Thank You!

The Thesaurus Software team have received lots of words of praise and thanks over the past few weeks. Here's a selection of some of the wonderful comments that have been sent in. We would like to thank everyone for their positive feedback, your kind words are very much appreciated and encourage us to keep going during in these challenging times. 

Thank you. Stay Safe.

COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

If your employer cannot continue to pay you and has to lay you off during the pandemic, you can claim income support from the DEASP. The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is available to employees and the self-employed who have lost their job on (or after) 13th March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment is paid at a flat rate of €350 per week for the duration of the pandemic emergency.

You can apply for the payment if you are aged between 18 and 66 and have lost your employment due to the coronavirus restrictions. Students, non-EEA nationals and part-time workers can apply for the payment. You can also apply if you were working casually and you became fully unemployed as a result of the pandemic.

If you have voluntarily taken time off work to look after your child because of school or childcare closures and you are no longer paid by your employer, you can apply for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. 

You cannot claim the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, if you are continuing to get income from your employment or if you voluntarily left your employment, except to look after your children.

If an employee has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or has been told to self-isolate by their GP, they should instead apply for Illness Benefit, which has also been increased to €350 a week in line with the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

Join us for a free COVID-19 webinar where we discuss what you need to know about remote working, putting staff on payoff, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.

Places are limited - Click here to book your place now.

Posted byRachel HynesinCoronavirus

Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme - Operational Phase

The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme enters the operational phase on 4th May 2020.

In the operational phase, Revenue will provide all employers with details of the maximum subsidy and maximum top up for all employees currently on a J9 PRSI class and for any employees who might be placed on a J9 class during the remainder of the scheme.

This Revenue instruction will be in the form of a file (TWSS file) downloaded from ROS. It will not be an automatic download through the software but instead will require you to log in to your ROS account and download the file there. It will operate in much the same way as you would have downloaded P2C files in the past. The software will then import this file and update the subsidies of all J9 employees automatically.

This TWSS file will be available in ROS from 4th May and we will be releasing an upgrade to our software on the same day to cater for importing the TWSS file.

As the 4th May is a bank holiday, our support lines will be open on 5th May but we have plenty of on screen help and would ask that you only contact support if absolutely necessary.

This should be a one time download as the figures in the downloaded file will be based on payroll submissions made for January and February.

To ensure that you will be able to download the file, it is important that you know your ROS login certificate password and you should ensure that you have this to hand.

For your information, a preview of the relevant ROS screens can be viewed here.

Posted byPaul ByrneinCoronavirus

Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme - What you need to know

The Government has announced measures to provide financial support to employers affected by the COVID-19 crisis. As part of these measures, Revenue is operating a Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme from 26th March 2020 and it is expected to last for 12 weeks.

The scheme applies to employers who may wish to top up employee payments and for those who are not in a position to do so. To qualify, employers:

• must be experiencing significant negative economic disruption due to COVID-19,
• must be able to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of Revenue, a minimum of a 25% decline in turnover
• must be unable to pay normal wages and normal outgoings fully, and
• retain their employees on the payroll

The scheme replaces the previous Employer COVID-19 Refund Scheme and if you have already registered for the COVID-19 Refund Scheme, you do not need to re-register for the new scheme. Employers that are not registered but wish to register for this scheme can do so through myEnquiries.

The Scheme is restricted to employees who were on the employer’s payroll as at 29 February 2020, and for whom a payroll submission has already been made to Revenue in the period from 1 February 2020 and 15 March 2020. Where employers didn't fulfil their PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 by 15 March 2020, please click here for further information.

The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme has been divided into two different phases, the first phase is the transitional phase which will run from 26th March to 3rd May, and the operational phase will be in place from 4th May.

Employee Payments

During the transitional phase, employers can pay 70% of the employee’s average weekly net pay as a non-taxable payment, and in turn receive a refund from Revenue for this (Net pay = Gross less Income Tax, USC & Employee PRSI). The period for calculating an employee's average weekly pay is January & February 2020, but if you are a BrightPay customer, this calculation is automated in BrightPay.

This payment is capped at:

• €410 per week where the average net weekly pay is less than or equal to €586, or
• €350 where the average net weekly pay is greater than €586 and less than or equal to €960

Employees with an average net weekly pay greater than €960 will be excluded from the subsidy scheme. From 16 April 2020, the wage subsidy is available to support employees where their pre-COVID salary was greater than €960 per week, and their salary has now fallen below €960, and this is subject to the tiered arrangements and tapering to ensure that the net pay does not exceed €960 per week.

Where the current gross pay, as reported in the payroll submission, represents a reduction from the average net weekly pay by:

• less than 20%, no subsidy is payable
• between 20% and 39%, a subsidy of up to €205 is payable
• 40% or more, a subsidy of up to €350 is payable

These payments are liable to income tax; however, the subsidy is not taxable in real-time through the PAYE system during the period of the Subsidy scheme. Instead the employee will be liable for tax on the subsidy amount paid to them by their employer by way of review at the end of the year by Revenue.

