KB Category: Sage Payroll (Micropay)

Our article on the COVID 19 Payroll Related Information will give you information on the background to the government support schemes and illness benefit and how to apply these in your Sage Payroll (Micropay). This article lists some of the most common questions that we have been asked in relation to this topic. (Please note, this article is for information only and while we have done our best to ensure accuracey at time of writing it is  subject to change, so please confirm any details with the relevant authorities before acting.)

Q.1. What should I do if I have to temporarily lay off staff?

If your company intends to open up after the pandemic and you feel that closure is temporary, you should enter into the ‘Wage Subsidy Scheme’. In this situation the employee needs to do nothing. The employer has to do all the work. (Qualify, register, calculate the 70/30 split in payroll, pay the wage, etc…) This is between the employer and Revenue. For this scenario – with regard to marking as a leaver –do nothing to the employees record (do not mark as leaver, do not mark as suspended).

Q.2. What should I do if I have to permanently lay off staff?

If the company has made a decision to ‘Let Go’ some or all staff permanently (as in: P45’d) then the relevant employee(s) should be marked as a leaver [as normal], not suspended. The employee then needs to apply for the ‘Pandemic Payment’ for themselves. This is between the individual and the revenue/DEASP. The ‘Pandemic Payment’ is an enhanced unemployment benefit, it is only available to people that are made officially ‘unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been processed through the systems.

Q3. What if someone has worked overtime, additional hours etc. what would happen?

As per Revenue, when operating the scheme, the amount of subsidy claimed plus the amount of top up can not exceed the average net pay of the employee for the period January and February 2020. If the employer makes an additional payment greater than the difference allowed by the scheme (i.e. the employee receives more than the Average Net Weekly Pay) then the subsidy value refundable to the employer will be reduced by this excess amount when the refund reconciliation is performed by Revenue in due course. Therefore it would be in the employees / employers best interest to wait until the scheme is over.

Q4. Is the wage subsidy taxable on the employee?

The payments are liable to income tax; however, the subsidy is not taxable in real-time through the PAYE system during the period of the subsidy scheme. Instead the employee will be liable for tax on the subsidy amount paid to them by their employer by way of review at the end of the year.

Q5. What if my employee has multiple jobs, will they get multiple payments?

If an employee has multiple employments, each employer can operate the scheme based on 70% of each employee’s net weekly earnings.

Q6. How do Employers register for the Subsidy Scheme?

Employers, or their agents, apply to Revenue to operate the scheme by carrying out the following steps:

• Log on to ROS myEnquiries,
• Click Add A New Enquiry.
• Select the category ‘Covid-19: Temporary Wage Subsidy’.
• Read the “Covid-19: Temporary Wage Subsidy Self-Declaration” and press the ‘Submit’ button.
• Revenue will issue a confirmation via myEnquiries and the employer can immediately operate the scheme.

Q7. Can paper filers use the scheme?

The scheme is open to employers who file electronically through ROS.

Q8. Is the scheme open to directors?

Yes, if directors are paid through the payroll system and are included in the relevant payroll submissions for an eligible employer then they are eligible to receive the wage subsidy.

Q9. Is the scheme open to self-employed as well as employees?

Self-employed individuals will be paid directly by DEASP under the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme rather than through this Revenue operated subsidy scheme.

Q10. What if an employer was refunded €203 in the Employer Refund Scheme, are they now due more?

The Temporary Wage Subsidy scheme is operational only from March 26, 2020 so they will not be due a further refund for submissions made up to that date. Revenue will transfer those employers who have registered for the Employer Covid-19 Refund scheme across to this new scheme and they are entitled to operate their payroll within the Subsidy Scheme from 26 March 2020.

COVID 19 – Payroll Related, Coronavirus Information.

As the current situation in Ireland is an ever changing landscape, details in this is article are subject to change. We will endeavour to keep it as up-to-date as possible. Any external links presented below are live, and you can click on them to go through to the relevant site, to help to confirm some of your queries.

