4.0.7.2 Release Notes

If you have previously upgraded to version 4.0.6.8 or greater, then you can download this version from the help menu by selecting the option “Download Software Update”. If you have a version prior to 4.0.7.1, then contact support to obtain this version of the update.

Confirm Application Close
Clicking on the close button (red x in the upper right corner) will ask “Exit FarmBooks Application?”. This will give you a chance to abort the exit if you accidentally pressed that button when the farm database is open otherwise you will not see the message.

Offsite Backup
This release primary addresses the issue where the offsite backup failed on January 20, 2022 when the FTP server settings were changed to include additional security features that were not supported in the FTP components of FarmBooks. The FTP features were upgraded in this release to support the new security of the server.

Email Changes
The email component of FarmBooks was updated to handle new SMTP security features. Gmail will no longer support “less secure apps” as of May 30, 2022 as notified by Google. Less secure apps can make it easier for hackers to get in to your email account, so blocking sign-ins from these apps helps keep your account safe.

It is now recommended to use an App Password for Gmail. An App password is a 16-digit passcode that gives a non-Google app or device permission to access your Google Account. In the case of FarmBooks, you could use your Gmail Account for sending email in invoicing. See Gmail’s help for assistance in configuring this feature via “Manage your Google Account” and selecting “Security” and look for “App Password”.

New ATIG Codes
Two new ATIG codes have been added for the leasing of equipment which impacts the Schedule F report.

Payroll Multiple State Tax Tables / Calculations Supported along with Local / SUTA Employee Tax Withholding
This version of software supports the creation of state tax calculation rules. To support these rules several new state deduction types have been added. A new employee state filing status of “state rates” added for states that have a rate table not based on marital status. Also, local, custom, and SUTA tax withholdings are supported without the need for any special state tax calculation rules being defined. A few states now require an employee withholding for SUTA (State Unemployment Tax Act) along with employer and may be at different rates respectively. Also, these may or may not have a wage base cap for the employee. See the payroll section below detailing the new deduction types.

Report Changes
The ATI lookup window for the report center was updated. Using the mouse to move between the category and then selecting an ATI code would not always enable the apply button. It generally required selecting another ATI code before returning back to the desired ATI code.

Printing 1099 forms for nonemployee compensation (NEC) and rent (MISC) are available in the Report section Tax Values for 1099 Vendors. You may specify the form type in vendor setup. However, at the time the 1099 forms are printed, you may select whether all 1099 vendors are for a selected form type or use the designator defined for the vendor. These FarmBooks compatible forms and envelops may be ordered from Dynamic Systems from the HELP menu by selecting “Order Checks and Forms Online”.

See the report section below.

Website Links Updated
Help Menu->Order Checks and Forms Online

Dynamics our partner that provide FarmBooks compatible checks and windowed envelopes has updated their URL to access their website. https://www.dswebtoprint.com/categories/sanders-software

Windowed Envelopes expanded to include recommended choices for invoicing. The check stock envelope height was about 1/4″ short for 11″ standard paper for invoicing.

Add New Vendor on Prompt
Batch entry has been updated to prompt on new vendors asking if this is a one-time vendor or to add for future use as in the main application doing check or deposit entry.

On Vendor Change use memorized ATIGD List
After importing data from a financial institution, if it was a manually written check or deposit, the payee description is typically set to a description as CHECK or DEPOSIT. The payee naming rules do not allow you to define a classification of these lines. In prior versions, changing an import description to a vendor that had a memorized ATIGD list would not pull in the list of account codes. This feature was restricted to only new transactions being manually entered into the batch. This restriction has been removed. This will greatly speed up the classification of imported data where users do not use a debit or credit card.

Date Import Issue
Import files with validate dates within double quotes would not be correctly set and would result in a null date on each transaction line which displays as 12/31/1899.

Payee Naming Rules Changes – Restrict to Bank Code
When creating a payee naming rules, you have the option to restrict the rule to a specific bank code or leave it blank to apply the rule to all bank accounts without restriction as in prior versions.

This option from the Year-End menu was only enabled if the farm database was opened. This was confusing for some users and would result in a support call stating that this option was not available. Now, the option is available regardless of whether the database is open or not. If the database is not open and there is only one registered farm database, the system will automatically open the database otherwise it will prompt the user asking which database to open to complete all year-end tasks.

