Opera 3 (1.80) Opera II (7.20) Online Filing Manager (3.30)

Transcription

1 Opera 3 (1.80) Opera II (7.20) Online Filing Manager (3.30) Product Changes Guide Year End & Tax Year

2 Opera 3 (1.80) Opera II (7.20) Online Filing Manager (3.30) Product Changes Guide Year End & Tax Year Copyright Pegasus Software Limited, Manual published by: Pegasus Software Limited Orion House Orion Way Kettering Northamptonshire NN15 6PE All rights reserved. No part of this manual or any accompanying programs may be copied, sold, loaned or in any way disposed of by way of trade or for any kind of profit or incentive without the express permission of Pegasus Software Limited in writing, or as specified in the licence agreement which accompanies this manual and associated programs. Whilst Pegasus Software Limited takes reasonable steps to ensure that the contents of this manual are up to date, and correctly describe the functioning of the programs, neither Pegasus Software Limited nor any of its Partners give any warranty that the manual is error free, nor that the programs will perform all functions stated in the manual. Pegasus Software Limited has a policy of continual improvement of its software and accordingly this manual may describe features which are no longer available in the current release of the software available to customers, or which are proposed for a future release of the software. Under no circumstances will Pegasus Software Limited or any of its Partners have any liability to any customer arising out of any error, omission or inaccuracy in this manual. All trademarks are acknowledged. Opera 3 and Opera II are trademarks.

3 Introduction... 5 Target Audience Readme F1 Help Matrix of Software Changes... 6 Changes for the Year-End... 7 End of Year Returns Generating End of Year Returns in Opera... 7 Submitting End of Year Returns in Online Filing Manager... 8 CMEC & Pensions Auto Enrolment Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission... 8 Pensions Auto Enrolment... 8 Employees Who Reach 75 Years Old... 8 Changing the Status of Postponed Employees... 9 Changes for the Tax Year Real Time Information - Setting Up Opera Pegasus RTI Validator Utility Set Options Form Use Real Time Information Option New STDBACS RTI Option Payment Profiles Form Trivial Commutation Payments Benefits in Kind Changes to Employee Details Details & Bank Form Leavers Form To-Date Form ASPP Forms Real Time Information - Processing Payrolls in Opera New Real Time Information Menu Employer Alignment Submission (EAS) Full Payment Submission (FPS) Employer Payment Summary (EPS) National Insurance Number (NINO) Verification Request (NVR) Submission Information Payroll Calculation Global Calculation Form Individual Calculation Form Update of Pay Periods Payroll Update Form Page 3

4 Starters and Leavers Reports P45 Report P45 (3) New Employee Report P46 Reports ASPP Reports Real Time Information - Sending Submissions in Online Filing Manager Submission Wizards New Statutory Rates and Thresholds Update Data Structures Form Copy Statutory Rates Form PAYE/NI/Statutory Payments Form Page 4

5 Introduction This guide is designed to help you understand the software changes to Opera 3, Opera II and Online Filing Manager for this year s payroll upgrade. It is designed to be read on-screen or printed. Other companion guides are available with this guide: Guide Legislation Checklists Real Time Information Description A guide to help you understand the legislation for this year s payroll upgrade for the year-end and the tax year. Details of Real Time Information and links to HMRC resources are included along with the new rates and bandwidths for NI, PAYE and statutory payments, new tax allowances and tax codes, and so on. A guide to help you understand the steps to do the following: Upgrade your Opera and Online Filing Manager installations Complete the year-end and file year-end returns online Start the tax year including switching on Real Time Information Please make sure that you follow the instructions carefully. Full instructions for installing and upgrading Opera 3, Opera II and Online Filing Manager are included in each product s Installation Guide. You may need to refer to those documents when installing the products if you are unfamiliar with the installations. A guide to help you understand Real Time Information, the new method of updating HMRC in the tax year with employees pay details every time they are paid rather than at the end of the tax year. Pegasus Opera 3 and Pegasus Opera II are referred to as Opera throughout this guide. Target Audience This guide is provided for both Pegasus partners and customers who need to understand what the product changes are for this year-end and the new tax year. Readme Please refer to the Readme for late-breaking news and details of other non-payroll changes that have been included in this release. F1 Help The F1 Help in Opera and Online Filing Manager have also been updated. Please refer to the relevant sections in the Help for further assistance with the software changes for this upgrade. Page 5

