At Red Wing Software, we know the importance of keeping payroll tax tables up-to-date. We make every effort possible to ensure you have the latest tax table information, in most cases even before they become effective. I read an article indicating one of the popular off-the-shelf payroll packages was touting that they would have the new federal withholding table available as early as mid-February. These tables were available in CenterPoint Payroll for our customers the very next day after they were published by the IRS. We also stay on top of the payroll tax changes in all states and territories, making sure our customers are using the most recent data.

While we keep the software updated, there are other things that need to be considered when it comes to proper withholding. Keep in mind that some employees may request additional withholding be taken each pay period based on their experience with previous years’ results. With the changes to the default tax tables, it may be important for them to recalculate the estimate of taxes they will owe for the year, and rethink the amount of extra withholding they have deducted. It’s a good idea to inform employees of this situation, and request they complete new W-4 forms if they would like to adjust their number of dependents or extra state or federal withholding.

You may have noticed some minor edits to the navigation wording at www.redwingsoftware.com, as well as in the My Account page on the web site. Some of the wording has been greatly simplified, so customers can more easily find what they are looking for. Thanks to all the customers who took the time to provide feedback.

Emerald Spring Dairy featured in Dairy Star Magazine

Emerald Spring Dairy, of Plainview, MN, was featured in the story “Double Ovsynch Helps Boost Emerald Spring Dairy’s Repro Program,” in the December 23rd issue of Dairy Star magazine.

• George’s (Senior Software Analyst) daughter, Clara, has been accepted to Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado, to start in the Fall 2018 school year. She’s going to major in Education and minor in Spanish.
• Mark (Business Development Manager) and Pam’s granddaughter, Alissa, graduated from the Air Force Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX.
• There are many Vikings fans and one Patriots fan in our office which made for a reason to have treats. We are hoping the Pats fan will be showing us some love and bring in some Super Bowl treats!

January was a very challenging and successful month for Red Wing Software. As we expected, there was a large number of calls for support as our customers were completing 2017, starting 2018, and processing payroll reports and Federal tax forms. Even with the huge increase in call volume, we continued to maintain a direct call pickup above 90%. For those calls that were posted to our call board, it was rare that subscribers to our Silver and Gold Customer Care Memberships waited over an hour for a return call. There was a great effort by our support staff and several others in our company to minimize the wait time, and provide the best service possible at the busiest time of the year.

With more of our customers wanting to get their software training online, we have decreased the number of live classroom training sessions to six classes in three weeks for 2018. You can view the schedule here: Live Classroom Training.

In addition to our classroom training, we are offering several virtual classes, both live and recorded. You can view those offerings here: Virtual Classroom Training.

Several of our staff members will be at industry trade shows throughout the country. We will have staff at shows in Texas, Kentucky, California, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and that’s just in the first quarter of 2018. We always appreciate the opportunity to talk to our customers at these shows and hope you can stop by and say “howdy.”