Run your payroll with a Sage Payroll Software solution – up to date with the latest … What’s more, it’s easy, adaptable, affordable, and ideal for small and medium sized … that suit your needs, and change or add new modules as and when you need to. … Flexible solutions designed to meet the payroll needs of your business …
The next time you update your software you’ll notice Micropay has a new name, Sage Payroll.
Sage Payroll has all the same great functionality of Micropay and you can use it in exactly the same way as before. It will be updated for all future legislation changes such as the GDPR and Revenue’s PAYE Modernisation Project, commencing January 2019.
To help you prepare for the GDPR, the Payroll Data Checker will flag information older than 6 years.
You’ll also be able to cater for employees who have exclusion orders for PAYE. In order to help you with PAYE Modernisation, you’ll also be able to flag statuses for Proprietary or Non-Proprietary Directors.
For more information please contact sales@pimbrook.ie or call us 051 395 900
Make sure you’re fully compliant when it comes to your P35 Annual Return by using Sage Micropay to automate the task. Not only can it save you a fine of up to €5,000, but it also makes sure your employees are protected.
We’d all love to get on with our primary business – without any interruptions. In the real world, however, the typical business spends much of its time on admin work that’s often not that productive, but simply has to be done.
In the area of compliance, for example, every registered employer is obliged to submit a P35 Annual Return after the end of the tax year. It includes details of everyone the company employed at any time during the tax year.
It can sound like a lot of trouble, but the reality is that you can automate the task via modern payroll software such as Sage Micropay. And by doing so, it not only makes sure that full details of all payments or benefits paid to employees are fully accounted for, but you’ll also avoid some very costly penalties if you fail to pay and file on time.
Essentially, there are two methods open to you when it comes to filing your Return. If you’re registered with Revenue’s Online Service (ROS), then this is your simplest way of doing it. You can not only file the Return, you can also pay any balance due. And don’t forget that with Sage Micropay you can upload your P35 electronically (and also file online for manual payrolls).
Under normal circumstances, the Filing deadline is February 15th, but if you pay and file using the ROS system, this is extended to February 23rd. It makes sense, however, to sort this task as soon as possible – it’s then one less chore to take your eye off the prize, and having it completed lets you get on with the rest of the year without this hanging over your head.
The second way to make a Return is via a Paper Return. This option is only available to customers who don’t have access to ROS and who are not mandatory e-filers. Once you’re approved by Revenue to submit Paper Returns, you will receive all the forms you need.
There are three main areas that must be included;
First off, it has to include details of all employees during the tax year – regardless of how short a period they may have worked for.
You also need to include Directors, and also any Family Members who may have been employed (for whatever period) during the year in question.
In the case of new employees who joined you during the year, you’re only obliged to record details of their employment with you. Also note that any departing employees need to be included.
Another category to include relates to recurring employment. If, for example, you have employed the same person for three periods of a month, you need to aggregate these periods to create a single record. You also need to include PAYE Exclusion Order employees.
If you did not have any employees during the year and are registered with Revenue as an employer, you need to file a ‘Nil’ P35.
As well as income details, you are also obliged to include any benefits the employee may have enjoyed.
For example, you must include;
If you’re going through ROS and file any time after 23rd January, any balancing payment has to be submitted with the P35. If you’re filing before this date, however, the December P30 payment may not be deducted from your account yet. This must be taken into account when calculating any balancing P35 payment that may be due.
P35 overpayments due for refund need to be claimed either on the P35 Annual Return Declaration or in writing. Failure to do so means that a refund or offset will not be processed and you will lose out. ROS filers should claim any overpayment by completing the ‘Total refund amount’ field on the P35 Declaration on ROS, and any valid refunds will be credited in due course to your nominated bank account.
When you are uploading the P35 to ROS it is called a P35L even if it is an amended or supplementary P35.
Assuming that you have filed the original P35, you can make adjustments to the details provided by filing either an amended or a supplementary P35.
An amended P35 should be used to revise employee details on a P35L that has already been submitted.
A supplementary P35 must be used, however, when an employee who was omitted from the original P35 is to be added to the overall return
Yes there are. A penalty for not filing the P35, up to a maximum of €5,000 can apply. Revenue may also attach interest on late payments. It’s essential that you observe the relevant date and pay on time, but this task can be easily automated via Sage Micropay.
This informative morning, will focus on Sage Micropay and taking the stress out of the payroll year end process.
Christmas can be a stressful time. Running around trying to find the perfect gift, last minute shopping, long queues, over-spending, the list goes on! Take this time to think of your poor payroll staff, on top of all of this, they have to process the payroll year end file, keeping everything legislatively compliant.
To help take some of the pressure off, Pimbrook are running seminars around the country bringing you step by step through the payroll year end procedure. We supply a booklet with a checklist and screenshots, allowing for a smooth transition.
