A few years ago Sage started promoting their 1099 integration with Aatrix, the same program they use for printing and e-filing payroll tax reports. The only problem was that the extent of the integration was that 1099-MISC or 1099-INT showed up in the list of tax forms you could prepare. It was entirely up to you to get the information into Aatrix.
But in Sage 50 2020, 1099s are finally REALLY integrated with Aatrix. There’s just one problem you need to be aware of. Payments made by credit card and certain other 3rd party payment systems need to be excluded from 1099s but the new Aatrix 1099 integration does not give you a way to filter by payment type. Fortunately the 1099 Vendor Report does let you filter payments by payment type so you can determine the correct 1099 amounts. Then, if needed, you can correct the amounts in Aatrix before completing your 1099s. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at how the process works.
If you’ve ever prepared payroll tax reports using Aatrix the process will be very familiar to you. You go to the Reports & Forms menu > Forms, > Tax Forms. Double-click Payroll Tax Forms in the list of forms.
In the Payroll Tax Form Selector window, leave the form type set to Federal. In the Available Forms list, select either 1099-MISC or 1099-INT, depending on which you need to print. Then select the correct year under Select Filing Period. Click OK.
The wizard will walk you through entering information such as your company’s taxpayer ID number, name, address, etc. At the end it will open the 1099 preparer. It will automatically be filled in with data imported from your Sage 50 company file, ready for you to review. Next to the Recipient TIN column is the TIN Flag column. You will need to go through and check this box for each vendor that uses a Federal ID Number instead of a social security number. Review the names and address to make sure they’re correct. Finally compare the amounts to the 1099 Vendor Report your printed earlier and filtered by payment type to exclude credit card payments and adjust the amounts as needed. Use the Next button to proceed through each step of verifying the data.
Once the data is verified, you’ll have the option of using their complete 1099 service, or printing your own forms with an option to e-file. If you choose the complete service Aatrix will print and mail 1099s to the payees and e-file 1099s and 1096 with the federal and state government. As of this writing the cost is $2.70 per 1099. If you choose to print your own forms, you will need “blank 4-up” forms (blank forms perforated into 4 sections) to print the payee copies. All other copies can be printed on plain paper. Even though they’re not printed in color they are still approved forms. When you print your own 1099s you still have to option of having Aatrix e-file them for you for a small fee.
The federal government requires e-filing if you have 250 or more 1099s and some states require e-filing of all 1099s. So it’s great to have this option.
Whether required or not, e-filing is fast, convenient, and saves paper. Once you try it I don’t think you’ll want to go back to filing paper forms.
