Sage Accounting and Payroll
Out of Office 6th to 9th July 2018
I am sorry that I am out of my office from Friday 6th to Monday 9th July inclusive.
I will respond to your e-mails or messages on my return.
I apologise for any inconvenience.
Are you on the latest version of 50 Accounts and Payroll?
Are you on the latest version of Sage 50 Accounts?
To ensure that you are benefitting from the latest Updates, go to Help > About > on your system and check that you have one of the following. If you have a Network version, all users must be on the same version:
50 Accounts and Instant Accounts
v2018 – 24.2.228.0 (after loading Update 2)
v2017 – 23.2.4.279 (after loading the May 2017 Improvements Update and Service Pack 3)
v2016 – 22.1.10.394
v2015 – 21.5.9.201 (after loading Service Pack 8) Support for this pack was withdrawn on 30th April 2018.
v2014 – 20.04.09.364 (after loading Update 3 and Service Pack 1) Support on this version was withdrawn on 30th April 2017.
v2013 – 19.00.11.0285 (after loading Update 2 and Service Pack 1) Support on this version was withdrawn on 30th April 2016.
v2012 – 18.1.0.20 Support on this version was withdrawn on 30th April 2016.
Instant Payroll
After installing the latest 2017 Year End Update, the version number is 15.00
50 Payroll
Payrolls now are not updated with a completely new version each year. The last version was AE v2014 which included the Pension Auto Enrolment Module.
Each year there is the Update which will include the Tax Tables for the New Tax Year as well as the Year End function for the current tax year.
The Update to be installed before the 2016/17 Tax Year End is processed would result a version number seen in Help > About which starts v23.xx.xx; this must be verified.
Accounting By Computer is as easy as ABC
Change to HMRC OnLine Filing Without v24.1 (2018) Program – UPDATE
Following the comment in my February there have been incidents of with lower than v24.1 (2018) Accounts having difficulties filing their VAT Returns.
When submitting your VAT Return, if you get a message “Authentication Failure” which continues with “error number 1046…….. ” I am afraid that you will have to Upgrade to the latest Sage version v24.1. This will almost certainly mean that you will have to take out a monthly Subscription.
Contact me if you need further advice or assistance.
February 2018 Newsletter
- Payroll Year End – 5th April 2018
- The deadline for submitting the Year End data is 19 April. You will be submitting your FPS (Final Payroll Summary) through your payroll system on the last payroll run. If you have to make any amendments use the EPS.
- This is also the date for the last payment of Tax and National Insurance for the 2017/18 Tax Year.
- Sage say that the Payroll Year End pack will be available for download in mid March. The new 2018 Payroll was to have been released 14th February, now 22nd February (perhaps!)
- Many clients like me to assist with Payroll Year Ends. In view of the short time ahead, book early if you haven’t already.
- P60s will still be issued to employees and this must be done by 31 May. As usual I will supplying P60 forms in small quantities of 10 forms for £7.50 + VAT. Orders to me by Friday 2 March latest.
- P11d Returns must be submitted for Expenses/Benefits by 6 July.
- Payment of Class 1A NI on Benefits must be made by 19 July or 22 July if you pay by BACS
Employment Allowance This is remains at £3,000 for the new year. Don’t forget tick the box in Company>Settings and to post a Journal each month/week to Debit the PAYE/NI Control and Credit Employer’s NI with the amount recovered as shown on the P32 report you print in the Payroll. See the separate Post on the website
2. End of Life Accounts/Change to HMRC filing.
Sage have been notifying clients about the impending change to the HMRC online filing of VAT Returns and CIS returns. I have not been able to confirm the exact implication of this using Sage software. In the next few days I hope to have concrete confirmation whether versions prior to the 2018 (v24) will not work. I have recommended to clients that they just hold on until this is established.
Clients currently on Subscription are already paying for the current version which they can download and install. Call me if you need help with this.
3. Subscription Renewal.
Those clients who bought their original subscription through me will have Online Support. Some clients have received contradictory information regarding the renewal. Original letters are received stating that Telephone Support ONLY is available on renewal at a considerable price increase. Then a later letter was received stating that that was an error and Online Support is available. Take care to ensure that you get what you want.
December 2017 Newsletter
If you are now on a Monthly Subscription you automatically qualify for the 2018 version of your Sage 50 Accounts.
Main features of the Sage 50 Accounts Version 2018 (v24):
Direct Debit Payment from your Customers:
- This was previously not a facility available to small businesses. It is included, at no extra cost, in your Sage 50 Accounts version 2018 (v24) program.
- You can set up Direct Debits from your Customers so that, when you send an invoice, you will automatically get paid on an agreed date (just like you do with, e.g. your mobile phone bill).
- The transaction cost is 1%, with a minimum charge of 20p and a maximum of £2.00.
- This facility is safe and controllable from both the Customer’s and your point of view. This facility is linked to “GoCardless” a reputable software supplier with links to all UK banks. If you have an existing account with them, you can use that linked to your Sage 50 accounts.
Bank Feeds:
- There are improvements to the facility for those who download data from their banks.
Hiding Records:
- This highly successful facility, which was previously only available for Customer, Supplier and Stock Records, is now available for the Bank and Nominal modules.
HMRC Gateway Changes:
- HMRC have confirmed that Digital Filing of Tax has been deferred until April 2019.
- Sage have notified their Users that there will be a change to the way VAT Returns will be filed on line with HMRC from 14th February 2018.
- Sage have stated that only 50 Accounts version 2018 (v24) will be suitable for this change. Sage have also said that the new service will be available from 1st August 2017, but I have yet to experience this change.
- I am still trying to establish the implications for clients using earlier versions; I will notify the affected clients as soon as I have finite information.