This article relates to the initial “Transitional Phase” of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, for the latest information we have on the “Operational Phase” of this scheme, please click here –> Sage Payroll Software Update 23.2 for Operational Phase of the Covid19 TWSS (4th May 2020 Onwards)

We must advise that if you need clarity on particulars of your business relating to the wage subsidy scheme, you will need to contact revenue before you seek assistance with your payroll software. See Revenue contact details here –> Revenue Contact Us Link. If you are a Twitter user, you can follow them using the handle @RevenueIE –> Revenue Twitter Link

On 15 March 2020, the Government announced the implementation of exceptional measures, administered through the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP), to enable workers who are temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic to claim a special support payment called COVID 19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. The payment was refundable under a scheme called COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme. On the 24th March 2020, the Government changed this. They retracted the ‘COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme’, and replaced it with the ‘Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme’. Alongside that, the government also set up a ‘COVID 19 – Enhanced Illness Benefit’, claimable by those who are directed by a doctor to self isolate or by those who are ill with the virus.

The items covered in this article are:

1. Information on ‘Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme’.
2. Information on ‘COVID 19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment‘.
3. Information on ‘COVID 19 – Enhanced Illness Benefit’.
4. Different Scenarios Employees might find themselves in.
5. How to Process Wages for the ‘Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme’ in Sage Payroll.
6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

1. Information on ‘Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme’ (Max €410 Weekly)
*This goes through your payroll system, and so it effects your payroll processing.

• This a scheme which allow employers to pay their employees during the current pandemic.
• It applies from Thursday 26th March 2020 onwards.
• Employers will be refunded up to 70% of an employee’s wages – up to a level of €410.
• The employer is expected to make their best efforts to maintain as close to 100% of normal income as possible for the subsidised period.
• It replaces the DEASP’s ‘COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme‘ which was announced on 15th March 2020.
• Employers who registered for the ‘COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme’ do not have to re-register for this new scheme.
• It now applies where the employee has been laid off temporarily (zero hours).
• A Top-Up payment is allowed to be paid by the employer.
• It does not apply to workers who have been let go on a permanent basis – they instead qualify for the ‘COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment’ (see Below)
• Under this Wage Subsidy Scheme, the employee does not need to do anything – but the employer must register to take part in the scheme.
• This goes through your payroll system, and so it effects your payroll processing.

While some more detailed questions remain unanswered, we recommend to both read the articles in the links below, and talk to your accountant/HR contact before proceeding:
Click here to read GOV.ie article with further details –> Gov.ie Link
Click here to read Revenue.ie article with further details –> Revenue.ie Link

2. Information on ‘COVID 19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment’ (Currently €350 Weekly)
*This payment does not go through your payroll system, and so it does not effect your payroll processing.

• This is a special Support Payment introduced due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, it is not an Illness Benefit.
• It is claimable by both employees and self-employed who have been permanently laid off as a direct result of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. (ie: They have lost their jobs).
• This payment will be in place for the duration of the pandemic.
• It is paid at a flat rate of €350 per week (This was increased from €203 to €350 on the 24th March 2020).
• In this scenario, the employee will need to register for the payment directly with the DEASP, and the payment will be made directly to the employee.)
• To get this payment, the employer does not need to do anything – but the employee must register for the payment directly with the DEASP, and the payment will be made directly to the employee.

Again, while some more detailed questions remain unanswered, we recommend to both read the article in the link below, and talk to your accountant/HR contact before proceeding:
Click here to read GOV.ie article with further details –> Gov.ie Link

3. Information on ‘COVID 19 – Enhanced Illness Benefit’ (Currently €305 Weekly)
*Illness Benefit can optionally be put through your payroll system, usually depending on whether the employee is receiving the payment or the Employer.

• This is an Illness Benefit.
• It is claimable by those who are directed by a doctor to self isolate and therefore cannot attend work or by those who are ill with the virus and therefore cannot attend work.
• With regard to payroll, it is treated the same as any illness benefit, the same as illness benefits prior to the COVID 19 Pandemic.
• The Employee applies directly to the DEASP for this, and it is the employee who dictates who receives the payment (themselves or their employer).
• It is not refundable under any scheme.
• The employer cannot apply for this on behalf of the employee.

Again, while some more detailed questions remain unanswered, we recommend to both read the article in the link below, and talk to your accountant/HR contact before proceeding:
Click here to read GOV.ie article with further details –> Gov.ie Link

4. Different Scenarios Employees might find themselves in:

If you are confused about what applies in the different scenarios in which employees are finding themselves in, or you want to better advise employees, Citizens Information have put together this informative article – Citizens Information Link

5. How to Process Wages for the ‘Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme’ in Sage Payroll

Full Details of processing for the ‘Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme’ are detailed in the ‘Sage Link’ at the bottom of this section. But before you go there please read the following note:

Once you (as an employer) qualify for, and have registered for the Wage Subsidy Scheme with Revenue, the initial part of the process is to calculate 70% of the Average Net Weekly Wage per employee (Averaged over Jan & Feb weeks). You must use this figure from the start of the scheme.

