IRIS Earnie April 2022 Product Update

Student/Postgraduate Loan Thresholds

In line with legislation for 2022/2023, we have updated the annual thresholds for student and postgraduate loans. The revised rates are:

• Plan Type 1 is increasing from £19,895 to £20,195
• Plan Type 2 is remaining at £27,295
• Plan Type 4 is increasing from £25,000 to £25,375
• Postgraduate Student Loans is remaining at £21,000

Tax Code Changes

Due to all personal allowances remaining at 2021/2022 levels, there is no increase in tax codes for the 2022/2023 tax year.

AE Parameters

In line with legislation for 2022/2023, we have updated the AE Parameters.

National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage

Updated national minimum and living wage rates for the 2022/2023 tax year are now available in the system.

Tax, NI and Statutory Payment Rates

System updates include amended tax, NI, and statutory payment rates for the 2022/2023 tax year.

Pensions

• The LGPS Bands for England/Wales and Scotland are now up to date for the 2022/2023 tax year
• Teachers’ Pension tiers are now up to date for the 2022/2023 tax year

NI Holidays for Veterans NIC Relief

In April 2021, HMRC introduced legislation that allowed employers to claim reduced Employer National Insurance contributions for veterans in their first year of civilian employment after leaving the regular armed forces. From the 2022/2023 tax year onwards, you can process this relief in real-time through RTI.

To allow employers to claim the NI reduction from the 2022/2023 tax year, HMRC has introduced a new NI category letter V and the Veteran’s Secondary Threshold (VUST).

If claiming this relief for veterans from April 2021 to March 2022, HMRC requires you to pay the Employer National Insurance contributions as usual and then claim them back retrospectively from April 2022 onwards.

Freeport Employer’s NIC Relief

From April 2022, employees in their first three years of freeport employment will qualify for reduced Employer National Insurance contributions. Following this, HMRC has introduced NI category letters F, I, S and L and the Freeport Upper Secondary Threshold (FUST) for the 2022/2023 tax year onwards.

To qualify for the relief, employees must not have been employed by their current employer, or a connected employer, in the previous 24 months.

NI Rates

The system now includes the following rates:

• V – (standard category for Veterans)
• F – (standard category for employees working in a Freeport)
• I – (Married women and widows entitled to pay reduced NICs working in a Freeport)
• S – (Employees over state pension age working in a Freeport)
• L – (Employees entitled to deter paying full NI rate working in a Freeport)

Employee Details

Updates to the Employee | Employee Details | Tax/NI tab include:

• Two new fields within the National Insurance frame:
  • Veteran Date and
  • Working in a Freeport
• The NI Rate drop-down now includes letters V, F, I, S and L

Note: The Working in a Freeport field automatically selects when setting the NI rate to F, I, S or L and cannot be unticked.

Import/Export

On the File | Import Data/Export Data | Fields tab, below Date of Birth, a new Date of veteran’s first civilian employment option displays, and under Worker Status, we have added a Working in a Freeport field.

Employee Record

On Reports | Print Other Reports | Employee Record Card, Preview, we have added two additional options, Veteran Date and Working in a Freeport.

P11 Report

We have made the following changes to the P11 report:

• Earnings 1a is now Earnings to LEL
• Earnings 1b is now LEL to PT
• Earnings 1c is now PT to UEL

Payroll Preview

On Payroll | Do/Redo Payroll | Preview | Pay Preview, a new Breakdown of NI Earnings label displays for veterans, employees working in a freeport and those aged under 21 and 25. Clicking on this label gives you a full breakdown of the employee’s NI earnings and includes FUST and VUST calculations, where applicable.

Quick Report Writer

On Reports | Quick Report Writer | Fields | Main, in the Standard section, we have included a new option below Date of Birth labelled, Date of veteran’s first civilian employment. Also, within the Auto Enrolment | Main, Standard section, we have added an option under Worker Status labelled Working in a Freeport.

Note: When selected, the Date of veteran’s first civilian employment field will display in the system as First civilian employment and Working in a Freeport will show as Freeport.