If you edited an existing transaction with a reconcile status and then entered a new transaction via selecting the “New” button for (checks, paycheck, or deposits) on the entry tab without leaving the tab, it would result in creating the new transaction with the previous reconciliation status and not defaulting to the preference option. Editing an existing transaction will still preserve the reconcile status as in the past.

A new vendor 1099 form field allows you to designate if this vendor is for nonemployee compensation or rent by selecting form NEC or MISC respectively. This will allow you print a vendor on a specific form when printing 1099 forms. See 1099 vendors for more details.

Quick Navigation between Beginning / Ending Values without Closing and Reopening Form
A new inventory values dropdown list allows you to jump between beginning and ending inventory lists and vice versa without closing and reopening the window from inventory menu beginning or ending.

Receive Invoice Payment Creates a New Vendor with each Payment Received
In version 4.0.6.6 with introduction of unlimited number of vendors, this issue was introduced. When you receive a payment in invoicing, it creates a vendor with the same name as the customer in invoicing. This result in a duplicate for every payment received from that customer in invoicing. The easiest way to remove the duplicates is to delete them after the new fiscal year is created. Another option would be to inactive the duplicates in the vendor list before creating the new fiscal year.

Forms Address Adjusted for Windowed Envelops
All the forms (invoice, estimates, credit memos, finance change invoices, and statements) were updated to allow the address to show up correctly in the windowed envelops for FarmBooks compatible checks.

It should be noted that the original design of the remitter address area for forms was to use either the remitter text or Company Logo but not both. However, it is possible if you change your logo size to allow both to be used at the same time. If you discover that the logo is covering your remitter text, than one option is change your logo size or incorporate your address text as part of your logo and then blank out the remitter information from the invoice option section of invoice preferences.

To order these envelops, go to the “Help” menu and select “Order Checks Online”. Also, the boxing of the bill-to and ship-to addresses for invoicing and the “To” address boxing was removed for the use of windowed envelopes. It is recommended to buy form #1 – SS for invoice and statements and form SS DW-84 for checks.

Forms Footer Message
Also, if you had a very large foot message defined for the any of the forms, it would overwrite a portion of the “Total” label for the form. Now, it will word wrap to the next line before overwriting the label.

Receive Payment Help
The help button had a new paragraph added to explain the “Overpayment Accounting” as follows:

The overpayment amount will be recorded against the account receivable ATIG 2065. The system will automatically create an accounts receivable external code if the description “Invoicing Unapplied Payment” does not exist and associate that code with the ATIG.

Later when the “Unapplied Payment” is applied as a credit to a future invoice, the amount will be removed from accounts receivable via ATIG 1065 with the same external code used for the “Invoicing Unapplied Payment”. This can be seen in the Credit Analysis report as a “Payment” or “Received” amount with the balance being zero once the credit is applied.

When creating a new farm database in version 4.0.7.1 and then opening it, it required an immediate conversion. The files in the installer have been updated to address the issue.

Also, additional messages added to help clarify that this process is to be used to create a new farm database instead of the Year-End Tasks involving creating the new fiscal year, updating the tax tables, and creating employees for the new payroll calendar year.

The new fiscal year process was not completely populating all the necessary fields for the new beginning Loan/Receivables balance records during the new fiscal year process. It impacted both “Complete All Year-End Task” and the “Advanced Steps->Step 1 New Fiscal Year”. Running the data analysis process would correct the data. To run the data analysis, go to the detail register and press the “Analyze…” button along the top of that tab.

The Credit Analysis report was NOT impacted by this missing data. However, you could see the effects from the balances menu->Loans or Receivable grid display not including the value of the beginning balance column in the calculation of the current balance. Generally, this resulted in a blank or negative number in the current balance column of the grid.

When trying to do an offsite backup file transfer to the offsite location or test the FTP connectivity, it would fail. You would receive an error stating that there was a “Control channel transfer error”. The FTP server settings were changed to include additional security features that were not supported in the FTP components of FarmBooks. The FTP features were upgraded in this release to support the new security of the server.

