KB Category: Sage Payroll (Micropay)

How to process holiday pay using the Holiday Tracking and Accrual feature

Within Sage Micropay, you can use the Holiday Tracking and Accrual feature to quickly and easily record your employees’ holidays and process their holiday pay.

Entering payroll holiday settings

If you have hourly-paid employees in your payroll, you must complete steps 1 to 4. If you don’t have any hourly-paid employees, please skip to step 5.

1. On the menu bar, click Company/Payroll then click Payments.

2. Locate and select a hourly payment, then click

3. Select the Holiday Accrual calculation check box, then click Save.

4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for each hourly payment on your payroll, then click Close.

5. On the menu bar, click Company/Payroll then click Company Details.

6. Click the Holidays

7. Under Holiday Year, enter the holiday year’s start date and finish date.

8. Under Company Settings, complete the following information:

9. Under Employee Accrual Settings, complete the following information if required:

If necessary, you can override the values of these accrual settings within a particular employee’s record.

10. Click Apply accrual settings to all employees, then click Yes and OK.

11. To close the Company Details window, click OK.

Entering employee holiday accrual settings

1. On the menu bar, click Processing then click Employee Details.

2. Next to the Surname box, click browse and click the relevant employee.

3. Click the Holidays tab, then complete the following information:

For a full time salary-paid employee

For a full time hourly-paid employee

For a part time employee

If you’re setting up the holiday accrual settings for this employee mid-way through the holiday tax year, proceed to step 4. Alternatively, if you’re setting up the holiday accrual settings for this employee at the start of the holiday tax year, skip to step 5.

4. Click Edit Holiday Year Details, then click Add and complete the following information:

For a full time salary-paid employee

In this example, the employee has worked twelve weeks, taken two holiday days and has received holiday pay of 193.30 to date this year.

 For a full time hourly-paid employee

In this example, the employee has worked 100 hours, taken 15 holiday hours and has received holiday pay of 192.30 to date this year.

 For a part time employee

In this example, the employee has worked 117 hours last month, taken 2 holiday days and has received holiday pay of 192.00 to date this year.

5. Click Save.

6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 for each employee on your payroll, then click Cancel.

Processing employee holiday pay

1. On the menu bar, click Processing then click Time and Pay.

2. Under Entry mode, select Random then click Continue.

3. Next to the Employee box, click browse and click the relevant employee.

4. Under Pay periods, in the Periods box, enter the number of periods the employee is on holidays for.

Based on the value you enter in this box, Sage Micropay automatically allocates the correct insurance weeks and tax credits to your employee.

5. Click the Holidays/Absence tab, then complete the following information:

 For a full time salary-paid employee

For a full time hourly-paid employee

For a part time employee

6. Click the Data Entry tab, then enter any additional pay details you want to record for this employee.

7. Check that all payment and deduction values are correct. If not, edit as required.

8. Click Save.

9. Repeat steps 3 to 8 for all employees you want to record holiday pay for this period, then click Cancel.

Reconciling values on the Control Summary report

Before you begin processing a new pay period, you should check the values on your Control Summary report are correct. This involves reconciling the carried forward values from the previous period’s report with the brought forward values for the current period’s report.

Generally, the year to date totals for gross pay, tax, universal social charge (USC) and pay related social insurance (PRSI) are the same on both. However, if they’re different, you should always investigate the reasons why and reconcile the differences.

For the current period

1. On the menu bar, click Reports then Payroll Reports

2. Select Control Summary, then click Print.

3. To close the Payroll Reports window, click Cancel.

For the previous period

1. 1. On the menu bar, click

Miscellaneous

1. then

Period Archive

2. Under Period Archives, select the previous period.

3. Click Revert.

4. On the menu bar, click Reports then Payroll Reports.

5. Select Control Summary, then click Print.

6. To close the Payroll Reports window, click  Cancel

7. To go back to the current period, click Miscellaneous then Period Archive.

8. Under Period Archives, select Current Period.

9. Click Revert.

To reconcile the values on your Control Summary reports

On the Control Summary, the year to date totals appear under the Cumulative Control Totals section. You should review this information and reconcile any differences between the carried forward (C/Forward) values from the previous period and the brought forward (B/Forward) values for the current period.

