Oct 2013
4
CPA Ireland – Practitioners’ Conference 2013
CPA Ireland held their Practitioners Conference in Carton House Friday 20th & Saturday 21st September 2013. Laura Murphy and Audrey Mooney from Thesaurus Software attended the conference. Laura and Audrey enjoyed meeting existing Thesaurus Payroll Manger and Solutions Plus customers – getting their feedback and comments.
It was also an opportunity to show Bright Contracts and our new payroll product BrightPay.
- Bright Contracts is an innovative software package that has everything you need to create and manage your staff handbook and and employment contracts.
- BrightPay is simple to use yet powerful and flexible, it will be offered alongside Thesaurus Payroll Manager giving customers a choice of payroll products.
Laura Murphy (left) and Audrey Mooney at the recent CPA conference
Oct 2013
4
Cheque no more
The National Payment Plan (NPP), announced by Finance Minister Noonan in April, aims to reduce cheque usage in Ireland to EU levels by 2015, a reduction of nearly 66%.
Cheques would be classed as being one of the more expensive methods of payment, as each bank has their own individual processing charge for cheques, up to .30c each and then there is the compulsory Government Stamp Duty of .50c on each cheque also. So before the cheque is even written, it has cost the issuer upwards of .65c.
In the world of payroll, cheques are not very common, for cost reasons more than anything but also with the increase and popularity of electronic pay systems like online banking and credit transfer, writing cheques is more cumbersome and timely.
With changing consumer habits; the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) enforcement, credit transfer payment methods, and a government drive to cut costs by implementing the National Payment Plan, does this mean cheque books will soon be consigned to the history books??
To read more about the NPP, please check out; http://www.centralbank.ie/paycurr/paysys/documents/national%20payments%20plan%20-%20final%20version.pdf
Sep 2013
29
How to manage sickness absence
Managing sick leave can be a challenge for every employer. It is essential that businesses find the balance between supporting those employees who are genuinely sick and minimising unnecessary absences in order to reduce costs. Costs can include:
- Loss of productivity
- Employing temporary cover
- Paying other employees additional overtime costs
The 2011 IBEC Guide to Managing Absence found that over 11 million days are lost to absence in Ireland every year, costing businesses €1.5 billion or €818 per employee. The report also found that employees missed 5.98 days on average, an absence rate of 2.6%.
Managing Absences
Absence levels can be addressed by taking some simple steps:
- Sickness Policy: there should be a policy in place that clearly sets out the procedure that will be followed by both employees and management in cases of absence through illness. The policy should be clearly communicated and consistently implemented. The default company handbook in Bright Contracts contains such a policy.
- Record, Monitor & Measure: monitoring and measuring enable employers to identify trends and recognise points at which absence levels need to be further investigated.
Return to Work Interviews: these are informal meetings between a line manager and an employee on the first day the employee returns to work. Return to work interviews are consistently rated as one of the most effective methods of managing absenteeism levels and it is recommended that they should be included in all sickness absence policies.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll Software
Sep 2013
24
What our customers say!
In a recent customer survey, 97.82% of respondents ranked the quality of our customer support as Excellent or Good.
This customer support covers our payroll software (Thesaurus Payroll Manager and BrightPay), our employment contracts software (Bright Contracts) and our accounts software (Solutions Plus) and is free to all registered users.
While the excellent/good percentage achieved would be way ahead of industry standards, we hope to reduce the 2.18% who ranked our support as fair or poor!
Sep 2013
23
PAYROLL TAX TIP – SEPTEMBER 2013
Employees do you know when your employer pays or partly pays medical insurance on your behalf you do not get Tax Relief at Source (TRS)?
When you pay your own medical insurance premium you automatically receive tax relief at the standard rate of tax, currently 20%. When your employer pays or partly pays medical insurance on your behalf you will not have been allowed Tax Relief at Source. The good news is you are entitled to the relief when your employer has paid the medical insurance on your behalf but you have to claim the relief due from Revenue.
Individual Paying Medical Insurance:
| Gross Premium | €1,000 |
| Tax Relief at Source: | €200 |
| Cost to Individual: | €800 |
Employer Paying Medical Insurance:
| Gross Premium | €1,000 |
| Tax Relief at source (employer pays this to Revenue through Tax Return) | €200 |
| Benefit in Kind | €1,000 |
Using the example above although the employer has only paid €800 to the medical insurance provider the employee will pay benefit in kind of €1,000.
