Are you owed income tax? €4 billion claimed back already from Revenue since 2010

Oh boy, have I got news for you! So, word on the grapevine (aka the national newspapers) is that you, yes YOU, could possibly maybe probably hopefully might be due a tax refund. Huzzah! Music to anyone's ears. But how? Well, according to Revenue, a whopping €4 billion (yes that’s a B) of income tax has been claimed back from them since 2010; and there’s plenty more where that came from!

How did this happen? So it turns out that us Irish are just so laid back that we barely noticed when we were due relief or weren’t assessed for tax properly. If your tax credits were not correctly applied, if you didn’t claim tax relief on health expenses, nursing home fees and other allowable expenses then it all starts to add up. If you changed job half way through the year and were not assessed in the right way, again, you could have been overpaying tax the whole time and adding to Revenue’s coffers!

Since the introduction of PAYE Modernisation in January 2019, these small errors are being picked up automatically as that’s literally what PAYE Modernisation was designed to tackle. Fortunately, you can claim any overpaid tax that was paid in the last 4 years. Be aware however, once the overpayments are gone - they’re gone. And when the underpayments are gone, they're gone too.

In fact, Revenue are actively encouraging employees to look at the income tax they’ve paid in the last 4 years and if you think you’ve overpaid, you can seek a refund from the Revenue by requesting a P21 Balancing Statement, which is available to all PAYE customers through their myAccount. The statement outlines:

• Your income from all sources
• A breakdown of your tax credits
• Any tax and Universal Social Charge you’ve paid throughout the year
• Any underpayments or overpayments of tax

BrightPay Payroll Software | Thesaurus Payroll Software

CWPS rates to increase on 1st October 2019

The Construction Workers' Pension Scheme (CWPS) is a multi-employer occupational pension scheme providing pensions solutions for workers in the construction and related industries, at a low cost to both employees and employers. It is designed to allow construction workers and their families retirement and low cost protection cover.

The pension rates for CWPS agreed in the Sectoral Employment Order will increase from 1st October 2019. The employer contribution total will increase by 78 cents and the employee’s contribution total will increase by 53 cents.

The new rates are as follows:

The additional voluntary extras of Construction Workers Health Trust member contribution of 1.00 and the Benevolent Funds of employer contribution of 0.19 and member contribution of 0.50 will remain the same as the current rates.

BrightPay Payroll Software | Thesaurus Payroll Software 

Posted byDebbie ClarkeinPayroll

Schools are back! Using Parental Leave to help your staff get a good work-life balance

Many employees find it tough to balance their work responsibilities with the demands placed on them in their home and family lives. This is never more obvious than with the return of schools this week – school drop offs and collections, preparing healthy lunches for fussy little eaters, extra-curricular activities to attend, homework battles and an increase in time spent stuck in traffic are all too familiar occurrences come September….

Employers can support their staff by helping them adjust to their new daily routine through flexible working options and/or reduced hours working arrangements. Employers, however, will need to manage these requests carefully, ensuring there are no substantially adverse effects on their business. Very recently, there has been a number of changes made to Parental Leave that employers should be aware of.

So, what’s new with Parental Leave?

• Parental Leave entitlement has increased from 18 to 22 weeks. This is going to further increase again on 1st September 2020 to 26 weeks. Employers should be aware that, for their employees who have already taken their current entitlement, they will be able to take the additional 8 weeks of leave - provided they meet the eligibility requirements.
• The leave can be taken at any time prior to the child turning 12 years old. This was previously set at 8 years old. So any leave not taken previously, due to the fact that the child in question reached the previous limit of 8 years, will now become available for employees to use again.

What should I do?

As an employer, you will now need to update your Parental Leave policies to reflect these new changes (If you use our Bright Contracts package, we have updated these for you already in the Handbook section!). You need to put in place a process for keeping Parental Leave records – these need to be retained for 12 years.

You should review every application for Parental Leave very carefully – weighing up the impact of this request for both the staff member and your business. Parental Leave can be taken as either a block period or as single days. Staff must give you 6 weeks notice of any leave they wish to take. You can postpone a Parental Leave application request, based on business needs, for up to 6 months.

What are the benefits of being seen as a flexible employer?

• You can attract top talent as you will create a culture that respects and recognises that your staff have priorities outside of work.
• Improved retention of staff and less staff turnover as they are better able to manage their time. They will not feel under as much pressure or that it is not sustainable for them to keep working with you.
• Improved employee well-being – their emotional and mental health can benefit by being able to successfully multi-task family and work duties.
• Improved employee morale and loyalty to their employer.
• Improved diversity. As childcare still falls mainly on women, female talent is more likely to be retained as you have made facilities available to them to enable them to keep working.

There is no doubt that employers are increasingly supporting their staff by helping them to balance the demands of working versus homelife. In this current climate of skills shortages and demands for talented, committed staff, it is hoped that progressive steps such as flexible working options will enable parents, juggling these conflicting demands, to remain in the workplace and feel supported by their employer when doing so.

Book a demo of Bright Contracts today to find out how you can keep your Parental Leave policies updated and compliant with employment legislation.

BrightPay Payroll Software | Thesaurus Payroll Software

Posted byNicola SheridaninParental Leave