Paycheck Plus - Making Payroll Easy

Revenue have advised that it will suffice for an employer to print one copy of a P60 for an employee for tax year 2011 and subsequent years. There is no requirement to print a duplicate copy. If an employee seeks a duplicate copy, employers are permitted, but not obliged, to give a duplicate copy. Employers have the option of giving employees a printed version however, it is also acceptable to give an electronic P60 to an employee once the employee has access to print it and the electronic system is secure and confidential.  The Paycheck Plus Payroll Team automatically produce the P60′s for your employees as part of your payroll outsource service but if you have any questions, just let us know and we’ll be happy to assist in Making Payroll Easy!

Employers Obligations for Public Holiday

It is important that employers understand their obligations to all employees where public holidays are concerned. Most employees are entitled to a public holiday benefit. The exception to this is part-time/casual employees who have not worked at least 40 hours in the last 5 weeks prior to the public holiday.

The public Holiday Benefit can be:

• A paid day off within a month of the public holiday
• An additional day of annual leave
• A paid day off on that day
• An additional day’s pay

If an employer doers not nominate one of these options 21 days prior to the holiday, the employee automatically receives a paid day off on the public holiday.

• Where the public holiday falls on the day an employee is not normally working, or is not scheduled to work, employees are entitled to 1/5^th of their actual weekly pay instead of the actual days leave.

• Where a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday the public holiday remains on that day, i.e. it does not change to the following Monday.   The employer is still obliged to provide the employees with one of the normal public Holiday Benefits as listed above. For example this occurs in 2011 as Christmas Day (25^th December) falls on a Sunday and St Stephen’s day falls on a Monday. This means Monday the 26^th is a public holiday (St Stephen’s day) but Tuesday 27^th of December 2011 is not a public holiday. However, many employers will be exercising the alternative paid day off for Christmas Day on the  Tuesday (27^th December). Similarly, as New Year’s Day is a Public Holiday and falls on a Sunday this year, employers may pay an additional amount of one fifth of an average week, grant a paid day off on the Sunday or, if the employee does not normally work on the Sunday, an alternative day which for many people will be Monday 2nd January.

• Full time employees on sick leave during a public holiday, are entitled to time off work for the public holiday. Part-time workers on sick leave during a public holiday, are entitled to time off work for the public holiday, provided they have worked at least 40 hours in the previous five-week period.

• Employees are not entitled to public holiday benefits if they have being on sick leave for more than 26 weeks, or for more than 52 weeks due to an occupational accident.

• Employees are entitled to leave for any public holidays that occur while on maternity leave parental leave or adoptive leave.

Agency workers will benefit from the same pay and conditions of employment as their permanent full time colleagues from Monday (5th December) following discussions between trade unions, employers groups and the Government. The new equal status for agency workers results from the implementation of the EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive and is likely to affect up to 40,000 workers across the public and private sectors. The directive provides that workers supplied by agencies have the same pay and conditions as regular staff from their first day on the job.

A major dispute at Irish Ferries in 2005 centred on the company’s recruitment and exploitation of low paid, non-national, agency workers. The dispute was triggered after the Irish Ferries management threatened to replace directly employed seafarers with predominantly Eastern European agency crew who were paid less than the Irish minimum wage.  In December 2005, up to 100,000 people marched in Dublin against the gross exploitation of the workers involved in the Irish Ferries dispute which led to the ultimately successful campaign for an EU Directive granting equality for agency workers.

The Government’s Bill, when published later in the month, will confirm this and will define pay for the purposes of the legislation as follows:  

• Basic pay
• Shift premium
• Piece rates
• Overtime premium
• Unsocial hours premium
• Sunday premium where a Sunday is worked and a premium is normally paid to a directly recruited employee.  