Possible reasons why your Control Summary values may differ from one period to the next

There are a number of reasons why your Control Summary values may differ from one period to the next. These include:

• If you enter P45 information for an employee who started in a previous period. Micropay no longer considers the employee to be a new starter and their P45 information appears as an adjustment to the brought forward (B/Forward) values on the Control Summary.

If the difference between the brought forward and carried forward values relates to P45 information, there isn’t a problem. However, we recommend that you write a note on the printed Control Summary report to identify the reasons for any differences.

• If you enter P45 information for a new starter, and the new starter is not paid in that period. The P45 information goes into the carried forward (C/Forward) values for that period. In the following period, the new starter’s P45 information remains in the New Starters column and the brought forward (B/Forward) values reduce by the same amount.

If the difference between the brought forward and carried forward values relates to a new starter, there isn’t a problem. However, we recommend that you write a note on the printed Control Summary report to identify the reasons for any differences.

• If you make an amendment to a timesheet, after printing the Control Summary.
• If you manually adjust values on an employee’s record, for example, if you’re setting up an employee mid year and entered their year to date information.

If the difference between the brought forward and carried forward values relates to a legitimate manual adjustment, there isn’t a problem. However, we recommend that you write a note on the printed Control Summary report to identify the reasons for any differences.

In summary, when there is a difference between the brought and carried forward values on the Control Summary, any combination of the above explanations could cause the difference. However, it’s important that you reconcile these differences immediately. You should also write a note on the printed Control Summary report to identify the reasons for any differences.

End Of Period (EOP) and Rewind

Once you’ve entered and checked your employees’ pay details for the current period, you’re ready to finalise the payroll. To update your employees’ year to date values and your P30/CC124 totals with the current period’s values, you use the End Of Period option.

You must run the End Of Period option before you can process your next pay period.

After posting the end of period (EOP) values, you may detect errors in your data, for example, if you’ve saved a timesheet for someone by accident or you overpay someone. If so, you must rewind the end of period process and correct these errors before posting the end of period values again. You can only rewind the current pay period.

The rewind process involves rolling back your payroll data to it’s pre-end of period state. Timesheet details are unaffected by a period rewind, so you don’t need to re-enter pay details for employees already completed in the period unless you want to edit them.

To post the end of period values

1. On the menu bar, click Processing then click End Of Period.

If you’ve already posted the EOP values for the current period, this option is greyed out.

2. When you’re prompted to post calculation results, click OK.
3. Check the payroll status at the bottom of your Micropay window is End of Period. If it’s not, repeat the previous steps.

To rewind (undo) the posting of end of period values

1. On the menu bar, click Processing, then click Period Rewind.

If you haven’t posted the EOP values for the current period yet, this option is greyed out.

2. When you’re prompted to rewind the last posting, click OK.
3. Check the payroll status at the bottom of your Micropay window is Time and Pay Calculated, or Start Of Period if you didn’t process any pay details this period.

If you have more than one payroll with the same tax registration number, you should merge these payrolls into a consolidation company. You can then generate a single payroll report or Revenue Online Service (ROS) submission file that covers all the consolidated payrolls.

Although you can run reports in the consolidated company, you can’t process your payroll or edit employee details.

Set up a consolidation company

1. Log into Sage Micropay as the system administrator.
2. On the menu bar, click Company then click Consolidation Setup.
3. Complete the following information:

4. Click Create.
5. When asked if you want to create a new consolidation company, click Yes.
6. On the menu bar, click Login then click Exit.

