This February (2021) signals the six-year anniversary of release of QuickBooks Point-of-Sale version 12, that's a really long time for a product to be supported in any way by Intuit. That's especially true since version 18 was released in October of 2017.
The reality is that Intuit signaled a few years back that they were extending support for version 12 in terms of 'payments only' so that users could continue to use the product with Intuit payment processing, and Intuit even issued maintenance releases to bring the payment technology up to the current credit card standards and payment industry standards so that version 12 users could remain compliant.
But with the announced release of QuickBooks Point-of-Sale version 19 this past October and roll-out of a series of new technologies that offer streamlined payment hubs for desktop operations including enhanced use of tablets, and 'combined receipt printers/cash-drawers in one', as well as wireless scanners, and other improvements, Intuit energies are focused on "what's new" rather than trying to maintain and support a product that would be seven-years-old.
That's why February 2, 2021 signals the end of payment support for QuickBooks Point-of-Sale Version 12. QBPOSv12 users won't be able to process payment transactions through the product, they will get messages that the service is no longer available that will include instructions for processing the transactions outside of the QBPOS.
Current QuickBooks Point-of-Sale Version 12 users may still be eligible for special upgrade pricing prior to the February 2, 2021 date, you can contact Intuit's POS Sales at 877-282-0782 or a Local Solution Provider using this Locator for your options.