Construction Industry Scheme: Repayment Claims for limited company Subcontractors

Previously, subcontractors that are limited companies, that had deductions taken from Construction Industry Scheme payments and need to reclaim these deductions from HMRC, had to write to HMRC or call the HMRC helpline in order to make their claim. Now there is an electronic form available on your HMRC online account that you have to use to submit your claim.

After all year end submissions have been sent to HMRC for the Employer – the final Full Payment Submission and the final Employer Payment Summary – you can complete the online form for your claim. No supporting documentation is required to support your claim.

However please note; if the repayment is to be sent to your agent or a nominee you will not be able to use the online claim form, you will need to send the claim and a signed form R38 to the following address:

National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
HM Revenue & Customs 
BX9 1BX

If you are using BrightPay you can claim the CIS deductions suffered by entering the amount in the HMRC Payments section and create and send an Employer Payment Summary to HMRC with this amount reclaimable from HMRC. HMRC will update your PAYE online account accordingly.

Please see a link to our online tutorial for CIS in BrightPay - https://www.brightpay.co.uk/tutorials/cis-entering-contractor-and-subcontractor-details/  

Posted byDebbie ClarkeinCIS

How can BrightPay Connect benefit your payroll bureau?

BrightPay Connect our latest cloud add-on works alongside BrightPay Payroll. Payroll information is stored in the cloud and can be accessed online by you and your clients anywhere. BrightPay Connect offers additional innovative payroll and HR features that will enhance client relationships and increase revenue for your bureau.

Secure online Backup

Don't worry about manually backing up or losing your client payroll data again. Simply link an employer to BrightPay Connect, then the payroll data will be automatically synchronised to the cloud as you run your payroll or make any changes. Payroll files are automatically backed up every 15 minutes when open and again when closed down, offering cloud security against ransomware and cyber attacks. A chronological history of backups will be maintained which can be restored at any time.

Bureau Dashboard

Access your online multi-company dashboard which gives an overview of clients’ payroll information in one place. BrightPay Payroll and BrightPay Connect are automatically synced to capture annual leave and changes to employee details.

Client / Employer Access

Invite clients to their own company dashboard where they have online access to an overview of their employer details, employee requests, employee contact details, employee payslips and any outstanding amounts due to HMRC. Payroll reports that have been set up and saved in the payroll are automatically available on BrightPay Connect.

Employee Online Access

Employees can access their own personal self service portal from any computer, tablet or smartphone. They can view and retrieve their historic payslips and other payroll documents such as a P60, P45, or P11d which can be exported to PDF and printed. Employees can easily submit holiday requests, view leave taken and leave remaining as well as amend personal contact details.

Annual Leave Management

Your client can view a company leave calendar allowing them to effectively manage their staffing resources and plan ahead to ensure there is sufficient staff cover at all times. Once an employee requests leave, clients can authorise or reject the request which then flows back to the payroll. Clients will have full visibility of how much leave an employee has taken, the number of annual leave days remaining and how frequently an employee is on sick leave. 

HR Solution

BrightPay Connect has built-in features giving your clients a ready-to-go 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 including sick leave, annual leave, maternity leave and paternity leave.

Benefits for Payroll Bureaus

BrightPay Connect introduces powerful new online features that offers a range of benefits for your bureau, your clients and your clients’ employees.

• Add your own bureau or firm logo to boost the visibility of your brand and enhance client relationships.
• Clients get 24/7 access to their employees’ payslips and other payroll reports which will improve transparency for your client and their employees.
• Never worry about losing your client’s payroll data again as your data is now securely stored in the cloud.
• Make significant savings when bulk purchasing multiple BrightPay Connect licences. With savings of up to 75%, the more clients you sign up to BrightPay Connect, the more profits you can make.
• Increase revenue by adding a new payroll service offering to clients.
• Save time and reduce admin by automating and streamlining many internal payroll and HR administrative processes.
• Eliminate the administrative work and time it takes to send payroll documents to clients and their employees each pay period.

The two things that our bureau customers really rave about are (1) you are up and running in seconds, as this is all the time it takes to sync all of your client data to the cloud and and (2) you, your clients and their employees can access their payroll information from anywhere, from any device.

Read: Benefits of BrightPay Connect for Bureaus

BrightPay - Payroll and Auto Enrolment Software
Bright Contracts - Employment Contracts and Handbooks

Posted byKaren BennettinEmployee RecordsEmployee Self ServicePayrollSick Leave/Absence Management

HMRC issue with Real Time Information responses

HMRC are currently experiencing issues with a delay in submission responses from RTI submissions. If you are unsure if your submission has been successfully sent, you should receive your confirmation email from HMRC to acknowledge receipt of the RTI submission.

The following message has been added to the PAYE service availability and issues page: 

PAYE Real Time Information slow submission responses

HMRC are aware of a technical issue which is causing a delay in submission responses being issued for Real Time Information (RTI) submissions. We are currently investigating the underlying problem and are working hard to resolve this as soon as possible.

If you have received your confirmation email from HMRC to acknowledge receipt of the RTI submission and it still shows as outstanding in BrightPay you can mark the submission as sent and accepted by HMRC.

To mark an FPS as sent in BrightPay:

1) Click the RTI tab heading and select the FPS from the left hand listing.

2) Click the 'Send' button on the menu toolbar and select 'Mark as Sent and Accepted by HMRC'. 

This will flag the FPS as sent on BrightPay but the FPS file will not be submitted again to HMRC.

Posted byDebbie ClarkeinHMRCPayroll SoftwareReal time information

Ditch the suit....

Firms are being urged to relax workplace dress codes to help staff cope with the heatwave, the TUC has urged firms to temporarily relax their dress codes and leave work all together if it gets too hot.

