The section below describes the fixes and enhancements in more detail. This is ordered by the products or modules identified in the Release Summary section.
Important information
This is an Irish Legislation Statutory release
This release contains changes relevant to our customers operating in the Republic of Ireland. It's a statutory release and applies to our customers operating Irish Legislation Payroll as soon as possible to your test system and User Acceptance testing conducted.
For you to calculate your 2024 payroll correctly, this release must be applied to your live system by 1 January 2024.
You should be on version 10.7.3.0 or later to upgrade to 23.4.0.0. If you're not on version 10.7.3.0 or later, you need to apply the 10.7.3.0 release before upgrading to this release.
Backups must be taken before and after the upgrade process to ensure business continuity during this period.
Database backups. It has become apparent that some customers have had issues with database backups. Although Access Pay and Bill is an enterprise-level system rarely requiring maintenance and seldom requiring restoration of an old database, in exceptional circumstances this may be necessary. You should maintain regular backups to enable swift recovery if it is needed.
Access Pay and Bill continues to be an HMRC-recognised payroll software to manage your Real-time Information (RTI) PAYE payments and deductions.
ROI Legislation Statutory enhancements
Statutory Legislative changes for tax year 2024
The new 2024 ROI tax year changes in the Budget that were announced on 10 October 2023 were mainly focused on the Universal Social Charge, with the Minister advising of further changes to PRSI Contributions set to rise in pre-budget October 2024, a forecast of a 0.1% increase for Employees and Employers PRSI contributions is expected.
This new Tax Year sees the introduction of Enhanced Reporting Requirements from Revenue, this is currently in development and isn't included within this release. This is distributed within a follow-up release to ensure that reporting for submission to ROS is available by the first pay date within the new Tax Year.
ROI Statutory Sick Pay is in development, and we'll provide an update on the functionality release shortly.
The Department of Social Protection has announced changes for the State Pension (Contributory (SPC), the introduction of a flexible drawdown of State Pension for workers will be available from 1 January 2024.
This gives those citizens who've reached the State Retirement age of 66 the option to continue working to increase their Pension contributions up to the age of 70, providing they're not already in receipt of their SPC. Find out more about how Access Pay and Bill facilitate this later in these release notes.
We naturally observe the latest news and updates to ensure that we're ready to make provisions in the software for compliance where possible and the product is developed by legislation changes as and when they are enforced.
You can find out more information relating to the budget announcements by clicking the links below:
337009 New 2024 ROI PAYE parameters
The Standard Rate Band (SRCOP), which is the level at which earners begin to pay the higher rate of income tax has gone up by €2,000 to €42,000. No changes to tax rates for 2024.
You can find this here:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click ROI PAYE Parameters.
337010 New 2024 PRSI parameters
PRSI Class Maintenance:
There are no changes to the PRSI Class parameters for Tax Year 2024.
You can find this here:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click ROI PRSI Class Maintenance.
PRSI Rates Maintenance:
There are no changes that affect the PRSI rates for the start of the new 2024 tax year, however, there are plans to introduce a 0.1% increase for Employee's and Employer’s PRSI contributions in October 2024.
You can find this here:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click ROI PRSI Rates Maintenance.
PRSI Credits Maintenance:
No changes were announced for PRSI credits.
You can find this here:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click ROI PRSI Credits Maintenance.
337012 New 2024 USC parameters
A USC rate change was announced for the new tax year, the higher rate of USC applied to earnings above that level up to €70,044 will come down 0.5 per cent to 4 per cent.
The ceiling for the lower 2 per cent rate of Universal Social Charge will go up by €2,840, meaning it applies to earnings up to €25,760.
You see in the Monthly and Weekly parameters, the prorated values.
You can find this here:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click ROI USC Parameters.
337013 New 2024 Pension Age Limit parameters
No changes were made to the Pension Age limits for 2024.
You can find this here:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click ROI Pension Age Limit Parameters.
ROI End of year checklist
This checklist covers the processes to be conducted to aim for a successful transition into the new tax year.
Testing release 23.4.0.0
Description | Check |
Ask your IT Dept or IT provider to take a copy of your live Pay & Bill data and restore this in your TEST environment Database. This is so you have current payroll data to test on.
|
|
After you've applied the upgrade, check all the New 2024 Payroll parameters and ensure that you're satisfied.
|
|
Next process parallel test payrolls which include some or all the payroll elements that you'd process on a live, ordinary payroll week. You can check your outcomes against your live payroll. |
|
Once you're happy that you've tested the release and have taken a backup of your live environment database then install the 23.4.0.0 release to your live database. |
|
Next, check whether you need to create a further period in line with the New Tax Year starting on the 1st of January 2024. Week 53 occurs where 1 January and 31 December are pay days and a total of 53 pay days arise between those dates. |
|
Process your payroll as normal for all payroll periods before running the End of Year Routine. This includes your Period Close.
