Mar 2021
30
How does the TWSS Reconciliation affect me?
Are you wondering why you now owe Revenue money as a result of The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)?
For the first 6 weeks of the TWSS back in March 2020, during the transitional phase, Revenue refunded a flat rate of €410 per employee per pay period, regardless of the employees' earnings. In a lot of cases this €410 exceeded the subsidy that the employee was entitled to receive, and it was made very clear from the start that there would be a reconciliation to rectify this overpayment.
The scheme was designed to assist employers and employees impacted by COVID-19, and to encourage companies to keep their workers on the payroll. If you didn’t avail of the TWSS then you won’t have a TWSS reconciliation.
On Monday 22nd March 2021, Revenue advised that most employers can now access their TWSS reconciliation balances in Revenue’s Online Service (ROS). The reconciliation balance is based on the actual information provided to Revenue by the employer.
The TWSS reconciliation period opened on 22 March 2021 and employers have until the end of June to review and accept the reconciliation amounts. Revenue are strongly recommending that employers take the time to read & understand the guidance before accepting the reconciliation amounts.
Approximately 40% of the employers that availed of TWSS are balanced. Revenue have said they will not pursue companies that owe a balance of under €500 as they will be considered balanced.
BrightPay hosted a TWSS reconciliation webinar with guest speakers from Revenue on 24th March 2021. During the webinar, we discussed the reconciliation process and had a Questions & Answers session at the end. Watch the webinar on-demand now.
You can also click here to register for our next webinar, which takes place on 21st April 2021
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Mar 2021
10
COVID-19 & Working from Home - 1 Year On
It’s been exactly one year since BrightPay sent all employees to work from home for 2 weeks as a mysterious flu-like disease called COVID-19 began spreading across Ireland and the UK. Those 2 weeks have turned in 52 weeks... and counting.
On March 10th 2020, employees were given access to all the tools and resources needed to work from home well in advance of the lockdown panic that came towards the end of March 2020. BrightPay worked with employees to try and strike a balance between ensuring employees could be productive and focused when not in the office, whilst also juggling often hectic home lives as we all adjusted to lockdown. Keeping in-touch and keeping moral up was a key priority.
The company was in a fortunate position to be able to continue employing all members of staff during such a scary and uncertain time. BrightPay’s COVID-19 response plan involved additional staffing and increased hours to assist customers. With payroll being an essential service and part of every business, the show had to go on!
BrightPay has been at the forefront for employers and accountants when it comes to The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and were the first payroll software provider to release software upgrades to cater for the schemes as changes were announced. BrightPay’s overall response to COVID-19 was rated 98.6% in a recent customer survey, and this included payroll upgrades, webinars, online guidance and customer support.
BrightPay won the COVID-19 Hero Award (supplier) at the Accounting Excellence Awards that took place recently. There were a number of criteria that were considered by the panel for this award. Judging took into account the speed, time and relevance of businesses’ COVID-19 response and how many customers accessed it.
Despite all the COVID-19 scheme changes, upgrades and webinars, the developers have been kept busy constantly improving the software and introducing new features. BrightPay’s optional add-on product, BrightPay Connect now supports two-factor authentication sign in. This means you can add an extra layer of security to the employer login on your BrightPay Connect account in case your password is stolen.
As remote and flexible working are now the new normal, BrightPay in tandem with BrightPay Connect now allows for a completely seamless "working from home" experience where there are multiple individuals who work on or require access to the same employer files. BrightPay Connect can help you prevent conflicting copies of the payroll, including an ‘other user check’ and a ‘version check’ when opening the payroll.
Let’s hope we all return to a somewhat normal life within the next year, and that I won’t be writing ‘working from home 104 weeks later’ this time next year. BrightPay wishes you the very best as we enter Year 2 of living with COVID-19.
If you are looking to change payroll software provider or looking to bring your payroll in-house, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Book a free 15-minute online demo to see how BrightPay can change your world of payroll.
Related Articles:
- Lockdown 3.0 - What have we learned?
- BrightPay Connect – It's better than ever before!
