Stealth price increase awaits QuickBooks 2008 users

By David H. Ringstrom, CPA

As of May 31, 2011, Intuit will no longer provide live technical support or add-on services for the 2008 version of QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Simple Start. Anyone using the 2009, 2010, or 2011 versions of these products won't be affected. Intuit notes that if you don't need technical support or any add-on services, you're free to continue using QuickBooks 2008 as long as you wish. Affected add-on services include payroll, credit card processing, bill pay, online banking, e-mail, certain third party products, and other services.

The stealth price increase affects anyone that has been operating QuickBooks with up to five simultaneous users. QuickBooks Pro 2011 only allows up to three simultaneous users, down from a previous limit of five. If you need four or five users, you'll need to upgrade to QuickBooks Premier 2011.

QuickBooks Premier 2011 still allows up to five users, but you can't purchase a five-user license as you could in the past. Instead you must purchase a combination of one, two, or three-user packs to accommodate the number of users you need.

Anyone that requires six or more users must upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 11.0. Discounts are available for users upgrading from an earlier version of QuickBooks to the Enterprise Solutions product.

To learn more about upgrade pricing for the 2011 Pro and Premier versions, visit www.quickbooks.com and look for the Upgrade link. Pricing on version 11.0 of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions is available at http://enterprisesuite.intuit.com.