Gender Pay Gap reporting

On 13 July 2021, the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 was signed into law.

The act is due to come in towards the end of 2022 and will require employers to report on the pay differences between female and male employees, including any bonuses. Whilst the act has been signed into law, it does not mean reporting is required immediately. The act allows the making regulations through which reporting requirements will be specified. The reporting process will begin in 2022.

Will my business be affected?

All employers with 250 or more employees will be required to report on this from 2022. By 2025, it is expected that employers with 150 or more employees will be expected to report, with this reducing to 50 employees or more after that.

What information will be reported?

The new law allows for the regulation of the following:

• How to calculate the number of employees,
• How to calculate the pay of employees,
• The mean and median hourly pay of male and female employees,
• The mean and median bonus pay of male and female employees,
• The mean and median pay of part-time male and female employees,
• The mean and median pay of employees on temporary contract,
• The form, manner and frequency with which information is to be published.

How do I prepare for Gender Pay Gap reporting?

• You can run the gender identification reportsin Sage Payroll to check that your employees are set up with the correct gender.

Gender identification for Payroll reporting and Import employee gender information

To help you prepare for Gender Pay Gap reporting, you can run reports to check that your employees are set up with the correct gender on your payroll.

We’ve included the Employee Gender report and Employee Gender import CSV file in the 2022 software.

The Employee Gender report

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

2. Make a note of the Data Directory

3. Click Reports and then choose Report Writer.

4. Within Report Writer click File then click Open.

5. Choose the rpt file then Open it.

6. Click Process to generate the report.

This report shows:

• Employee’s Gender
• Employee’s Surname
• Employee’s First Name
• Employee’s PPS Number

7. Click File, then click Save As.

8. Click the Save in arrow, then browse to the location you noted in step 3.

9. In the File name box, type csv. and Click Save.

10. Close Sage Payroll and browse to the location you noted in step 3.

11. Right-click the file csv, then click Open with.

12. When prompted, select Excelthen click OK.

13. Under column B, ensure the gender is correct for each employee. If any gender is incorrect, amend to ‘M’ or ‘F’ as appropriate.

14. Under column A, ensure your employees’ numbers are correct as excel may have removed any leading zeros e.g. ‘0001’ may have changed to ‘1’. Change this if required.

15. Click File then click Save.

If the Data Directory link that you noted in step 3 is C:\ProgramData\Sage Payroll Irl/2022, skip to step 24. If it’s not, you must correct the Sage Payroll data path specified within the import file. To do this, please complete steps 18 to 23.

16. Click the Data Directory link.

17. Right-click the file IMP, then click Open with.

18. When prompted, select Notepad then click OK.

19. Locate the data=entry line, then edit the highlighted section below so it matches your data directory location:
data= C:\PROGRAMDATA\SAGE PAYROLL IRL\2021\EEGender.CSV

20. Click File, then click Save.

21. Click File, then click Exit.

22. Open Sage Payroll and log into a payroll as normal.

23. Take a backup of your payroll data.

24. On the menu bar, click Miscellaneous, point to Data Import then click Data Import.

25. Browse to the location you noted in step 3 and Select IMP then click Open.

26. Repeat steps 4 to 7 again and check the correct gender is applied to each of the employees. If not, you must restore the backup you took before you ran the import process and complete the steps detailed in this section again.

Click here for details on Processing/Create Gender Pay Gap Data File

Moving Sage Payroll to a New PC

1. Log into your current Payroll

2. Go to Help and System Information

3. Print the support home page for the details of the Program Files and Data Files Location.  This also gives you the Serial No and Activation Keys if its needed.

4. Copy the Program Directory and the Data Directory to the New PC

5. If you change the location of the data files on the New PC to a different location, you will need to change the dataloc.ini file.

6. The dataloc.ini file is in the Program files within each year. In this case its C:\Program Files (X86)\Sage Paryoll Irl\2022

7. Open this file with Notepad or Wordpad and enter in the data location.

8. Copy this file into each year of your program directory.

9. Download and install the latest version of the software.

• Latest Version
• Every version

“Retrieve RPNs” Button Non-Responsive

When attempting to retrieve RPNs and the button is non-responsive, this may be due to corruption of the calendar.