6 Matrix of Software Changes These tables provide lists of the new statutory requirements and indicate whether Opera and Online Filing Manager (OFM) have changed for each requirement tax year Opera OFM 1. The format of the employees P60 (End of Year Certificates) is the same as last year but some older P60 options have been removed. Two formats are still available in Opera. Each employee must still receive their P60 for this tax year by 31 May 2013 using one of the remaining options. 2. The PAYE End of Year wizard in Online Filing Manager has changed so that employees P14 (End of Year Summaries) and your P35 (Employer Annual Return) can be filed as normal for this tax year. 3. Other changes have been made that affect the software both before and after the year-end : All references to Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission (CMEC) now refer to the Child Maintenance Service, which is part of the Department of Works and Pensions. Additional checks for employees who reach 75 and new options on the Auto Enrolment Updates wizard to allow employees to be selected based on a range of postponement dates. Note: The format of the P11D form is the same as last year tax year 1. Real Time Information will be introduced for all employers, which means that they will need to report PAYE in real time. This will affect most employers from 6 April The remaining employers will be affected between April and October The PAYE, NI and Statutory Payments rates and bandwidths will change, as will the tax allowances. 3. The student loan threshold will increase from 15,795 to 16,365 per annum. 4. The Department of Works and Pensions will change the pension auto-enrolment thresholds. 5. The Scottish Court Service will change the earnings bands used when earnings arrestments are calculated. Page 6

7 Changes for the Year-End End of Year Returns Generating End of Year Returns in Opera The format of the year-end paper returns and the online files for filing to HMRC using Online Filing Manager have not changed for this year-end. However, some older P60 options are no longer available to use because of low demand last year for the relevant stationery. These options have been removed from the End of Year Returns form: Removed Option Peg. Continuous 12 inch P60 Peg. Laser Portrait P14/P60 Old Stationery Codes TAX-830P TAX-402P, TAX-405P, TAX-410P, TAX-425P, TAX-202P, TAX-205P, TAX-210P, TAX-200P Old End of Year Returns form New End of Year Returns form These options for P60s are available for this year-end: Option Stationery Codes Supplier HMRC Single Sheet (Laser Portrait) P60 Peg. Laser P60 Mailer (and file copy) P60 (Single Sheet) MAL-P60 (OPERA): this is a sealed P60 that was also available last year. These are sealed by the heat of the laser printer. MAL-P60PS (PEG): this is a new format which is the same format as the MAL-P60 but is a peel and seal version of the form. This format means the returns can be printed and then checked at a later time before they are sealed. It has a protective seal to peel off and fits a wide range of printers. This option must be used to file P14 and P35 returns online: Internet Service for PAYE HMRC Pegasus Business Forms This creates the year-end file with P14 details for the tax year to submit to HMRC using Online Filing Manager (3.30). The file for this uses the naming convention x_payeoy_g.net, where x is the company ID and g is the code for the payroll group or groups. Note: The Prepare Internet P35 command must be run to gather the P35 figures after using this option. Page 7