Log into and use a consolidated company

1. Open Sage Micropay.
2. When prompted to log in, enter your normal user name and password.
3. Under Payroll, click the Name arrow, then click the consolidation company.
4. Enter the consolidation company password, if applicable, then click OK.
5. On the menu bar, click Miscellaneous then click Consolidate All.
6. When asked if you want to consolidate all company files, click Yes then click OK.
7. To access the:
• Standard reporting area – On the menu bar, click Reports then click Payroll Reports.
• Year end reporting area – On the menu bar, click Year End then click Tax Year End Reports.
8. Print or generate the reports and submission files you need.
9. To close the consolidation company, click Login then click Exit.

Sage Payroll (Micropay) (V21.0)

Remove all data for a specific tax year

As per Revenue’s guidelines, you (the employer) must keep all company payroll records for six years after the end of the tax year to which they refer and make these records available for inspection when required.

After the six year period expires, you should remove the company payroll records that relate to these years from your software – so you’re compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Validate Your Payroll Data

1. On the menu bar, click Reports then click Validate Payroll Data.

2. To print a copy of the Validate Payroll Data report, click File then click Print.

The system will give you a report with a warning if you have any data over 6 years.

Warning: You have employee records older than six years – These should be removed.

• As an employer, you must keep your payroll records for six years and make them available for Revenue inspection when required.
• To comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines, you must remove all payroll records older than six years.

Recommended: Delete all company payrolls older than six years from your software.

3. Click File, then click Exit.

Delete payroll records for a specific tax year

1. Open Sage Payroll (Micropay) and log into a payroll as normal.

2. On the menu bar, click Help then click System Information.

3. Make a note of the Data Directorylink, but exclude the tax year mentioned.

For example, if the Data Directory link is C:\ProgramData\Micropay Professional\2017, you should make a note of C:\ProgramData\Micropay Professional.

If the Data Directory shows a local C drive path, for example, C:\Program Data\Micropay Professional, then your payroll data is held on this computer. If the Data Directory shows a mapped network drive or path, this means your payroll data is held on a network.

4. To close Sage Payroll (Micropay), click Loginthen click Exit.

5. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the location you noted in step 3.

6. Right-click a tax year folder you want to remove, then click Delete.

7. When prompted, click Yes.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each tax year you want to delete company payroll records for.

How to remove a company and all its data

To comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, you may need to remove a company and all its data from your Sage payroll software and computer. This article explains how to do this.

Revenue’s guidelines state that an employer must keep all company payroll records for six years after the end of the tax year to which they refer and make these records available for inspection whenever required.

Delete company payroll data folder(s)

1. Open Sage Payroll (Micropay) and log into a payroll as normal.

2. On the menu bar, click Help then click System Information.

3. Make a note of the Data Directorylink, but exclude the tax year mentioned.

For example, if the Data Directory link is C:\ProgramData\Micropay Professional\2017, you should make a note of C:\ProgramData\Micropay Professional.

4. To close your Sage software, click Loginthen click Exit.

5. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the location you noted in step 3 and open a tax year folder.

6. Right-click the company payroll folder you want to remove, then click Delete then click Yes.

7. If you have more than one payroll associated to the company you’re removing, repeat steps 6 for each.

8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 for each tax year you want to delete this company’s payroll records for.

Delete company name within Sage Payroll

1. Log into Sage Payroll (Micropay) as the system administrator.

2. On the menu bar, click Company, then click Company Setup.

If you have any payrolls currently assigned to the company, you can’t delete the company. To remove these payrolls, you must complete the steps detailed in the previous section.

3. Select the company you want to delete, then click Delete Company

.

4. When prompted, click

5. To close the Company Manager window, click Close.

Remove all backup files that relate to the deleted company

Make sure that you delete all Sage backup files (PAYBACK.CRC,PAYBACK.CTL and PAYBACK.001) that relate to this company, from the following:

• Any computer that you currently operate Sage Payroll (Micropay) on.
• Any computer that you operated Sage Payroll (Micropay) on in the past.
• Network drives.
• USB memory sticks.
• Email and cloud storage. For example, Dropbox, Google drive.