KB Category: Sage Payroll (Micropay)

COVID 19 – Payroll Related, Coronavirus Information.

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.

 

 

 

Installing Sage Payroll (Micropay)

To install Sage Payroll (Micropay) follow these steps.

1. Ensure you have the following set up on the new computer to allow a successful installation of the payroll software, you may need to consult with your IT service provider to get these set up.

a. The Windows operating system has the latest updates installed.
b. The Windows login you are using has full administrator rights for that computer.
c. Any anti-virus and the “User Access Control” is turned off while installing so that they do not block the installation.

2. Run the installation program for the version of the software required (note: these can be found on the Pimbrook website download area). The program will bring you through the installation steps, continue through these taking the following options where appropriate depending on the installation set up required.

3.  Choose the installation type required, either “This Computer” for a standalone installation on the current computer only or “Client/Server” for a networked installation across multiple computers. If the “Client/Server” is required, install the “Server” first and then install the “Client” by running the install program again.

4. Select the installation settings when the screen below is shown,

5. Click “Typical” to install the software into the default directory paths or click “Custom” to display and change these directory paths.

6. The confirmation screen will be displayed showing the directory paths and other settings that will be used for the installation.

7. Click “Install” to perform the installation. (If you wish to change any of the settings click “Back”.).

8. If you are performing a “Client/Server” installation and you have completed the “Server” install, you will need to run the installation program again and follow the above steps but select “Client” at step 3 this time, otherwise you have completed the installation.

Moving Sage Payroll (Micropay) to a new computer

Moving your Sage Payroll (Micropay) from an old computer to a new computer involves an number of steps to install the software on the new machine and to copy over any local data.

The correct procedure is outlined below:

1. Take note of the “Program and Data Directories” from your current payroll installation on the old computer. This is shown under “Help –  System Information” in your Sage Payroll software.

2. If your Sage Payroll is installed on a “Standalone Computer”, copy these “Program and Data Directory” folders to the same locations on the new computer, if it is a Client/Server installation, copy just the “Program Directory” to the same location on the new computer. These folders are by year so you should copy all folders for the years that you require to the new computer, if you want them all, then copy the parent folder (e.g. “C:\ProgramData\Micropay Professional”
(Note: If the Sage Payroll Data Directory will be different on the new computer you will need to change the dataloc.ini file before you run the latest software. To do this go to the Sage Payroll “Program Directory” (as per 1 above) and browse to the dataloc.ini file. Copy this file out to the Desktop. Double click and open with Notepad. Change the path for the data, save the file and then copy into each year in the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Micropay Professional” or “C:\Program Files (x86)\Sage Payroll Irl” folder, if you are prompted that the file already exists, overwrite it).

3. If you have ROS certificates on the computer for payroll submissions then these may need to be copied to the new computer. You should find out where the certificates are on the old computer and copy these to the new computer, this is done as follows:

  • On the old computer, open Sage Payroll
  • Select “Retrieve RPNs”.
  • This will show you the folder path and file name of the ROS certificates (e.g. something like “C:\ROS\DigiitalROSCert.p12.bac”)
  • In Windows take a copy the ROS certificate file.
  • Move this copied certificate file to an ROS folder on the new computer (e.g. “C:\ROS”, you may need to create this folder).
  • After Sage Payroll is installed on the new computer (see step 4 below) you will need to set the ROS Digital Certificate when you first “Retrieve RPNs”. This is done by browsing to the new folder where the ROS certificate was copied to (see above) and selecting the certificate file. You will most likely have to enter your ROS password and save this.

4. Run the latest update of Sage Payroll (see Installing Sage Payroll) and check the Program Directory and Data Directory match the directories copied in 2 above during the installation.

 

 

 

 

Sage Payroll Software Update – Version 23.1

Sage Payroll update version 23.1 is now available.

