BrightPay 14/15 is Now Available. What's New?

BrightPay 14/15 is now available to download. Here’s a quick overview of what’s new:

2014/15 Budget Changes

• 2014/15 PAYE thresholds
• 2014/15 National Insurance contributions rates and thresholds
• 2014/15 Student Loan threshold
• 2014/15 Statutory payments rates and thresholds
• The emergency tax code has changed from 944L to 1000L.
• Eligible employers can claim the new £2000 Employment Allowance which can be used to reduce Employer Class 1 Secondary NICs payments to HMRC.
• Retirement of the regional employer NICs holiday scheme
• Statutory Sick Pay is no longer recoverable

Automatic Enrolment

BrightPay 14/15 has complete functionality to enable you to automatically enrol your employees into a qualifying pension scheme:

• BrightPay allows you to record your automatic enrolment staging date. When the staging date has been reached, automatic enrolment functionality will automatically kick in.
• BrightPay will assess your employees, monitor eligibility criteria, and let you know:
• who must be enrolled into a qualifying scheme
• who has the right to opt in to be enrolled in a qualifying scheme
• who can request to join a pension scheme
• BrightPay walks you through all the various automatic enrolment processes:
• postponing assessment
• enrolling employees
• handling opt-ins and joining
• handling opt-outs and refunds
• BrightPay enables you to generate tailored communication letters and notices to employees
• BrightPay tracks records on a period by period basis, allowing you to see exactly what changes, actions and contributions are made throughout the year. You can produce custom reports with the exact information you require.
• BrightPay has dedicated support for the automatic enrolment qualifying pension scheme offered by the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), allowing you to:
• set up your NEST scheme, group and payment sources
• create enrolment and contribution submission CSV files for uploading to NEST
• We plan to add dedicated support for other pension scheme providers, but for now BrightPay offers generic support for any automatic enrolment qualifying scheme which you can use in conjunction with BrightPay's built-in reporting tools to operate your scheme.

For more information on automatic enrolment, see our automatic enrolment blog or the guide for employers on The Pensions Regulator website.

Real Time Information (RTI)

This time last year we launched BrightPay 13/14 with full support for RTI.

In 14/15, there are some new features and improvements:

• From 2014/15, HMRC will be introducing penalties for late Full Payment Submissions (FPS). To help determine whether any late filing penalties are due, HMRC request that a late reporting reason be included with late submissions. BrightPay will detect when an FPS is late, and prompt you to select a reason.
• Support for the new FPS contracted hours worked per week bands
• Ability to set/change the Payroll ID for any employee (start of year or mid year)
• New Employment Allowance indicator on EPS
• Bank account information on EPS
• Improvements to the RTI interface in BrightPay, including the ability to view total amounts of the values in an FPS.
• We received feedback from HMRC about the most common data errors that occur in submissions from BrightPay customers, and so have made many improvements to prevent these from happening. For example:
• Improved wording on notifications
• Better validation at the data entry stage
• Forced UK data formats for users on non-English operating systems
• RTI messages and logs are now stored in a compressed format in your data file, which should greatly help to reduce file size.

BrightPay – New Features

With RTI and Automatic Enrolment, the last couple of years have seen many changes to UK payroll. This in turn has required a lot of supporting development to be done on BrightPay. So with these out of the way, we are excited to get back to adding unique features and making BrightPay the best payroll software on the market. Here are the new features we've completed for this first 14/15 release:

• Ability to add an addition (new or existing type) to multiple payslips at once
• Ability to add a deduction (new or existing type) to multiple payslips at once
• Ability to set a note on multiple payslips at once
• Ability to edit the FPS settings for multiple payslips at once
• Ability to record absence and strike on employee calendar
• Ability to record part day annual leave, unpaid leave, absence or strike on employee calendar
• Ability to print the employee calendar and overview of leave for one or multiple employees
• Ability to print a summary of company annual leave entitlement
• Ability to create a BrightPay employer file without a password (and remove the password from an existing file)
• Ability to see the most recent time a payslip was printed, emailed, or exported.
• Ability to import employee details from Bright Contracts

But that's not all – we've got some great plans for what's coming next. And like previous years, you won't have to wait until 15/16 – we'll be releasing new features to 14/15 users when they are ready. Watch this space!

Other Improvements in BrightPay 14/15

• Improved aesthetics (including graphics fixes for Windows 8 users).
• Performance enhancements – we've upgraded much of the core technology that powers BrightPay to the latest version, bringing with it faster and better number crunching.
• Minor user interface tweaks to make BrightPay even easier to use.
• Lots of minor bugs have been squashed.

BrightPay 14/15 will be the same price as BrightPay 13/14 (including FREE for small employers with up to three employees). Support will continue to be free of charge for all users.

Posted byRoss WebsterinAuto EnrolmentNew FeaturesPayroll SoftwareRTISoftware Upgrade

Windows XP support to end – Time to upgrade?

As of the 8th of April 2014 Microsoft will cease support of the Windows XP OS (Operating System). Originally launched in 2001 it has been Microsoft’s most successful operating system. They tried to convince people to upgrade to Windows Vista in 2005 but many had upgraded to XP service pack 2 around the same time so didn’t want to incur extra cost or the hassle of having to change their OS.

What does support ending mean?

It means there will be no more upgrades. Patch Tuesday (the day of the week Microsoft release their updates and patches) will be no more. It means that XP machines will no longer receive security patches, meaning they will face greater risks of targeted hacking attacks.

It also means that when companies such as Thesaurus Software and banks update the security certificates (which are renewed every few years) for their websites, XP users will not receive these new patches from Microsoft. Therefore, when users visit these sites they will get security warnings, or could be blocked by their computer altogether.

When should you upgrade?

Like with windows 95, 98 and 2000, your existing programs will continue to work as normal, your computer will not suddenly stop working just because Microsoft stops supporting it! However as technology moves on XP will become eventually obsolete. Couple that with the fact that as a machine gets older it inevitably slows down and becomes less reliable. So while there is no major rush to go out and buy new machines a plan should be put in place to upgrade your systems in the near future.

Will my payroll program still work on XP?

Both Thesaurus Payroll Manager and BrightPay will continue to work on XP and they will continue to work for the foreseeable future. We at Thesaurus will continue to support our programs and assist customers who use XP. However as Thesaurus and other companies update their digital certificates some XP users may experience difficulties using certain aspects of the program (Creating bank files, upgrades etc).

Posted byAlan KellyinPayroll Software

UK minimum wage to rise to £6.50 in October, government confirms

The government has approved a rise in the national minimum wage (NMW) to £6.50 an hour in October this year, as recommended by the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC).

This change is expected to boost take home pay for more than one million employees who could see their wage increase by as much as £355 a year..

From the 1st of October 2014 NMW rates will be:

• a 19p (3 per cent) increase in the adult rate (from £6.31 to £6.50 per hour) 
• a 10p (2 per cent) increase in the rate for 18 to 20 year olds (from £5.03 to £5.13 per hour) 
• a 7p (2 per cent) increase in the rate for 16 to 17 year olds (from £3.72 to £3.79 per hour) 
• a 5p (2 per cent) increase in the rate for apprentices (from £2.68 to £2.73 per hour) 

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

Posted byCaroline MaloneinPayroll Software

Year end procedure in BrightPay

With the introduction of RTI the year end procedure for 13/14 is a simple process. You will no longer need to send a P35 instead a “Final submission” needs to be sent to HMRC.

1.  Complete your payroll for the year, sending your FPS files as normal on or before your pay date, this would need to be done for all pay frequencies you run. You will not be asked when doing these final FPS files that this is your “final submission”, instead we have designed it so you can send you final submission as an EPS.
2.  Before you final submission is sent be sure to send an EPS for statutory payments recovered (if applicable)
3.  The final submission you need to send in the tax year is an EPS file. To create the EPS final submission click the “New” button in the RTI section and select EPS. From the options select “Final Submission” and tick the relevant box e.g if you have p11s to submit etc.
4.  Finally your P60s need to be printed and given to your employees.

Posted byAlan KellyinPayroll SoftwareRTI

Withdrawal of National Insurance Number Tracing Service

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will withdraw the CA6855 clerical tracing service on 31 March 2014.

