Impact of Coronavirus on payroll processing

Families First Coronavirus Response (FFCR) Act

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act

Former President Trump's Memorandum

Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021

American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021

Update v.2022.1.0 - Released on March 24, 2022

Update v.2021.4.0 - Released on December 20, 2021

We updated Form 943 and Form 944, which include the various COVID-19 and ARPA credits, for the 2021 tax processing period.
note
For more information, read our Form 943: COVID-19 changes and Form 944: COVID-19 changes articles.
We added an information diagnostic message to Forms 941, 943, and 944 if the
2021 Fourth quarter
checkbox in the Employee Retention Credit section in the COVID-19 Acts tab of the Setup > Clients screen is marked. We recommend data entry be reviewed for these clients based on the latest IRS guidance issued in Notice 2021-65. For more information, see COVID-19 - Employee Retention Credit.
Pay items with a Special Type of ARPA self care, ARPA other care, or ARPA extended care were updated to have the
Box 14 — Other
field marked in the W-2 Additional Boxes section on the Setup > Payroll Items screen.
By default, the W-2 Box 14 description on the pay item will display one of the following descriptions:
ARPA 511
for pay items with the ARPA self care special type.
ARPA 200
for pay items with the ARPA other care special type.
ARPA ESL
for pay items with the ARPA extended care special type.

Update v.2021.3.0 - Released on September 27, 2021

Update v.2021.2.1 - Released on July 12, 2021

Update v.2021.2.0 - Released on June 24, 2021

We updated Form 941 and the electronic file to the latest version released by the IRS for tax processing periods 6/30/2021, 9/30/2021, and 12/31/2021.
We updated the user interface of the COVID-19 Acts tab on the Setup > Clients screen to accommodate the Form 94x changes included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.
We added the ability to manually create a "FIT ARPA Tax Adj" liability for the 941 and 943 vendors in the Actions > Manage Payroll Liabilities screen.
We updated the EFTPS files created in the Actions > Process EFTPS screen to use the following codes for FICA-SS deferred tax payments.
94107
for Form 941 FICA-SS deferred payments
09437
for Form 943 FICA-SS deferred payments
09447
for Form 944 FICA-SS deferred payments
We updated the
7200 Worksheet - COVID-19
report that is available in the Accounting CS Library to include the various ARPA credits that were part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. For more information, see COVID-19 Custom reports.
We updated Form 944-X to the latest version released by the IRS.

Update v.2021.1.1 - Released on April 22, 2021

We updated Form 943-X to the latest version released by the IRS for tax processing period 2020 and later.
We updated the Payroll Tax Form analysis tool (accessed via Actions > Analyze Client Activity > Payroll Tax Form when Form 941 is selected for processing in the Actions > Edit Payroll Tax Forms screen) to display the correct FICA-SS ER (Calculated) amounts.
note
Previously, in cases where Form 941 included COVID-19 paid sick leave wages for the quarter, the Payroll Tax Form analysis tool displayed incorrect FICA-SS ER (Calculated) amounts.
We released the following changes in response to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.
We added the
ARPA self care
,
ARPA other care
, and
ARPA extended care
options to the Payrol Items screen. These will help you create new paid sick leave and family leave pay items.
note
The new ARPA items have a new set of available hours that take effect April 1, 2021. Because of the differences in tax treatment and the credit calculation, new payroll items will need to be created with these special types and used on payroll checks that have a
period begin or period end date on or between April 1 and September 30, 2021
For more information, read our articles: Setting up and using ARPA paid sick leave, and ARPA paid sick leave — calculation examples.
Any payroll checks entered in the application prior to installing the 2021.1.1 release that need to reflect ARPA-related paid leave wages will need to be reversed/voided/deleted and re-entered using the appropriate special type pay items.
We updated the calculation of COVID-19 paid sick leave and paid family leave in 2021 to payroll checks where the period begin or period end dates are on or before March 31, 2021.
We added
Third quarter
and
Fourth quarter
checkboxes for 2021 to the Employee Retention Credit section of the COVID-19 Acts tab in the Setup > Clients screen as a result of the credit being extended to the end of 2021.
We added the
Exclude from Employee Retention Credit
checkbox to the COVID-19 settings section of the Payroll Taxes tab in the Setup > Employees screen.
note
Marking the checkbox will prevent the liability for the Employee Retention Credit from generating on the payroll check and stop the employee from being included in the calculations of the Employee Retention Credit on the Federal 94x forms and payroll reports.
We updated the following reports in the Accounting CS Library to include the various COVID-19 credits that have been extended into 2021. For more information, see COVID-19 - Custom reports.
Cash Requirements and Deposits - COVID-19
Depository Totals - COVID-19
EFTPS Payment Worksheet - COVID-19
EFTPS Phone Payment Worksheet - COVID-19
Employee Retention Credit Summary
Preprocessing Summary - COVID-19
We added the following variables to the Client > COVID-19 Acts Information section of the variable tree in the Report Designer.
Claim Third Quarter 2021 Employee Retention Credit
Claim Fourth Quarter 2021 Employee Retention Credit
We added the following variable to the Employee > COVID-19 Settings section of the variable tree in the Report Designer.
Exclude from Employee Retention Credit

