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:
Log in to your ROS account in the normal manner.
Go to My Services > Employer Services > View Payroll
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
To view the detailed contents of a payroll submission, simply click the View button at the end of the submission line.
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:
Software Version Number – is it the latest version number – does the Payroll need an update?
Ensure/Check the Anti-Virus is off/excluded and is not conflicting with the submission
Make sure the cert can be used to log into ROS on the ROS website.
Make sure there is a Tax Reg number in the company settings.
Check in Regional Settings on the PC that the Date Format is DD/MM/YYYY
Re-Set the Calendar (Company/Payroll \ Calendar \New Calendar)
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.
Re-Start the PC
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 [email protected][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.
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:
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:
For weekly payrolls, payments to employees should be on the same day every week – including over Christmas.
Holiday pay for days taken in 2019 need to be paid in the 2019 payroll.
Holiday pay for days taken in 2020 (ie: 2nd/3rd Jan) need to be paid in the 2020 payroll.
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.
If the company did not plan for 53 pay dates year at the beginning of the year, then they should not be having one.
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.
After the customer has run their Sage Payroll V22.4 Update and entered their new CWPS ‘Week 1’ payroll (CWPS Week Dated 30/09/2019 – 04/10/2019), they encounter issues with the data that shows in the CWPS Contributions Report.
Symptoms:
The report either shows no data for ‘Pay Week’ 1 (Run Report Week1 – Week1)
Or it shows data at old rates, and for ‘Pay Week’ 39 or 40 (or whichever might be applicable to that payroll) (Run Report Week1 – Week52)
Cause:
This happens because the new CWPS Calendar was setup after setting the period in question. When you click Set Period – in the background the software grabs the appropriate ‘CWPS’ week number from the CWPS Calendar, based on the ‘Period Date’ field for the period and saves the CWPS data (per timesheet) against the chosen CWPS week number in the CWPS history table. If the new CWPS Calendar is not setup before Set Period, the set period screen will grab the CWPS week number from the ‘Old’ calendar (that being maybe 39 or 40). Some users will notice this in the Set Period screen and will change it themselves. Some wont:
Solution:
As the CWPS week number on the Set Period screen can only be changed at status SOP, the only solution is to:
(Carry out the steps in the order shown below)
Restore back to the previous period EOP (EG: EOP 38)
Check the CWPS Rates are still the new ones. (If they are not – run the update again or change them manually).
Set up the New CWPS Calendar (Start Date 30/09/2019)
Set the period in question (EG: Period 39) making sure that the CWPS Section of the Set Period Screen says ‘Week From: 1’ and ‘Week To: 1’ (If weekly payroll). This may say ‘Week From: 1’ and ‘Week To: 4’ if it’s a monthly payroll.
Clear the CWPS Balances: Click Year End at the top of the screen and then click New Construction Pension Year. Click yes to the message when prompted.
Check CWPS Report (Week 1 – Week 52) to confirm it is blank.
Run Timesheets again.
Run EOP.
Check CWPS Report Again (Week 1 – Week 1) – It should be ok now.
The Calendar year for the Construction Workers Pension Scheme changed back in 2019. In previous years it has been a ‘Jan – Dec’ year. From 1st October 2019, it changed to an ‘Oct – Sept’ year. Due to the new CWPS calendar year, the CWPS Rates will be changing annually on the 1st of October.
V23.4 supports those increases to the Construction Workers Pensions Scheme (CWPS) which come in to effect from 1st of October 2020. When installed, the update will immediately apply changes to the necessary rates. If this applies to your payroll, then this update will help you to remain compliant. Please note though, that this update will need to be installed on a particular period so as not to apply the increases too soon.
You will need to carry out the following steps to complete the update:
Choose the Appropriate Period to Run the Update
Backup Your Payroll
Download & Install The Update prior to setting your ‘Applicable Period’
Set up the new CWPS Calendar prior to setting your ‘Applicable Period’
Set your Applicable Period (‘Period Date’ must be on or after 28/09/2020)
Browse The New Rates & Check Categories
Clear the CWPS Balance History
Run your CWPS Report (1-52) to confirm it is blank.
Process Timesheets
Check CWPS Report to confirm rates used are correct.
