IRIS Earnie April 2021 Product Update

PAYE Legislation Changes

• 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 Student Loan option with Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4 and Postgraduate Loan tick boxes. This allows you to select one or multiple Plans for new employees.

Also, on the Expat tab, we have replaced the UK Student Loan field with the following new tick boxes:

• UK Student Loan Plan 1
• UK Student Loan Plan 2
• UK Student Loan Plan 4
• UK Postgraduate Loan

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.

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 employee 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.

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

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

Audit – We have added Student Loan Plan Type 04 to the Audit.

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.

HR Integration – Student Loan Plan Type 04 will process through HR Integration.

Earlier Year FPS Menu Item – Following updates to the software, it is now possible to send a Full Payment Submission (FPS) for a previous tax year and after 19th 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.

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 a New 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 and has no knowledge of employees that left whilst on another payroll system.

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.

RTI – 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.

P60 Layouts – We have updated the P60s for year-end 2020/2021 and to include Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP).

Car Benefit Percentages and Car Fuel Allowance – We have updated information relating to car benefit and fuel allowance for tax year 2021/2022.

myPayWindow Audit – From Company | myePayWindow Audit form, we have added a Print button.

Pensions

• The LGPS Bands for England/Wales and Scotland have been updated for 2021/2022
• Teachers’ Pension tiers have been updated for 2021/2022

Company Details

Email and Phone No Fields – The Company | Alter Company Details | Contact Details tab will now be visible for all licenced versions of the payroll software. The Name and Company Address fields will be populated from the information held in the Company tab. If the Contact Details are blank, the Telephone Number and Email Address fields will be populated from the Online Services | Configure | General tab.

myePayWindow – Following installation of this update, when sending data to myePayWindow, the Telephone Number and Email Address will be used from the data held on the Company | Alter Company Details | Contact Details tab.

P45s – An error when publishing P45’s ‘Could not Invoke OnPopulate, error: Exception has been thrown by the target of invocation’ has been resolved.

The following payslip issues when uploading to myePayWindow have been resolved:

Statutory Payments on Payslips

Statutory payments being duplicated as an ‘other payment’ value on payslips.

Zero rates added to Payslips

Payslips will no longer include zero rates. This was occurring when a rate had been attached to an employee, but no rates had been processed through the payroll.

Rounding in Other Payments – Factor/rates were rounding half pennies as 0.01 in ‘Other Payments’.

Actual Pay YTD – Actual Pay YTD was being uploaded instead of Net Pay YTD.

NI Adjustment on Payslips – NI adjustment values were not being displayed on payslips.

Blank Payslips – Blank payslips were uploading to myePayWindow.

Initial Holiday Values – Initial holiday values not being uploaded on payslips in myePayWindow.

Pension YTD Values – Pension YTD values on payslips are now populated through Pension Report Group selection, it is no longer essential to have the pension indicator flagged under the payment/deduction setup.

Extension to date to move to 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.

National Minimum & National Living Wage Warning – An issue where the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage warning was not being triggered by an employee’s birth date has been resolved.

Furlough Extension – The software/spreadsheet has been updated to incorporate the extension of the CJRS until 30^th 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.

Using Last Year’s Data – An error 3265, Item not found in this collection, experienced when using the Last Year’s Data option has been resolved.

HR Integration

Normal Hours Worked – The Employee Details |Salary | Working Hours | Contacted Hours per week field now updates when importing from HR.

TaxBasis – The issue where you are unable to change the TaxBasis after an employee was set up in the HR system has been resolved.

myePayWindow

Payslips – The following payslip issues when uploading to myePayWindow have been resolved:

Ers YTD Pension – When Display Items are not selected to appear on payslips (under Report Options) and an ERs pension is hidden from a payslip (Display Item Only – Hidden from Payslip), the Ers YTD amount was showing as £00.00.

Pension Refund – When an employee has chosen to opt out of a pension and a refund is processed, the myePayWindow payslip is showing the pension refund and then duplicating it under ‘Other Payments’.

Pay Rates – Erroneous ‘Other Payment’ adjustments displayed in myePayWindow when multiple zero pay rates are used.

Employee with zero Pay Rates and Salary receiving payslip in myePayWindow with erroneous ‘Other Payments’.

SMP Cumulative Total Weeks

An issue has been resolved where statutory cumulative weeks taken was being populated in error, preventing future statutory payments being made.

Employment Allowance

An issue where the flag confirming you are claiming Employment Allowance was not being included in your EPS submission has been resolved. If you are claiming the allowance, this will now be reported in your next EPS submission to HMRC.