If your employer pays or partly pays your medical insurance you should contact your local tax office to ensure you are receiving the tax relief.
Details can also be found in the help file for Thesaurus Payroll Manager and BrightPay.
Sep 2013
12
FREE BUSINESS EVENT FOR IRISH SMEs – TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
Very few things in life are free so why not avail of a free event to help your business. If you own or manage a small business or are thinking of starting your own business you should visit www.takingcareofbusiness.ie to register as places are limited.
Attendees will:
- Meet with representatives from a number of State Offices & Agencies
- Get information & advice
- Find out ways to save your business money
- Receive support to help you in your business
Speakers on the day will include representatives from National Employment Rights Authority, Companies Registration Office, Department of Social Protection, Enterprise Ireland, Revenue as well as many others. Please see the eflyer for full details - https://www.takingcareofbusiness.ie/eflyer.pdf
Free Admission
Printworks Conference Centre, Dublin Castle
22nd October 2013 8.30am to 2.30pm
Initiative of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation
Sep 2013
9
Not registered for LPT? - then no Tax refund!
Revenue are now getting tough with those who had failed to file a property return, and officials will not issue refunds to them.
Those who have not filed a property return will not be in a position to reclaim tax refunds for Medical expenses and tuition fees etc..
A spokeswoman for the Revenue said it will eventually issue refunds to those who have yet to register for the property tax, but it will first deduct the tax due from the refund amount.
In general, in advance of issuing a refund, a taxpayer's record will be reviewed to ensure no outstanding liability exists. Where a liability exists, an offset will be made before the refund will be issued.
Sep 2013
6
Kite Flying prior to Irish Budget
A new report presented to Social Welfare Minister Joan Burton recommends the PRSI rate for self employed and proprietary directors should go up from current rate of 4% to 5.5% to fund extra social benefits for those who work for themselves.
The higher PRSI rate would be used to fund the paying of long-term illness and disability benefits for the self employed, which are not available to those who work for themselves at the moment.
However, the higher PRSI payment that the advisory group recommends for all the self-employed to pay for disability benefits, is set to be opposed by business group ISME The report also states that it would provide a safety net for those who want to start a business.
The cabinet has approved publication of the report, however it remains unclear if the recommendations will form part of next month's budget.
Aug 2013
31
New Layout for Irish P30 & P35 returns
With the recent introduction of the Local Property Tax, the helpline at Thesaurus Software HQ has been busy answering queries relating to it.
One of those queries has been to do with the filing of the monthly/quarterly P30.
If an employer, registered with ROS, has been creating the P30 on the Thesaurus Payroll Manager and then uploading it to ROS, there has not been any issue. However an employer trying to submit an online P30 on ROS itself is running into issues arising from where to enter the LPT.
The P30 had been showing fields for the PAYE & USC and then also for PRSI but nowhere was it showing a field for the LPT.
Revenue rectified this problem recently by changing the format of the online P30 and P35 so that the LPT and the USC fields are now separate from the PAYE.
Please see Revenue e-brief 35/13 for more information - http://www.revenue.ie/en/practitioner/ebrief/2013/no-352013.html
Aug 2013
30
Whistleblowing Legislation – Be Prepared
This July the Government published the Protected Disclosures Bill 2013, commonly known as the “Whistleblowing Bill”. The aim of the bill is to combat corruption and promote a culture of public accountability and transparency. The Bill encourages workers to disclose information relating to wrongdoing in the workplace by offering protection against penalisation should they make a protected disclosure / blow the whistle.
When the Bill is enacted, likely to be later this Autumn, a whistleblower’s protection will include protection from dismissal or any form of penalisation by their employer. If an employee is found to have been dismissed unfairly for having made a protected disclosure, employers could be faced with compensation payments of up to 5 years remuneration. The usual service level of 1 year for cases of unfair dismissal will not apply to Whistleblowing cases.
In preparation of this new legislation, employers are advised to start reviewing their internal policies and procedures and to start considering establishing a robust whistleblowing policy to suit their business. Should you require assistance, Bright Contracts will be providing template policies and guidance on how deal with whistleblowing complaints.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
