EMR Services said:

did you know that your Sage 50 may go into a read only mode if you don't renew and that your payroll module will become completely inoperative if you don't subscribe to the tax updates.

I know of another popular accounting software has been doing exactly that, for the past 15 years or so.  The more relaxed license terms for the one-or-two employee businesses gave Sage an advantage.

Sage is really stomping on thin ice here.  Up to 2006, there were lots of new features, then a burst of activity for 2011, then... few features added that weren't a 'revenue stream', and some existing features thrown out.  On the other hand, no new features = no new bugs...

Even though the payroll module becomes unavailable on April 1st you can --if you have a copy-- use 2012 version payroll and then export the JE to excel and import into 2016. And yes is work to begin with but can be streamlined to make the import smooth. You can also be creative with the payments to stylize a payroll check and calculate the deductions. Always a work-around

GwG said:

And yes is work to begin with but can be streamlined to make the import smooth.

It is some amount of extra work, every payday, and every remittance, and every ROE, and every T4 slip.

GwG said:

you can --if you have a copy-- use 2012 version payroll

The calculations may be wrong and have to be manually overridden.

GwG said:

and then export the JE to excel and import into 2016.

If I had some burning need to use the 2016 software, and had employees, but didn't have the funds to pay for Sage payroll, I would almost certainly use a payroll service with direct deposit, or if the payroll was simple enough to do manually and I didn't need direct deposit, I would keep an Excel sheet or Access database.

I would have liked to have seen some new features in the 2016 release that would benefit larger companies (Sage Drive only works in Single User Mode, and may be great if there is one user, not so much for 8 users) but it would be folly to invest money developing desktop software that will probably be gone in a few years.

Most software companies are going 'cloud', Software As A Service, and rich browser interfaces.  Subscriptions, not licenses, and definitely not 'ownership'.

Would have to manually enter in deductions into 2012
Then export the payroll JE to Excel
Run the payroll journal through a handy dandy spreadsheet template have developed (can make your own if you know the contantnate function)
Then import into 2013 and up
Can use the 2012 T4 , think there is some slight differences but can be modified with crystal reports
Not sure about the ROE
Can use the payroll summary report to fill out T4 summary
Initially there is some configuration but once the spreadsheet is streamlined 10 employees can be done within 30 minutes
Can use the 2012 EFT program

Gwg

I believe the 2012 T4's will report box 24 and 26 incorrectly if the employee has maxed out EI and CPP.

GwG said:

Can use the 2012 T4 , think there is some slight differences but can be modified with crystal reports

When I worked for CanTax, writing form code, doing QA, and the inevitable tech support, we had to submit form samples to CRA for approval, and they would respond with an approval code that had to be on the form for it to be accepted as valid for filing.  But that was a long time ago, and may have only applied to T1, T2, and T3 information returns, and not to T4 slips.

If there are more than 50 slips of one type, E-File is required, and the format might not work, or might have the wrong year encoded.  It is XML, so Notepad will work.  

For smaller companies, CRA has fillable PDF forms.

Don't get me wrong - paying for essentially the same software, with the same bugs, quirks, and deficiencies that we tolerated last year hasn't left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling either.

But, since we're on the subject of payroll, CRA requires CPP, EI, and WCB remittances with no regard to the employee's other employment in a year.  That hidden tax costs us several times more than Sage 50 with payroll.

Use AvanTax. You can export the T4s from Sage 50, import into that and modify any field on the T4. Then you can e-file T4s with that program, it will also run a Prior report and do the required adjustments.