- Is BrightPay the right fit for your business?
Jan 2021
26
Lockdown 3.0 - What have payroll processors learned?
Lockdown hasn't been easy for any of us - you could say it's been a bit of a 'coronacoaster'. COVID-19 has made us realise what’s important to us. Whether that be connecting more with family or re-connecting with old friends through the social platforms we are so grateful to have during this time. As we are currently in lockdown 3.0, let's look back on some of the key lessons learned as a payroll processor over the past year during this time of crisis.
Importance of Remote Access
Payroll is one of the core functions of running any business, and so it is something that needs to be completed on time and without errors. When working from home, your staff might not be able to access all the tools and documents that they would normally be able to access, especially if your systems are on-premises solutions and files and documents are physical hard copies.
Due to COVID-19 and having to work remotely from home, it is now a necessity to be able to access your payroll data from home. Your payroll software should easily facilitate remote working with additional user access. BrightPay can be installed on up to 10 PCs per licence key, and this means that payroll processing is possible by up to 10 users, or from 10 different locations. This is very handy for if you have a number of employees working from home, all needing access to the payroll software.
We have also introduced new multi-user features that work in conjunction with BrightPay Connect, our optional cloud add-on, to improve the working from home experience. These new features include ‘version checking’ when opening an employer, and an ‘other users check’ when opening an employer. This new "working from home" integration gives you all the benefits of the cloud while utilising the power and responsiveness of your local device.
Importance of Reliable Software
The past year has been very frustrating for payroll processors. Not only had you the added workload of processing subsidy claims, but you also had to learn about the various schemes and ensure you kept up to date with the latest guidelines. That’s why it’s so important to use reliable payroll software from a reliable company.
We kept BrightPay up to date to cater for the relevant scheme changes, and we tried to automate as much as possible in the payroll software to make your life easier.
In a recent survey, we achieved a 98.7% rating for our overall handling of COVID-19 including customer support, payroll upgrades, COVID-19 webinars and online support. We also won a COVID-19 Hero Award, and this is because of our response to COVID-19 and how we have helped our customers throughout the past few months.
Importance of Cloud Backups
As most businesses are now working remotely for the foreseeable future, it leaves many businesses exposed to data loss. This is why cloud backups are so important.
If you only keep your payroll data on your desktop, you are at risk of losing the information. Have you thought about what would happen if your computer broke down or was hacked? How would you get your payroll data back quickly? Would employees still get paid if the information was lost?
BrightPay Connect is our optional add-on that works alongside the payroll software. BrightPay Connect provides a secure and user-friendly way to automatically backup and restore your payroll data on your PC to and from the cloud. It’s simply an added layer of data protection to keep your payroll data safe so you never lose your payroll data again.
Importance of Automation
Whether you’re an employer processing payroll in-house for your business, or an accountant or bureau processing payroll for a number of clients, automation is key. How much time do you spend managing annual leave, answering employee leave balance enquiries, retrieving lost payslips, and communicating with employees in general? Now is the time to eliminate those admin-heavy tasks!
Self-service online portals are changing the way businesses interact and communicate with their employees, whilst providing the cloud functionality to get things done smarter and faster. BrightPay Connect includes the ability to manage employee leave, communicate with employees, automate payslip distribution, run payroll reports and much more.
Book a demo of BrightPay Connect today to discover more features that can help you streamline your payroll and HR processes.
Nov 2018
22
PAYE Modernisation for Employees
PAYE Modernisation is coming on January 1st 2019. Ultimately, this means that employers will be obliged to report their employees’ pay and deductions to Revenue when or before they pay them.
There are many benefits for you, as an employee:
- The availability of real-time data that is accurate and accessible through Revenue’s online systems
- The ability to maximise the use of your entitlements
- The ability to access clear information about the deductions being reported to Revenue on your behalf
Will PAYE Modernisation affect your pay?
No, there will be no change to how your employer pays you and they will still provide you with a payslip.
However, your employer will now need to connect to ROS before calculating your pay and deductions to ensure they are using your most up-to-date tax credits and cut off points. They will also have to report these deductions to Revenue every time you are paid. You will be able to view pay and deductions on myAccount on the Revenue website.