8 Submitting End of Year Returns in Online Filing Manager The format of the XML file used by Online Filing Manager to file the P35 (Employer Annual Return) and P14 (End of Year Summaries) returns online has changed: The tax year has been changed to The year-end date has been changed to 5 April Note: Almost all employers must file their P35 (Employer Annual Return) and their employees' P14 (End of Year Summaries) returns online. CMEC & Pensions Auto Enrolment Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission As the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission (CMEC) was closed in August 2012 and its responsibilities moved to the Department of Works and Pensions, all references to CMEC in Opera have been removed. Now the Child Maintenance Service (part of the DWP) is referred to instead of CMEC. Pensions Auto Enrolment Employees Who Reach 75 Years Old When an employee reaches state pension age they must not be auto enrolled but they can opt in to a pension if they want to. When an employee reaches 75 they can neither be auto enrolled nor can they opt in to a pension. The Pensions Regulator has clarified some of the requirements for these employees. In particular that payroll software must check whether employees reach the state pension age or 75 on their assessment date rather than at the end of the pay reference period. These changes have been made: The Payroll - Calculation command now checks whether an employee has either reached their state pension age or 75 on their assessment date. Relevant warnings are still displayed on the audit report which is displayed after the calculation. The Payroll - Global Changes - Auto Enrolment Updates form now displays a warning message if any employees are found to be aged between 60 and 75 and the relevant boxes are selected to update the employees auto enrolment status or auto enrolment category. New message displayed for employees between 60 and 75 Tip: The Pensions Regulator may sometimes clarify the requirements for auto enrolment so additional information may need to be recorded. It is possible to enter additional memo information regarding the auto enrolment of employees on the Memo tab of the Payroll - Processing - Pensions - Auto Enrolment Details form and the Notes box on the Payroll - Utilities - Auto Enrolment Settings form. Page 8

9 Changing the Status of Postponed Employees An employer can postpone Auto Enrolment for up to three months after the following dates: their staging date, or new employees start dates, or the date that employees become Eligible Jobholders. It is likely then that postponement dates will be different for many employees, depending on their circumstances. Employers will therefore need to ensure that, as employees reach the end of the postponement period, that their status is changed from Postponed to another status like None. They may want to do this in batches only for employees who reach the end of their postponement period, for example only employees who reach the end of the postponement period in a certain month, say April These changes have been made: The Payroll - Global Changes - Auto Enrolment Updates form now includes new date range boxes that allow a range of postponement dates to be selected. The boxes are enabled if the Postponed status is selected under Additional Criteria. To cater for the situation where an employer needs to clear the Auto Enrolment details for selected employees, a new option called None (Clear) has been added to the Set Status To list that will set the status to None and will also clear the Auto Enrolment details. New date range for employees already postponed, and new status of None (Clear) Page 9

10 Changes for the Tax Year Real Time Information - Setting Up Opera Before submissions can be sent to HMRC from 6 April 2013 Real Time Information must be switched on and additional information must be recorded on employee records. Payment profiles for pensions and annuity payments may also need to be changed. The accuracy and completeness of each employee s personal details must also be checked before Real Time Information submissions are sent to HMRC. These changes have been made for Real Time Information: Pegasus RTI Validator Utility A Pegasus utility is available to help with the task of ensuring that employee details are both complete and accurate. This utility will help you to validate your data now before your first RTI submission to HMRC. It will identify certain employee data that is either missing or is not in the format expected by HMRC. You can then correct it if necessary before the first submission is sent to align the data you have with HMRC records. For details please contact your Pegasus partner. Pegasus RTI Validator Utility Set Options Form Use Real Time Information Option A new option is available on the Set Options form (Utilities - Set Options) to switch on the features needed for Real Time Information in the tax year. If payroll groups are used, this option need only be selected for the default group; the other groups inherit the default group s setting. Real Time Information will only be applicable to groups in the tax year. Any groups in the tax year will follow HMRC rules for that year. New STDBACS RTI Option Important: If you pay your employees by BACS and use the STDBACS format, you must select the new STDBACS RTI format after switching on Real Time Information in the tax year. Hash Reference The new payment format includes a random reference for Vocalink to create a cross reference hash number for each employee included in the payment file. Vocalink will pass the payment details including the hash reference to HMRC to crossreference the data against the pay details in the Full Payment Submission (which also includes the hash number). Use Real Time Information option and STDBACS RTI format on the Set Options form Page 10

