IRIS Payroll April 2021Product Update
April 2021 Update
We are constantly striving to enhance the functionality IRIS Payroll delivers to its users. This product update provides information on new features, enhancements and fixes delivered in April 2021 and the April 2021 patch release.
Complete release notes are available in IRIS Payroll Release Notes
Student Loan Thresholds – The annual thresholds have been updated in line with legislation for 2021/2022.
- Plan Type 1 increased from £19,390 to £19,895
- Plan Type 2 increased from £26,575 to £27,295
- Plan Type 4 is new for April 2021 and has a threshold of £25,000
- Postgraduate Student Loans remains at £21,000
Tax Code Changes – In line with legislative changes, moving into the new tax year (2021/2022) will automatically uplift tax codes if required.
Tax rates updated for 2021/2022 – Tax, NI, SSP, SMP, SAP, SPP & ShPP
Minimum Wage – Minimum wages rates have been updated in line with legislation for 2021/2022.
AE Parameters – The AE Parameters have been updated in line with legislation for 2021/2022.
Car Database Update – To ensure the Cash Equivalent employee car values are calculated against the correct table value/percentages when creating/amending a company car, we have set the Euro Standard field to 6d (temp)’ or ‘6d’ entries to Fuel Type = Diesel Meets RDE2 Regulation in the software.
Car Benefit Percentages and Car Fuel Allowance – We have updated information relating to car benefit and fuel allowance for tax year 2021/2022.
P60s – We have updated the P60s for year-end 2020/2021 and to include Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP).
From 2021/2022, P60s will also include Student Loan Plan Type 04 contributions in the Student Loan Deduction field.
HMRC have revised the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) age brackets and rates for the tax year 2021/2022. Following these changes, we have updated the software to perform checks using the new parameters. The table below details the NMW/NLW ages and rates for April 2020, and the amended figures for April 2021.
| National Minimum & Living Wage – Age | Rate from April 20 | National Minimum & Living Wage – Age | Rate from April 21 |
| 25 and over | £8.72 | 23 and over | £8.91 |
| 21–24 | £8.20 | 21–22 | £8.36 |
| 18–20 | £6.45 | 18–20 | £6.56 |
| 16–17 | £4.55 | 16–17 | £4.62 |
| Apprentice Rate | £4.15 | Apprentice Rate | £4.30 |
Note: The system does not make automatic rate changes for employees. It only checks the rates and ages are the correct parameters for the tax year. It is your responsibility to change them. Before updating the software, if you have entered your own rates on the Admin | File | Companies | Minimum/Living Wages Rates screen with a date later than 1 April 2021, the system will not overwrite these figures, you will need to change them manually.
Reports
We have updated all reports in line with the new NMW and NLW parameters.
In light of changes made by HMRC to the Starter Checklist, on Starter Details we have replaced the Student Loan field with a Student Loan and Postgraduate Loan section, including Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4 and Postgraduate Loan tick boxes. This allows you to select one or multiple Plans for new employees. Following this, when inputting Student Loan information from an employee’s Starter Checklist into Employee Details | Pay Elements | Loans | Student Loan, the system will save the Plan with the lowest numerical figure if selecting more than one tick box option.
Note: in Starter Details | Expat, we have replaced the current Student Loan frame with a new Student Loan & Postgraduate Loan section.
Starter Status – Following HMRC’s updates to the Starter Checklist, we have renamed the following fields in Starter Details | Starter Status:
- Existing Employee (this is not a new employee to the company) is now This employee is not a new starter to the PAYE scheme
- Previous Employee Code is now Previous Employee Code/RTI Pay ID
Starter Checklist Reports – We have updated the New Starter Reports to match the layout provided by HMRC.
Changes to Employee Details – Changes made in Employee Details | Pay Elements | Loans will not affect information saved in Starter Details.
HR Integration – Student Loan Play Type 04 will process through HR Integration.
Following the introduction of Student Loan Plan Type 04 Scotland, which has a threshold of £25,000 and a 9% deduction rate for tax year 2021/2022 onwards, on the Employee | Employee Details | Pay Elements | Loans tab, we have added 04 to the Plan Type drop-down menu.
DPS Student Loan Start Notice – HMRC determines who should be on Plan Type 04, and they will issue instructions in the usual way through the DPS.
Import/Export – We have updated the Import/Export fields to include Student Loan Plan Type 04.
Student Loan Audit – We have added Student Loan Plan Type 04 to the Audit.
Print Tax/NI/Pension Rates – On HMRC | Tax/NI/Pension Rates, we have added the new threshold for Student Loan Plan Type 04.
Payroll Calculations – Although the threshold differs when calculating Student Loan Plan Type 4, there is no change to the rate or method when calculating student loan deduction.
RTI submissions – updated to include all Student Loan Plan types. The FPS Student Loan Year to-date value will be a combination of Plan Type 01, 02 and 04 deductions where all, or either, have existed in the current year.
Earlier Year FPS – It is now possible to send a Full Payment Submission (FPS) for a previous tax year, and after 19th April in the current year. From 2020/2021 onwards, you can no longer send an Earlier Year Update (EYU) to correct any mistakes made in the previous tax year. To enable you to submit an Earlier Year FPS, on the Online Filing tab, we have replaced the Send Earlier Year Update option with a Send Earlier Year FPS menu item.
Note: The Send Earlier Year FPS menu item will only be visible in the software from the 2020/2021 tax year and can only be used from 2021/2022 and subsequent tax years to correct data from the previous year.
Earlier Year Update – We have removed the EYU menu item from the tax year 2020/2021 onwards. You can only send an EYU for submissions up to Tax Year 2019/2020.
Earlier Year FPS – When navigating to Online Filing | Send Earlier Year FPS, a new Employee Selection screen will display, prompting you to either send the Earlier Year FPS for the selected employee or an unlisted employee. The purpose of this screen is to allow you to send an Earlier Year FPS where a company is new to IRIS Payroll and has no knowledge of employees who left whilst on another payroll.
FPS 2021/2022 – The FPS schema has been updated for tax year 2021/2022 in line with government legislation.
EPS 2021/2022 – We have updated the EPS schema for submissions relating to tax year 2021/2022.
On the Company | Company Details | HMRC | State Aid | Company Options – State Aid screen, we have renamed the Industrial field to Industrial/Other.
myePayWindow – To assist our clients, we have extended the date for users of IRIS OpenPayslips/OpenEnrol to switch to myePayWindow, giving them until 31st August 2021. After this date they will be unable to publish to IRIS OpenPayslips/OpenEnrol.
Furlough Extension – The software/spreadsheet has been updated to incorporate the extension of the CJRS until 30th September 2021.
Please see the COVID-19 – Furlough Job Retention Scheme Changes and Important Dates Guide for further information.
Default Student Loan – Previously, when a new employee had more than one student loan selected in the Starter Checklist, the software assigned the lowest number by plan type. We have updated the software and it will now assign the number based on the lowest annual threshold of the selected loans.
Payroll Summary inc Tax Code – An issue occurring when an individual had salary and a taxable payment/deduction, where the Payroll Summary inc Tax Code Report was not giving the expected company total, has been resolved.
