Copyright © 2024 Thesaurus Software Ltd T/A Bright Software Group.
3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London, W6 8DA
[email protected] 0345 9390019May 2013
16
In response to some National Insurance number Verification Requests (NVRs) and Full Payment Submissions (FPS) with missing or incorrect National Insurance numbers, HM Revenue & Customs has issued a number of National Insurance numbers without the final letter (A, B, C or D) of the number.
The issue of National Insurance numbers is currently on hold whilst HMRC investigate this.
Update by HMRC in June 2013:-
"Last month we temporarily suspended the issue of National Insurance numbers while we investigated why some were being sent out without the final letter (A, B, C or D) of the number. This has been resolved and we are issuing National Insurance numbers again."
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
May 2013
7
Your 2012-13 Employer Annual Return is due by 19 May 2013. Send it as soon as possible to avoid a late filing penalty.
Click here for further details.
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Mar 2013
19
We are delighted to announce that BrightPay 13/14 has obtained full HMRC recognition for RTI submissions and is now available to download.
From 6th April, all payments to employees must be reported to HMRC using RTI. Although we have worked hard to make your RTI experience with BrightPay as painless as possible, there are a few things you need to do before your first 13/14 payroll run to ensure that it all runs smoothly.
Make sure that all employees are included in your payroll before you send your first RTI submission.
It is important that you understand how BrightPay handles Full Payment Submissions (FPS) and in particular your first FPS which acts as an alignment submission. This understanding is best served by a couple of examples.
Example 1
You process your first week's payroll before the start of the 13/14 tax year, just to have it ready to go. You will notice after finalising the first week in BrightPay that an FPS has been automatically prepared for you and is awaiting submission. If your first payday is Thursday 11th April, then the FPS must be submitted on or before 11th April. (HMRC will not accept an RTI submission prior to 6th April).
One of the really nice things about BrightPay is that until an RTI submission is sent, it will be automatically updated with any changes you make to employer, employee or payment details. Let's say you only add your monthly paid employees in BrightPay after already finalising your first week. In this case, the pending first FPS will be automatically updated to include the details for the monthly employees. Similarly, if you discover that the NINO for one of your employees is incorrect, you can simply correct the employee record and the pending FPS will be automatically updated with the correct NINO. You do not have to process the payroll again or prepare the FPS again for these changes to be made.
Example 2
You process your first week's payroll before the start of the 13/14 tax year, just to have it ready to go. An FPS is automatically prepared and is awaiting submission. You then notice that you forgot to include overtime and so you re-open the payslips for all or some of your employees and finalise them again. In this case, the pending FPS will be automatically updated with the adjustments that you made.
The same automatic updating applies to other RTI submission types as well (EAS, NVR and EPS). Once they are created and until they are sent, any changes you make to employer or employee information will be automatically applied.
HMRC have published a useful one page leaflet entitled "Reporting and paying HMRC in real time: getting it right". Download it here.
We will be delighted to help you with any questions you may have. You can call us on 0845 3004304.
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Mar 2013
5
BrightPay obtains HMRC Recognition for 2013/14 - see HMRC listing
The following video shows just how easy RTI is when using BrightPay.
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Feb 2013
27
In a previous article we stated the following in relation to the new contracted hours worked field on the FPS:
"For employees who are paid using an hourly rate only, BrightPay will select the correct option automatically."
This is incorrect. This is the contracted hours that an employee will be expected to work in a week, not the hours actually worked in a week. So for all employees, you will need to choose the appropriate option (BrightPay, by default, will use (c) 30 hours or more per week).
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Feb 2013
5
One of the main lessons learnt from the RTI pilot was that all employee information (name, date of birth, address and valid National Insurance number) should be accurate and up to date.
Click here for a form which you can give to your employees to help cleanse your data.
Another lesson related to the use of Works Numbers or Payroll IDs by HMRC. A change in Works Number sometimes resulted in duplicate records in HMRC's system with a corresponding overstatement of liability. To overcome this potential problem, BrightPay, in common with many other software providers, will treat the Works Number as your own and assign a separate Payroll ID for RTI purposes.
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Jan 2013
17
RTI may seem pretty scary but BrightPay will look after all the heavy lifting. We hope that you will be pleasantly surprised at just how easy and unintrusive you will find the whole RTI experience.
There are one or two things you need to consider in preparation for RTI.