What’s New:
  1. The primary change in this update relates to an increase in the national minimum wage by 30c to €10.10 and consequently the Class ‘A’ employer PRSI threshold will increase from €386 to €395. The two are not effective until 1st Feb 2020, but the update can be installed anytime before this date, as the software will only apply the new legislation changes to any payrolls dated February 2020 onwards.
  2. Update Timesheet “Over 65” Warning to “Over 66” (as 65 was the incorrect age.)
  3. “Set Period” will generate an error if the pay date is not within the current tax year.
  4. Employees who were not paid in the period, are now excluded from the Control Summary ‘Employee count’.
  5. In line with number 4 above, Employees with ‘no pay due’ will now be excluded from the Bank Transfer, Cash Dissection, Cheque Register & Credit Transfer Reports.
  6. Fix to Payments Report (Export to Excel) to include decimal places.

 

Installing the Update:

You may be prompted to install the update from your Sage Payroll software, if not you can download and install it from the Pimbrook download area. The procedure for this is the same as with any prior payroll update – see notes below:

  1. Ensure you have the correct version of software for the update. To see the version, open Sage Payroll 2020, click Help then click System Information. The version should begin with v23, if it does not, please install the payroll year end update, v23 – see here Sage Payroll Year End 2019 Update .
  2. Make a note of the Program Directory and Data Directory.
  3. Check that all of your payrolls have a status of End of Period (EOP) or Start of Period (SOP).
  4. Back up your payroll data.
  5. Close Sage Payroll 2020 and all other software.
  6. Log in to the computer as administrator (or as a user with administrator rights) and turn off any anti-virus and “User Account Control”.
  7. Download the update from the Pimbrook Download area by clicking here.
  8. Execute the downloaded file and follow the install steps, ensure the program and data directories are the same as noted in 2 above, for more information see our article on Sage Payroll Update Instructions and Preparation.

 

Important Note:

Please ensure that you install the update correctly, particularly if you are using a network installation and the data location is not on the same computer. If you find that some employees are on PRSI class A1 regardsless of their PRSI eligible pay then you probabaly have not applied the update to your data location (i.e. the server). If this occurs please reinstall the update correctly to all required locations (i.e. client and server computers).

 

 

 

View Payroll Submissions In ROS

Most modern payroll software systems provide a notification to confirm when you submit a payroll submission to Revenue and may allow you to view/print a log of this (for Sage Payroll see point 13 in this article Payroll Submission Report – PSR) . However you may want to verify this or check back on historic submissions..

You can do this by viewing your payroll submissions on the ROS website as outlined in the following steps:

  1. Log in to your ROS account in the normal manner.
  2. Go to My Services > Employer Services > View Payroll
  3.  By default, your most recent payroll run submission will be displayed automatically on screen, with recent submissions listed underneath. A ‘Search by’facility is also provided in order to assist in locating a specific payroll submission.
    Please note
    :where a correction has been made to a particular payroll run, both the original submission and the correction submission will be available for viewing
  4.  To view the detailed contents of a payroll submission, simply click the View button at the end of the submission line.

 

‘Stuck’ Submission – Things To Try or Submit To Sage

When a submission is ‘Stuck’ it usually appears like it is attempting to transmit, but the progress circle  spins endlessly.

Before investigating – log on to the Customers ROS account, and check if the submission is present or not. This will determine what route the investigation needs to take.

Here is a list of things to try / consider if a submission is ‘stuck’ and will not complete – easiest ones first:
If you discover a new solution to a stuck rpn/submission – please add it to this list.

Things To Try:

  1. Software Version Number – is it the latest version number – does the Payroll need an update?
  2. Ensure/Check the Anti-Virus is off/excluded and is not conflicting with the submission
  3. Make sure the cert can be used to log into ROS on the ROS website.
  4. Make sure there is a Tax Reg number in the company settings.
  5. Check in Regional Settings on the PC that the Date Format is DD/MM/YYYY
  6. Re-Set the Calendar (Company/Payroll \ Calendar \New Calendar)
  7. If Re-Setting the Calendar works – then go ahead and replace the PAYCAL.DBF and PAYCAL.CDX files in the system with blank ones from an empty system. Copy out the original ones first, then paste in the empty ones – After that set the Calendar again. Company/Payroll \ Calendar \New Calendar.
  8. Re-Start the PC
  9. Check if there are any Windows Updates Pending on the PC. Some stuck submissions have been solved by running the updates & re-starting the PC. You may need IT assistance for this.


