Here’s the message from Intuit: “To ensure uninterrupted access to affected services such as payroll and credit card processing, upgrade to QuickBooks 2010 before May 31, 2011.  If you no longer need access to these services, you can continue to use QuickBooks 2008.”

This can be very annoying if you need to run payroll or process paychecks at the end of the month.  Make sure you have the latest version before the month’s end.

Here is the full list of QuickBooks services that will be discontinued if you do not upgrade to the latest version of the accounting software:

• Assisted Payroll
• Basic Payroll
• Bill Pay
• Billing Solution (formerly QuickBooks Online Billing)
• Credit Card Download
• Employee Organizer
• Enhanced Payroll
• Merchant Service
• Online Banking
• QuickBooks Email
• Standard Payroll
• Support Plans and Services

The QuickBooks website describes what discontinuation really means:

“If you are using QuickBooks 2006 and would like to continue to use your QuickBooks Payroll Service, Merchant Account Services, live technical support and any other QuickBooks services through QuickBooks, you’ll need to upgrade to QuickBooks 2009 to ensure uninterrupted access. If you no longer need access to these services, you can continue to use QuickBooks 2006. We know that not all of our customers are the same, and change can be challenging. We want to work with you to make sure that your personal upgrade experience is easy, fast, and as cost-effective as possible.”