Your first RTI submission, which will occur on or before your first payday in 2013-14 (but not before 6th April 2013) is known as your "first full payment submission" or first FPS for short. BrightPay, as with all RTI submissions, will prepare and submit this first FPS automatically for you, with your OK of course. The difference between the first FPS and subsequent FPS submissions is that the first FPS will include details of all employees whether or not they were included in your first payroll run e.g. if you operate both weekly and monthly payrolls for the same company, the first FPS, triggered by the first weekly payroll run, will include details of all your monthly paid employees (even though they will have zero in all the pay and tax fields). Subsequent FPS submissions will only include details for employees actually paid in the applicable payroll run.
Therefore it is important that all individuals currently in your employment are included in BrightPay before the first RTI submission is made.
Another thing to bear in mind is that each RTI submission will need to include information for temporary and casual workers and employees paid below the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit. So, even though there are no deductions made from these individuals, they now need to be accounted for through BrightPay.
Finally, you will need to include new information in your payroll records, the main one being hours worked. This is not the actual number of hours but, instead, an applicable scale (a) Up to 15.99 hours per week (b) 16-29.99 hours per week or (c) 30 hours or more per week. For employees who are paid using an hourly rate, BrightPay will allocate this scale automatically. However, for employees paid a set amount each week or month, you will need to review the default scale which is set at (c) above.
One other new item is the "Irregular Employment Pattern Indicator" e.g. casual or seasonal employees (where the employment contract continues) or where employee will not be paid for at least a further 3 months but is still regarded as an employee e.g. maternity
If you are running a payroll bureau service, you need to consider procedural changes to ensure that the above issues are covered. Make sure that these changes are put in place well in advance of the 6th April.
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Oct 2012
28
One of the biggest concerns for payroll operators with RTI is "What happens if the RTI submission is wrong?".
The regulations state that the RTI file must be transmitted before or at the time of the payroll period update. With most payroll software the RTI transmission and the payroll period update will be part of the one process. However, it can be fairly common for the update to occur and then the operator realises that something was missed, like an overtime amount or some promised bonus. At present (prior to RTI), all the operator has to do is reverse or correct what they have just processed. But how would RTI deal with this?
This very scenario was one of the main issues brought up by us and other payroll software developers during the various RTI workshops organised by HMRC. It would be unworkable if there was some complicated resubmission process. Also, the periodic payroll processing would become very stressful if the implication of getting it wrong every now and again was a lot more work.
HMRC took this on board and conceded that once the year to date figures in the next RTI submission were correct, then the employer's obligations have been met. There is also a procedure in place if an incorrect RTI submission is made for a final pay period (e.g. week 52 or month 12).
The year to date or cumulative amounts are the most important items in the RTI submission with relatively minor importance being placed on the pay or tax figures for a particular pay period.
So, all of you payroll operators can relax. You are allowed to be human now and again!
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Oct 2012
2
The 2011-12 Employer Annual Returns (P35 and P14s) were due by 19 May 2012. These returns are now over 4 months late and HMRC has started to send penalty notices if their records indicate that they have not yet received your return.
The penalty will be £100 per 50 employees for each month the return is outstanding, from 20 May 2012 to 19 September 2012. So an employer with 50 or less employees will receive a £400 penalty.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Sep 2012
11
Thousands of higher rate taxpayers who have failed to submit tax returns will receive letters from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) this month, reminding them that they have only one month left to take up a special opportunity being offered by the tax authority.
The Tax Return Initiative is aimed at people liable to pay tax at rates of 40 per cent and above and who have been told to submit a Self Assessment tax return for 2009/10 or earlier, but have not done so. The campaign is also available to anyone who has tax returns to submit for these years.
People have until 2 October to tell HMRC they want to take part, submit completed returns, and pay the tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) that they owe. By coming forward voluntarily through the campaign, launched on 3 July, people will receive better terms, and any penalty they pay will be lower than if HMRC comes to them first.
After 2 October, if they have not submitted their tax returns and paid what they owe, HMRC will use its legal powers to pursue outstanding returns and any unpaid tax and NICs. Penalties of up to 100 per cent of the tax due, or even criminal investigation, could follow.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.
Copyright © 2024 Thesaurus Software Ltd T/A Bright Software Group.
3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London, W6 8DA
[email protected] 0345 9390019