You will receive your last P60 at the end of 2018. After that, you will no longer receive a P60, as Revenue will issue you with an End of Year Statement.
Thesaurus Payroll Manager | BrightPay Ireland
Related Articles:
- PAYE Modernisation for Payroll Bureaus- The ins and outs of increasing fees without losing clients
- Which is really better - the existing PAYE system or PAYE Modernisation?
- The Death of PAYE ‘P Forms’
Nov 2018
14
BrightPay will be ready for PAYE Modernisation
Thesaurus & BrightPay are working with Revenue to ensure our payroll software can easily cater for the needs of PAYE Modernisation which will be effective from 1 January 2019. Our payroll features will streamline real time reporting for employers to easily comply with the new PAYE system.
PAYE Modernisation will enable Revenue to ensure employees are receiving their correct tax credits and cut-off points throughout the year. This compares with the current PAYE reporting which is done through P35s on a yearly basis. PAYE Modernisation will be fully integrated with both Thesaurus & BrightPay, allowing employers to simplify the payroll process and reduce the administrative cost.
Our development team have already experienced what it was like to implement real time processing and reporting with our UK payroll software. Our understanding and knowledge will guarantee that our payroll systems offer a seamless and user-friendly PAYE Modernisation process for our customers.
We are currently running PAYE Modernisation demos several times a week. Take a look and see what PAYE Modernisation will look like in 2019.
Register for our free 10 minute demo!
Free Guide for Payroll Bureaus
PAYE Modernisation: The ins & outs of increasing frees without losing clients.
Click here to register and find out more about our upcoming PAYE Modernisation webinars.
Related Articles:
- The Existing PAYE System VS PAYE Modernisation: Which is really better?
- PAYE Modernisation for Payroll Bureaus- The ins & outs of increasing fees without losing clients
- BrightPay Customer Update: GDPR & PAYE Modernisation Special Edition
- How will PAYE Modernisation impact on your payroll?
Thesaurus & BrightPay Newsletter - Are you missing out?
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Nov 2018
5
How do you submit payroll information with PAYE Modernisation?
Ensure that you’re PAYE Modernisation ready, no matter how you currently manage or run your payroll.
Processing Payroll software In-house?
Ask your payroll software provider if they are PAYE Modernisation ready. It’s up to you to make sure you are using software that is legally compliant with the new PAYE system and that you have access to the support you need to submit PAYE information in real time. BrightPay is working with Revenue to make sure our payroll software can easily cater for the needs of PAYE Modernisation processing. Our software will streamline real time reporting so that employers can easily comply with the new PAYE system. In the UK market, we have already experienced what it was like to implement real time processing and PAYE reporting with BrightPay UK, meaning we have been down this road before and are experts!
Outsourcing Payroll?
Be mindful if you outsource your payroll processing as it is still your responsibility to comply with PAYE Modernisation. Ensure you understand how your payroll processor is complying with PAYE Modernisation and if you will need to make any changes to your business processes.
Manually Processing & Uploading?
Revenue are providing a facility for employers to manually upload payroll submissions which will be a time-consuming and error prone process. Revenue have strongly recommended that employers use payroll software. Using a manual approach, employers would need to login to ROS and enter all of the required details for all of their employees, a bit like manually completing a P35 each pay period. Also, before processing the payroll in any week, employers would need to religiously log in to ROS to get details of tax credits and cut-off points. This facility in ROS will only be available for employers with 5 or less employees. It should also be noted that the manual ROS input screens will not calculate taxes.
Are there any fines and penalties?
Non-compliant businesses can expects Revenue intervention. More information on penalties is expected to be confirmed in the coming months.
Click here to register and find out more about our upcoming PAYE Modernisation webinars.
Related Articles:
- The Death of the Irish PAYE System
- Which is really better - the existing PAYE system or PAYE Modernisation?
- Meet the experts behind PAYE Modernisation!
- PAYE Modernisation: What you need to know
Aug 2018
15
How will PAYE Modernisation impact on your payroll?
