USC - Increase for medical card holders?

The removal of a ‘concession’ to medical card holders earning under €60,000 by which they did not have to pay the 7% rate of Universal Social Charge (USC) is scheduled to hit in January 2015. The move will affect full medical card holders earning more than €16,016 and less than €60,000. Currently full medical card holders with earnings under €60,000 are exempt from the 7% rate of USC; the 4% rate applies to all income over €10,036. It is estimated that this measure will affect approximately 360,000 taxpayers. On a salary of €40,000 the increase would be in excess of €700.

If the Government does not reconsider, this will coincide with the demands for the first Water Tax payment and comes shortly after the introduction of Local Property Tax (LPT). The Finance Minister Michael Noonan says that when the levy was implemented by Fianna Fail under the so-called sunset clause, the lower rate was set to expire in January 2015 but that does not mean it can’t be extended in the same way as the 9% rate of VAT was last year.

It has also been revealed that the 10% rate of USC for those self employed earning in excess of €100,000 will be reduced to 7% which is a significant cut for high earners.

Budget 2015 in October will reveal all!!!

Posted byAudrey MooneyinPayroll

Eircodes - the new postcodes for Ireland

Every address in Ireland will receive its unique Eircode in Spring 2015.

"The Eircodes will help the public, businesses and public bodies to locate every individual address in the State. Eircodes will bring many benefits to the daily lives of people, householders and businesses. Currently, around 35% of addresses - mainly in rural areas - do not have a unique name or number in their address. With Eircodes, delivery of services and goods will be much easier and quicker to these addresses." - www.eircode.ie

When people receive their Eircode next year, they will not need to change their address. They will just add the Eircode whenever it is needed or useful, so it will be very easy to start using it straight away.

Each Eircode has seven-characters that are unique to each mailing address. The seven characters are divided into two parts – a Routing Key and a Unique Identifier.

For businesses, some of the main things to consider are:

• Stationery, customer forms, websites and other places where your address is shown. Perhaps, plan print stocks of existing stationery items accordingly in the run up to Eircode Launch Date in Spring 2015.
• If you use a software package in your business, you will need to check with its supplier as to their plans for when and how they intend to incorporate Eircodes into the package.
• Some staff training may be needed especially if your systems or processes have changed somewhat to take advantage of Eircodes.

Our software offerings will all be updated to include an extra address field for eircodes and will incorporate all the required validation logic.

BrightPay - Payroll Software

Bright Contracts - Employment Contracts and Handbooks

Posted byPaul ByrneinNew FeaturesPayroll Software