Greatland Corporation — Winfiler Plus

Greatland’s Winfiler Plus is a comprehensive W-2 and 1099 compliance package that also offers wage reporting capabilities, options for e-filing of federal and state reports, TIN verification and multi-client management tools. The network-ready program can support any number of payers and payees, and supports printing to plain or preprinted paper stock. Greatland also offers outsourced compliance, printing and mailing of all forms through its Express Services E-File Center.

Basic System Functions

The primary interface for Winfiler Plus provides a well-designed work area with primary system functions available from traditional pull-down menus across the top of the screen. Options include file management functions, security features, system settings, payer and payee management centers, print functions, magnetic media processing for e-filing, access to Greatland’s outsourced services, program utilities, system updates and Help. Access to client and payee selection screens is available from a secondary icon-based menu. Selection screens include various search, sort and filtering options.

Individual payer and payee data screens offer the ability to create default settings for quick entry of multiple similar payers or recipients, as well as the option to add custom fields for data tracking or to add notes to records. For W-2s, the program can be set to automatically calculate Social Security and Medicare withholding, along with state unemployment and other tax withholdings. Winfiler Plus can support any number of payees and form recipients, and the networked system can be accessed by multiple users at the same time. Payers can be assigned to groups. The program does not provide after-the-fact payroll options or tax tables for states and localities, but does offer quarterly reporting and forms compliance along with its primary focus of year-end compliance functions. Although traditional batch entry of data for multiple recipients is not available from a single screen, forms can be quickly moved between, and system settings and defaults can be assigned across all recipients through global change features. Winfiler Plus is updated annually and is available on CD or by download in mid-December. 4.5

Reporting

Winfiler Plus can generate print or e-file-ready magnetic media versions of all forms 1099, 1098 and 5498, plus W-2, W-2G, W-2C, W-3, and 1096. Other quarterly and annual wage reports include forms 940, 941, 943, 944 and 945 (which are automatically populated based on recipient data), in addition to wage forms for 48 states and state and federal unemployment journals. Forms can be printed to plain paper or preprinted stock. In addition to year-end compliance software, Greatland also offers a range of paper and forms products, including pressure seal envelopes. As an optional service, users can use the vendor’s Express Service to outsource all of the printing, mailing and e-filing of forms, including recipient copies. The program does not include invoicing or billing options. Managerial reporting functions include journals for payer, payee, returns, transactions, SUI, FUTA, W-2 summaries and proforma data, with little customization capabilities built in, but with the option to output to spreadsheet format. 4.25

Import/Export Capabilities

The Winfiler Plus program can easily roll data forward from year to year and allows import from CSV spreadsheet format, ASCII text documents or from many third-party payroll systems. Although no direct integration or bridge is offered, data can be output to text and CSV format, which enables import into most accounting and write-up packages. Greatland does not offer online portals or PDF generation of recipient copies of forms, which limits the ability to electronically distribute forms or use directly with a document management system. 4

Help/Support

Winfiler Plus provides excellent built-in assistive tools, including quick access to context and activity-specific Help, a well-built Help utility with savable search results, and access to the company’s website, which includes a searchable knowledgebase, access to user manuals and downloadable program updates. The system also automatically checks to see if program updates are available. Live support is included in program pricing. The program can be used with all modern Windows versions (XP, Vista and Windows 7). 4.75

Summary & Pricing

Greatland’s Winfiler Plus offers comprehensive forms support for federal and state year-end information reporting, along with quarterly wage reporting to federal and all states. The system includes good tools for managing multiple payer clients and has a very intuitive interface, but does not offer PDF generation of forms. The company offers optional outsourced management of all printing, mailing and electronic filing processes. Winfiler Plus costs $385 for a single-user license, with the ability to add three users for $119 or five more for $198.

2010 Overall Rating 4.5