This is an exhaustive list in the Bill to be published. Other possible component elements of remuneration will not be included in the definition of pay for the purpose of equal treatment in the Bill, including for example:  

• Occupational Pension schemes
• Financial participation schemes
• Sick pay schemes
• Benefit in kind
• Bonus payments  

The Bill will also provide for equal treatment of Temporary Agency Workers who fall within scope of the Directive in respect of the following:  

• Working time
• Rest periods
• Rest breaks
• Night work
• Annual leave
• Public holidays
• The Bill will also transpose the Directive’s provisions that temporary agency workers will also be given rights in relation to access to the collective facilities and amenities of a hirer (e.g. canteen or other similar facilities, childcare facilities and transport services) under the same terms as directly recruited employees and are to be informed about vacant posts.  

Hirers and Agencies should make the appropriate arrangements to ensure that the principles of equal treatment as indicated above are put in place from 5thDecember 2011 for all temporary agency workers, including those who are assigned on or after 5thDecember 2011.

We would strongly recommend that if you currently hire temporary agency workers that you contact the Agency to establish the terms and conditions that apply to ensure that you are complying with the new regulations.

The team at Paycheck Plus hardly had time to recover from winning the “Best Training Initiative 2011″ award when they were called to centre stage by Marty Whelan, host for the night, to accept the “Customer Service Excellence 2011” award on Friday night, 4th November at the Fingal Chamber Business Awards.  Up against stiff competition, the Paycheck Plus Team were shortlisted for an amazing three different awards and were delighted that they were selected for Customer Service Excellence.  Paycheck Plus has long focused on the importance of delivering customer excellence and recognise that in order to deliver that they constantly and consistently invest in the development of their team.  Winning two awards in as many weeks is a reflection that this company lives and breathes Excellence in every aspect of their business.  Well done to all invovled.

Reward your Employees Tax Free:

Employers can provide employees with a small benefit exemption to a maximum value of €250 once in any tax year. 

 The small benefit exemption must be in non-cash form, such as a voucher or a hamper. PAYE, PRSI and Income Levy will not be applied to the benefit. The small benefit exemption cannot be paid in the form of cash, cheques etc.  The exemption does not apply to the cumulative value of a number of gifts but rather it applies to a single gift. The employer saves as they do not have to pay Employers PRSI on the benefit and they also receive a deduction for the small benefit expense e.g. the cost of gift voucher, for corporation tax purposes. So treat your employees this Christmas tax free.

At a Gala dinner in Dundalk attended by approximately 500 guests on Saturday night, Anne Reilly, Managing Director was delighted to accept yet another award for Paycheck Plus.  This latest additional to the wall of trophies was in honour of “Best Training Initiative” at the Louth Chambers Annual Awards. 

As Ireland Payroll Outsource Provider winner for the Small & Medium Sector, Paycheck Plus understand the importance of investment in continuous training and development of their Payroll Team to ensure they provide the most up to date payroll and employment legislation to the growing list of clients.   

Reilly was “delighted to accept this award on behalf of all the team who continually give of their own time and effort to ensure they keep up to date with ever-changing payroll calculations and legislation.”   “Our Mission Statement is to achieve Excellence in Customer service through continuous training and development of our  clients, our people and our business.  Winning this award for Best Training Initiative is testimony to the commitment everyone at Paycheck Plus makes towards this.” she proudly concluded.

Employers Tip- October 2011:  Let Paycheck Plus help you comply with your Employer Pension Obligations

Paycheck Plus now has an associate Qualified Financial Advisor who can help you, set up a pension scheme for your employees.

Contact Paycheck Plus today and we will arrange a meeting for you with our associate QFA who will advise you of the best Pension Scheme options for your employees.

All employers are required by law to provide access to a pension for all employees whether they are in full time, part-time, temporary, contract or casual employment. If there is no in-house scheme, or there are restrictions on entry, contribution amounts or benefits, then a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) must be offered by law. Failure to comply is a criminal offence and could result in a fine of up to €12,700 and/or up to 2 years imprisonment.

