IRIS Earnie IQ April 2021 Product Update

• The rates and bands in the software, for tax, National Insurance, Statutory Payments, Student Loans, Minimum Wage etc., have been updated for 2021/2022
• During the Year-end Restart, the software will uplift tax codes, if required
• The AE Parameters have been updated in line with legislation for 2021/2022
• P60 forms have been updated to report for year end 2020/2021

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

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 NLW/NMW ages and rates for April 2020, and the amended figures for April 2021.

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 the Employee Details | Tax/NI | Starter Details | New Starter tab, we have renamed the Present Circumstances frame to Student Loans and Postgraduate Loan, and replaced the existing Student Loan tick box with Plan 1, Plan 2 and Plan 4 fields.

Note: When selecting multiple Plans, for example, Plans 2 and 4, the student loan will deduct from the lowest numbered Plan. In this instance, it would be Plan 2. The student loan configures in Employee Details.

On the Starter Checklist we have added a new frame, Transfer from Another Payroll System. We have also renamed the following fields:

• This is not a New Starter has been renamed This is not a new starter to the PAYE Scheme
• Previous Employee Code tick box has been changed to Previous Employee Code/RTI Pay ID

Starter Checklist Reports – We have updated the New Starter Reports to match the layout provided by HMRC.

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 | Tax/NI | Student Loan button, we have added the number 4 to the Plan Type drop-down menu.

HMRC determines who should be on Plan Type 04, and they will issue instructions in the usual way through the DPS.

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.

Conversion – Conversion has been updated to include the new student loan plan type.

Tax/NI/Pension Rates – We have updated File | Print Tax/NI/Pension to include the new threshold for Student Loan Plan Type 04.

RTI – RTI submissions have been 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.

Import/Export –We have added Student Loan Plan Type 04 to the Import/ Export fields.

Reports – We have added Student Loan and Postgraduate Loan fields to the Quick Report Writer.

Earlier Year FPS Menu Item – It is now possible to send a Full Payment Submission (FPS) for a previous tax year and after 19^th April in the current tax 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 Services tab, we have added a new menu item, Send Earlier Year FPS.

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.

You must enter all year-to-date values that applied to the employee during the tax year, even if you are not changing their value from the previous time you sent a Full Payment Submission to HMRC. This is because any field not completed here will be included on the FPS with a value of zero.

Earlier Year Update – We have removed the EYU menu item from the tax year 2020/2021 and onwards. You can only send an EYU for submissions up to Tax Year 2019/2020.

Earlier Year FPS Employee Selection – On the Online Services | Send Earlier Year FPS | Earlier Year FPS – Employee Selection screen, we have added an FPS Only Employee button, enabling you to proceed to the next screen without selecting an employee. This allows you to send an Earlier Year FPS where a company is new to Earnie IQ and has no knowledge of employees that left whilst on another payroll.

Pending – To check whether you have any outstanding FPS submissions, from the Earlier Year FPS – Data Entry screen, click the Pending button (will be disabled if none are outstanding) to complete either a Normal or an Earlier Year FPS submission.

FPS Changes for 2021/2022 – The FPS schema has been updated for tax year 2021/2022 in line with government legislation.

EPS Changes for 2021/2022 – We have updated the EPS schema for submissions relating to tax year 2021/2022.

On the Company | Alter Company Options | State Aid | De Minimis State Aid screen, we have renamed the Industrial field to Industrial/Other.

Importing Holidays from Timesheet/Import Process – Select Company | Holiday Set-Up and tick the Enable Enhanced Rate Holiday Pay option in the software to assign holidays at the Enhanced rate first, then the Contractual rate.

When importing holidays from Timesheet Central or using the File Import process with Enable Enhanced Rate Holiday Pay ticked:

• Enhanced will be imported first to the maximum that can be taken
• Contractual will be imported where no Enhanced holiday remains