Update v.2021.1.0 - Released on March 25, 2021

We updated Form 941 and the electronic file to the latest version released by the IRS for tax processing periods 3/31/2021 and later. For more information, see Form 941: COVID-19 changes.
We updated the
7200 Worksheet - COVID-19
report in the Accounting CS Library to include the various COVID-19 credits that have been extended into 2021. For more information, see COVID-19 reports.
We added the 7200 Advance Year variable to the Client > COVID-19 Acts Information section of the variable tree in the Report Designer.
We re-enabled the Payroll Tax Form option (accessible via the Actions > Analyze Client Activity menu) when 2020 or 2021 is selected as the Form 941 processing year in the Actions > Edit Payroll Tax Forms screen.
note
The Payroll Tax Form analysis tool was previously unavailable for the 2020 processing year due to the complexities of Form 941 and the related COVID-19 credits and tax deferrals.
We released the following changes in response to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
We extended the calculation of COVID-19 paid sick leave and paid family leave in 2021 to payroll checks where the period begin or period end dates are on or before September 30, 2021.
We updated the user interface on the COVID-19 Acts tab of the Setup > Clients screen in the following two sections to assist you with entering 2021 values for Form 941 information.
Form 7200 Advance Payment Information
. Use this section to record any advance payments requested that should be reported on Form 941, 943, or 944 for 2020 or 2021.
Federal 94x Information
. Use this section to record any qualified health plan expenses that should be allocated to the COVID-19 related sick leave or family leave wages reported on Form 941, 943, or 944 for 2020 or 2021.

Update v.2020.4.2 - Released on January 21, 2021

We updated Form 941-X to the latest version released by the IRS for tax processing periods 9/30/2020 and later.
We updated Form 941-X to the latest version released by the IRS for tax processing periods 9/30/2020 and later.
On the COVID-19 Acts tab on Setup > Clients, we added
First quarter
and
Second quarter
checkboxes for 2021.
When the 2021 checkboxes are marked, the Employee Retention Credit is calculated at 70% (instead of 50%) for each employee up to $10,000 in qualified wages per quarter (instead of per calendar year).

Update v.2020.4.1 - Released on January 7, 2021

The Average Payroll Cost Worksheet in the Accounting CS Library has an option to use a 3.5 multiplier instead of a 2.5 multiplier.
Deduction items with the
Deferred FICA-SS repayment
special type have a default end date of 12/31/2021.
Open FICA-SS liabilities generated from payroll checks in 2020 have an updated due date of 12/31/2021 if it is flagged by the application as
Deferred per Memorandum
in the Actions > Manage Payroll Liabilities screen.
The application now extends the calculation of COVID-19 paid sick leave in 2021 to payroll checks where the period begin and period end dates are on or before March 31, 2021.

Update v.2020.4.0 - Released on December 21, 2020

We provided Form 943 and Form 944 for the 2020 tax processing period. See the Form 943: COVID-19 changes and Form 944: COVID-19 changes articles for details about the changes and additions made to these forms.
Pay items with a Special Type of COVID-19 self care, COVID-19 other care, or COVID-19 extended child care were updated to have the
Box 14 — Other
field marked in the W-2 Additional Boxes section on the Setup > Payroll Items screen.
note
By default, the W-2 Box 14 description on the pay item will display one of the following descriptions:
EPSLA 511
for pay items with the COVID-19 self care special type
EPSLA 200
for pay items with the COVID-19 other care special type
EFMLEA
for pay items with the COVID-19 extended child care special type.
2020 W-2 Box 4 shows the net amount of the employee portion of FICA-SS and the deferred amount for the year.
We added a new deduction item Special Type called
Deferred FICA-SS repayment
. For more information, read the help topic: COVID-19: Deferral of employee FICA-SS.

Update v.2020.3.1 - Released on October 22, 2020

Update v. 2020.3.0 - Released on September 30, 2020

Update v.2020.2.6 - Released on September 10, 2020

COVID-19 Employee FICA-SS deferral
. With this release, you can specify that you want to defer the FICA-SS amount for certain employees. Accounting CS will create an offsetting Deferred FICA-SS tax item and create liabilities with a due date of April 30, 2021. For more information see COVID-19: Deferral of employee Social Security tax withholding.
We updated the
COVID-19 custom reports
in the Accounting CS Library to include Employee FICA-SS deferral information.
We added several variables to the variable tree in the Report Designer.
note
In the Employee > COVID-19 Settings section, we added the Defer Withholding of FICA-SS to the End of 2020 variable.
In the Payroll > Check > Taxes > Federal > FICA > Social Security Deferred section, we added several variables for both Report Designer and Layout Designer.

