On May 31, 2009, QuickBooks 2006 for Windows will be “discontinued,” meaning that tech support and services related to this product will no longer work. If you are on QuickBooks 2006 and use any of the services or features below, on May 31 you will no longer be able to use the service. Example: If your QuickBooks is version year 2006 and you use Basic Payroll, then you will have to upgrade your QuickBooks software in order to run your payroll.

• Assisted Payroll
• Basic Payroll
• Bill Pay
• Billing Solution (formerly QuickBooks Online Billing)
• Credit Card Download
• Employee Organizer
• Enhanced Payroll
• Merchant Service
• Online Banking
• QuickBooks Email
• Standard Payroll
• Support Plans and Services

The QuickBooks website describes what discontinuation really means:

“If you are using QuickBooks 2006 and would like to continue to use your QuickBooks Payroll Service, Merchant Account Services, live technical support and any other QuickBooks services through QuickBooks, you’ll need to upgrade to QuickBooks 2009 to ensure uninterrupted access. If you no longer need access to these services, you can continue to use QuickBooks 2006. We know that not all of our customers are the same, and change can be challenging. We want to work with you to make sure that your personal upgrade experience is easy, fast, and as cost-effective as possible.”

AccountingSoftwareDeals.com is a QuickBooks affiliate reseller.  This means that we are able to provide you with special deals on QuickBooks software when you buy through us.

You can buy QuickBooks for $199 when you go directly to the Intuit website, but if you access the site through the links below you get a coupon code, saving you $20 on QuickBooks.  Try it out

Here is the link to get the discount.

QuickBooks has a policy called “discontinuation” or sometimes referred to in the software industry as “sunsetting.”  This means that QuickBooks doesn’t support services (tech support or some product capabilities) for old versions.  The reason for this is that it costs the company a lot to keep track of old versions of QuickBooks (also they want you to upgrade to QuickBooks 2009).  Here is a common question I’ve been asked about really frequently these days:

Question: What happens if I don’t upgrade my QuickBooks by May 31, 2009?

Answer: The following services and features in QuickBooks 2006 will be “discontinued” or “sunset”

• Bill Pay
• Credit Card Download
• Employee Organizer
• Merchant Service
• Online Banking
• Billing Solution (formerly QuickBooks Online Billing)
• Basic Payroll
• Standard Payroll
• Enhanced Payroll
• Assisted Payroll
• Support Plans and Services
• QuickBooks Email

Question: How can I prevent my services from being discontinued or sunset?

Answer: You need to upgrade to the latest version, which this year is QuickBooks 2009.  If your software is being sunsetted or discontinued, below are some links you can use to get QuickBooks 2009 for a discount through our website.  The links will take you to the QuickBooks website where you will get access to the deal.

Here are some links to get special discounts from our website if you have to upgrade:

What are the benefits of QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier 2009?  There are some great new features in the latest version of QuickBooks 2009, so I’ve compiled a short list of a few top features that I like.  If you are on an older version of QuickBooks (QuickBooks 2006 or 2007) you should consider upgrading.  

1.  Business Intelligence in QuickBooks Pro 2009: allows you to get a real-time overview of your business, such as customers who owe you money, bills to be paid, and reminders-all on one screen.  

2.  Multi Currency / Foreign Currency: Track your finances at home and abroad with support for multiple currencies. QuickBooks Pro 2008 handles all your international currency accounting automatically for all global currencies, and even downloads exchange rates right into QuickBooks.

3.  Online Banking in QuickBooks 2009: Easily download transactions from your bank account or credit card directly into QuickBooks. Get a complete financial picture of cleared bank transactions and pending QuickBooks transactions, all in one place.

Here are some links to get special discounts from our website:

This post is kicking off a series of articles about the benefits of QuickBooks 2009. With great new features, I’d say this new version of QuickBooks accounting software is one of the best ever release by Intuit. One of the best features is multi-currency support. Data from Intuit shows that by 2018 almost half the small businesses in the U.S. will be participants in global trade. The globalization of small business sourcing and sales has created the need for multi-currency support in accounting software–a problem QuickBooks 2009 solves well. Eliminating the need to manually account for foreign transactions will save for small businesses that do significant trade across international borders. In addition, QuickBooks 2009 users can also connect directly to the QuickBooks international payment service, making it easy to process wire transfers and drafts in more than 100 foreign currencies right from within the QuickBooks accounting software.

“Intuit QuickBooks 2009 is one of our best releases in years, giving small businesses more reasons to be optimistic even in tough economic times,” said Rick Jensen the head of Intuit’s small business division. “The powerful new features help small businesses become more productive while finding new ways to make money and succeed in a global economy.”

As always we have discounts, deals, and special promotions available to small businesses like yours:

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Everyone in business must keep records. Keeping good records is very important to your business. Good records will help you do the following:

1. Monitor the progress of your business
2. Prepare your financial statements
3. Identify source of receipts
4. Keep track of deductible expenses
5. Prepare your tax returns
6. Support items reported on tax returns
7. Monitor the progress of your business

You need good records to monitor the progress of your business. Records can show whether your business is improving, which items are selling, or what changes you need to make. Good records can increase the likelihood of business success.