Employers may top up this payment if they are in a position to do so. This top up amount, when added to the employee’s subsidy payment, cannot be greater than the employee's average net weekly pay. Any top-up payment made is taxable and USC-able, and the combined payment is to be processed under PRSI Class J9. If an employer tops up payments by more than the permitted amount, their subsidy will be tapered, so for every €1 extra paid to an employee, they will lose €1 on the subsidy.

During the transitional phase, employers must work out the payment that can be made to their employees i.e. the 70% tax free payment and the maximum top-up allowed. Revenue will automatically refund €410 per week per employee on the scheme as they won’t know what employees are entitled to. The refund from Revenue will, in general, be made to the employer within 2 working days after receipt of the payroll submission (PSR). At a later date, Revenue will perform a reconciliation and will look for repayment of any overpayments.

During the operational phase, from 4 May 2020, Revenue will inform employers how much they can pay tax free and the maximum top-up allowed. During this time, Revenue will refund the exact amount due as they will have instructed the employer how much can be paid. Click here to find out more about the operational phase.

Join us for a free COVID-19 webinar where we discuss what you need to know about remote working, putting staff on payoff, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.

Places are limited - Book your place now.

Thesaurus Payroll Manager | BrightPay Payroll Software

Posted byRachel HynesinCoronavirus

Layoff and Short-time Working under Covid-19

Under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2014 a lay-off situation arises if an employer is unable to provide work to an employee for which they are employed to do. A short-time situation arises if an employee's weekly pay or hours is less than 50% of their normal weekly pay or hours due to a reduction in the amount of work to be done for which they are employed to do.

Continuity of Service

Continuity of service is not normally affected by lay-offs. For example, if an employee has been working for an employer for 10 years and is laid off temporarily, their 10 years’ service will remain intact.

Annual Leave

Employees working short-time will continue to accrue leave for the hours they work.

Employees on lay-off will continue to accrue public holidays that occur during the first 13 weeks. They will not accrue annual leave during the period of lay-off.

The annual leave that they accrued up until the point of being laid off will remain intact. Employers should not pay employees in lieu of this annual leave. Rather, it should be made available to the employee to take once they return to work. Given the exceptional circumstances that we are living in, it could well be the case that an employee genuinely cannot take their accrued annual leave this year. If this situation arises employers should try to be flexible in terms of allowing an employee to carry over leave into the next calendar year.

Redundancy

The law on claiming redundancy following a period of lay-off or short-time working had been changed during the Covid-19 emergency period. The emergency period is currently set as 13 March 2020 to 31 May 2020, however this may be extended.

Normally, employees who are laid off or put on short-time hours, you can claim redundancy from their employer after 4 weeks or more, or 6 weeks in the last 13 weeks.

Under the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19), employees who have been laid off during the emergency period, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, are not able to claim redundancy.

Local Property Tax (LPT) – Payment Date Deferred

In a move designed to ease cash flow pressure on property owners amid the Coronavirus outbreak, Revenue has announced it is deferring the collection of Local Property Tax (LPT) for those paying by Annual Debit Instruction or Single Debit Authority payment.

These payments were due on 21st March 2020, the deduction date will change to 21st May 2020.

Property owners who have opted to make a payment by Annual Debit Instruction or Single Debit Authority do not need to advise Revenue or take any action. The payment date will automatically change to 21st May 2020.

Details can be found here.

Posted byAudrey MooneyinLPT

Putting staff on layoff

As the country tries to get to grips with the Covid-19 pandemic and companies are struggling with temporarily closing their business and laying-off staff, here are some key things you need to know about layoff.

Layoff or redundancy?

As a result of the recent business closures, many employees have been layed-off. Layoff is a temporary measure, whereby the individual is still an employee of the company but they are not receiving any remuneration for the duration of the layoff. Normally, once the situation that led to the layoff is over, the employee will return to their previous role on the same terms and conditions, their length of service will not be impacted by the layoff. In the current situation, it is hoped that many business will be able to re-engage their staff once the current emergency situation eases.

Redundancy on the other hand occurs when the employee loses their job permanently, due to a business closure or a reduction in work levels.

Other Layoff Considerations

• Employers should give employees notice in writing that they will be put on layoff, although no time period is specified
• Notice can be given using form RP9
• Generally, in order to layoff an employee there should be a layoff clause in the contract of employment or it should be custom and practice in the company. It is imagined that flexibility will be shown at this exceptional time, if neither of these exist. However some employers may consider:

1. including a layoff clause in the agreed terms of employment on a temporary basis,
2. getting some form of confirmation, signature or email, from the employee to the layoff.

Posted byLaura MurphyinCoronavirus

Goodbye P60s, hello the future of PAYE!

As we all know, the Revenue Commissioners has spent the past two years preparing what has been hailed the most substantial reform of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system since its introduction way back when in 1960. This process has been coined ‘PAYE Modernisation’ and is exactly what it says on the tin as it is has allowed Ireland's PAYE system to adapt to modern working patterns and modern problems.

