax amounts (if applicable) in the Maintain Employee File. You can optionally setup your own tax formulas and tables in the FILE - Payroll Tax Tables - User Defined. You could run the payroll with your personal Maintain Employee file set to NOT calculate tax, where you can enter your own Earnings, and deductions including taxes, which will then be posted to the Employee file and the GL upon printing the check or Saving the record. You have many choices.

[djc1210@comcast]

rick,
Am I following you correctly that in the 2009 version one can still define your own Payroll Tax Tables? Was the original post in error? Sorry I was confused by your answer in this regard.

I did understand that you could also print the payroll check as essentially a manual check by imputing all the fields from the circular E tables.

Thanks in advance... only 2 employees and I would als like to save the $250 if possible.

Finally, with the 2009 release is it correct you will not be able to print out the tax submission forms WITHOUT the paid for tax update service.

[Lisa_p]

Yes, you can still manually update the tax tables and No, you cannot print the "print & Sign" tax forms without a payroll tax service subscription.

[SMC]

You can maintain/edit your own tax tables, but you have to do it in the User Maintained Tax Tables, not the Peachtree Maintained tax table (formerly Company Tax Table and Global Tax Table respectively, if I remember my Peachtree history correctly). So if you are on an older version that still let you edit the Peachtree Maintained (Global) Tax Table make sure you set up all the tax tables you need in the User Maintained (Company) Tax Table before upgrading. Because after upgrading, you won't be have access to the Peachtree Maintained Tax Table unless you register a tax service.

[jward2081]

We use Peachtree Manufacturing 2005. For several years we have been updating the tax tables manually without difficulty. In January of this year we did not have to enter new tables because we had an outside payroll tax service. That did not work out and we need to go back to doing our own this week Now Peachtree will not accept new tax table entries for 2008. It will save the name, but there are no formulas there. Peachtree company is of no help.
Thanks for any help.
Joyce Ward

[jward2081]

Thank you for looking into this for me, but we have figured out the problem.

We had a corrupted tax table file.

[BookieMZ]

How did you fix your corrupted P/R tax table file? I have the same issue with one of my clients.

[jward2081]

We save all years on the server so we went into a different year and copied the p/r tax file into the new year. All the p/r tax info needs to be changed for the current year.