Further Investigation:

If the problem is not local, then it could be that the submission is stuck at sage’s RTX server and needs to be pushed through to ROS.  You can further investigate this by using the ‘Fiddler’ Web Debugger tool to interrogate the web activity. Click here for instructions on how to do this.


Request Sage To Clear The Stuck Submission:

Failing solving the problem, you may need to request Sage to clear it from the list of ‘Stuck Submissions’
To do this, fill in the form below and send it to pye@sage.ie [No Need to submit a backup]
Add the Pimbrook case number to the subject of the email.
Sage will respond by email – this sometimes takes 24 – 48 hours.
Its advisable not to paste any images into the email, as it will be returned by Sage as unusable – and would have to be submitted again.

Your Account Number:  00555248
Your Contact Email: support@pimbrook.ie
Client Company Name:
Payroll Name:
Spinning on Retrieving RPN or Submitting PSR?:
Has the stuck submission from Sage Payroll been received by Revenue?:
What is the payroll unique identifier?: Copy & Paste GUID characters here (To get this, browse to Reports > Report Writer > Data Files = Company > File > Fields > Company->Payroll Unique Identifier)
What date and time was the request last attempted?

 

 

RPN Delivering Negative ‘Prev. Er’ figures (incorrectly)

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:

Year End Dates & Week 53

Based on discussions at the Payroll User Forum in October 2019, I made the following notes.
They are based on the 2019 Year End / 2020 Year Start, but they apply to any year.

 

Sage KBA for Covering the topic of  Week53:

Sage have produced ASK 32326, which covers the Week53 topic, which is very good.

Revenue Preferences:
  1. For weekly payrolls, payments to employees should be on the same day every week – including over Christmas.
  2. Holiday pay for days taken in 2019 need to be paid in the 2019 payroll.
  3. Holiday pay for days taken in 2020 (ie: 2nd/3rd Jan) need to be paid in the 2020 payroll.
  4. Where a company are going to run 3 weeks ahead, ie: Period 51, 52 and another one – the pay date rule applies: If the pay date of the 3rd week is in 2019 then it would be a week 53 in the 2019 system. If the pay date of the 3rd week is in 2020 then it would be week 1 in the 2020 system.
  5. If the company did not plan for 53 pay dates year at the beginning of the year, then they should not be having one.
  6. It is Revenue’s intention to contact any company who process a period 53.


Pay Date Rule:
The pay date rule basically means that if the pay date is a 2019 date then it belongs in the 2019 payroll and if the pay date is a 2020 date then it belongs in the 2020 payroll.
All scenarios are governed by the pay date rule.


Problem Scenario:
I identified the following to the user panel, which is causing confusing pay date scenario:
When the calendar is set at the start of a payroll year, the software calculates the number of periods based on the Period Date, but based on the prominence of the Pay Date field now, the number of periods in a year should actually be calculated by the Pay Date field. (Sage agreed.)

Not having the pay date as the date by which the number of weeks are measured when setting up the calendar, will cause the following problem. This example is of a weekly payroll where the period date is three days before the pay date, on a weekly basis: Period Date: Tuesday 01/01/2019 with Pay Date: Friday 04/01/2019.  It seems to be specific to payrolls where the Period 1 had a period date of 01/01/2019.

If the customer has already done 52 weeks in 2019 then it would be ok to suggest to them that the week with suggested paydate in 2020 system (above), should be processed as Week 1 in 2020 to satisfy Revenue. The customer will be tempted to run the period 53 in 2019 and change the pay date of period 53 to be Tue 31st Dec, but as per discussions at the Payroll Forum – revenue prefer if payroll operators would stick to the same day of the week for pay dates. This reason can be used a leverage to steer the customer in the right direction.

In a payroll where the user always sets the period date the same as the pay date, there are no issues.

At the end of the day we can’t control what the payroll operator does, we can only advise them. In all cases, refer the user back to the Pay Date rule, and ‘Revenue Preferences’ above.

 

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