This has meant that since January 1st 2019, employers have been reporting employees’ pay and statutory deductions to Revenue in real-time, aka every time they have been paid. But where are we now? How is PAYE Modernisation doing?

PAYE Modernisation so far has been a success with a reported uptake of 90% of all employees whose payroll information has been submitted to Revenue. No, that wasn’t a typo - that’s 90%!!

This massive success has meant that PAYE Modernisation is working exactly how it was supposed to and has enabled Revenue to provide extended online services to taxpayers. It also means that a lot of the paperwork associated with income tax is no more. Yes, that’s right, P45s and P60s are now a thing of the past! Now that deductions and tax information are reported in real-time there's simply no need for them. Instead of P60s, employees are instead issued with an Employment Detail Summary which contains your income and deduction details for the year, as reported to Revenue by your employer.

So this next bit is for the remaining 10%, those of you out there who are clinging onto the old ways. Maybe you're even *gulp* manually processing your payroll *shudders*. There is no need to put yourself through processing payroll for your employees manually, especially when there is such an amazing product knocking about like Thesaurus Payroll Manager.

By using Thesaurus Payroll Manager, you will save so much time by streamlining your payroll processing and real-time reporting. If you’re still using a manual system then this software will be a complete game-changer. It is even integrated with Revenue’s API which allows the software and Revenue to talk to each other so that users can seamlessly submit Payroll Submission Requests in seconds.

With the threat of fines for non-compliance would you risk it for a biscuit? Have a slice of cake instead and download Thesaurus Payroll Manager today - you might even get to eat it too.

Posted byAoibheann ByrneinPAYE Modernisation

Child’s play: Amazing payroll software that’s simple to use

All of us, in the hyper-connected internet era, have found ourselves at a loss when using some software, website or app. You just want to do one thing, or you want to set something up and...you just can’t.

It might feel like specific software or apps are testing us in some way. Only those who can navigate through the narrow tunnels of this software are genuinely worthy, in some weird twist on the Arthurian legend of Excalibur.

But all of this struggle defeats the entire purpose of working digitally and efficiently, particularly for already busy professionals like accountants. All payroll software should be straightforward to use and set up. This is true for Thesaurus Payroll Manager, and even easier again is Thesaurus Connect - the payroll add-on offering cloud integration and an online portal.

Thesaurus Connect requires no downloads or manual data input. Once set up, everything is automatically available for your clients, where your clients can just log in to their own password-protected portal anytime, anywhere. The online portal gives clients access to all employee payslips, employee leave and payroll reports that you would have previously emailed to clients each pay period.

And there are levels to this, too. Senior employees or managers can be given different levels of administration to approve leave, change employee details, view employee payslips, and access payroll reports.

We understand that you don’t offer one-size-fits-all service to your clients, and your payroll software functionality needs to match that. Thesaurus is flexible, and your involvement in the payroll process can be ramped up or scaled back as required.

Thesaurus Software’s employer self-service portal has built-in features giving your clients a ready-to-go and easy-to-use HR solution. HR documents can be uploaded including employee handbooks and contracts, disciplinary documents, company newsletters, training material and more.

Clients can also manage all leave for their employees. These features will automate and streamline many of the day-to-day HR functions that your clients deal with. The benefits of the payroll service you offer cascades down throughout the business.

Thesaurus Connect gives accountants the ability to send requests to their clients where the clients can now enter payments, additions and deductions for their employees and can also add new starters through their online employer dashboard.

From there, Thesaurus Connect goes one step further with the approval feature allowing you to securely send clients a payroll summary for them to approve before the payroll is finalised. Ultimately, your client will be accountable for ensuring that the payroll information is 100% correct before the payroll is finalised.

Very quickly, your payroll bureau becomes an indispensable part of the business’s administration. By embracing cloud innovation, accountants can really streamline and automate much of the payroll process. And with Thesaurus Software’s easy-to-use, automated software, it’s a low touch, easy-to-manage process. What more can you ask for?

 Book a demo today to discover how BrightPay’s award-winning software can improve your payroll processes and save you time.

Posted byKaren BennettinPayroll

Minimum wage to rise to €10.10 per hour

Minister, Regina Doherty, has announced that from 1 February 2020, the minimum wage will increase from €9.80 per hour to €10.10.

The decision to increase minimum wage by 30 cent follows a recommendation in October by the Low Pay Commission. Strong economic growth and greater certainty surrounding Brexit were two key factors in the decision to introduce the increase.

In order to ensure that the increase in the minimum wage does not result in employers attracting a higher level of PRSI, the employer PRSI threshold will increase from €386 to €395 from 1 February 2020.

Minister Doherty is quoted as saying that; “with this most recent increase in the National Minimum Wage, an employee on minimum wage who works a full 39 hour week will now receive an additional €11.70 per week, or an extra €608.40 gross per year.” It is estimated that over 127,000 workers will benefit from the increase.

Employers should also note that the minimum wage for younger workers will also increase:

• Aged 19: €9.09
• Aged 18: €8.08
• Under 18: €7.07