I just sent this to my Sage 100 payroll customers. Feel free to adapt/re-use if you see fit:
As the year-end approaches I want to highlight a few important items regarding Sage 100 payroll for 2015.
First, I strongly recommend you consult with your financial advisor regarding what impact the Affordable Care Act (aka ACA) might have on your company in 2015.
http://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions
The IRS released draft versions of the reporting forms for ACA in October, 2014 but they still haven't been finalized as of December 5, 2014. The Sage 100 ERP Payroll Team continues to monitor the IRS site for changes to the forms and/or requirements and will release a solution to help assist you in meeting the reporting requirements once the government releases their finalized forms.
The current plan is to release a product update for Payroll in March/April, 2015** for Sage 100 ERP versions 4.50, 2013(5.0) and 2014(5.1) only. **Dates are approximate because we are still waiting on the IRS to release the final form versions.
In order for this ACA reporting to pull your Sage 100 ERP Payroll data correctly you MUST select to Retain Perpetual Payroll History in Payroll Options prior to processing your first payroll in 2015.
Please do or verify the following before processing your first payroll in 2015:
Open Payroll, Setup, Payroll Options
On the Main tab, select Retain Perpetual History
Click Accept
Note: This will need to be done for each Company Code requiring ACA reporting.
Sage have also released an Interim Release Download for the following versions:
4.50.0.0 - 4.50.0.7
2013 PU 7 (5.00.7.0) and higher
2014 PU 3 (5.10.3.0) and higher
Please see the attached FAQ from Sage which answers the most common questions you may have about the year end process for 2014.
I've also attached a copy of the IRD information which explains changes included with this IRD.
Since Sage is requiring very specific minimum version compatibility in order to load the IRD at year end I believe it is now critical to always be at the most current version of Sage 100 ERP during the final calendar quarter of the year. This means that upgrades and installations of product updates should happen well in advance of the end of the calendar year.
As always, if you have questions about any of these procedures or would like to schedule a time for us to assist with tax table or IRD updates please don't hesitate to contact me.