Our Dublin seminar is being held on 8th December in The Kingswood Hotel, Kingswood Village, Naas Road, Dublin 22 – morning 9.45am – 12.45pm.
Contact us at sales@pimbrook.ie for more details, or Book Your Place Now!
Micropay Professional V19.3 Install (PYE) (exe)
Micropay Payroll Year End 2017 Instructions (pdf).
Quickpay 17.2 Install (PYE) (exe)
Quickpay Payroll Year End Instructions (pdf)
How to set up a Monthly Calendar
Setting up a Consolidation Company
Check if you have an extra Pay Period – week 53
Manually Enter or Import Pension Tracing Numbers
Medical insurance eligible for tax relief
ROS P2C Export – Micropay Import
The self-employed make up a hugely important part of our economy, and the numbers who ‘write their own pay cheque’ shows no sign of abating. In many ways, they’re the same as those in regular employment, but when it comes to pensions, the differences can be very significant.
When the self-employed talk about their working lives, they can readily cite numerous reasons why the lifestyle suits them – anything from more flexible working hours to a sense of autonomy. When they talk about the negatives, the list tends to be shorter, but inevitably it includes the fact that there’s no regular pay cheque.
This lack of certainty in the life of the self-employed has a major impact on their willingness to commit to a pension, which will make a monthly financial demand on them for thirty or forty years. And because they’re looking to invest any money they have in their business, things like pensions often get pushed further and further onto the long finger.
This is probably the biggest single mistake they can make, as the most impressive plus point of a pension is the power of compounding, i.e. the impact that even a low interest rate can make when compounded over decades. Even at very modest growth rates, compounding elevates the monthly sums contributed at a rate of knots, and the eventual ‘pot’ that you can look forward to is usually way higher than you initially expected. And in cases where the growth rate is higher, in better-performing pension funds, the power of compounding makes your pension grow almost beyond recognition.
The fact of the matter is that the earlier you start to make payments into a pension, the lower a percentage of your income you need to commit. For example, if you’re thirty when you start, it’s recommended that you allocate 15% of your income, but this climbs to 20% at age 40 and 25% at age 50.
We understand, of course, that 15% of your income may seem like an awful lot when you’re 30, but after the first six months, you very quickly get used to your adjusted disposable income and soon forget that you’re even paying into a pension. It becomes just another budgeted item in your work life – the same as your mobile phone bill or running a van or the upkeep of a small office.
And don’t forget that the size of your ‘pension pot’ is not just influenced by how much you personally put into it, but also by the State’s contribution, in the form of tax relief. This additional element makes a massive difference to how much you’ll eventually take from your pension – and the lifestyle that this will finance.
It’s also important to remember that the level of risk you opt for in a pension can change from stage to stage in your life. In your earlier years, it may be appropriate to invest some of your funds in slightly more volatile funds, with the potential of higher gains. As you draw closer to retirement age, however, you should be ‘playing it safe’ and sticking to more predictable returns. When setting up your pension, you need to ask your Advisor about this ability to move the risk lever from time to time.
Another piece of good advice for the self-employed is to be realistic about how long you want to work for. When you’re thirty, it may be tempting to think you can work till you’re 75, but what if ill health spoils the party? Or what if you just become disenchanted with work and want to take a break when you’re 65? You need to ‘assume the worst’ and have a pension that’s capable of providing for you at the earlier, more realistic age. If it transpires that you eventually keep working till 75, that’s great – but it shouldn’t be a part of your financial plan.
Another big consideration for the self-employed in considering how much they’ll invest in their pension and the expected cost of supporting your lifestyle in retirement. You should have a rough budget made out as to what you will be spending – and not spending – after retirement.
It’s likely, for example, that your mortgage will be paid off, and your kids will be educated and hopefully left the nest. This will represent a big saving. But perhaps healthcare may be a bigger cost as you grow older. And perhaps all that free time will bring out the itch to travel – could you afford to live in the winter sun for a few months a year, for example?
Similarly, you may benefit from a ‘windfall’ if you decide to downsize your family home, but remember that you simply don’t know how long you’re going to live for, so it’s hard to estimate how much per annum in extra income this might yield.
The bottom line for the self-employed, when it comes to pensions, is that no retiree has ever regretted starting too early or investing too much in their retirement fund. Start today – and do a massive favour for the older you!
Outside of the self-employed area, the same reasons for joining a pension plan apply to those who earn a regular pay cheque from their employers. The earlier that your employees start to plan for what is liable to be a lengthy portion of their lives, the better-quality lifestyle they can look forward to when retirement time eventually comes. And by making membership of a pension plan easier for your employees, you increase satisfaction levels and reduce the risk of costly staff turnover.
