2013/14 FPS Deadline now passed

The HMRC deadline for 2013/14 FPS submissions has now lapsed (19th April). Therefore, if you attempt to submit an FPS for a 2013/14 pay period HMRC will reject it.

Any 2013/14 payroll submissions, including additional payments, corrections or omissions, must now be submitted to HMRC using the Earlier Year Update (EYU) submission.

HMRC published a new 2013/14 End of Year guide today, http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/end-of-year/finish-payroll.pdf

A BrightPay 2013/14 end of year checklist is also available, simply click here https://www.brightpay.co.uk/5_Steps_to_EOY.pdf.

Posted byKaren McDarbyinHMRCPayroll SoftwareRTI

2014/15 Student Loan thresholds increase from 06th April 2014

For any employee for which you have been instructed to apply the student loan deduction, you will see an increase to net pay directly resulting from the change to the Student Loan thresholds with effect from 06th April 2014.

With effect from 06th April 2014 the student loan threshold increases to;

The deduction rate remains at 9%

Employees should direct all queries to the Student Loan Company;

Web www.slc.co.uk
Tel 0845 300 50 90
(open Mon-Fri from 8.00am to 8.00pm and between 9.00am and 4.00pm on Sat - Sun)

Posted byKaren McDarbyinPayroll

2014/15 Budget Summary for UK Employers

There are a number of 2014-15 Budget measures which will affect the payroll for employers.

As a general rule, effective from 05th April 2014, unless an amended code notification has been received on a form P9 (T), employers should amend 2013-14 codes as follows:

• Tax codes ‘L’ suffix codes – increase by 56; code 944L becomes 1000L 
• The PAYE threshold with effect from 6 April 2014 is raised to £192 per week (£833 per month) 
• The code for emergency use with effect from 6 April 2014 is 1000L

 National Insurance contribution thresholds 2014-15

Statutory Payment Changes 2014/15

Statutory Adoption Pay: Earnings threshold £111.00, Statutory Payment Changes 2014/15
Statutory Adoption Pay: Earnings threshold £111.00, Standard Rate £138.18
Statutory Maternity Pay: Earnings threshold £111.00, Standard rate £138.18
Statutory Paternity Pay: Earnings threshold £111.00, Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay (Standard Rate) £138.18, Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (Standard Rate) £138.18
Statutory Sick Pay: Earnings threshold £111.00, Standard rate £87.55

• The SSP rate will take effect from 6 April 2014.
• The SMP, SAP, OSPP and ASPP rates will take effect for payment weeks beginning on or after the 1st Sunday in April which is also 6 April 2014.
• There are no changes to the rules and rates for the recovery of SMP, SAP, OSPP and ASPP for 2014-15.
• The Percentage Threshold Scheme for recovery of SSP will be abolished from 6th April 2014.

National Insurance: £2,000 employment allowance

The Government will introduce an allowance of £2,000 per year for all businesses and charities to be offset against their employer Class 1 secondary NICs liability from April 2014.

Exemption threshold for employer provided beneficial loans

Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2014 to increase the exempt threshold for employment-related loans from £5,000 to £10,000 with effect from 6 April 2014.

Posted byKaren McDarbyinNICPAYEPayroll Software

2014 NIC Employment Allowance

The Chancellor announced the creation of a NICs Employment Allowance in the 2013 Budget. The implementation date for this is planned for 06th April 2014.

Businesses, Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs will be able to reduce their NICs bill by up to £2,000 per year. The Employment Allowance is to be set against an employer’s liability for secondary Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) only, not against other NICs such as primary (employee’s) Class 1, Class 1A or Class 1B contributions.

The greatest benefit of this allowance goes to small businesses, as it will reduce their National Insurance Contributions bill the most. Over 90% of the benefit of this allowance will go to small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

This will also mean that businesses will be able to employ four adults or ten 18-20 year-olds full-time on the National Minimum Wage without paying any employer National Insurance contributions at all.

The claim process for eligible employers is very straightforward and is administered through the payroll;

• Employers will include a flag, within their Employer Payment Summary (EPS) submission via RTI, notifying HMRC that they are claiming the employment allowance.
• The employer then reduces their employers NIC liability until the £2,000 allowance is exhausted (up to a limit of their NI liability, i.e. without resulting in a refund position) on the actual EPS.

The Employment Allowance calculator allows you to see the effect of the Employment Allowance in 2014. For example, you can see the effect on your National Insurance Contributions bill of employing one additional person or you can look at the reduction to your current National Insurance Contributions payments. Simply follow the link to access the calculator;

http://www.employmentallowance.com/allowance-calculator/

Posted byKaren McDarbyinNICPayroll Software

HMRC January 31st Deadline - odd excuses!

If you miss the 31st January tax deadline…consider your excuse to HMRC

31 January deadline for online tax returns
You must send, and pay your tax liability, your online Self Assessment tax return for 2012-13 by Friday 31st January 2014. If your online tax return is late, you will have to pay a penalty.

Exception – Reasonable excuse for missing the deadline
If you miss the 31st January deadline you may not have to pay a penalty if you have a reasonable excuse. For example, there may have been an unexpected or unusual event, beyond your control, which meant you couldn’t send your return on time.

HMRC recently reflect on top 10 oddest excuses
HMRC recently revealed the 10 oddest excuses they received for submitting late tax returns, assume these are considered unreasonable….

