payback.ie

The current version is 2012.05. It can be downloaded from here:

http://www.payback.ie/downloads/setup.exe

(For mamut customers)
http://www.payback.ie/downloads/setupmamut.exe

IMPORTANT: Please back up your data before installing this update. (In Payback, click Admin / Backup / Backup and save the file somewhere like your desktop)
Download and run the setup.exe file, and follow the on-screen instructions. This will update your software to v2012.05. If you start Payback and notice your payroll data is not present, then you can restore your data from the back up you made (click Admin / Backup / Restore)

Here are the release notes for all versions for 2012. The changes and fixes are cumulative.

Version 2012.05
- In certain instances the USC liability can be calculated incorrectly. This effects employees who are week one monthly USC basis.
- Registration details no longer held in database

Version 2012.04
- Grossing up has been speeded up. (Performance improvement)
- CSO Report fix - CSO were rejecting some submissions
- Regional settings now just a warning. Before people could not open Payback until their regional settings were changed
- SRCOP & Tax credits - a warning now appears if these appear to be incorrect

Version 2012.03
P60 Forms
- Works number in P60. This was being displayed as random characters
- Year in P60. The Revenue P60 template did not have a year. We have now included the year that the top of the P60

P45 ROS Upload
- File extension for P45 changed back to to *.p45 (Revenue had changed this to *.xml)
- Other various upload problems people were experiencing have also been fixed

P35 Upload
- The Pension Flag problem has been fixed

USC
- In certain situations, unusual USC bands downloaded from the P2C file were giving refunds. We have changed the way the cut off points work.
- USC in costcentre report. Expense amounts were not being calculated correctly in this report under the USC heading.


Version 2012.02
Cumulative USC
USC (Universal Social Charge) is now to be calculated in a similar fashion to PAYE. USC can now be calculated on the following basis:
- Cumulative
- Week one/Month one
- Emergency

(In 2011, USC was calculated as week one/month one only. Previous figures were not taken into account.)
Generally, USC should be on the same basis as PAYE. We have included a warning that will alert the user if the basis for USC calculation differs to that of PAYE.
The option is there to calculate both USC and PAYE on different basis. We have done this because such a scenario may arise during the year, and the new P2C (Tax credits file) allows such as scenario.
We have also included the option to overwrite the standard USC bands. The P2C file allows up to five bands for USC, so we have followed suit in the manual override facility.

The Ceiling for USC exemption has risen from €4,004 to €10,036 for 2012.
NOTE: Only the rates as advised on the P2C should be used. Users should not apply exemptions or reduced rates (Medical card holders etc) without a valid P2C.
The exemption stays in force until a P2C is received to override it, regardless of an increase in earnings. The onus is on the employee/pensioner (not the employer), to advise Revenue if their annual earnings will exceed the exemption threshold.

More information about the USC can be found here:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/usc/univer ... e-faqs.pdf
(Note: This document changes frequently, so the user is advised to check they are referring to the latest version)

Week 53
It appears that where there are 53 payments in a year (week 53), that employees may be overcharged USC. For Week 53, employees will not get the remaining 7 days worth of USC threshold due to them.
This is by design and is stated in the USC documentation. We have raised this issue with Revenue.


PRSAs and PRSI
Employee pension contributions are now subject to employer’s PRSI. Employees with a PRSA should also have a USC BIK elment added to show that they are paying USC on their pension contributions.
Details on how to set up pensions can be found here:
http://www.payback.ie/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=594


PRSI
The following PRSI sub-classes no longer exist for 2012:
A2, A5, B2, C2, D2, H2, J2 and S2
More information about PRSI can be found here:
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Publications/A ... i2012.aspx


Illness Benefit
The first 36 days Illness Benefit exemption has been abolished from 1 January 2012. Illness Benefit is not subject to USC.


ROS and file formats
The P45 and P35 upload ROS file formats have been changed this year. At the time of writing, our test files have all uploaded correctly to the ROS test environment. However, the appears that the ROS team still seem to be making changes to the formats.
It may be the case that they make more changes, mid 2012. (They do not publish such changes.) If this happens we will release a new update.


Previous Years' data
Previous years can now be processed for verion 2012.02. We had to disable this feature for the 2011 release due to time constraints, but now we have reinstated this feature.
All years from 2012, going back to 2004 can now be processed in the one application. The user only needs to make one upgrade, to the 2012 version.