Maintenance Release
As I predicted with the recent R10 update to QuickBooks 2020, we would have a wave of other product version updates before December 31 to get 'tax form' ready. And so, Intuit has just made available the 2nd of the series in the wave available for manual download by releasing Maintenance Release 4 (R4) for the QuickBooks Desktop 2021 product-line.
We will likely see R4 start going out under auto-updates over this weekend so if you have automatic updates turned on, QuickBooks will be prompting you to install the download in the near future. That means if you don't want to install it, then you need to turn-off auto-updates now.
On the other hand, if you just can't wait to install it until you get the auto update, then you can manually download the update from the Official Intuit QuickBooks Downloads and Updates Webpage (product/version specific).
Release 4 (R4) - December 2020
The changes, improvements and fixes elaborated below were included in Maintenance Release 4 (R4) for QuickBooks Pro 2021, QuickBooks Premier 2021, QuickBooks Accountant 2021 and QuickBooks Enterprise v21.
User Management / RFA enhancements
User feedback subsequent to Intuit's implementation of the mandatory login of Admin Users to Intuit Accounts resulted in the change allowing for a Secondary Admin for the Intuit Account.
- Admin users can now create a request for access (RFA) for the Secondary Admin (Intuit account) role.
Tax 1099 NEC and MISC
These changes are designed to comply with changes necessary for the end-of-year tax form reporting requirements.
- QuickBooks Desktop now supports 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC print and eFiling.
- Third-party applications can use the latest Software Developer Kit (SDK) to support e-filing of 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms for QuickBooks Desktop customers.
User Management / Data Level Permissions (Enterprise Platinum/Diamond Subscribers)
These issues relate to changes in 'Data Level Permissions' applicable for QuickBooks Enterprise Platinum and Diamond Subscribers.
- Limit the data level access at roles and user level for selected Employees
- Restrict the roles to perform activities (view/ edit/ delete/ create/ view payroll info) on selected Employees
- Support Payroll related operations for selected Employees who belong to an Employee Group
Bug Fixes
All three of these bug fixes also deal with 'data level permissions' which is a feature exclusive to QuickBooks Enterprise Platinum/Diamond Subscribers.
- Fixed 'Data Level Permissions' issue where a user was able to create transactions for un-permitted customers from Batch Enter transactions by typing the customer name.
- Fixed 'Data Level Permissions' issue where the report filter, Open Balance, when filtered for (>=1) or (=), showed incorrect results.
- Fixed 'Data Level Permissions' issue where vendor groups with a credit balance greater than 0 showed incorrect results.
Should You Update?
Personally, I don't see anything here that won't wait for at least a week to give some of us the opportunity to hear what some others might experience if they go ahead and install.
If you aren't just in a rush to get to any of the few things that are outlined for this release then you may want to hold off for a week to 10 days to see if others chime in with notes that they experience issues and that means you may want to make certain that 'Auto-updates' have been turned-off inside QuickBooks until you are ready to proceed with this update.
If you do proceed with updating to this new maintenance release, let us know if you experience issue by posting comments to this article.