To resolve this – please follow the steps below:

Replace the PAYCAL files

1. Backup your payroll
2. Locate the data via: Help > System Information > Data Directory
3. Click on Data Directory & locate the file folder for the payroll
4. Double-click on the file folder & scroll down to the following files: PAYCAL.CDX & PAYCAL.DBF
5. Select both files, then cut & paste them into a folder on your desktop named “Paycal OLD“
6. Create a blank new payroll in Sage Payroll by logging in as ADMIN & navigate to: Company > Company Setup > Add New Payroll > Create
7. Once created, click on Data Directory & locate the file folder for the new blank payroll
8. Double-click on the file folder & scroll down to the following files: PAYCAL.CDX & PAYCAL.DBF
9. Select both files, right-click & copy
10. Return to the Data Directory, locate the file folder for the original payroll & paste the new PAYCAL files there

Recreate the Calendar

1. Log back into the original payroll
2. Select: Company/Payroll > Calendar > New Calendar
3. Enter the required dates & Save
4. Retrieve RPNs as per normal

Nominal Integration Report from Sage Payroll

You can use the nominal option to produce a nominal journal for integration with your accounts software. However before you start using this option, you must enter your nominal settings in Sage Payroll so it knows where to post your journals to.

Don’t add commas to descriptions, translations or nominal codes, as these will be interpreted as columns in the CSV file and place data in the incorrect columns. This may result in a failed import into your accounting package.

1.  On the menu bar, Click Nominal and Set-up.

2. Specify the format of the nominal codes you want to use in Sage Payroll for analysis of payroll costs.

This field must have an entry, and can be up to 16 characters in length.  When you’re defining a format, there are three letters with special meaning:

• d – department code
• c – cost centre code
• a – item code

All other characters are understood by Sage Payroll, in the context of nominal code formats, to be constants.

For example, if you specify the format definition ddddccccaaaa, Sage Payroll expects codes whose first four characters identify the department, the next four characters identify the cost centre and the final four characters identify the item code.

In this example for Sage 50/Instant Accounts, this field must read: aaaaddddd.

3. Complete the following information with the relevant nominal Codes.  In this case we have taken the default nominal codes from Sage 50 Accounts:

• Nominal Code Format: aaaadddd
• Employee PRSI: 2210 [PAYE/PRSI/USC]
• Employer PRSI +:  7006 [ER PRSI]
• Employer PRSI -: 2210 [PAYE/PRSI/USC]
• ASC: 2240 [ASC]
• PAYE: 2210 [PAYE/PRSI/USC]
• USC: 2210 [PAYE/PRSI/USC]
• Bank Account: 2220 [WAGES CONTROL ACCOUNT – NET WAGES]
• Rounding Account: Round
• Suspense Account:  9998

4. The Journal Format is used to specify the print column positions in the nominal report or file output for the following:

• Code – 5
• Description – 20
• Debit value – 55
• Credit value – 65
• Total – 85

Example of the Journal when its printed

Click OK when this is complete.

5.  Select Nominal – Payments

Set your Payments to 7000 for Gross pay as follows:

6.  Select Nominal – Deductions

set you nominals for Deductions as follows:

7. Select Nominal – Departments

In my accounts package my department codes are 1 – 2 – 3 etc so in payroll I have entered in these codes as 001,002 and 003 as follows:

8. Select Nominal – Translations

Set up translations for the balance sheet items as follows:

This table is used to set up alternative nominal codes.  This is a useful tool if you want to make the nominal coding structure less rigid.  You can use it to translate the codes defined in Payroll to alternative codes that will be used when you export the report or file to import.

So in this case I want my balance sheet codes to be used and not look at the department.  If I don’t enter these in here it will split them out by department being:

• 2210001
• 2210002
• 2210003 and so on

Instead we enter in

• 2210 – PAYE/PRSI/USC
• 2220 – Wages Control Account
• 2230 –  Pension
• 2240 – ASC

All the profit and loss nominal will now be split by department.

8. Select Nominal – Descriptions

By default, the nominal report show’s the nominal code, enclosed by square brackets in the Descriptions field. An entry in the nominal report with nominal code 2200 shows [2200] in the Description field.  You use the Descriptions feature to replace the nominal codes with text to define what the entry refers to. This can be repeated for all codes created by the nominal process.

You can translate the nominal codes into English as follows:

9. Final Payroll Journal Report

You will now get the following report when you preview it within the payroll.

If you require a more detailed report or you would like to import the file into your accounts package please contact us for a quote to set this up.

Sage Payroll V24.1

Sage Payroll V24.1 – has introduced plain paper layouts.  Please contact us 051-395900 if  you require to purchase the current MP011’s or equivalent.

