Error: "Sorry, an error occurred while processing letters. Description: Preparing TaxTable - ODBC -- connection to 'TaxMerge' failed" when printing Tax Letters

This support note applies to:

AE Tax Series 6 & 8 (AU)
AE Tax (AU)

These instructions require technical expertise

Make sure you know what you're doing and are using one of the products listed. If you're not sure, ask your IT professional or MYOB.

Article ID: 28185

In MYOB Accountants Enterprise (AE) Tax, you may experience the error "Sorry, an error occurred while processing letters. Description: Preparing TaxTable - ODBC -- connection to 'TaxMerge' failed" when printing Tax Letters.

This error occurs when the SQL Database password has not been keyed in or is incorrect in the Defaults tab of the Control Record Properties window by selecting Utilities > Control record.

To successfully print Tax Letters, configure the MS SQL login details.

To configure the MS SQL password

Open Contacts and from the Help menu, select About MYOB Contacts. The About MYOB AE Contacts window appears.
Click Application details. The MYOB AE Contacts Application Details window appears.
Note the AE Tax Database location, eg, \\Server name\MYOBAE\AETAX1 and then click OK. The About MYOB AE Contacts window appears.
Click Close. The Contacts window appears.
At the Windows Desktop, click the Start button select Settings and then Control Panel. The Control Panel window appears.
Double-click Administrative Tools. The Administrative Tools window appears.
Double-click Data Sources (ODBC). The ODBC Data Source Administrator window appears.
Highlight the entry TaxMerge and click Configure. The Microsoft SQL Server DSN Configuration window appears.
In the Server field type the AE Tax Database location noted at step 3 excluding the subdirectory at the end \AETAX1 and the initial \\. For example, type Server name\MYOBAE. Server name\MYOBAE appears in the Server field.
Click Next. The next step of the Microsoft SQL Server DSN Configuration window appears.
In the Login ID field type sa and in the Password field type in your password. The Login ID and Password are entered.
Click Next. The next step of the Microsoft SQL Server DSN Configuration window appears.

If you get a window as below, titled Microsoft SQL Server Login with the message 'Connection failed', this implies that the password you entered is incorrect. In this instance you MUST contact your IT Administrator for the password. Repeat the steps above and once successful at step 12 continue with the remaining steps.
Close out completely from all the SQL windows. The Window Desktop appears.
While in Contacts, from the Tools menu select AE Tax Settings. The AE Tax 20xx window appears.
From the Utilities menu select Control Record. The Control Record Properties window appears.
Click the Defaults tab and then type the password as per step 11 into the SQL Database password field. The password represented by asterisk characters *** appears in the SQL Database password field and the cursor flashes at the end of the password.
Press ENTER. The cursor flashes at the end of the password.

You MUST press ENTER in order for the password to be recorded into the system.
Click OK. The AE Tax 20xx window appears.
Press ESC. The Contacts window appears.
Before printing the first letter, from the Tax Letters menu select Create/Update Views and then click OK. The error will no longer appear when printing Tax Letters.