Update v.2020.2.0 - Released on June 26, 2020

We updated Form 941 and the electronic file to the latest version released by the IRS for tax processing periods 6/30/2020, 9/30/2020, and 12/31/2020. See the Form 941 2020: Covid-19 changes article for details about the changes and additions that were made to the form.
We added two sections to the COVID-19 Acts tab of the Setup > Clients screen to help you enter 2020 Form 941 information for quarters 2, 3, and 4.
Form 7200 Advance Payment Information
. Use this section to record any advance payments requested that should be reported on Form 941, 943, or 944.
Federal 94x Information
. Use this section to record any qualified health plan expenses that should be allocated to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) related wages and reported on Form 941.
We added the 7200 Worksheet – COVID-19 to the Accounting CS Library. For more details see COVID-19 - Custom reports (when v.2020.2.0 is released).
We added the 7200 Advance Quarter, 7200 Advance Requested, and 7200 Advance Notes variables to the Client > COVID-19 Acts Information section of the variable tree.
We disabled the Payroll Tax Form option (accessible via the Actions > Analyze Client Activity menu) when 2020 is selected as the Form 941 processing year in the Actions > Edit Payroll Tax Forms screen.
note
The Payroll Tax Form analysis tool is not available for the 2020 processing year due to the complexities of Form 941 and the related COVID-19 credits and tax deferrals.

Released on June 8, 2020 (no related application update)

Update v.2020.1.4 - Released on May 26, 2020

We added methods to automatically and manually create a “FIT Employee Retention Tax Adj " liability in the amount of the Employee Retention Credit. Employers that had 101 or more employees in 2019 will need to use the manual method. For more information, see COVID-19 - Employee Retention Credit.
We added Employee Retention Credit-related variables to the Client > COVID-19 Acts Information section of the variable tree in the Report Designer.
note
Claim First Quarter 2020 Employee Retention Credit
Claim Second Quarter 2020 Employee Retention Credit
Claim Third Quarter 2020 Employee Retention Credit
Claim Fourth Quarter 2020 Employee Retention Credit
We added the
Employee Retention Credit Summary
to the Accounting CS Library.
We updated the
COVID-19 custom reports
in the Accounting CS Library to include Employee Retention Credit information.

Update v.2020.1.3 - Released on May 4, 2020

Automatic tax liability adjustment for the Employer portion of FICA-MED
. (FFCR Act) This liability adjustment is automated for payroll checks processed after this update. For payroll checks processed prior to installing this update, you will need to use the manual process, documented in the COVID-19 liability credit information article
Ability to manually create COVID-19 deferred FICA-SS liabilities
. We have added the ability to manually create employer FICA-SS tax liabilities in the Actions > Manage Payroll Liabilities screen, so clients can split and defer payment of the liabilities, as specified by the CARES Act.

Update v.2020.1.2 - Released on April 27, 2020

COVID-19 paid sick leave tracking
. (FFCR Act) With this release, Accounting CS will alert you during payroll check entry if an employee uses more than the allowable number of hours for a COVID-19 sick leave type. For more information, see Setting up and using COVID-19 sick leave.
COVID-19 Employer FICA-SS deferral
. (CARES Act) With this release, you can specify that you want to defer the ERFICA-SS amount. Accounting CS will split the amount into two, and specify new due dates for the end of years 2021 (for 50% of the amount) and 2022 (for the remaining 50%). For more information see COVID-19 - Deferral of employer Social Security tax payments.
N
ew reports that include COVID-19 information.
We will add the following reports to the Accounting CS Library.
Cash Requirements and Deposits - COVID-19
Depository Totals - COVID-19
EFTPS Payment Worksheet - COVID-19
EFTPS Phone Payment Worksheet - COVID-19
Preprocessing Summary - COVID-19
note
For more information about these reports, see COVID-19 - Custom reports.

Update v.2020.1.1 - Released on April 6, 2020

COVID-19 paid sick leave
. (FFCR Act) We added a number of Special type options for creating new paid leave payroll items.
note
For more information, read our articles: Setting up and using COVID-19 sick leave, and COVID-19 paid sick leave - calculation examples.
COVID-19 liability credits.
(FFCR Act) Accounting CS automatically creates liability credits for COVID-19 paid sick leave payroll items. To learn how to create liability payments for the Employer portion of FICA-MED paid on COVID-19 leave wages (a workaround until the application does this automatically) and the employer share of employee healthcare costs, see the COVID-19 liability credit information article.
Paycheck Protection Program
. (CARES Act) We have added the Average Payroll Cost Worksheet to the Accounting CS Library. You can provide this report to your clients to help them apply for the Paycheck Protection Program.

Resources and news

The Interactive SBA Loan Analysis Tool was designed to help you and your clients determine which loans their businesses qualify for under the CARES Act. By answering a few short questions, you can instantly receive small business loan recommendations. Watch an introductory video.
The Interactive Employee Retention Credit Eligibility Tool was designed to help you and your clients determine if their businesses qualify for the Employee Retention Credit. Answer a few short questions to instantly receive recommendations.
The COVID-19 Paid Leave Tax Credit Tool was designed to help you and your clients determine if their businesses qualify for a tax credit for providing COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave and/or expanded family leave. After answering a few short questions, the tool instantly determines eligibility and explains how to claim the credits.