Here at Pimbrook, we encounter many ‘Date’ queries at Year End time. We have assembled this article to try to take the mystery out of dates at Year End.
See below a list of questions that we frequently get asked:

1. What is the ‘Pay Date Rule’?
2. What do I need to consider when planning my pay periods at Year End?
3. How do I know if I have a Week 53?
4. What do I need to consider when planning my New Year Calendar?
5. Is it ok to pay my 2021 Period 1, as the final period in my 2020 Payroll System instead?

1. What is the ‘Pay Date Rule’?

• The pay date rule means that if the planned pay date for a period is a 2021 date, then the period belongs in the 2021 payroll and if the planned pay date is a 2022 date, then the period belongs in the 2022 payroll.
• All scenarios are governed by the pay date rule.

2. What do I need to consider when planning my pay periods at Year End?

• For non-monthly frequency payrolls (eg: weekly, 2 weekly etc..), payments to employees should be on the same day every week – including over year end.
• Holiday pay for days taken in 2022 need to be paid using the 2022 payroll. Holiday pay for days taken in 2023 need to be paid using the 2023 payroll.
• If you are planning to run the final periods together [eg: Period 51, 52] – the pay date rule still applies.
• If you have a Period 53 – it must be run separately, and it must have a paydate of 31/12/2021 – Revenue Requirement.
• If you have a Period 53 – Examine the planned pay date for it in your payroll calendar. (Click ‘Company\Payroll’ then click ‘Calendar’ to view it.) If the planned pay date falls in 2022, then it should be included in the 2022 system. The pay date rule still applies.]
• If the planned pay date of the latter period, as seen in your payroll calendar screen, falls in 2022, then it should be included in the 2022 This scenario would then require two separate bank payments, one for payment of the 2021 final period(s) and one for payment of the 2022 period. [In this scenario, you can set the bank file execution date to be the same date if required, but you should contact your bank before doing so, as some banks may interpret two files with the same date as a mistake. Alternatively, you can set different execution dates for the two bank files.]
• All of the above is irrespective of when the work was carried out.

See below Examples of Acceptable Year End 2020/Year Start 2021 Dates:
There were 52 Mondays in 2020, 52 Tuesdays in 2020, 52 Wednesdays in 2020, 52 Thursdays in 2020, and 52 Fridays in 2020. The most popular pay dates would generally be Wed, Thurs & Friday. See examples of correct pay dates for those days in the image below. Your payroll may differ of course, but try to stick to the date rules, and plan correctly for 2021.

3. How do I know if I have a Week 53?

Because the number of days in the tax year doesn’t divide into a whole number of tax weeks, any remaining days are known as week 53.

• This year (2022), you could only possibly have a week 53 if your Pay Date is on a Sunday or a Thursday, and your final 2020 pay date naturally falls on Wednesday 30^th of December or Thursday 31^st of December.
• If your first pay date of the year was Wednesday the 2nd or Thrusday 3rd of Jan, then you certainly have a Week 53.
• Remember here that Revenue want employers to pay on the same day of the week, all year round. This includes over year end.

CAUTION: Whilst many employees may already be on week 1 tax status where your company availed of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, you must process the extra pay period separately to your penultimate pay period.

4. What do I need to consider when planning my New Year Calendar?

• The Period Date & Pay Date fields are key fields in calendar process.
• The Period Date field has always been in the system and when setting a new calendar, it is driven by the Period Date field.
• Since the Period Date is the systems’ driver when setting up a new Calendar, it’s very important to enter an appropriate ‘Period Date’ for Period 1 of the new tax year, as this date determines all subsequent periods of the calendar.
• The Pay Date field was a new addition in 2019, to accommodate payroll modernisation & submissions.
• The Pay Date refers to ‘the date the employees receive their net pay’. Revenue use this date to determine when you paid your employees.
  Revenue do not use the ‘Period Date’ to determine this, as is sometimes assumed.
  Revenue do not receive the Period Date in submissions, they only receive the Pay Date.
• With regard to the Pay Date: if you’re on a weekly payroll, your first Pay Date should fall between 1 – 7 January. For a fortnightly payroll, it should fall between 1 – 14 January.

We recommend to keep your Period Date the same as your Pay Date, unless you have a specific reason not to. Make sure you have 52/53 planned periods in your new calendar, and that all the Pay Dates are dated in the new year (ie: 2022).

6. Is it ok to pay my 2022 Period 1, as the final period in my 2020 Payroll System instead?

• The short answer is No. Since payroll modernisation came in at the start of 2019, Revenue have been very clear that the do not want you to do this.
• Revenue want employers to pay on the same day every period, so changing the pay-day is not an option.