In late 2016, Revenue issued a consultation document outlining their vision for the introduction of Real Time Reporting (RTR) or PAYE Modernisation in Ireland.
This will modernise the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system, and mean that employers will be required to report pay, tax and other deductions, as well as details of employees leaving the organisation, at the same time as they run their payroll.
The new obligations for employers are due to take effect from 1 January, 2019, meaning businesses have a limited amount of time to prepare their payroll systems to be compliant with the new RTR / PAYE Modernisation rules.
Do you use payroll software? If so, there are two methods of reporting payroll in real time:
- Direct Payroll Reporting - allows your payroll software to communicate seamlessly with Revenue Online System (ROS) and exchange the required information.
- ROS Payroll Reporting - you can upload files created by your payroll software to ROS.
Payroll software companies have been working with Revenue to ensure that the software will be compatible with Revenue’s requirements. We would advise that you use payroll software, but if you don’t, you will be able to retrieve Revenue Payroll Notifications and complete a form through ROS. This reporting process will eliminate the need to file:
- P30
- P35
- P45
- P46
P60s
You will no longer be obliged to produce a P60 for your employees. Revenue will produce an end of year statement for all employees.
Information you will report to Revenue
You must provide Revenue with payroll information for each employee, including:
- Payment date
- Amount of pay
-
Amount of Income Tax, Universal Social Charge (USC) and Local Property Tax deducted.
Upcoming free online webinars:
PAYE Modernisation for Employers - Understanding and implementing the new legislation
- 4th September @ 11.00 am
- Find out more | Register here
PAYE Modernisation for Payroll Bureaus - Understanding and implementing the new legislation for your clients
- 6th September @ 11.00 am
- Find out more | Register here
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PAYE Modernisation: How successful was it in the UK?
PAYE Modernisation - List of Employees
PAYE Modernisation - The Facts
PAYE Modernisation - Understand how your payroll processing will change
Are you missing out on our newsletter? We will not be able to email you without you subscribing to our mailing list. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time. Don’t miss out - subscribe today!
Aug 2018
3
GDPR & the right to rectification:
Under Article 16 of the GDPR, individuals have the right to rectify data that is inaccurate about them. An individual may also be able to have incomplete personal data completed. Although you may have already taken steps to ensure that the personal data was accurate when you first obtained it, this right imposes a specific obligation to reconsider the accuracy upon request.
What do we need to do?
If you receive a request from an individual to rectify their personal data, you should take reasonable steps to ensure that the data is accurate and rectified if necessary. The reasonable steps taken will depend on the nature of the personal data and what it will be used for. The more important the personal data is to be accurate, the greater the effort you should put into ensuring it’s accurate and if not, taking steps to rectify it.
When is data inaccurate?
The GDPR does not give a definition of the term accuracy. However, it states that personal data is inaccurate if it is incorrect or misleading in any way. It is the data controller's responsibility to ensure the personal data they manage is accurate and up-to-date.
Can we refuse to comply with the request for rectification for other reasons?
You can refuse to comply with a request for rectification if the request is excessive or manifestly unfounded, taking into account whether the request is repetitive in nature. There are two things you can do if you consider that a request is excessive or manifestly unfounded:
1) Request a “reasonable fee” to deal with the request
2) Refuse to deal with the request
You will need to justify your decision in either case. The reasonable fee should be based on the administrative costs of complying with the request. If you decide to charge a fee, it is advised that you contact the individual within one month. You do not need to comply with the request until you have received the fee.
In most cases, you cannot charge a fee to comply with a request for rectification. However, as noted above, if the request has been excessive or manifestly unfounded you may charge a reasonable fee to cover the administrative costs.
Related Articles:
GDPR & Payroll processing: Do I need consent from my client's employees?
BrightPay launch an employee payroll smartphone app.
Are you missing out on our newsletter? We will not be able to email you without you subscribing to our mailing list. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time. Don’t miss out - subscribe today!
