Its that time of year again!

A common question that is asked of us is ‘What do I need to do to end the year? Here we put together the short list of items.

Backup your database - Backups are your responsibility and you should already have a system of backing up your data and storing some (or all) of the backup copies offsite or in a place safe from fire damage.  We recommend that you backup your database at the end of the year, and keep that backup copy safely for 7 years (or as long as the IRS asks to keep tax return history).

Create a new payroll year - If you are using the Freight.Ware employee payroll system, it will tell you the current date is ‘outside the range of the current GL year’ when you run it for the first time in 2009. Follow these steps:

1. Enter the Freight.Ware payroll system
2. Click OK to continue
3. Click Cancel in the Select Year & Date window
4. Click on the Utilities tab
5. Click on the Create New Year option
6. Select 2009 in the first box
7. Select 2008 in the second box
8. Leave the Active Employees option marked unless you have an inactive employee who will return in the future, then mark All Employees
9. Click Create - OK - Done
10. Now select the Change Payroll Year/Date option
11. Select 2009 in the first box
12. Enter today’s date in the second box
13. Click OK

Now you are ready to do your first payroll of the new year. It’s not too late to get your W2 and 1099 forms orders in!

Enter your new 2009 tax tables - Each year, the Federal Tax Tables must be reset to withhold the new tax rates. These tax rates can easily be changed. Follow these steps:

1. Enter the Freight.Ware payroll system
2. Select the Taxes tab
3. Select the Employee Tax Tables option
4. At the top of the screen, at the Select Tax: prompt, select Federal Income Tax - Married
5. Change the Exemptions Amount to $3,650.00
6. Click on the Tax Tables tab
7. Change the table entries to make the screen look like this (Figure 1)

 
Figure 1

8. At the top of the screen, at the Select Tax: prompt, select Federal Income Tax - Single
9. Change the Exemptions Amount to $3,650.00
10. Click on the Tax Tables tab
11. Change the table entries to make the screen look like this (Figure 2)

Figure 2

12. At the top of the screen, at the Select Tax: prompt, select FICA Social Security
13. Click on the Tax Tables tab
14. Change the table entries to make the screen look like this (Figure 3)

Figure 3

15. Click Done
16. Select the Employers Liabilities option
17. At the top of the screen, at the Select Liabilities: prompt, select FICA Social Security
18. Change the table entries to make the screen look like this (Figure 4)

19. Click Done

Your payroll system is now reflecting the new 2009 federal tax rates. Have your state or local payroll tax rates changed? If so, these rates will also need to be updated. Please contact us if you need assistance.

Create your Financial Periods - Freight.Ware needs to know  what your accounting periods are each year. For most of us, it is the same as the calendar year, January through December. Follow these steps:

1. Go into Freight.Ware and select the Accounting menu
2. Select Financial Periods
3. At the top of the screen, 2009 should be selected
4. Click New Common Periods
6. Select ’12 Months’
7. Select ‘January’ (or whatever month your fiscal period begins with)
8. Click OK - OK

This will create your new financial periods for 2009.

Print your Collections Report - Your accountant will want to see the detail of your Accounts Receivable at the end of the year. Follow these steps:

1. From Freight.Ware, select the Reports menu
2. Select Customer Reports
3. Select Collections Report
4. Enter the last day of your fiscal year for the "as of" date. (eg. 12/31/08)
5. Click Print

This report will not include invoices or payments after 12/31/08. So it is ok to run this report after you have created new invoices or applied cash payments in 2009.

Compare the total on this report to the total figure in your General Ledger Accounts Receivable account. They should match. If they do not match you may have a posting error sometime in 2008. This should be corrected before closing the year and completing your tax return for 2008.

Print your  A/P Aging Report - Follow these steps:

1. From Freight.Ware, select the Reports menu
2. Select either Purchases or Suppliers (depending on your Freight.Ware product)
3. Select the A/P Aging report. Select the last day of your fiscal year for the "as of" date (eg. 12/31/08). Select "all suppliers" and "detail" for the other report parameters.
4. Click Print

This report will not include bills or payments made after 12/31/08. So it is ok to run this report after you have entered new bills or made payments in 2009.

Compare the total on this report to the total figure in your General Ledger Accounts Payable account. They should match. If they do not match you may have a posting error sometime in 2008. This should be corrected before closing the year and completing your tax return for 2008.

Print your W2s - After you have completed your final payroll for 2008 you will be ready to print your 2008 W2 forms. Follow these steps:

1. From Freight.Ware payroll, select the Tax Forms tab
2. Select Create W2s
3. Select 2008
4. Enter your State and local Tax ID numbers as you want it to appear on the W2s.
5. Click Prepare W2s - OK
6. Click Edit W2s - Review each W2 to be sure it is correct. To proof those numbers, you can run a variety of reports from the reports menu, to see the detail behind the pay amounts, withholding amounts, deduction amounts, etc., for each employee. Click Done back to the Tax Forms menu
7. Select Print Tax Forms/Reports
8. Since you can reprint the W2s as many times as you need to, you can leave the printer loaded with blank paper and give this a trial run to be sure you don't waste any forms.
9. Select Print W2’s - You do not need to select a quarter at the top of this window, it does not apply to W-2's.
10. Leave the print option on the right set to Preview
11. Click Print
12. Compare one of the printed pages to a blank W2 form and be sure the print is in alignment.

If everything checks out, click on the Print Tax Forms/Reports button from the Tax Forms menu and reprint the W2s on the preprinted forms.

Print your 1099s - 1099 amounts are accumulated during the year from all payments made to suppliers marked 1099.

1. From Freight.Ware, select the Accounting menu
2. Select the 1099 Processing option
3. 1099 Detail will show each payment made to each 1099 supplier
4. Verify the amounts.
5. Click the 1099 Summary tab to view the summary totals for each supplier
6. Since we can reprint the 1099s as many times as we need to, you can leave the printer loaded with blank paper and give this a trial run to be sure you don't waste any forms.
7. Select Preprinted Form
8. Check Copy A only and uncheck all of the other copies.
9. Click Print
10. Compare one of the printed pages to a blank 1099 form to be sure the print is in alignment
11. If everything checks out, check the number of copies you will need, and reprint the 1099s with the preprinted forms loaded.

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