We just recently converted to FE Payroll version 7 and are currentlyon verson 7.77.245.0003.  My question is to those of you who have had version 7 since last year and had to print W2's.  Have you found one type of W2 form to be better than another?  From what I have read on the Knowledge Base the 2 up form should work without any problems.

Also, is the end of the year update for 2008 available yet?

Thank you,

Cindy @ St. Paul's Episcopal School

I resist using vendors my software company demand I use, so I am trying to find an the correct manufacturing number for the 4up W2 layout.  I cannot believe Blackbaud stooped so low as to require us to purchase forms via one approved vendor and they only support that layout.  I am deeply disappointed in Blackbaud.  This makes them look greedy and small time.  We pay good money for this product and we should be able to purchase forms from any supplier we wish.  And having to pay to electronically file the W2s???  Don't get me started.  This is the kind foolishness that begins the thought process of what other software is out there we should consider. 

I had no problems with the using W-2 forms I bought at Staples last year. This year, I purchased the Blackbaud forms during their "early-bird" special back in November. Guess what? The employee copies don't align...at all. They're printing 4-up vertically, the forms are 4 boxes. I can find no way to change them, there's no help in Knowledgebase and it's Saturday so I'll have to wait until Monday for tech support. So much for buying Blackbaud forms because they'll be easy to use with the software.

Buy the 2-up forms from a local office store, you'll be just fine. Right about now I'm wishing that's what I had done. Trying to get the Blackbaud forms to work has been a complete waste of time.

Pat

Pat,

I still haven't done my W-2s yet.  Now that you've had time to contact Blackbaud support, do you have any tips for the rest of us?

Paul

I thought the same thing last year when  Blackbaud made us use Aatrix.  They did not bother giving the users any advance notice of the change. Not exactly customer oriented in my opinion.  We have to pay Aatrix extra to file the W2s electronically or we don't file at all.  Some choice.  

We were looking to bring payroll inhouse and were fortunate enough to wait on buying the Blackbaud payroll module.  We use Quickbooks Online version and absolutely love it.  we pay $19.99 a month (100 employees) and all you need is highspeed connection and a printer.  it does everything you could want, files electronically, prepares state forms, does W2s (with electronic filing) and has great reporting.  One thing quickbooks does is allows to you to drill down on any report to detail and imports almost anything you see to excel.  it is very easy to review your payroll in detail BEFORE printing checks (yes, it does direct deposit also).  we dont worry about versions, updates, or any of those things.    the only thing it does not do of course is automatically post to your GL.  but we find this small task an easy work around.  i would recommend to anyone who is considering a payroll change to go out on "the cloud" with the Online version of Quickbooks.  it is dirt cheap, great to work with, and with the push to outsource software and hardware it is certainly the future model. 

I had a rather miserable time with Aatrix last year (read about it in this posting).  Based on that, I decided to print W-2s in-house this year.  (We had 306 employees last year, but they were spread across three companies, so we don't have to e-file.)

My experience was far better this year.  All the forms purchased from Blackbaud worked fine.  (I just had to adjust the vertical alignment slightly on the 2-up forms.  The 4-up forms for the employee copies worked without any adjustments.)  It appears that Aatrix has improved their software, though it still seems a bit klunky.  At least there's an option to export the W-2 data grid to a text file that you can import to Excel.  That was handy for verifying totals and deductions.

The only real glitch I had is that Blackbaud Forms only sent me one W-3 form, even though I said I was filing for three entities.  I had to place another order to get more W-3 forms.

What I'd really like to see is an option to produce an EFW2-formatted file so I can e-file directly with the Social Security Administration and my state.  Of course, while that would be good for us Blackbaud customers, it would be harmful to Aatrix's revenue model. 

I'd also like to see the ability to print the entire form on plain white paper, instead of having to buy forms, possibly run out of forms, worry about alignment issues, etc.  Other software (including Quickbooks) provides that capability, even for the SSA copies.  But that would be harmful to the revenue model for Blackbaud Forms. 

I totally agree.  We came from version 6 in 2008, which made W2 processing pretty simple and efficient.  Then we go to version 7 which requires payment for processing W2s and/or submitting my electronic forms to SSA. It was not simple, plus my company lost control over the whole process.  They must have a financial stake in Aatrix, because I feel like we got double charged.