May 2018
8
PAYE Modernisation - The Facts
PAYE Modernisation is a mandatory payroll requirement that will be introduced from the 1st January 2019. It won’t change the way you calculate your PAYE information, it just means that you will need to send your data through to Revenue in real time. Every time you pay your employees (i.e. each pay period), you will need to submit PAYE information to Revenue, through an API link via your payroll software. This is compared to the current system where reporting is required just once a year at the payroll year end.
Employers should take steps to ensure their existing records are up-to-date and correct. Employer duties include:
- Register as an employer (for new employers).
- Take reasonable steps to verify the PPSN provided by employees, e.g. check it against:
- Public Services Card
- Tax Credit Certificate from a previous employment
- P45
- P60
- Any item of correspondence from Revenue quoting the PPS number.
- If an employee does not hold a PPS number, advise them to contact the Department of Social Protection to apply for one.
- Register all employees with Revenue (i.e. P45(3) or P46 where the employee has no P45). Where the new employee has not worked in Ireland before, the employee must register the employment online using the Jobs and Pension service available in myAccount. The Jobs and Pension service can also be used by employees who are changing from one employment to another. Once the employment has been registered, Revenue will issue a tax credit certificate.
- Issue a P45 when an employee ceases employment and submit it to Revenue.
- Ensure that they have received an up-to-date tax credit certificate for each employee. The leaflet outlines the basis of tax which should be applied on the first payday of a new tax year in the event that an up-to-date tax credit certificate for that year is not received.
- Ensure that they hold a complete PAYE, PRSI and USC record for each employee at the end of the tax year.
PAYE Modernisation Compliant Software
To comply with PAYE Modernisation you will need to utilise fully compliant payroll software. BrightPay is working directly with Revenue to ensure this new real time process is as easy as possible for our customers. BrightPay is simple and easy to use payroll software that makes your payroll journey hassle free. With a 99% customer satisfaction rate and free customer support, Thesaurus and BrightPay are the payroll solutions to help you with PAYE Modernisation.
Free PAYE Modernisation Training
BrightPay has teamed up with Revenue as guest speakers to bring you free PAYE Modernisation training webinars throughout the year. Find out more on our events page or subscribe to our newsletters to ensure you never miss out on free training again.
Upcoming Webinars: Understanding and implementing the new legislation
The way in which we communicate and send payroll information to Revenue is changing. The objective of PAYE Modernisation allows for Revenue, employers and employees to access the most accurate, up-to-date information relating to pay and statutory payroll deductions.
Agenda:
- PAYE Modernisation: Understanding and implementing the new legislation for your clients
- Guest Speaker: Sandra Clarke (BCC Accountants)
- Guest Speaker: Sinead Sweeney (Revenue)
Places are limited - make sure to book your place now to avoid disappointment:
Register for Payroll Bureau Webinar | Register for Employer Webinar
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Mar 2018
12
The ins and outs of PAYE Modernisation
The objective of PAYE modernisation is to deliver Real Time Information (RTI) so that Revenue, employers and employees have up-to-date information relating to tax deductions and pay. This will improve the transparency and understanding of the PAYE system for all stakeholders. For example, this will ensure that the right tax deduction is made at the right time from the right employees and that employers pay over the correct tax deduction and contribution for every employee.
SMART PAYE sets out the key design principles of the project. The project will meet its objectives while also ensuring the benefits to all stakeholders by working to these principles.
What are the benefits?
For Revenue:
- Statutory in-year returns
- Making compliance easier
- Accurate up-to-date income details
- Reduced customer contacts
- Timely targeted interventions
For an Employer:
- Seamless integration into payroll
- Minimise employer cost to comply
- Abolition of P30s, P45s, P60s and end of year returns
- Right tax paid on current due dates
- Time savings
For an Employee:
- Simplified online services
- Maximise use of entitlements
- Automatic end of year review
- Real time accurate data
- Transparency
Related Articles:
- PAYE Modernisation – What do these changes mean for you?
- Are you ready for PAYE Modernisation?
- What do I need to know about PAYE Modernisation?
Thesaurus Payroll Manager | BrightPay Payroll Software