Steps 1-8 are detailed below:
1. Choose the Appropriate Period to Run the Update:
If the change in CWPS rates effect your payroll, then it is imperative that you install the update at the appropriate time. At the moment you install the update, the CWPS Rates will change in your payroll software. As the rate increase is only applicable from 1st of October 2020, ideally you should wait to install the update, until ‘End Of Period’ of your last September payroll. That is, the last September payroll where ‘Pay Date’ is a September 2020 Date (See ‘Pay Date’ in Image Below).
You can check this in advance, by clicking the ‘Company/Payroll’ menu at the top of the screen, and choosing ‘Calendar’. In the example below, as the applicable period is Period 40, it would be appropriate to run the update and set up the new CWPS Calendar at End of Period 39. This way the new rates and new CWPS Calendar will exist before setting the first CWPS Period (CWPS Week1).
Your payroll(s) may differ to this example, so check the calendar in each of your payrolls, before processing timesheets.
2. Backup Your Payroll
We recommend to take a backup of your payroll data, in your usual manner, before running an update.
It may also be advisable to print off your CWPS Report for CWPS Weeks 1-52, prior to making the necessary changes to CWPS, as this report will be cleared later in the process.
3. Download & Install The 23.4 Update prior to setting your ‘Applicable Period’:
As per step 1 above, make sure you have chosen the correct moment to install the 23.4 update, as the CWPS Rate changes must not be used until your appropriate period. Once you have identified the moment you need to run the update in, you can click the link below to download the update. Run the update in the usual manner.
In order to comply with the new CWPS calendar year format, you will need to set up a new CWPS calendar. To do this:
Click on ‘Company/Payroll’ menu.
Choose the ‘Construction Workers Pension’ option.
In the window that is presented click on the ‘Calendar’ tab.
In here click on the ‘Create New Calendar’ button.
Enter the start date of 28/09/2020 (This is the Monday of the first week of the new CWPS calendar).
Click ‘Create’
Click ‘OK’
The new Calendar should look like this:
5. Set your Applicable Period:
Set you applicable period number. ensure that your ‘Period Date’ is on or after 28/09/2020. This date (28th Sept) is the start date for the new CWPS Calendar. If your period date is prior to this, your CWPS contributions may not report into the correct period. In the example above, this is period 40. Your applicable period may differ to this.
Note On ‘Set Period’:When you click ‘Set Period’ make sure that the ‘Week To’ and ‘Week From’ fields in the ‘CWPS’ area of the screen are: both equal to ‘1’ if running a weekly payroll, or show From ‘1’ To ‘5’ if running a monthly payroll. If this is not correct, then your CWPS data may report to the incorrect CWPS ‘Pay Week’.
6. Browse The New Rates & Check Categories:
After you have set the period, browse the CWPS categories & new rates under the ‘Company/Payroll’ menu – ‘Construction Workers Pension’ option. The new rates are listed here.
There are only three Active Categories: POC (Pension Only no DIS), SPB (Pension/Sick Pay) and SPI (Standard Contrib + Industry Additions). Other earlier categories are no longer in use:
It is also advisable to browse your employees, and ensure that they are assigned to the correct category. To do this:
Choose the relevant employee in ‘Employee Details’, Click ‘Deductions’ Tab, Under ‘Construction Worker’s Pension Scheme’ select the correct category from the drop down list. Click Save.
7. Clear the CWPS Balance History:
From the menu bar at the top of your window, click Year End then click New Construction Pension Year.
When you receive the prompt to clear the balances and history, to continue, click Yes.
8. Run your CWPS Report (New Year 1-52) to confirm it is blank:
Click ‘Other Reports’
Choose ‘Construction Pension’ on the left hand side.
Click ‘Preview’
There should be no data for any ‘Pay Weeks’ in the report.
9. Process Timesheets:
Once you have carried out steps 1-8 above, you can continue to process your timesheets & do End Of Period as normal.
10. Check CWPS Report to confirm rates used are correct:
Check your CWPS Report after EOP to view contributions at new rates for CWPS Week1. Ensure the rates are correct before completing CWPS Week1 in your payroll, as if they are not correct, you will need to re-process at the correct rates.
System requirements – Sage Payroll (Micropay) 19/08/2019
This article details the system requirements for installing and operating Sage Payroll (previously known as Micropay). You can also find information about how to check your computer’s specifications.
Recommended system requirements
Processor speed
2Ghz processor or equivalent.
Operating System
The following are supported:
Windows 10 November Update version 1511 – 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64).