This is following the introduction of reporting PAYE in real time and the National Insurance number verification request service (NVR).

If you are not yet reporting PAYE in real time yet and need to use this service you should do so now.

If you are reporting PAYE in real time but you have not used the NVR service you should read the guidance 'Check an employee's National Insurance number' that can be found in the guide 'Making sure you use the correct National Insurance Number'.

BrightPay includes the NVR request among its list of RTI functions.

Posted byAnn TigheinNICPayroll Software

Possible UK minimum wage increase rate

The low pay Commission has recommended that the adult NMW rate should increase 3% on 1st October 2014 from £6.31 to £6.50 per hour.

The other recommendations from the LPS are:

- The adult rate to increase by 3% to £6.50 per hour
- The Youth development rate to be increased by 2% to £5.13 per hour
- The rate for 16 – 17 year olds to be increased by 2% to £3.79 per hour
- The apprentice rate to be increased by 2% to £2.73 per hour
- The accommodation offset to be increased by 3.5% to £5.08 per day

The minimum wage has risen faster than other wages since the worldwide economic slowdown, and the wages of the lowest paid are higher relative to those of workers from previous decades. However in day to day living ,the minimum wage has fallen because minimum wage and average wages have been exceeded by inflation. The LPC have published an executive summary of its 2014 report together with a letter from the LPC to ministers. The government is expected to publish the full 2014 report of the LPC during the next few weeks.

The LPC believe that the economic recovery should this year allow an increase in the real value of the minimum wage, the first increase for at least 5 years. The LPC are recommending that the adult rate should increase by 3% on 1st October from £6.31 to £6.50 an hour. The LPC believe this is likely to increase the number of jobs covered by the minimum wage by over a third to around one and a quarter million.

Posted byDenise CowleyinPayroll Software

Starter checklists to replace P46 forms from April 2014

When taking on a new employee employers reporting their PAYE in real time are no longer required to submit a completed P46 or P45 Part 3 to HMRC

Instead they will need to gather specific information to enable you to complete and submit a Full Payment Submission (FPS) to HMRC the first time you pay a new employee.

In light of this change of process, HMRC are replacing the P46 starter forms on their internet site with Starter Checklists to help you gather the information needed to submit a FPS. The main checklist can be found at http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=kPZMkDs75qQ&formId=7377

You do not need to send the checklist to HMRC, and there is no obligation for you to use one, you can, if you prefer, obtain the starter information for the FPS using your own forms and practices.

HMRC also has a separate checklist to help you gather information if you take on a new employee who has been seconded to work in the UK from overseas. The checklist and guidance can be found at http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=2Abcj2SjIsA&formId=7398

Reminder

The data items; “Living in UK for 183 days or more”, “Living in UK for less than 183 days”, “Employee Working both in and out of the UK but Living Abroad” and “Indicator of European Economic Area citizen” must be left blank unless the employee is seconded to you from an overseas employer.

Posted byAnn TigheinHMRCPayroll Software

How to treat payments when a UK Employee is being made Redundant

There are different types of payments made to employees when they are being made redundant and they are all treated differently. Some types of leaving payments are tax-free , some taxable in full and others are taxable over £30000. Most redundancy payments are tax free up to £30,000 and are not liable for NICs. Employers must remember that separate rules apply for working out the PAYE tax and NICs due.

For NICs purposes payments on redundancy are either wholly liable to NICs or not liable at all. Outstanding payments for salary and holiday pay are treated as earnings for the purposes of tax and NICs.

To see a list of PAYE tax and NIcs rules covering the most common types of one-off leaving payments, for help with these payments you should read the HMRC publication CWG2 (Employer further guide to PAYE and NICs).

For taxable redundancy payments where you have shown the date of leaving on a previous FPS and have provided the employee with a P45 – the payments must be shown as payments after leaving by completing the following steps:

- Deduct PAYE Tax using code OT on a week1/Month 1 basis.
- Calculate NICs if appropriate – help can be found in HMRC Publication CWG2
- Include this additional payment and the tax deducted on the FPS and in the pay and tax in this period- ensure the revised YTD figures include the additional payment. If you make a payment after leaving in a different tax year the YTD figures on the FPS should only reflect the additional payment.
- Make sure that the employee is given written confirmation of the payment (Payslip , letter or other printable document) which clearly shows the date of the payment, the gross amount, any PAYE Tax or NICs deducted and that the payment is a post-leaving payment.
- The original date of leaving should be put on the payment after leaving and the employee must not be given another P45.