The following bizarre, exotic and flimsy excuses have all been used by tardy taxpayers:
1. My pet goldfish died (self-employed builder)
2. I had a run-in with a cow (Midlands farmer)
3. After seeing a volcanic eruption on the news, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else (London woman)
4. My wife won’t give me my mail (self-employed trader)
5. My husband told me the deadline was 31 March, and I believed him (Leicester hairdresser)
6. I’ve been far too busy touring the country with my one-man play (Coventry writer)
7. My bad back means I can’t go upstairs. That’s where my tax return is (a working taxi driver)
8. I’ve been cruising round the world in my yacht, and only picking up post when I’m on dry land (South East man)
9. Our business doesn’t really do anything (Kent financial services firm)
10. I’ve been too busy submitting my clients’ tax returns (London accountant)

All of these people and businesses received a £100 penalty from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for filing late. They appealed against the decision using these excuses, but were unsuccessful.

Read more at www.gov.uk >

Posted byKaren McDarbyinHMRCPayroll

RTI - New Employers may opt out

From 05th November new employers registering with HMRC will automatically join RTI by default.

There will be instances where employers will not want to join RTI immediately therefore employers can opt out.  Reasons for opting out may include;

• The employer already operates other PAYE schemes
• They may wish to use software from a company which is not yet RTI ready
• The employer indicates that they are entitled to claim exemption from online filing and will need to operate PAYE manually. Exemptions will be considered in line with current guidance

These opt outs will only be available between 5 November 2012 and 5 April 2013.

Further information is available from HMRC at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pommanual/PAYE5011.htm

BrightPay 2013/14 will be RTI ready. All necessary functionality to operate RTI for your payroll will be provided in the same simple and user-friendly manner you've come to expect. BrightPay 2013/14 will be available to download for new and existing customers before April 2013. We'll keep you up to date between now and then with the latest information, including an overview of how RTI will work in BrightPay 2013/14.

Please be assured that there will be NO price increase for BrightPay 2013/14 or additional charges for RTI functionality.

Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Posted byKaren McDarbyinHMRCPAYEPRSIRTI

How to Prepare for RTI - 5 Key Points

Even if you have not yet enrolled in the RTI scheme or you have not yet received notice of the implementation date for RTI into your organisation, as an employer, enrolment is inevitable.

The earlier you start to prepare for RTI, the smoother the implementation of the new scheme will be on you and your employees. 

As an employer it is important that you are prepared. There are steps and procedures that you can implement now in order to prepare. 

 
1. Cleanse current employee data

Audit the data held for all current employees ensuring it complies with the HMRC FPS submission requirement. If this data is incomplete, or requires verification, then initiate this process now eliminating any obstacles in good time before your first FPS submission. This will ensure the majority of data entry is complete prior to implementation date also. Include data capture requests with payslips to ensure employees read the request.

 
2. Educate current employees

Communicate with employees advising them why it is vital for the personal information held on file to be accurate and complete. Implement procedures to facilitate two way communication between employees and managers, to answer any queries your employees may have and to facilitate the advising of changes to personal information.

 
3. Prepare and implement formal procedures for new employees

Prepare new employee data request forms to be completed upon commencement of employment and prior to the first payment to the employee. This should encompass all the information HRMC requires you to hold for RTI purposes. Implement this procedure now to identify common errors, issues or shortfall in communication and methods to improve this process.

 
4. Train the administrative staff that will operate RTI

Develop an in-house training programme to:

• identify training requirements
• develop a suitable training plan
• educate staff on RTI requirements and operation

 
5. Implement payroll control procedures

Prepare in-house procedures to ensure periodical payroll data is complete and accurate prior to signing off the periodical payroll using reports produced from your payroll software. Identify the data checks or audit procedures that can be made to eliminate errors and the associated reports that your payroll software may be able to produce or allow you to customise to complete this task. 

Having a series of control procedures in place will eliminate errors in submission to HMRC under the RTI scheme. The earlier these are implemented the sooner they will become an integral part of the payroll process.

Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Posted byKaren McDarbyinHMRCPayrollReal time information

National Minimum Wage increases from 01st October 2012

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced that the rates of national minimum wage applicable to pay reference periods starting on or after 1 October 2012 will be as follows:

• the main adult rate (for workers 21 and over) will increase by 11p to £6.19 an hour (currently £6.08 an hour
• the rate for 18-20 year olds will remain at £4.98 an hour
• the rate for 16-17 year olds will remain at £3.68 an hour
• the rate for apprentices will increase by 5p to £2.65 an hour (currently £2.60 an hour).

From the same date, the daily accommodation offset rate will increase from the current £4.73 to £4.82.

Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software

Posted byKaren McDarbyinPayroll

HMRC August Deadlines

 To avoid paying late you must make sure HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have cleared funds by the due date for the relevant PAYE period. 

For month ending the 05th August the deadlines are:

19th August      Cheque payments should reach your Accounts Office by 19th August.

22nd August     Electronic payments should have cleared into the HMRC bank account by 22nd August.

Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Posted byKaren McDarbyinHMRC

Approaching HMRC deadlines

To avoid paying late you must make sure HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have cleared funds by the due date. If you pay electronically the due date is the 22nd of the month following the end of the tax month, or quarter to which it relates.

For 2012-13, PAYE month 03 - or quarter 1 - period ended 5th July 2012, the due date is Sunday 22nd July 2012.

Additionally for 2011-12, Class 1A NICs, the due date is Sunday 22nd July 2012.

HMRC must receive cleared funds by Sunday 22nd July 2012.

Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software

Posted byKaren McDarbyinHMRCNICPAYEPayroll