After the year-end processing for the new fiscal year, the current balance in the grid would be blank or negative for the new fiscal year. It was not including the beginning balance in the calculation of the current balance. You can run the data analysis process to correct the issue. To run the data analysis, go to the detail register and press the “Analyze…” button along the top of that tab.

The list now accurately shows the correct status if the database needs to be converted.

A question asks if you wanted to include the amount in the past. It has been expanded to include units along with the amount for that question.

Four new check box columns (SUTA, Local, Custom 1, and Custom 2) allow you to indicate which row the tax applies. A new button “Local / Custom Rules” allows you define the rule for each of the checked column along which amount to apply the rate and the withholding percentage rate for ALL employees for the new local / Custom 1 / Custom 2 columns per calendar year and state. Also, a tax table button was added that allows you may go to the tax table setup to review deduction types defined for the state.

Statement Balance Help
A help button was added to the right of the statement balance. Press the button to see the formula used to calculate the statement balance. Also, it shows the current values used to calculate the statement balance. The state balance calculation was changed from using the current bank account of the opened fiscal year to the latest balance available regardless of the fiscal year opened.

Reconcile Menu / Button Disabled on Empty Bank Register
After creating a new fiscal year, it was not possible to reconcile until at least one transaction was entered. This restriction has been removed. The work around would have been to return to the prior year and press the reconcile button or select the menu option. Reconciling is not based on fiscal year.

The tax table setup will show two tabs (Federal / Other Tax Tables AND State with Special Calculation Rules / Tables) if there is a state rule defined for the farm operating state based on the farm registration. Otherwise, it will appear and function as in prior versions. The tax code bracket popup window will show and hide applicable fields based on the tax type being selected which is more user friendly when setting up the bracket.

Refresh Budgets from the Prior Year
This new option was added to the Year-End menu for “Refresh Current Year” choices. This will allow users to refresh current budget amounts from the prior year based on either “actual transaction values” or “defined budget values”. Using actual values from the prior year will allow you to use the project cash flow and flow of funds reports to compare the current year to last year. All current year budgets are ERASED before bring values from the prior year.

1099 Vendors
The summary and detail drill downs “All Vendors” or “Selected Vendor” was eliminated and the selected vendor was changed to allow “blank for all”.

A new Forms section was added and the user may select NEC or MISC to print on the desired form type based on whether the 1099 vendor is for nonemployee compensation or rent respectively. The “use form rule” option allows the user to print “only vendors with assigned form” specified in vendor setup or “all vendors use this form”.

Balance Sheeting Ending Values
The Schedule 1 section of the report was including values from prior years for the “As of date” specified in the Non-Farm Asset section of the schedule 1 report. If you do not define ending values for either ATIG 5012 or 5018, then the report was not impacted and would display the correct totals. Now, that report section for Non-Farm Assets “as of date” is restricted to just the current fiscal period.

Income Statement
The Ending or Beginning (Operating or Market) value in the summary line of the Inventory, Accrued Income / Expense, and Depreciation Adjustments Section of the report would result incorrect totals if you used an ATIG code that had D-Codes defined in the account code list. This has been corrected and will show the correct value. This issue was introduced when some of the farm account codes were expanded to include D-codes and would not have been noticed unless an ATIG code was used that had the new D-Codes.

Inventory Detail Listing
The inventory listing would show several repeating g-code descriptions when an ATIG code had a D-code defined. The totals on the report were not impacted by these repeating extra lines on the report. This has been corrected and will not include the extra lines.

Payroll Analysis – All employees or Single Employee
If a farm payroll paid an employee’s FICA (Social Security and Medicare) withholdings instead of deducting it from their paycheck, the company paid amount was not included in the (Box 1) W-2 Wages total for the report. This has now been included in total for farm payroll. The company paid FICA amount was already included in the lines above the W-2 Totals line.

Payroll Summary by ATIGD
This report is almost identical to the Payroll Summary report except that it gets its description from the D-Codes and provides totals for the D-Codes used the 041 Labor Hired section. Comparatively, the payroll summary report show totals by G-Codes for standard payroll withholdings. This report will be useful when custom payroll deductions are used as the reports shows totals per D-Codes defined. Likewise, the report will be more accurate when paying for the 941 withholding if the corresponding 041xy is used where x is the G-Code and y is the custom D-Code description. When paying with the 041 codes, it is important to use the external code for the standard G-Code to signify whether the payment is for the current or prior tax year for the report to be accurate in the current year.