The employer may contribute to the PRSA if they wish, but are not obliged to do so. The employer is obliged to allow employees time to explore the PRSA in-depth and discuss their scheme with an advisor during paid working hours.

Providing a Company pension or occupational pensions scheme is a tax-efficient savings plan put in place by the employer to provide a retirement income for employees. The employee also pays less PAYE on their relevant earnings.

Help your employees to recognise the benefits available to them from Revenue as they make a contribution towards their retirement. A useful pension calculator is available at www.pensionsboard.ie

Attending the inaugural National CFO & Finance Directors’ Forum in Croke Park this week, the Team at Paycheck Plus were inspired by the refreshing sharing of information and insight from some of the most powerful executives in Ireland.  Coming from a range of sectors, the delegates left the confines of their offices to share ideas and inspiration on the emerging role of the Financial Executives role in Irish business.  As one speaker aptly described it, CEO’s have become CEEOs (Chief Everything Else Officers) and no longer wear only the Finance Hat. 

This dynamic group of people are only too well aware of the need to use their many talents for the benefit of their organisatons as they enter a new stage in Irish business.  These people are changing from the traditional laborious routine of producing reports that previously went un-read and turning their attention to driving growth in the future. 

 With a lively discussion on Shared Services and Business Process outsourcing, companies all over Ireland are looking at ways of focusing their time on their expertise and leaving the more repetitive and back-office tasks to those who specialise in those areas.

Paycheck Plus was delighted to meet many of the delegates on the day to discuss the benefit of using a payroll outsource company to not only provide a service, but to work as a partnership to ensure their payroll is operating in an efficient and effective manner.   In this maturing market, successful companies have proved that Payroll Outsourcing works – it brings real savings and efficiency in many cases while enabling the Finance Team use their key skills to develop a successful strategy for the continued growth and development of their respective businesses.

Tax Relief in respect of Tuitions fees for Third Level Education

As many students commence study at this time, it’s worth considering if you can claim tax relief on Third Level education fees for yourself or anyone for whom you pay third level fees.  Relief is available at the standard rate of tax (currently 20%) subject to a maximum limit of €7,000 for the academic year 2011- 2012.

For 2011 and subsequent years, the first €2,000 of any claim is disregarded for relief where the student is studying full time or by €1,000 where the student is studying on a part-time basis.  From this academic year, 2011 – 2012, the relief is allowable in respect of tuition fees including the Student Contribution.  Relief is not available in respect of registration, administration or examination fees or any part of the fee that is, or will be met by grants, scholarships, by an employer or so on.

Relief is available per student, per course, per academic year so if you are paying college fees for more than one student in this academic year, you may claim relief in respect of the fees paid for each person.

Further details of this tax relief is available from the Revenue Information Leaftlet IT31 and a list of approved colleges and courses is available on the Revenue Website at  http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/tuition-fees.html#section6

Relief can be claimed on individuals tax returns at the end of the tax year or during the year once fees have been paid and the relief can be granted on a tax credit certificate.  You can apply for the relief by completing the application form at http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/forms/it31-form.pdf

Details of any payments received or to be received towards the fees must accompany the claim.  You should retain all receipts regarding the claim for tuition fees for a period of 6 years as they may be requested for verification at a later date.

National Payroll Week celebrates the hard work and dedicated service provided by payroll personnel such as the Payroll Team at Paycheck Plus in Ireland. It is their responsibility to guarantee accurate and timely payment of salary and wage payments for more than 1.8 million employees. The work of payroll personnel is usually taken for granted and often goes unrecognised and unrewarded, despite the fact that they play a vital role in every company. Payroll personnel in Ireland are responsible for implementing and complying with a wide range of taxation, social welfare and employment legislation and in the course of doing do, they process over 80 million payslips a year, and collecting and remitting more than Euro16 billion in income tax, PRSI contributions and levies to the Irish Revenue Commissioners each year..  To our Payroll Team here at Paycheck Plus and to all other payroll personnel we say Thank You and well done for keeping Ireland paid!