Prepare your financial statements

You need good records to prepare accurate financial statements. These include income (profit and loss) statements and balance sheets. These statements can help you in dealing with your bank or creditors and help you manage your business.

An income statement shows the income and expenses of the business for a given period of time.

A balance sheet shows the assets, liabilities, and your equity in the business on a given date.

Identify source of receipts

You will receive money or property from many sources. Your records can identify the source of your receipts. You need this information to separate business from nonbusiness receipts and taxable from nontaxable income.

Keep track of deductible expenses

You may forget expenses when you prepare your tax return, unless you record them when they occur.

Prepare your tax return

You need good records to prepare your tax returns. These records must support the income, expenses, and credits you report. Generally, these are the same records you use to monitor your business and prepare your financial statement.

Support items reported on tax returns

You must keep your business records available at all times for inspection by the IRS. If the IRS examines any of your tax returns, you may be asked to explain the items reported. A complete set of records will speed up the examination.

The most important list in your accounting system is your Chart of Accounts. You track your flow of money through this list of accounts which includes where your income comes from, where you put it, what your expenses are for, and what you use to pay them. QuickBooks’ EasyStep Interview walks you through setting up your accounts. The system also offers sample business templates that already have accounts set up for you. You can later delete or add any accounts that were initially setup in this interview to make it match your income and expenses better. Keep your chart of accounts SIMPLE! Too many accounts result in messy reports that are hard to read and analyze. Also, use descriptions for your account id’s, not numbers. If you assign account numbers for each account, you will have to memorize the numbers for fast data entry. It is much easier to type in the name of the account when entering transactions. This is a key timesaver and way of making QuickBooks work for you.

If you’ve been contemplating buying small business payroll software for your company here is the latest review from PC World of Intuit Online Payroll.

Stand-alone online payroll preparation service is a good value.

Intuit’s relatively inexpensive (a flat fee of $30 per month) Web-based payroll preparation service is aimed at businesses that don’t use its popular QuickBooks application. To set up Online Payroll, you complete a questionnaire and then take a guided step-by-step tour through the service to pay employees, pay taxes, and file tax forms.

Online Payroll offers 13 types of compensation, from the most common (salary and hourly) to specialized pay types such as piecework, commission, and tips. You can adopt any of four pay intervals: weekly, biweekly, twice per month, or monthly.

Like PayCycle’s competing Payroll Plus 2008, Online Payroll lets you print paper paychecks and pay stubs, and deposit net pay electronically into employees’ bank accounts. Both services also maintain current tax tables, calculate gross pay and deductions, compile your pay and tax records, and can help you prepare your payroll tax forms at filing time.

But Online Payroll provides tax forms for only 19 states; if your state isn’t among these, you’ll have to complete the state tax forms manually. Also, Intuit Online Payroll doesn’t integrate with QuickBooks or any other small-business accounting software. As a result, you’ll have to prepare a manual journal entry after each payroll to specify the payroll and deductions in your accounting records.

This requirement is fine for businesses that keep their books manually, but it’s a significant drawback for businesses that use accounting software. Intuit offers other payroll programs–including Basic Payroll and Enhanced Payroll–that do integrate with QuickBooks.

Despite its shortcomings, Intuit Online Payroll is cost-effective and easy to use.

What are the top things to look for in accounting software for your small business?

Adaptability: Small businesses in particular tend to change over time, and you need to make sure that the software you are buying today will be just as useful tomorrow. Are upgrades offered? How much trouble and expense is required to upgrade? How often are upgrades offered? Today’s software is likely to be obsolete in 5 years.

Support: How much support is offered? How effective is it? Is local service available or will you be restricted to dealing with a call center in India?

Price: Software packages vary greatly in price, not only among brands but also among merchants. Choose an appropriate package and then shop around for the best deal.  Are  there discounts on accounting software available?

User Friendliness: How easy is it to use? If you are a sole proprietor, try using it yourself. Otherwise, have your accountant try using it and get his/her opinion.

Features: Don’t pay for features you don’t need, but look ahead 5 or 10 years when deciding which features you’re likely to need. If you don’t need them now, you can always check and see if your package can be easily upgraded to add features you may need in the future.

QuickBooks is by far the most popular accounting software, but then again there are many versions of Quickbooks available on the market. QuickBooks comes in Basic, Online, Pro, and Premier editions. The Pro Edition features tools such as the Cash Flow Projector and the Vehicle Mileage Tracker. Peachtree offers a premium small business accounting software package with over 125 functions including as in-depth inventory, time and billing and job costing features. Other popular accounting software packages include MYOB Plus Accounting Software and Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting.

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It can be very convenient to classify workers as contractors or 1099s.  That way you don’t have to pay taxes on payroll and you can usually get around workers’ compensation issues.  Make sure sure you know the rules before you tell all your employees they are now contractors.

How do I know when I can classify someone as a 1099?

The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if (the person for whom the services are performed) has the right to control or direct only the result of the work, and not what will be done and how it will be done or method of accomplishing the result.

People such as lawyers, contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers, and auctioneers who follow an independent trade, business, or profession in which they offer their services to the public, are generally not employees. However, whether such people are employees or independent contractors depends on the facts in each case. The earnings of a person who is working as an independent contractor are subject to Self-Employment (SE) tax.