11 Payment Profiles Form Trivial Commutation Payments A new combo box is available on the Payment Profile form to mark these profiles for relevant pensions as trivial commutation payments, which is a term used by HMRC for small pension funds which are paid in full. The default setting for this new option is No so it does not need to be changed unless one of the other settings is relevant. These payments need to be identified separately in a pay period's Full Payment Submission (FPS). These options can be selected as appropriate for the type of lump sum paid in place of a small pension: Trivial commutation lump sum (TCLS) Other lump sum (from personal pension schemes) Other lump sum (from occupational/public service pension schemes). New Trivial commutation payments option on the Payment Profile form Benefits in Kind A new payment type has been added for benefits in kind. The non-cash benefits are also referred to as Payroll Benefits and can only be used when HMRC agree to it. The benefits, which are provided in addition to an employee s salary without their tax code being modified, are subject to either NI or Income Tax. There is a wide range of benefits in kind, for example company cars, or interest-free loans, and free accommodation. Most of these benefits are taxable but there are some exemptions. Note: Benefit in kind payments are calculated in Opera for the tax year and later because where relevant they need to be included in Real Time Information submissions. New Benefit in Kind type on the Payment Profile form Page 11

12 Changes to Employee Details Details & Bank Form The Details & Bank form (Processing - Action - Details & Bank) linked to each employee record now includes a new tab called Additional Information to record details needed for Real Time Information submissions. These details include the number of hours worked per week, passport number for individuals whose passport was checked before they were employed, and indicators for irregular payment patterns, unpaid absences, and pension payments. This tab is available before Real Time Information is switched on so the details can be added beforehand. New Additional Information tab on the Details & Bank form Leavers Form One of the requirements is to identify an employee who has left an employment and been given a P45 but is then subsequently paid. For example, where they leave and are paid as normal but then it is realised that another payment is due, like an overtime payment. The Leavers form (Processing - Action - Leavers) now includes a new box called Payment After Leaving to record payments for employees who have already left but are then paid. This new box can be selected when an employee who has already left (Dtype leaver) is reset to an employee who left in this period (L-type leaver). It is hidden until the start of the tax year. New Payment After Leaving option on the Leavers form To-Date Form The To-Date form (Processing - Action - To - Date ) has been redesigned for when Real Time Information is in use. New boxes have been added and others have been removed, for example the boxes related to P45 and P46 returns, which will be obsolete when Real Time Information is in use. The top section is now called Starter Details that includes details for new starters, including whether their first FPS has been sent to HMRC. New To-Date form ( tax year) These sections have been removed: General Details of Previous Employment Pay & Tax from Previous Employment as Shown on the P45 Details Provided by You. Note: You must still record a previous employment s gross pay and tax for the current tax year on this form. Page 12

13 ASPP Forms If an employee is paid ASPP for new births or for adoptions, their partner s forenames, surname and National Insurance number must also be included in the Full Payment Submissions (FPS) for the pay period. The ASPP Birth and ASPP Adopt forms (Processing - Action - Statutory Payments - ASPP) include new boxes on the Memo & Misc tab (renamed from Memo) to include some details of the employee s partner. New Partner Details boxes on the ASPP forms Page 13

14 Real Time Information - Processing Payrolls in Opera New Real Time Information Menu A new menu is available that includes easy-to-use wizard commands to create the files for Full Payment Submissions (FPS), Employer Payment Summaries (EPS), National Insurance Number Verification Requests (NVR) and Employer Alignment Submissions (EAS). The wizards display various pages where different options can be selected based on the employer s circumstances. The files that are created must then be sent to HMRC using Pegasus Online Filing Manager. Please see page 19 for details. New Real Time Information menu The menu includes options to create the files for the following submissions: Employer Alignment Submission Full Payment Submission Employer Payment Summary National Insurance Number (NINO) Verification Request. Pegasus Online Filing Manager can be run from this menu. The relevant wizard in Online Filing Manager can also be run directly after creating the file. A form is available to view details of the most recent submissions. Employer Alignment Submission (EAS) This command is used to create one or more EAS files to align employee records with HMRC records. The EAS can therefore be submitted in multiple parts. Any employer can use an EAS for alignment purposes but employers that operate PAYE schemes with 250 or more employees, or employers that cannot align all employees in one FPS, must use an EAS. All employees who are employed from the start of the tax year will be included in the EAS, including those who left and those who have not been paid. Anyone who left before the tax year will not be included unless they were paid in that year after leaving. The number of employees (including leavers) is displayed on the second page of the wizard. EAS Submission Page 1 EAS Submission Page 2 Page 14