The advice will come as a particular relief for male office workers who are often expected to wear shirts, suits and ties to work.

Heatwaves are generally easier for female workers to dress for, as they are able to switch to smart short-sleeved dresses.

It comes as Sunday saw a high of 32C, the hottest day of the year so far and emergency services are on standby after the Government issued a level three amber heat alert as temperatures are set to increase further this week.

Temperatures are due to peak at 34C in certain parts of the UK – hotter than the Bahamas – before cooling down at least a few degrees by next weekend.

As well as allowing comfortable clothes, the TUC has suggested that any outside work is done in the morning or afternoon to avoid the searing heat of the mid-day sun.

The union organisation again called for a change in the law to let workers go home if the temperature reaches 30C or 27C for people carrying out physical work. At present there is no upper temperature limit at which workers have a right to leave work.

It also called for a change in the law to introduce a maximum indoor temperature, with employers obliged to adopt cooling measures when a workplace temperature reaches 24C.

Companies should supply workers with cool drinks and allow them to take regular breaks, advised the TUC.

BrightPay - Payroll and Auto Enrolment Software
Bright Contracts - Employment Contracts and Handbooks

Posted byCaoimhe ByrneinPayroll

5 Steps to Complete Employer Re-Enrolment Duties

The majority of employers will already have a schedule in place for completing their automatic enrolment duties. However, it is important to also take into consideration automatic re-enrolment. Re-enrolment occurs every three years where employers must enrol certain members of staff back into an automatic enrolment pension scheme. This might sound tedious but with the right payroll tools and processes, automatic re-enrolment can be a breeze. In this blog, we will go over five simple steps to follow for re-enrolment in order to stay compliant.

Step 1: Pick a Date

An employer’s re-enrolment date occurs by default on the third anniversary of their automatic enrolment staging date. Fortunately, there is a six month window that employers can choose from, being three months either side of the anniversary of the staging date.

When the chosen date arrives, employers must assess certain members of staff for re-enrolment. Different departments or employees cannot be assessed on different days. Also, postponement cannot be used when it comes to re-enrolment.

As employers can choose their own date for re-enrolment, this can be used as an opportunity to align the re-enrolment date with other important dates, such as the start of their financial year, or as a way to avoid seasonal peaks.

Step 2: Assessing Employees

The employees that must be assessed will meet one of the following criteria:

• They opted out of the pension scheme
• They left the pension scheme after the opt-out period
• They are still enrolled in the pension scheme but have reduced their contributions so it is now below the total minimum level
  
  

There may be certain staff that meet the above criteria but do not need to be assessed if they fall into one of these categories:

• They are already in a qualifying pension scheme
• They are below the age of 22
• They are at or over state pension age
• They have not met the AE earnings criteria
  
  

Where employees meet the age and earnings criteria, there are certain circumstances where the employer can choose whether or not to re-enrol the employee:

• Employees who left the automatic enrolment pension scheme within the 12 months leading up to the re-enrolment date
• Employees who were paid a winding up lump sum in the 12 months leading up to the re-enrolment date, then left the employment and were later re-employed by the same employer
• Employees who have either given notice or been given notice of the end of their employment
• Employees who hold the office of director with the employer
• Employees who are a partner in a Limited Liability Partnership which is the employer, and is not treated for income tax purposes under HMRC’s salaried member rule.
  
  

Step 3: Re-Enrol Employees

Once the employer has determined which employees are eligible for automatic re-enrolment, the next step is to re-enrol these employees into a workplace pension scheme. This must be done within six weeks of the chosen re-enrolment date. Employer and employee contributions must also be paid into the pension scheme.

Step 4: Communicate with Employees

After re-enrolling staff back into an automatic enrolment pension scheme, employers are legally obliged to write to each member of staff informing them that they have been re-enrolled into the pension scheme. The letter must explain that they have been enrolled, explain their right to opt out of the pension scheme and that detail what contributions will be paid into the scheme.

Step 5: Re-declare Compliance

The re-declaration of compliance must be completed within five months of the third anniversary of an employer’s automatic enrolment staging date. The re-enrollment date chosen by the employer does not change the re-declaration deadline.

The re-declaration of compliance is an online form that informs The Pensions Regulator that the employer has met their legal re-enrolment duties. If someone else is helping the employer with their automatic enrolment duties, it is still the employer's legal responsibility to ensure the re-declaration is completed on time and filled in correctly.

Although an employer has five months to complete this re-declaration of compliance, it is recommended that it is completed as soon as possible after the re-enrolment date.

How Software Can Help?

Re-enrolment may seem like a long process that will take up an employer’s valuable time. However, using payroll software that handles the re-enrolment process, such as BrightPay, will greatly reduce the hours required to remain compliant.

After entering the re-enrolment date in BrightPay, the software will automatically assess and flag employees for re-enrolment before the payroll is processed for the pay period. BrightPay will also generate the letters needed for employees that were re-enrolled. By automating the re-enrolment duties, BrightPay will save employers time which can be invested into other important business matters.

Why not try a free 60 day trial to test the full capability of BrightPay? Sign up for a free demo to see just how easy it is to process payroll and auto enrolment using BrightPay.

Company Cars - Advisory Fuel Rates from 1st June 2017

For company cars, HMRC has issued details regarding the latest Advisory Fuel Rates. From the date of the change, employers may use the old rates or new rates for one month. Employers are under no obligation to make supplementary payments to reflect the new rates but can do so if they wish. Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for this purpose for the fuel rates.

The only change is to Petrol engine over 2000. The rates are as below:

Posted byDebbie ClarkeinEmployment Update