|
|
You want to consider looking at those workers who've not recently been paid within the system and have left but no leave date has been applied to them. |
|
Once you have period closed for the final period of the current tax year, now is a suitable time to take a backup of your Live system before running the year-end rollover. |
|
Once you have validated that a successful backup has been achieved and you have reconciled your current tax year payroll reports in preparation for your statement of account from the Revenue.
|
|
Once the Year-end Routine has been completed for your Employer(s) there are a few things to check before start processing your Period 1 for Tax year 2024.
|
|
Now, you can request your RPNs for the New Tax Year, this is the same process as step 3, but you can select Tax Year 2024. |
|
You are now ready to process your payroll for Period 1 2024. |
|
ROI generic enhancements
421300 Upper Threshold for Exemption PRSI Class extended to 70 years of age
Background:
The DSP announced plans to put forward a bill to increase the upper age limit for exemption from PRSI liability for both Employees and Employers. The age exemption threshold is expected to change from 66 years to 70 years from the 1st of January 2024 this is still subject to the legislation being passed by the end of the year.
Revenue and DSP have advised Software Developers that future changes are expected to support employees to work after the state retirement age, and further contribute PRSI until the age of 70. The allocation of a PRSI class for workers within this age range is dependent on whether the worker is in receipt of a State Pension, Contributory (SPC), or not.
This assessment and further guidance of how the DSP and Revenue expect Employers to facilitate this is still yet to be cascaded. This affects the PRSI class used for the calculation of pay for Employees over the age of 66 who decide to return to work or choose in advance to defer their receipt of SPC.
Because we are waiting for instruction from Revenue and DSP, we want to avoid validation blocking the allocation of PRSI classes based on a worker's Date of Birth therefore we have future-proofed by broadening the existing validation.
You can read more about the announcement from Minster Humphreys by clicking the links below:
413766 Workers Irish Import routine
The generic Workers Irish Import Routine validation messaging has been amended to broaden the age scope for the PRSI Class J. The warning message should only output where a worker is 66 or over and not on PRSI Base Class J.
The Error Log Enquiry screen will show the validation warnings that relate to the worker's DOB and the PRSI Class that has been imported.
You can find this here:
Click Timesheets then click Data Import.
Click Error Log Enquiry.
The now redundant message was:
This is replaced with a new narrative as shown:
418983 Worker screens
The following screens have changed to provide consistent validation messaging to support the new changes, we've also reduced the severity of the validation from an Error to a Warning to prevent issues when processing the Workers.
The warning message only outputs where a worker is 66 or over and not on PRSI Base Class J.
Worker Entry
Payroll Details Maintenance
You can find this here:
Click Workers then click Worker Entry.
or
Click Workers then click Payroll Details.
Click Payroll Details Maintenance.
418988 Payroll starters routine
The Payroll Starters Routine has changed to display the new warning validation. The warning message only outputs where a worker is 66 or over and not on PRSI Base Class J.
You can find this here:
Click Workers then click Movements.
Click Payroll Starters.
418990 Main Calculation
The Main Calculation validation warning narrative has changed. The warning message only outputs where a worker is 66 or over and not on PRSI Base Class J.
You can find this here:
Click Payroll then click Calculation Menu.
Click Calculation Report.
426412 Worker Irish Generic Import validation on PRSI against D.O.B incorrect
Whilst reviewing the validation present in the Generic Worker Irish Import, a bug was found whereby the logic that triggers validation for workers who are over 66 and are not on a PRSI Class J was incorrect. This has now been rectified.
ROI generic fixes
336372 ROI legislation Credit Notes printing with NI label rather than PRSI
We've fixed an issue reported whereby credit notes were found to be printing with an Employer NI Label rather than an Employer PRSI label text, Invoices were not affected.
352478 Payroll Starters outputting UK Legislation Error or Warning message
The Payroll Starters Routine was found to be outputting UK Legislation validation based on the State Pensionable age on ROI Legislation Employers. This has now been removed from ROI Legislation Employers.
UK Legislation Statutory enhancements
UK additional Public Holiday accrual due to end 31 December 2023
We'd like to remind our customers that the Public Holiday Accrual for the King's Coronation will be completed on the 31st of December 2023, for those who've used Pay and Bill to facilitate the WTR accrual for this extra Public Holiday.
We recommend that a check be made in the Employer WTR Parameter Maintenance Accrual Rates to ensure that you have an entry that reverts the Public Holiday accrual rate to 1.60.
The record entry is to revert to 1.60 accrual after the King's Coronation which is due to end on 31 December 2023. The record entry for accrual to facilitate the Bank Holiday accrual ending is displayed below.