Select Employee

On Employee | Select Employee | Configure | Fields to Display, Employee Fields, under Date of Birth, we have included a Date of veteran’s first civilian employment field and below Title, a new Working in a Freeport option now displays.

Filter

The filter function now has two additional options. Below Date of Birth, we have added a Date of veteran’s first civilian employment field. Under Worker Status, we have included a Working in a Freeport option.

Payslip Options

On 7 September 2021, the Government announced plans to introduce a 1.25% Health & Social Care levy. Following this, during the 2022/2023 tax year, National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will increase by 1.25% for working-age employees, the self-employed and employers. From April 2023, the Health & Social Care levy will be effective and will include the groups listed above and anyone working above State Pension age. National Insurance Contribution rates will return to 2021/2022 levels in April 2023.

For the 2022/2023 tax year, HMRC recommends including the following message on employees’ payslips, where possible:

▪ 1.25% uplift in NICs funds NHS, health & social care

To cater for this, on Reports | Report Options | Payslip Options, below Display Holiday Remaining, we have added a Keep Message Text indicator. This indicator allows you to repeat a message added to Reports | Print Payslips, Payslip Message on employees’ future payslips. Similarly, unticking this indicator will remove any existing message on a payslip. You can amend or remove text displayed on the Payslip Message field at any time.

Repeat Messages on Payslips

To add and retain a message on payslips, follow the steps below:

1. Select Report | Report Options
2. Choose the Payslip Option tab
3. Tick the Message and Keep Message Text indicators
4. Print a payslip as usual from Reports | Print Payslips
5. On the Payslip Reports screen, enter the text you want to display on the payslip into the Payslip Message field, for example, 1.25% uplift in NICs funds NHS, health & social care and then click Print

Note: To enable the Payslip Message field, go to Reports | Report Options | Payslip Options and tick the Message indicator

6. The payslip will now print with the message displayed
7. When printing a payslip in the next pay period, the Payslip Reports | Payslip Message field will display the message you added. If required, amend the text and then click Print
8. Again, the payslip will print and display the message
9. You can remove the message at any time by unticking the Keep Message Text indicator and removing the text from the Payslip Message field

Note: Some bespoke payslips will not allow you to add a message

Attachment of Earnings Order

Moving into the 2022/2023 tax year, the Welsh Government has uprated the earning thresholds for Attachment of Earnings Orders (AEOs) to maintain fairness in the system and reflect changes in the cost of living.

Following this, on Company | Alter Payments / Deductions | Add New (no wizard) | Category, we have added a new Council Tax (Wales) option.

Note: The Wizard does not currently include the new Council Tax (Wales) option.

Payments and Deductions Report

The modified Company Payments and Deductions report now has a Council Tax (Wales) category.

Employee Details

On Employee | Employee Details | Pay/Deds, we have added a Council Tax (Wales) option.

FPS – 2022/2023

In line with Government legislation, we have updated the FPS schema for the 2022/2023 tax year.

EPS – 2022/2023

We have updated the EPS schema for submissions relating to the 2022/2023 tax year.

Earlier Year FPS Changes for 2021/2022

We have updated the EYFPS schema for the 2021/2022 tax year, allowing you to claim a refund from HMRC for the Employer National Insurance contributions paid in the tax year for qualifying veterans.

To claim a refund, you need to complete an EYFPS. To do this, go to Online Services | Send Earlier Year FPS and on the NI Rate drop-down, select NI letter V and after completing the relevant fields, click the Send button.

P60

We have updated all P60s for year-end 2021/2022 and renamed P60 (OpenPayslips) to (P60 Published).

Employment Allowance

Employment Allowance will increase to £5000 for the 2022/2023 tax year.

If you have completed year-end and moved into the new tax year, the system will automatically increase your Employment Allowance from £4000 to £5000.

Publishing P45s to OpenPayslips

We have resolved a publishing issue some users experienced when sending P45s to OpenPayslips.

Employee Selection Options

On the Employee | Select Employee | Configure | Employee Selection Options screen, we have fixed an error that occurred when removing the NI Number from the grid, adding an NI Rate, and selecting the OK button.