Windows 10 version 1507 – 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64).
Windows 8.1 – 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64).
While you can install and run Sage Payroll on Windows 8.0, we recommend you update to Windows 8.1 if you haven’t already done so. Windows 8.1 is a patch release to resolve multiple issues in Windows 8.0.
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 – 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64).
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 – 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64).
Windows Server 2012 – 64-bit (x64).
Windows Server 2012 R2 – 64-bit (x64).
Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 – 64-bit (x64).
Please ensure all the latest Microsoft service packs and updates are installed.
On 14 January 2020, Microsoft will end all support for Windows 7 operating system, including security updates. However we strongly recommend that you upgrade to windows 10 before this date.
As an alternative to upgrading your operating system you can simply move your sage Software onto a computer that already has a newer Operating System on it.
RAM (memory)
2 gigabytes (GB).
Free disk space
2GB after installation. You also need additional space for data files.
Network speed
1Gbps (100 Mbps minimum).
Backup media
USB memory stick.
Microsoft .NET
Framework 4.6.2.
Other requirements
Internet Explorer v11 or higher.
An Internet connection.
Latest version of Adobe Reader, or an equivalent PDF reader.
Screen resolution between 1024 x 768 and 1920 x 1080 – this applies to 4k and hi-res monitors.
Antivirus software should be configured to exclude Sage files from its scanning routines.
Administrator Account
Office integration
Some features of your Sage payroll software interact with and require an installation of Microsoft Office.
These features include:
Emailing payslips and reports.
Exporting reports to Microsoft Excel.
Sage Payroll isn’t compatible with 64-bit editions of Microsoft Office.
Office versions that are compatible
Microsoft Office 365 (32-bit desktop edition).
Microsoft Office 2016 (32-bit desktop edition).
Microsoft Office 2013 (32-bit desktop edition).
Microsoft Office 2010 (32-bit desktop edition).
Microsoft Office 2007.
Microsoft Office 2003.
Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 are no longer supported by Microsoft, therefore we’re limited in the support we can offer. We can help with basic steps, however if these don’t work, you should upgrade your software to a more recent version.
Supported types of installation
You can run Sage Payroll as a standalone type install or server/client arrangement.
The following network configurations are not supported:
Peer to peer network.
Citrix client-server network.
Wide area network (WAN).
Virtual-Machine platforms or configuration (VM-ware).
Check the operating system
Press the Windows key + R.
Type winver then click OK.
This opens the About Windows window which displays the operating system details.
If you’re using an Apple Mac computer, you can see the Apple symbol at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Sage Micropay isn’t currently tested on this type of operating system.
On 14 January 2020, Microsoft will end all support for Windows 7 operating system, including security updates. However we strongly recommend that you upgrade to windows 10 before this date.
As an alternative to upgrading your operating system you can simply move your sage Software onto a computer that already has a newer Operating System on it.
Check Microsoft .Net Framework
Press the Windows key + R.
Type appwiz.cpl then click OK.A list of installed programs appears.
Scroll down and check if the entries for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 are listed.
If Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 is installed, you don’t need to take any further action. If it’s not installed, you must download and install it from the Microsoft website.
Check other computer specifications
Operating system, processor speed and RAM
Press the Windows key + R .
Type msinfo32 then click OK.
Check other computer specifications
Operating system, processor speed and RAM
Press the Windows key + R .
Type msinfo32 then click OK.
If the memory appears in KB (Kilobytes), to calculate the equivalent in MB (Megabytes) you can divide the figure by 1024. Alternatively, use the following values as a guide:
1 GB = 1024 MB = 1,048,576 KB
512MB = 524,288 KB
256MB = 262,144 KB
128MB = 131,072 KB
64MB = 65,536 KB
32MB = 32,768 KB
16MB = 16,384 KB
Free disk space
Press the Windows key + E.
Depending on your version of Windows, complete one of the following options:
Windows 10
Click This PC, then right-click C: and left-click Properties.
Windows 8
Click Computer, then right-click C: and left-click Properties.
Windows 7 or below
Right-click C:, then left-click Properties.
Internet Explorer version
Open Internet Explorer.
On the menu bar, click Help then click About Internet Explorer.
If the Help menu doesn’t appear, press the Alt key on your keyboard.
Display settings
From your Windows desktop, click Start.
Depending on your version of Windows, complete one of the following options:
+ R.