You can find this here:
Click Setup then click Payroll Parameters.
Click Employer WTR Parameter Maintenance.
Click Accural Rates.
UK INVESTMENT ZONES – Employers NICs Relief
UK Pay and Bill Customers we would appreciate your engagement. We want to reach out to ask for some feedback about your business plans to utilise the Investment Zones within the UK, which have been confirmed and are due to be operational within the Tax Year 2024/25.
This Government economy growth incentive sees funding and relief available for Employers’ NICs providing that they meet the eligibility criteria.
The .gov website explains what Investment Zones are and how they may benefit employers. The eligibility criteria are specific, not all employers will find their workers eligible, therefore it's important that you self-assess eligibility for relief using available guidance from the HMRC.
We're trying to assess whether Pay and Bill customers within the UK are looking to utilise the Investment zones and the related tax relief package offered by the government. There are eight shortlisted areas in England, and these are:
East Midlands Mayoral Combined County Authority.
Greater Manchester Mayoral Combined Authority.
Liverpool City Region Mayoral Combined Authority.
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
Tess Valley Mayoral Combined Authority.
West Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority.
West Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
If you envisage that your business is seeking to utilise the Tax relief package for the investment zones, we would like to ask how many eligible workers you estimate, you would be payrolling every week.
This Feedback is important for us to understand how this legislation impacts your business, and to correctly assess the functionality requirement for Access Pay and Bill.
If you could respond via a direct reply to [email protected], we look forward to receiving your feedback.
Holiday Entitlement Calculation for Part-Time and Irregular Hours Workers
In January of this year, we distributed an Access Pay and Bill Press Release to advise that the UK Government, Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy was inviting Agency Stakeholders to participate in an open consultation.
The requirement for a consultation followed the Supreme Court judgment made in relation to Harpur Trust V Brazel in July of 2022. The consultation document described a disparity between workers who work the same total number of hours across the year on the calculation of their Holiday Entitlement following the judgment decision. The Consultation closed in March 2023.
We've now received an official response from the Government on its decision as a result of the consultation, we would encourage you to read through the response via their website.
Generic UK Payroll fixes
171359 NOW Pension Extract not outputting updated Worker pension status
We've resolved an issue when a worker is assessed in session one as entitled, but then paid again in session two making them eligible, the extract is populating with the session one status.
287008 Unable to import overnight shifts using FTI Import clocking data
When importing overnight shifts using Clocking’s data the FTI import failed with an error message: Clock Out Time is less than Clock In Time - timesheet not imported. This has now been resolved so that the system correctly handles the overnight shift.
345873 Generate Costings in Automation - Overwrite option processing as append
If you generate costings more than once for the same session through Automation, the default option should be Overwrite, but this process was found to be acting as Append Mode. This has now been fixed.
375416 Scottish AEO parameters
We found that the Scottish AEO Parameters had not been included in the UK Stat 2023/24 release and therefore we've now added them within the release. There is no manual intervention required by users the system automatically adopts and uses the new parameters.
You can find this here:
Click Payroll then click Definitions.
Click Advanced Table Maintenance.
410374 Client Self Bill Import into Client Self Bill Details Maintenance - Update or Tagging Process is freezing
It was reported that the Client Self Bill Import experienced issues via the Update and Tag for Invoicing button, which caused the screen and system to experience a lock. We've now resolved this issue.
Appendix A
Create an extra Payroll Period and session within Pay & Bill
Note: Only create an extra period if you're certain it's required. i.e., A new pay period is created in Pay & Bill to account for the start of the new tax year, this may be a period 53 in a weekly payroll with 52 periods normally within the year.
First, you need to change the Periods in Year held on the Employer Maintenance, 2 Details tab so that you can create a further period if necessary.
To do this:
Click Setup then click Employer Maintenance.
Select the 2 Detail tab then in the Periods in Year box, enter your number of periods.
Pressing CTRL+M you can modify the Employer Maintenance record and you can increase the number of periods in the year by entering the field named Periods in Year.
i.e., You may see a value of 52 in this field, if you need to create a further period then the value entered would be 53 to accommodate the extra period required.
Next, go to Period Maintenance and insert a period record for the extra period within the current Tax Year.
To do this:
Click Payroll then click Period Maintenance.
Press CTRL+I to insert a new record and complete the information that relates to your extra period required for the current Tax year. Ensure that the dates entered don't overlap with those already existing with an existing period record.
Once you've created your extra period this creates a session 1 record which you can check in the Session Maintenance screen.
You can find this here:
Click Payroll then click Session Maintenance.
Press CTRL+M to modify the record to enter the payday which applies for the extra period.
Please remember that a payday after 31 December 2023 won't be in the current tax year.