Posted byDenise CowleyinPayroll Software

RTI Penalties delayed to 6th October 2014

HMRC director general personal tax, Ruth Owen, who holds responsibility for the RTI project, has announced “Penalties for late filing of RTI submissions were due to come in from April – that will now start from 6th October this year, so that gives employers through to October to bring everything up to date.

“In terms of automated late-payment penalties they were due to start in April of this year and recognising that people are still getting to understand their charges under RTI we’ve decided to start late payment penalties from 6th April 2015 – so a 12 month delay to those penalties.

“Interest will still apply, so anyone paying late payment interest – this will apply from April 2014, as has always been the case, so no change. We are not delaying interest.

“Also there are some businesses that have been using the concession for ‘on or before’ during this year for whom the concession will not apply from April, so if you are a small but not micro business you will now need to start reporting in real time."

Industry response

The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) has been lobbying for a delay in the introduction of RTI penalties as reported here.

Its associate director of policy, research, and strategic visibility, Karen Thomson, said: “The CIPP is delighted the minister, David Gauke, and HMRC has listened to the concerns of the profession and welcomes the delays to the RTI penalty regime.

“This additional time will allow both employers and HMRC to iron out all the teething problems being experienced by employers, particularly around the payment reconciliation process without the fear of financial implications.”

And Paul Aplin, chairman of the ICAEW tax faculty technical committee, said: “I think it is absolutely essential that the penalties are delayed as there have been a number of issues including incorrect demands, difficulty in reconciling amounts and also not all employers are even on RTI now so we have not been through one complete cycle and until we have been through a complete cycle for all employers and until those issues with incorrect demands are sorted it is completely inappropriate to charge penalties.”

Posted byAnn TigheinPayroll SoftwareRTI

Auto enrolment and the small employer

UK businesses with less than 30 employees will be impacted by auto enrolment from the start of 2016.

BrightPay will be a great aid with auto enrolment as it already has all the information required to assess which of your staff should be enrolled and then to handle the pension deductions (and your contributions) in the manner prescribed by the regulations.

Apart from assessing employees and handling deductions, there are numerous additional auto enrolment tasks that BrightPay will help you with. An example of this is producing the letters or emails that must be sent to your employees on enrolment (or postponement).

A month or two before your staging date (the date on which your auto enrolment responsibilities commence), decide which pension provider to use and register with that provider. NEST is probably the most popular scheme as it is government backed and has an obligation to accept employers of all sizes and employees of all earnings. This is different to some schemes who may attempt to cherry pick who they take on.

When your staging date arrives, an hour or two should be sufficient to deal with the following auto enrolment tasks:

• enrolling all relevant employees (i.e. all eligible jobholders)
• communicating as required to all employees
• setting up and commencing employee deductions and employer contributions

BrightPay will guide you through the above tasks.

From that point on it is just a matter of monitoring. The initial month or two after staging you will need to deal with any requests from employees to opt out and any requests from employees, who you were not obliged to enrol, to opt in (or join).

BrightPay will monitor the age and earnings of your staff in each subsequent pay period to see if any further enrolments are required and if any new employees should be enrolled. For most small businesses, these enrolment events will probably happen no more than once or twice a year and each such event should only take a few minutes to process.

A contribution file will need to be submitted after each pay period to the pension provider and payments of all amounts due must be made by 22nd of the following month. This file will be produced by BrightPay in much the same way as RTI files are currently produced.

So, your new payroll workflow will be something like:

1. Process hours, overtime etc.
2. Deal with any enrolment events identified by your software
3. Finalise the pay period
4. Distribute payslips
5. Submit RTI file to HMRC
6. Submit contribution file to the pension provider

Steps 2 and 6 are new.

In conclusion, staging will be a small bit of work but, after that, auto enrolment should become a seamless part of your payroll process.

Posted byPaul ByrneinAuto EnrolmentPayroll SoftwareRTI