15 Full Payment Submission (FPS) This command is used to create an FPS file for the current pay period. The first FPS file can also be used to align employee data with HMRC records for employers that operate PAYE schemes with fewer than 250 employees. In this case all employee records must be aligned in one submission. However these employers can also use the EAS for alignment if preferred. To use the FPS for alignment the First FPS and EAS has NOT been submitted options must be selected from the FPS Type lists. FPS Submission Page 1 FPS Submission Final Page The number of employees (including leavers), and the income tax, national insurance and student loans for the current period are displayed on the final page of the wizard. A report can also be printed if required. Employer Payment Summary (EPS) This command is used to create an EPS file for the tax month so recovered values can be offset against payments due to HMRC. It must be sent before payment to HMRC is due on the 19th of the next month. There is a choice to create a regular EPS, the final EPS for the year or a final EPS for that scheme. Recovering year-to-date values for SSP, SMP, Ordinary SPP, Additional SPP, and SAP are entered on the second page of the wizard most figures are taken from the P32 Processing form. If the EPS is the final file for the tax year a third page is displayed where various declarations must be answered. If payroll groups are used they are all automatically included in the EPS. Also, if payrolls are run in more than one Opera company, the EPS can only be created in the main company because the details from all companies must be included. EPS Submission Page 1 EPS Submission Page 2 Page 15

16 National Insurance Number (NINO) Verification Request (NVR) This command is used to create an NVR file for one or more selected employees. Requests for up to 100 employees can be sent in one submission. Employees that are displayed for selection on the second page can be filtered using options on the first page. These options to filter employees are available: Only employees who have started in the current pay period Only employees who are not new starters All employees Only employees with a blank National Insurance number. NINO Verification Request Page 1 NINO Verification Request Page 2 Submission Information This reporting form displays details about the most recent FPS, EPS and NVRs. If an EAS was used to align employee data with HMRC records, those details are displayed on the EAS tab. The current period, and date and time of the most recent submission are displayed for each type of submission. The group identifier is also displayed where relevant; if groups are used a separate record is displayed for each, as each groups' current period is likely to be different. Submission Information form Page 16

17 Payroll Calculation The global and individual employee calculations have changed to calculate the information for Real Time Information in the tax year. Global Calculation Form If Real Time Information is in use the global payroll Calculation command (Payroll - Calculation) will calculate the required information for submissions to HMRC. Appropriate new warnings are also displayed on the audit report after the calculation. Individual Calculation Form As well as calculating the necessary Real Time Information details, the caption used for occupational pension payments on the Calculate form (Payroll - Processing - Calculate) has changed to reflect that these types of pensions are actually referred to by HMRC as either Not net pay arrangement pensions (pension deducted after tax) or Net pay arrangement pensions (pension deducted before tax). Individual Calculation form Update of Pay Periods Payroll Update Form The Update command (Utilities - Update) has changed for the tax year to check whether appropriate Real Time Information submissions have been sent to HMRC. Appropriate warnings are displayed if necessary. The existing checks to ensure that P45 (Part 3) and P46 returns have been submitted to HMRC for new starters have been removed when Real Time Information is in use in the tax year. Details for leavers and starters will be included in the FPS. In Opera 3, the Update form displays an indicator if the FPS has been created for the pay period. Update form in Opera 3 Page 17