To help you to figure out these amounts per employee, Sage have developed a report for use with the built in Report Writer in Sage Payroll. The article below will guide you through downloading and saving the report file into your system. You can then it run it and print\save it. It is advised to use this report to calculate the amounts, as they are calculated according to Revenues definition of Net Pay.

If you are an ‘ARW’ user (Advanced Report Writer) you will be happy to hear that Sage have developed a suitable report for that too. The article below will guide you through downloading and saving that file to your system. See sample in image below.

**[ARW is a separate program that runs outside of Sage Payroll]
**[We strongly advise that you work through the article below in full, reading each section as there may be particulars in it which lend to decision making during your process.] 

Click here for full instructions on how to process the Wage Subsidy in Sage Payroll –> Sage Link

The Sage Report will contain data similar to the image below:

Disclaimer: This article has been provided for information purposes only, While every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy at the time of writing, Pimbrook can not guarantee it will remain fully up to date. We would advise you to seek professional guidance on the latest information before acting on anything related to this topic.

Issue: RPN Delivering negative ‘Prev. Er’ figures (incorrectly).

The payroll operator will usually first notice this as flagged in the Validate Payroll routine: It shows the issue and the recommended resolution as follows:

The suggested resolution is for the payroll operator to edit the figures as required and save the record. This is in fact all that can be done to make this scenario right. We can argue that modernisation was supposed to take all of such edits out of the hands of the payroll operator, and we would be right. And we could worry that the operator does not have easy access to the required information, since they are no longer issued with P45 information and we would also be right. But neither of those are for us to consider. This software is at the mercy of what is delivered by the RPN and we have no control over that. The software works fine when the RPN delivers non negative values, and so we can deduct that the software is working correctly.

Advice To Customers:
If the issue is in the Prev Eer Tax Paid or Prev Eer USC Paid fields, then ask the customer – are they sure that the figure is not supposed to be negative? See note below regarding ‘Scenario when Prev Eer Tax/USC paid can be negative’.

If they are sure that the value is not supposed to be negative, then explain to them that the issue lies within the delivered RPN from ROS. Advise them to edit the Prev Earning fields in question (as suggested by Sage) and change them to the correct figures. Sympathise that we cannot help them to find the correct values to be entered – they will have to press Revenue or the Employee for this information. [We should avoid suggesting what figures should be entered. They will need confirmation from another source to find out what to enter].

Explain (with regard to Prev Earnings) how the Pay/YTD screen works:

• The ‘This Employer’ fields are the result of the addition of all the ETP records for that employee, it is not imported from the RPN.
• The ‘Prev. Er’ fields are imported from the RPN and are the total of all previous employments. This figure excludes earnings from the current employer.

Encourage them to run the ‘Validate Payroll’ option during every payroll, to bring to light any such issues. (They are supposed to be doing this anyway). All solutions to ‘Validate Payroll Data Errors’ are listed in Sage KB number 44659.

Suggest to them that Sage have been made aware of this issue and are in discussions with Revenue.

Knock On-Effects of this Issue: If this issue was with the Gross Pay field and had gone un-noticed by the payroll operator, it means the employee’s tax may have been calculated for a period of time on less Gross Pay than it should have been. This may have benefitted the employee tax wise. When the operator enters the correct (positive) Prev Er figure the employee may pay a higher amount of tax for a time until it resolves itself cumulatively. This can be different case by case.

NOTE: Scenario when Prev Tax/USC paid may need to be negative:
Employee works at ‘Employment A’ and earns X amount. Then they leave ‘Employment A’ and work at ‘Employment B’. In their first wage at ‘Employment B’ they receive a tax refund (for whatever reason), but they then leave ‘Employment B’ after that wage. The employee returns to ‘Employment A’. At this point their ‘Prev. Eer’ tax is actually negative, as it only includes the values at ‘Employment B’, and that included a tax refund. This could apply for tax or usc.

A Reminder of How Re-Instating a Leaver used to work Pre – Payroll Modernisation:
Historically, when an operator needed to re-instate an employee the procedure was to take the ‘This Employment’ figure from the Total Pay on the P45 and enter the remainder in the ‘Prev P45’ line: