On Sat, Apr 24, 2010 at 6:46 PM, William Truitt <surfdog at metrocast.net>wrote: > I’ve been using Quickbooks since I incorporated my business in 1995 and > hired employees. At one time, I had 3 employees and used a payroll service > for payroll and taxes. That worked well for me when I had employees, but > was too expensive to justify when I downsized and had only one employee – > myself. So I went to payroll software, in this case Quickbooks Payroll > because it integrated with Quickbooks and was the only game in town. > > > > I started out with Quickbooks Enhanced Payroll, which does your payroll and > also will (in theory) input the data into the 941’s for your quarterlies, > and the 940 at the end of the year. I was never able to get the program to > properly reflect the figures from the payroll in the quarterly reports. My > bookkeeper ended up gathering the numbers and filling out the forms > manually. Some of the problems were due to me not always inputting the data > into the program properly. But making corrections in the program that could > then result in accurate quarterly reports proved to be a puzzle we were > never able to solve. The online help was all but useless and certainly > incomplete. There was and still is no written manual for the program > available, either from Intuit or licensed third parties, although there are > plenty of both for Quickbooks itself. That fact is astonishing when you > consider that over a million people use the Payroll program. That seems > like a deliberate strategy, designed to get you to sign up for paid monthly > support, or give up and use their payroll service, also for a monthly fee. > Which is to say that the program is deliberately half crippled so that they > can extract money from you elsewhere. > > > > After a couple of years I gave up on Enhanced Payroll and went to Basic. > The only difference between the 2 is that Basic does not populate the > Quarterly and Yearly forms, which I could never get it to do anyway. Basic > Payroll went up from $100 a year to $130 a year this past January. I found > that irritating, because nothing about the program has changed in the 5 > years I have been using it, except the tax tables. I could not see what > justified a 30% increase. I have continued to have problems with the > program. Today my bookkeeper Pat was showing me where, in this quarter for > each payroll I did, there’s a place in a report where everything is supposed > to zero out (happy time), but did not (unhappy time, you have to chase down > an error). But she checked my data input, which was correct for all of my > payrolls, so QB Payroll is not posting it properly. As usual, my trusty > accountant fixes things at the end of year. > > > > By the way QB Payroll Basic costs $130 a year, and Enhanced Payroll costs > $250 a year. For that extra $120, it will fill out the 941’s and some other > forms for you. That’s the only difference. Those you still have to > download from the IRS to populate. Enhanced Payroll allows you to do > payroll for up to only 3 employees. More than that, and they want $350 a > year. My guess is that the only difference between the 2 is the stop switch > they put in Enhanced Payroll so you can’t do more than 3 employees and the > cost > > > > You’re probably beginning to notice a pattern here. Periodically (about > every 3 years) they force you to upgrade Quickbooks to the newest version. > If you want to continue to use the Payroll Software, you have to upgrade. > They have always done this on the calendar year end when you renew your > subscription. Not this time. A month ago I got a notice from Intuit > telling me that my payroll subscription would be canceled as of May 31 if I > did not upgrade to Quickbooks Pro 2010 from QB Pro 2007 before then (for > another $200.00) What is particularly odd about their timing is that my > subscription is prepaid for the entire calendar year until 12/31/10, leaving > 7 months yet to do. Oh yeh, they’ll refund you the balance I can think > of no good motive on their part for them to do this at this time. They so > conveniently make it hard for you, as you are not switching software at the > end of the year or even at the end of the quarter. It’s a bad economy and > they want to extort some money from their captive installed customer base > whom they figure won’t see many other good options and just grumble and > pay. > > > > All that is bad enough, except that my Compaq computer at the shop is 5 ½ > years old and not powerful enough to run Quickbooks Pro 2010, which means I > will have to spend $500 to $1000 to buy a new computer so that I can allow > Intuit to rip me off. But I have a couple of programs on that computer from > little guy piano software developers which won’t run on anything past XP, > and aren’t likely to be upgraded to Windows 7 anytime soon, or at all. Or I > could spend another $200 and get Windows 7 Professional that will may or > may not run these XP programs. And oh, did I mention that quite a few > people are having problems getting QB Pro 2010 to install on Windows 7? > > > > Overwhelmed with disgust, I started to search for other options for > payroll. I usually don’t replace my computer until it dies or starts > getting psychotic. I want to keep Old Paint plugging along for now. > > > > I am happy to report that I have found what appears to be a very attractive > alternative, dear reader. There’s a program called Payroll Mate 2010 > available for $99 per year subscription. I downloaded a free trial, and > it’s a peppy little program that does payroll and nothing else. It is very > logically laid out and simple because all it does is payroll. It will print > paychecks, run payroll, do any reports you would need. The 940’s and 941’s > and other forms you need are part of the program. The program will populate > the forms, which are in the program already. It looks to be a very nice > program that will meet my payroll needs and those of most small businesses. > > > > > They are writing an export to Quickbooks feature, but I don’t know when > that will be ready. They already have a Quicken.qif export feature I will > have to make Journal entries into Quickbooks so that it reflects my > payroll. But I pay myself biweekly, so I am only going to do that 26 times > a year, and there’s not that much to do. > > > > The proof is in the pudding, but I can’t wait to get away from Quickbooks > Payroll. It’s a WCPOS. I’ll use Quickbooks Pro 2007 until I don’t have a > machine that will run it, or my accountant won’t allow me. > > > > I recognize that what I have shared won’t apply to most of you sole > proprietor readers, but there are some of us out there who do payrolls, and > this is aimed at them. For anyone who wants to look, you can find Payroll > Mate 2010 at realtaxtools.com for anyone who wants to have a gander. > > > > Will Truitt > > > > > Hi Will, I'm responding not directly to your post but rather to the later posts regarding quickbooks. I listened to all of those who said quickbooks was no good anymore, it had been ruined by the upgrades, etc. I went looking for something else and ended up with Peachtree, anybody want it?????!!!!!!! I am not great with computers but I've usually been able to muddle/find my way through most of the programs that came my way, not this one! I have at least 20+ hours in just trying to design an invoice, I finally got something resembling what I wanted except it won't add in the sales tax. THAT'S THE MAIN REASON i BOUGHT IT!!!!! A month ago I gave up and downloaded the free version of Quickbooks Simple Start 2010, I had my invoice's ready to go in a half hour INCLUDING TAX!!! The free version only allows 20 customers you then must upgrade to either the paid version of Simple start or Pro or Premium. I just bought Simple start, it won't give me reports on well my year is doing but I've been able to figure that out for myself for 40+ years, I doubt I'll forget how now. For me it's simple enough to keep track of my sales tax, income and perhaps I'll add in my expenses if I feel like it but I don't have to for it to accomplish what I bought it for. Mike -- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100427/c81d9102/attachment-0001.htm>
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