If your company is one of the many forward-thinking organisations that offers an employee pension scheme, it’s comforting to know that Sage Micropay includes functionality around pensions, PRSA and Added Value Contributions, so handling deductions around a staff pension scheme has simply never been easier.
Whenever the topic of investing in staff training crops up, the chances are that someone will pipe up with “What if we train them and they leave?” But turn that thought on its head – what if you DON’T train them and they STAY?
The fact of the matter is that well-trained staff are one of your biggest assets, and can contribute to the success of your company in a whole host of complementary ways. Training should not be regarded as a Profit and Loss item, but rather as an investment in your staff that will pay dividends for years to come. If you change your mind-set to look at training in this light, you can clearly see why there’s a clear business case to be made for having well-trained staff across all functions of your business.
The points above around training in general apply with equal certainty to pretty much every aspect of your business, but when it comes to training your staff in the area of Payroll and Accounting Software, we have a very specialist set of expertise that can genuinely take your staff to the next level.
Under the heading of Accounting Software, for example, we were Sage 50 Irish Partner of the Year 2016, proof positive of our excellence in this area.
We are also acknowledged experts in Sage Micropay, a highly sophisticated yet easy-to-use payroll software that’s perfect for medium to large Irish companies, and takes care of all Irish Revenue compliance requirements.
The bottom line is that training, in general terms, is one of the most important considerations when it comes to having staff that constantly exceed your clients’ expectations. But in more specific terms, when you’re ready to move your staff to the next level in terms of Payroll System and Accounting Software, you need to talk to Pimbrook.
Contact us today on 051 395 900 – and let’s get the ball rolling!
As far back as biblical times, it was proposed that “the worker deserves his wages” (Timothy 5:18). By the 14th century, Chaucer immortalized this notion through the term we still use today – “the labourer is worthy of his hire”. And for every labourer in the workforce today, there is a need for a fast and efficient payroll process that makes sure he or she is paid on time.
The way payroll is managed frequently depends on the development stage of the business. Payroll for a start-up, for example, is often manual, with payroll software not considered until the number of employees grows.
But whatever the size of the company, there are certain core principles that can be applied to help you streamline how you manage your payroll, minimising the use of valuable management time and maximising employee satisfaction.
In many companies, the payroll process consists of varying pay schedules. The management may be paid monthly, while the rest of staff are paid hourly or weekly. This can often lead to errors, with payroll staff having to handle multiple schedules – and possibly even different schedules for different departments with different pay rates.
If this is the case in your business, make sure you opt for payroll software that has the capacity to handle it – regardless of how many schedules there may be.
When you have a small business, a manual payroll system with a daily paper trail may seem more favorable. However, it is quite tedious – and quite error-prone. Hard records are difficult to manage, not to mention costly and time-consuming. Even if you are a small business or a start-up, there are a number of affordable payroll software options available. Payroll software allows you to easily keep track of data.
It also secures this sensitive private data, and allows you to manage who has access to it. And don’t forget that research indicates a majority of employees are in favour of receiving their payroll information electronically, so it’s very much a Win-Win situation. The electronic route also allows you to email documents such as payslips or p60s – and even import or upload to ROS.
Payroll management is not a static profession. It must constantly evolve to meet the changing needs of Revenue, the organization itself, and dynamic new technology coming on the market. Because of this, you need to keep the payroll professionals in your company fully up-to-speed. Plan for their training and development sessions, and introduce them regularly to new tools and services available. And to cover holidays or unforeseen illness, make sure that you train back-up as well.
Employees can often become confused about how the payroll system works. Many of their complaints can be resolved by making them more aware of the process. They should have a good understanding of what is written in their contracts, and you should also be clear and transparent about what payments are made from their salaries. An effective payroll process can up employee satisfaction levels, reducing costly staff churn.
Payroll for small business can be a bit overwhelming at times. There can often be a significant lack of resources during the developmental stage of a company, and any capital knocking round is often used for growing the business.
To manage the company’s time and money more effectively, a small business should consider outsourcing the function to a third-party company, drawing on the services of established professionals in payroll management.
Keeping up with changing tax regulations and other governmental legislation is a must for all businesses. If you fail to comply or meet the deadlines set by Revenue, you may be the cause of an unwanted and undue financial burden. An effective payroll system will help you to stay updated on changing payroll regulations.
Before choosing your payroll software solution, you should consult with the people who will actually be using the software on a regular basis. This can be done after preliminary research has been conducted and a shortlist of potential solutions has been compiled.
Don’t just buy a payroll software solution for today – make sure that it has the capacity to meet your growing needs in the future. For example, there may be a need in the future to link your payroll system to a time and attendance system. Or perhaps to integrate things like pension schemes or other deductions. Also consider whether your software can handle issues like holidays, bonus payments, special weekend rates etc.
