Medlin Software, Dennis

No experience at all...

My WAG:

Since it was negative, there was nothing "prepaid", so nothing to amortize as the increased interest rate handles it.

"Hands off" options are good, and keep one from forgetting to make the backups, and require little management. BUT, little or no management also means little or no control when things go bad. For about $5 a month, you can have your own shared server space on a reputable and reliable hosting company, and have at least one online backup you manage yourself.

Mozy: Free version, used as designed, backup on a time schedule online with a copy stored locally

Carbonite: Paid, used as designed, nearly constant backup with a copy stored locally

Cobian: Free, used to backup onto my own secure site as well as a local copy

Manually: Backups on a rotation of DVD's

Manually: Backups on a second - storage use only - hard drive

Manually: SkyDrive - additional copy of personal photos

I have no idea what anyone else does, just what my preferences and experiences are. I don't look at the checks at all, but I know someone else is reviewing after me (and signing). I do have to my errors from time to time, and accept it.

There is no longer any such thing as check security, but I am still not comfortable removing the small amount of security a stamp, signature, or a second pass can provide.

I am with the "not in one pass" opinion.

PR checks need to be reviewed. The person who looks at the checks (even if just for general correctness, if not at all of the information) can slap a stamp. I am not comfortable making it any easier for someone to blindly create negotiable checks without even a half (bleep)ed review of what is being handed out.

Good place to insert my reminder about backing up - so one never has to worry about losing more than a small amount of data... Anything can and does happen!

It was interesting that the IRS posted the 2011 calculations "before" the bill was signed into law... I saw one news item early on where the IRS had given the politicians the truth, that by a certain date (maybe even Dec 17), they were going to publish with what they had. It may well have been a case of the tail wagging the dog. No matter what, all that mattered to me was getting the calculations (no matter what they were) out.

The $5 example reminds me of my first accounting textbook which had a nice blurb about a newly minted accountant researching and researching until they found a <$1 many year old imbalance. Said newbie went to their boss to show how the hard work paid off, and was fired on the spot for wasting time finding $1...

The employer should at all times do things legally allowed and/or required. IRS Publication 15 outlines the allowable methods for handling "supplemental wages". Hard to be exact without more detail.

"they issued it as if it was a regular payroll check"

Based only on this statement, the employer was wrong. It is not an allowable option to simply cut another check, using the regular payroll frequency calculations. While the employee is responsible for having proper tax withholding and filing, there is NO GOOD that can come from an employer doing things cowboy style...

Please refer to Pub 15 or get a paid, written, E&O insured, professional opinion...

(Note, there is no mention of what to do if supplemental is exactly 1mil...)

The "Peggy" commercials are great. This time of year, whenever someone I know well calls (like my wife), I answer in Peggy mode. It is a GREAT stress release for me - especially after being yelled at because we are calculating employee SS wrong - it cannot be different from the employer amount, or that the news said there was a tax cut so why did FWH go up? Or being yelled at by someone who has submitted hinky charge card order(s) and is trying to play "credit card roulette" to guess the missing information.

Asking is not a problem, but in my mind, to offer someone else a discount means we have to charge someone else more. I sleep better knowing the price is the same for all, not priced higher to be able to offer "discounts", not priced so low I want to look for other work, although the first and second business day of every January I do give other lines of work a passing thought.

From time to tome I do point out the comparison to $5 per month cost for software versus the income a caller is generating with said software, but most of the time I suspect those using it for a payroll service wold rather not bring up the price <smile>.

The link is not yet correct, it is "coming and going" between 2010 and 2011 as they try to get the web page updated.

You CAN access the new pub through their FTP system...

Friendly reminder... after receiving yet another call from someone who thought backing up on the same computer they were using for live data was good enough. When they had computer issues, their "expert" took money for taking the lazy way out and reformatted their drive without even trying to save the existing data. Imagine, last payroll is due out tomorrow, end of year and 4th quarter forms are not done, and you have nothing other than checks you might get from the bank to try to rebuild (no, they were not printing and saving reports.)

I am sure I have posted my suggestions "several" times, should anyone be interested. Once you feel good about how you are backing up, give a restore a try. If you have never tried restoring, you don't "really" know if you have a working backup - and how to use it.

Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but I "heard" I was working on a new program where our GL, AP, AR, Budget, and Labeling functions will be in one program. If I heard myself correctly, the progress has been halted for a by the recent political whimsy, but I hear I am hoping to have something ready for testing in a few months.

I still say I get much more from reading than writing...

For those that are following, most, if not all, disks should have been received by now. There can be exceptions as several states do not release their calculations until they see what the IRS is going to do, which can delay those states. For those with slower mail service, or "Newman" as their postal carrier, the IRS left all employers an "out" (and themselves, as far as preparing and mailing 2011 Pub 15) by officially allowing the 2010 rates to be used for January 2011 (refer to Notice 1036).

For me, the next big thing is waiting for the IRS to catch up on tax return form releases so they can (probably) begin work on a 2011 941... and UI is a mess.

"Booger" is just not specific enough contact information to search for...

