This year the rates have changed for the 2011 FICA however the wage limits remained stable. This has caused a few people over on the MAS 90 LinkedIn group to question the correct procedure for printing W2 forms.

As you may be aware one of the hidden “gotcha’s” of the Payroll processing is that when you print W2 forms in Sage ERP MAS 90 or MAS 200 that the CURRENT FICA/Medicare limits are used to establish the maximum wages subject to each tax which prints on the W2 form.

Since tax tables are shared globally across all your Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS 200 companies – simply copying the current company code to a backup isn’t enough. You also must be aware of what the tax limits are for at least FICA and Medicare because those limits can impact W2 printing for those exceeding them.

If the FICA or MEDICARE limits are changing in the next year — AND you install the tax tables BEFORE printing the last year’s W2 forms then you run the risk of the W2 form (for those exceeding FICA and/or Medicare) printing the maximum wage limit that’s included in your next year tax table instead of the limits for the year just passed.

Regina Gutcher, a Sage Customer Support Specialist, provided the following guidance on this LinkedIn discussion:

The recommended procedure if you need to run a 2011 payroll before printing 2010 W-2s is:

1. Back up all Payroll data.
2. Create a new company code in Company Maintenance. Copy Company to copy P/R, C/I and G/L (and Job Cost, if integrated).
3.. Run year-end for the original company.
4. Install the updated 2011 tax tables.
5.. Process payroll for the original company for the current year.
6.. Before printing the W-2s, install last year’s tax tables(2010) and access the Copy Company.
7. Reinstall the updated tax tables when finished.

Keep in mind that FICA is not the only limit we need to be concerned about when printing W-2s. For some states, the limits for State Disability or State Unemployment may also need to be printed on the W-2.

via: LinkedIn

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