If you remember back to the TWSS it was rolled out in two phases: The Transitional Phase (26th of March – 3rd of May), and the Operational Phase (4th of May – 31st August).

During the Transitional Phase the employer was expected to calculate the Average Revenue Net Weekly Pay and pay the correct subsidy to the employee via payroll. During this period Revenue refunded employers the maximum subsidy amount of €410 per qualifying payslip, per qualifying employee, per week (or in multiples of this for other pay frequencies). While payroll systems recorded the employees specific TWSS payment amount against a specific payment name, those systems were not yet reporting the exact subsidy amounts back to Revenue via submissions. Things were fast paced back then.

During the Operational Phase, this worked a little differently: Revenue provided employers with the relevant employee information (CSV download) to ensure the correct subsidy amount was paid to each employee, and refunded to the employer on that basis, Payroll systems’ were updated to help decide the exact amount to give to an employee, but also to report back those amounts officially as subsidy amounts, so refunds to employers were from that point more exact.

To tally up the whole thing, Revenue now require employers to carry out a ‘TWSS Reconciliation’. This will be done with the aid of the ‘TWSS Reconciliation’ Feature which came in in Sage Payroll Version 23.3. When you run the feature, it will update the employees ETP records with the actual TWSS values paid to them via nominated Pay Elements in your system.  The feature will also create a CSV file, which will list the TWSS payments actually paid to employees during that time. You must then upload the resulting CSV file to the ROS Website to complete your TWSS Reconciliation.

TWSS Reconciliation Upload Window & Penalties:
TWSS Reconciliations must be carried out and uploaded to the ROS website between 21st Sept 2020 – 31st Oct 2020. If you do not provide this data about payments to your employees, Revenue will recoup from you the total temporary wage subsidy paid and related interest charges.

To Process the TWSS Reconciliation in Sage Payroll:
Before you start the TWSS Reconciliation process:

• Ensure your software is at least on version 23.3 of Sage Payroll
• Check the payroll status is Start of Period (SOP) –  If its not, the feature will give an error message and will not run.
• Check the Employer registration number is entered in Company Details.
• Ensure a recent payroll backup has been taken to a safe location.

To start the process – at the top of the main screen click on Miscellaneous\Covid-19\TWSS Reconciliation. This will present the TWSS Reconciliation Wizard.
There are two options depending on what stage of the process you are reconciling your values with ROS:

1. Update the employee records with TWSS amounts paid during transitional phase, and create a new CSV file (for upload to ROS)
   If you use this option in Sage Payroll, the Covid-19 field in the ETP records update, for each relevant employee with the values processed in each period, then creates a CSV file ready for upload to your ROS account.
2. Create CSV file only, as employee records were manually changed or updated previously by you.
   If you use this option in Sage Payroll, it creates a CSV file ready for upload to your ROS account. Use this option if you have previously manually updated the Covid-19 field in the ETP tab for each relevant employee, or completed the Update the employee records and create a new CSV file option already, but now need another copy of the CSV file.

Select Date range used for TWSS subsidy payments:
If you choose the first option, you will be asked to choose a Date Range. The Revenue Covid-19 support schemes (Covid Refund Scheme and TWSS) came into effect from March 15, meaning a date previous to March 15 should not be selected within the reconciliation wizard, but you can do so if required.

Select payments used to process subsidy:
To ensure the correct values are used to update each employee’s ETP record, select the appropriate payments in the list – at least one payment must be selected to proceed in the wizard.

View Employees to Update:
The wizard will present a list of the relevant employees whose ETP records it is about to update:

Save Reconciliation CSV File:
The next screen will prompt you to save the file to a chosen location. Make a note of the location as you will need it later when you are uploading the file to ROS.

Update Employees & Create CSV File:
Once you click Save, the employee records are updated and the CSV file is created. It is ready for upload to the ROS Website.

Uploading the TWSS Reconciliation CSV File to ROS:
Page 3 of Revenues publication “Instruction on Uploading and Reviewing Subsidy Paid Data via CSV” contains instructions on how to upload the TWSS Reconciliation CSV file to the ROS website.
You can link to the publication here.

More information on the TWSS Reconciliation can also be found at the following links:

• Sage Full Article: “Covid-19 TWSS Reconciliation” –> Click Here
• Dealing with file errors –> Click Here.
• Revenue Website TWSS Reconciliation  Info –> Click Here