Seriously though, I read and participate in several groups, NONE of which are in a "sales" or "support" mode. Some are private groups, controlled by what might be considered my competitors. I do not hide my identity and I respect the privilege of participation by not trying to take away someone's customer. I also don't always read each board often enough to reply as fast as through direct contact.

Nothing embarrassing to report if the OP is who I think.

Send an email directly and we will reply. I prefer not answering specific support questions on a board hosted by someone else...

There is nothing that allows 1099's to be on plain paper - that I am aware of - although I doubt the IRS is going to complain as long as they are machine readable.

The SSA/IRS instruction about having easily separated W-2 copies is so silly it is funny. What is wrong with expecting someone who you are paying for services to be wise enough to handle a pair of scissors? Sounds like a good "employment skills" test to me... I either get blank perf paper or use a paper cutter to cut plain paper, and print the instructions as a separate page. The instructions can be shortened by removing things that don't apply to your payroll, so one can probably get them to a half page or maybe less.

Laser printed W-2/W-3's started in TY2001 IIRC. I still get calls from people who are SHOCKED there is an option other than preprinted forms.

If you are a Costco member, check their offerings...

Report appearance:

In beta so no guarantees... Payroll will create most reports on paper, as images (GIF), and as CSV data. With CSV, you can import into whatever you wish and manipulate. It will not likely be until 2012 that these options make it to our non-payroll programs. The images are for e-mailing, and for those who prefer (foolishly IMHO) not to keep paper records. (Paper can get lost and damaged, but it is not rendered useless by computer failure, computer replacement, power outages, operating system changes, etc. etc. etc.) The images also allow us to offer a closely scaled print preview.

Network support is a tough one to crack. Our software is designed to be as simple and easy to use as practical. Networks are not. I was just dealing with a caller in a literal panic. Turns out they were keeping their data on a server and the server was down. ("The data was there when I left yesterday. It is not here this morning. FIX IT FOR ME NOW!" is a fair representation of the caller's perspective.) Networks have delays, multi-user issues, and issues with the person actually doing the work having no idea how their network operates. I just cannot see us supporting network installation or usage any time soon. With that said, we cannot stop someone from using a network so I am sure we have many that do. We do try to prevent multiple access by locking files, but file locks are not perfect. To officially offer support/usage over a network would dramatically increase support time, which would likely have to increase program cost unacceptably.

No worries here Tom. One of our differences is we do draw a line as to how complicated we want to get versus trying to handle everything for everyone. I call it programming for the 90%.

One of my all time favorite inquiries is when asked about where can someone take a class on using Medlin. I say nowhere, because while you will find an entire semester class on using certain software, you will find Medlin is being used to teach accounting!

For clarification, multiple rates per employee is not something we are even considering at present. Multiple rates would simply add complication for anyone who does not have multiple rates. By complication I mean some multiple of hour entry fields, WC classification fields, reporting complexity, OT calculation complexity, and so on.

We have found, over the years, those needing multiple rates have other requirements we simply cannot meet while keeping our software as simple as we manage to do. There are other software options for complex payrolls, although at a much different price point than ours...

For those who read this forum who are already my customers, if you wish to get an idea of what we are working on for our next version, send a message to our normal email address, mention this forum, and I will reply.

Dennis

Busy - always.

Besides being sure of death and taxes, I can be sure of lifetime employment as payroll never gets easier.

At the top of our site, there is a link to information on the HIRE act. I will be posting sample pdf's as I get them finished.

Tom,

Google "HIRE Act 941". You will find several blogs and other references. After reading a couple, you will get a good handle on the changes/requirements. The IRS site has a news item as well.

The retention credit will likely be a separate form/worksheet (not a payroll item specifically) the employer fills out to get the retention credit. It affects the employer/business tax forms, not payroll reporting.

Employers can come up with their own affidavit according to what I have read, and the IRS will likely have a boilerplate form one can use. There is no provision for filing or verifying such affidavits, just have to keep them in case of audit. The liability of the facts is on the employee, not the employer, with no penalty I can find other than criminal perjury. If the retention form/worksheet needs something from Medlin we cannot already provide, we will likely come up with something at that time.

Medlin Payroll:

Doing the coding now (well I am taking a few minutes to write this, and throw down a soda and sandwich)

To "mark" the employee, you will enter "HIRECREDIT" in the employee memo field.

We determine qualified employees by checking to see if "HIRECREDIT" is in their memo field, then checking the hire date (an existing data field).

Payroll Tax Summary - A new column in the top of the report (if applicable) showing the HIRE credit amount. The "deposit" amount will be reduced by the credit as needed. On quarterly tax summaries, the 941 section will show the appropriate items for whichever 2010 quarter is being printed.

941b - No changes to the form. Calculations include appropriate checks to qualified employees, including not reducing >Q1 liabilities for the Q1 carryover.

941 (any quarter) in Version 4.2 Revision 18 and later - limited to checks for 2010 since the forms will not work for any other year.

Q1 941 - unchanged

Q2 941 - Updated to the current draft format, including form layout and new calculations.

Q3/Q4 941 - Updated to what I think the form will look like, the draft Q2 form, without the Q2 12c, 12d, and 12e. I suspect this form is at least a month away from an official draft version.

Dennis