Schedule F
New ATIG codes 0577 RENT-MACHINE LEASE and 0578 IRRIGATION EQUIPMENT LEASE were added to ATI 057 for CASH FARM RENT and will be reported in Section 24a. In the past, no account codes were included in this section of the report.

New state deductions were added to support the new state tax calculation rules with multiple deductions. If your state uses the following formula for calculating state withholding along with only one deduction amount per allowance, no special tax calculation rule needs to be defined. However, the deduction amount and tax rate may change each year and would require changing those values. Thirteen states have gone to a flat tax and 8 states have no income tax. If your state uses a flat tax, then set both state single and state married to the same amount or use the new employee filing status called “state rates” and setup a state rates table.

Step 1: Gross Pay – All Pre-Tax Amounts = Wages Paid.

Step 2: Wages Paid * Number of Payroll Pay Periods = Annualized Wages Paid.

To annualized wages paid multiple by the number of payroll pay periods specified in employee setup.

Step 3: State Exemption Annual Amount * Number of Allowances = Standard Deduction Annual Amount.

State exemption amount multiplied by the number of allowances in employee state setup = the standard allowance deduction. It requires the annualized amount to be specified in the tax table for type “State Exemption”.

Step 4: Annualized Wages Paid – Standard Deduction Annual Amount = State Taxable Annual Amount.

Step 5: ((State Taxable Annual Amount – Bracket Excess Over Exemption Amount) * Tax Rate) + Base Tax = Annualized Amount to be Withheld

Lookup in the Rate Table via the State Taxable Annual Amount based on Martial Status (Single or Married) to get the Annualized amount to be withheld plus any base tax amount for that bracket.

Step 6: State Withholding Amount = Annualized Withholding Amount / Number of Payroll Pay Periods.

The state withholding amount is the annualized withholding amount divided by the number of payroll pay periods.

Prior State Tax Types

If you defined a new deduction type for one that is per allowance (only two listed below), you will find that the employee setup has additional allowances that may specify how many allowances the employee is claiming for that deduction.

New State Tax Types

New payroll deductions may be created for local and custom requirement by defining local / custom payroll rules as outlined below. You can decide if the % rate is defined per employee or applies to ALL employees and is a percentage of either gross pay or the state taxable amount. Also, SUTA is a percentage rate of gross pay with an optional wage base cap. There are few states that have a requirement to withhold an employee SUTA deduction along with the employer paying a portion based on different rate and wage base cap.

Local and Custom Withholding Rules
(No State Calculation Rules Required and * Items Require Local/Custom Rule to be Defined)

Employee Withholding Types

New tables added to the control folder drives the state withholding calculations for payroll. If a rule is not defined for the state, than it will calculate the same as it did since the inception of the program. See the section above for Standard State Withholding Calculation. Also, a new state tax rate table was added to the farm database and will be used if any state calculation rule is defined. The state associated with the farm number determines the farm operating state.

However, the employee’s state tax authority may be used to override the farm operating state and to apply a different state tax calculation if that state has a special rule defined. The employee residence or tax circumstance may require that you override the operating farm state.

There are several new deduction types. The new control tables are used to support and drive multiple state deduction amounts. If you find that the state calculation is not generating the correct withholding amount, contact support to have a calculation rule added for your state.

These new ATIG codes will appear in Section 24a of the Schedule F if used. In prior versions, this section on the schedule F had no account codes assigned.

A-Code Notations
A-Code = 0 is Cash; 1 is Accrued

This process was updated to download the new state tax table (STtaxrate) along with the federal tables as in the past versions to the default folder. If there are special state tax calculation rules defined for the state, then it will use the rates downloaded. If no calculation rules exist for the farm operating state, then it will check to determine if the new rate table was included in the state tax table for Non-KS farm operating states and if so, it will copy those rates to the taxrate table instead of copying the prior year’s rates to the new tax year.