Last weekend we saw a couple of the currently supported versions of QuickBooks Desktop receive updates for mostly payroll-related compliance, along with a few bugs, and this weekend has been no different... it's just a couple of different versions.
The changes, improvements and fixes elaborated below were included in this release for QuickBooks Pro 2017, QuickBooks Premier 2017, QuickBooks Accountant 2017 and QuickBooks Enterprise v17.0. Be aware that each new update also includes all the changes from earlier updates. If you have automatic updates turned on, QuickBooks will download the updates for you and prompt you to install it. You can manually download the update from the Official Intuit QuickBooks Downloads and Updates Webpage (product/version specific).
As I mentioned above, the major aspect of this release has to do with 2020 payroll compliance. Specific changes, improvements and fixes include:
US Federal W-4 2020
- QuickBooks Payroll now supports the new 2020 W-4 as well as continuing to support the 2019 and prior W-4.
While the changes to the new W-4 form will likely result in confusion, they're ultimately a good thing. It should be easier for employees to set and adjust withholding to achieve the desired results, such as zero tax due, or a specific refund amount due back, at the time of their return.
New-2020_IRS-Form_W-4_p1
Payroll Reports
- You can now generate reports for State Mandated Retirement deductions for Oregon, Illinois and California.
US Payroll Compliance
- Payroll has been updated to ensure continued compliance with United States payroll tax laws.
Payroll Status for Direct Deposit
- View the detailed status of direct deposit payroll without have to check emails or call CARE
Direct-deposit_Payroll-status for 2017 QBD
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue which showed incorrect results in the income or bill tracker when attempting to filter transactions by 'Last Fiscal YTD'.
- Resolved issue preventing you from modifying contacts after you convert a lead into a customer
Should You Update?
This is always the question plaguing users... if you are going to need to deal with the new W-4 forms because you are going to have new employees, or you have employees wanting to make withholding changes, then you are probably going to be required to update to this newest release in order to do so; otherwise, you may want to hold off for a short time to see if any adverse findings are reported. Beyond that you really will have little time to otherwise evaluate the safety of this release.