"Payroll News"

Payroll Update 2 Sept 2008

This update implements the new tax rates for 7th Sept. This is version 08-09C1. This is a free update and is included in the ABC Recent Changes Update available on this website.

Payroll Update 18th May 2008

You need the revised ABC Payroll for use after 18th May 2008. This is version 08-09B. This is a free update and is included in the ABC5 Recent Changes update. A CD containing this update has already been sent to all registered ABC Payroll users.

New Payroll for 6th April 2008

From 6th April 2008 use the new 08-09 A1 Payroll. This is available from ABC Direct Sales, or your local support company. It is not available as a download from this website.

ABC6 Payroll now available

You can download a free copy of the ABC6 version Payroll from this website. If you purchase the updated ABC5 Payroll for year 08-09, you will receive a CD with both ABC5 and ABC6 Payrolls on it.

Student Loan bug fix

Under certain conditions ABC Payroll calculated the Student Loan Deductions wrongly. This was corrected in Payroll version 2007-2008 B2 (22 Aug 2007).

No electronic submission errors

The Inland Revenue has released statistics for the PAYE Year End Returns sent electronically by ABC software for the year 2006/2007. We are pleased to see that there were NO ERRORS. From all the P14/P35s sent in by ABC, not a single one is shown as having any error in submission.

More than one Company?

You only need to update once; even if you have several different Company Payrolls set up on your ABC5 Accounts.

Network version

All updates are suitable for both single-user and network ABC5.

Payroll Parameters

If you want to check the parameters that ABC Payroll is using to calculate PAYE and NI (eg. a visiting tax inspector may ask for this information) you can print the Payroll report LIST PARAMETERS.

General Notes

The National Insurance for Directors is calculated on the year as a whole, and if they are paid monthly this can lead to very uneven N.I. deductions (eg. nothing for the first few months, a large deduction for the next few months, and small amounts towards the end of the year). The Inland Revenue allows you to make the N.I. deductions more regular. With ABC Payroll the easiest way to do this is temporarily change the Director to be a normal employee for the first few months of the year (by removing the - D - from the employee record OPTIONS field). About halfway through the year you can put the - D - back into their Options Field, and the Payroll will correctly calculate their N.I. for the year as a whole.

It is not important exactly when you put the D back into their Options field, as long as you do it before the last Pay Run of the Year, so the Payroll can calculate their NI as a Director for the whole of the Year.

If an employee only becomes a Director partway through a Year, you need to keep the two parts of the year separate. You should therefore create a new Record Card for the person when they become a Director (and fill in the Director Start Week on the Record Card). At the end of the year they will get two P14s.

N.I.Adjustments/corrections

The ABC Payroll allows you to enter up to three corrections or adjustments to N.I. for each employee, in a year. You specify the Amount, give a note to explain the adjustment, and specify the Week Number in which this adjustment is to be applied. YOU MUST ENSURE that the Week Number you specify is going to be used by this employee in the future.

eg. if you specify Week 15, and employee is paid monthly on the last week of each month (eg. Week 8, Week 13, Week 17) then because they are not paid in Week 15 the NI Adjustment will not be activated.

To make it easy, we suggest you wait until you are just about to do a Pay Run (eg. for week 20), and then enter the N.I.Adjustment and specify this Week Number (ie. 20).

After-Tax Adjustments

ABC Payroll treats all After-Tax Adjustments as being between the Employee and the Employer, because this is what is shown on the Payslip.

If money is deducted/paid to the Employee for some outside purpose -- eg a court order on earnings -- then you must treat it as having first been paid to the Employer, and then later the Employer can pay it out to the external agency (from Heading 9221).

Electronic return of PAYE forms

The government is encouraging all businesses to submit their returns electronically, and will make this compulsory for even the smallest company by 2010. Until then small businesses will receive a payment from the government as an incentive to use electronic filing. The ABC Payroll allows you to file electronically, and to receive this payment. The program that performs the electronic submission requires that you are running Windows 98/XP/2000 and that you are connected to the internet.

However, even if you are not running Windows or connected to the Internet, you can still send your End Of Year Retrun electronically and qualify for the Tax Free £100 incentive payment -- contact us for more details.

Inland Revenue Helpline and website

The government has provided a telephone Helpline for general enquiries about Tax and National Insurance. Available 8.30 to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Charged at local call rate: The number is: 0345 143 143

There is also an Internet website at www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/