18 Starters and Leavers Reports P45 Report Because leavers details in the tax year will be included in the FPS, P45 returns (Part 1) must not be submitted to HMRC if Real Time Information is in use. Because of this the File Online box on the P45 form (Periodical Reports - P45) has been removed. This form is still available so that the employee can be given their copy of the P45. Old P45 Report form New P45 Report form without the File Online box P45 (3) New Employee Report The P45 (3) New Employee report (Periodical Reports - P45 (3) New Employee) cannot be used if Real Time Information is in use because a new starter s first pay details will be included in the FPS for that pay period. Message in the tax year P46 Reports The P46 reports (Periodical Reports - P46, P46 Expat and P46 Pen) cannot be used if Real Time Information is in use because the individual s first pay details will be included in the FPS for that pay period. Message in the tax year ASPP Reports Partner details that can now be entered on the ASPP (Birth) Details and the ASPP (Adopt) Details forms are also included on the ASPP reports (Periodical Reports - ASPP (Birth) Report and ASPP (Adopt) Report). Partner details on the ASPP reports in the tax year Page 18

19 Real Time Information - Sending Submissions in Online Filing Manager Submission Wizards New menu items are available in the tax year for easy-to-use wizard commands to send the files to the Government Gateway for Full Payment Submissions, Employer Payment Summaries, National Insurance Number Verification Request and Employer Alignment Submissions. Employers must sign up to use HMRC Online Services to receive their Government Gateway User ID before submissions can be sent in Online Filing Manager. New menu items for Real Time Information submissions The menu includes options for the following submissions: Full Payment Submission Employer Payment Summary National Insurance Number (NINO) Verification Request Employer Alignment Submission. The wizards are similar to those used to submit year-end returns online. The files that include the submission information are created in the Payroll application in Opera using commands under the new RTI Submissions menu. Please see page 14 for details. FPS Wizard Page 1 FPS Wizard Page 2 Online Filing Manager can be opened directly from Opera after a submission file has been created. This streamlines the process of firstly creating the file for the pay period in the Payroll application and secondly sending the submission information. However, the files can also be submitted at a later time after running Online Filing Manager from the Microsoft Windows desktop. Page 19

20 New Statutory Rates and Thresholds The new rates and thresholds for the tax year must be updated in each Opera company using either the Update Data Structures command (System - Utilities - Update Data Structures) or the Copy Statutory Rates command (Payroll - Utilities - Copy Statutory Rates). These commands update the PAYE/NI/Stat. Payments form (Payroll - Utilities) with the rates and thresholds that are published by HMRC. Two tables are available for rates and thresholds. After updating these tables the Date Table Becomes Effective dates will be: Table 1 - from 6 April 2012 Table 2 - from 6 April Rates or thresholds for Income Tax, National Insurance, Statutory Payments and Scottish Earnings Arrestments have changed for the new tax year. For details, please refer to the Legislative Changes Guide. Update Data Structures Form The Update Data Structures command (System - Utilities - Update Data Structures) updates rates and thresholds for all selected companies in an Opera system. If additional systems are used, these must be updated separately. Update Data Structures form Copy Statutory Rates Form The Copy Statutory Rates command (Payroll - Utilities - Copy Statutory Rates) updates the rates and thresholds in the active company only. The Effective Dates for each table and the system default dates are displayed on the form. Copy Statutory Rates form Note: The latest rates and thresholds for the Scottish Court Service will also be updated in the Update Data Structures or Copy Statutory Rates commands. Rates and thresholds for Auto Enrolment Pensions have not been updated because they were not published by the Department of Works and Pensions before the software was released. They will be made available at a later date. Page 20

21 PAYE/NI/Statutory Payments Form This is how the new rates and thresholds for the tax year look on the Table 2 tab of the PAYE/NI/Stat Payments (Payroll - Utilities) form after they have been updated using either the Update Data Structures or the Copy Statutory Rates commands. These rates and thresholds will be used automatically in Opera in the tax year. PAYE & Misc tab NI ER s tab Page 21

22 NI EE s tab SSP tab Page 22

23 Other Stat. Payments tab End of Guide Page 23