Payroll Essentials Details
This Payroll has been design specifically for use in the Channel Islands where the Installment Tax system and Social Insurance contribution systems are unique. Payroll Essentials makes the whole business of preparing the company payroll and submitting the required reports really simple Setting up and getting started Getting to know a system in the early days is always the time when you need most help. Payroll Essentials includes a number of features that will make this time easier. Included throughout the system is a function we have called 'Pro-active Hints'. As you progress through the system you will see yellow screens pop up to give you help and advice as you progress. When you begin to understand what to do and where to go next you can switch each of these hints off individually. This provides you with useful support as you get to know the system. Before you can use the system to run your first payroll you will need to enter all your company and staff details. We have provided a form for use when collecting this data which will help to make it easier and also provide all the required information in an organized format to suit the input requirements. We have included a bulk staff detail input screen which makes it really quick and easy to enter all your staff when initially starting to implement the system. This bulk input is arranged in the same format as the collection form mentioned above. As with any system, this is always going to be the most challenging time and we have carefully thought through these issues to speed up your start. Single or Multi Company or Domestic The design of the system is such that you can use it for a single company with as many employees as you need or for as many companies as required. You can also use it in a domestic environment to run your staff payroll. Some companies run payroll for several others within their group, some others have a separate payroll for their non-executive directors and yet others provide payroll services as a service to other companies. Into whichever category you fall, the system has been designed to fulfil your requirements. When run as a multi company system and when you first start you are presented with a list of Companies. To this list you can add other Companies as the need may arise and from this list you can select the required company. The rest of the system is exactly the same as the single company configuration. If in the future you need to change from Single Company to Multi Company that too is easily achieved. Staff List The system is based around the Staff record. All the staff records are presented in a list which is used for accessing the required record. Staff Details These records hold all the details necessary for running the payroll. Each staff record holds all the required reference numbers and year to date balances. There is a section where you store all the standard input information which holds user definable multiple payment types, deductions, savings and benefits in kind. The standards section can be all that you need each time you run the payroll or, when you run the payroll, you can edit the various sections in the final pay run. This would leave the original standards section unchanged for further payrolls. There are tabbed sections which show every payroll record that has been processed for each staff member, records of holiday and sickness; records of savings, pay rate changes and year to date totals. Annual Totals are stored at the end of each year. Employment periods are maintained for seasonal workers who return after longer absences and an Audit trail is maintained which tracks changes to employee addresses, Pay rate changes and ITIS rate changes. The benefits in kind section can also hold all the details required for each type of BIK. These are Leased or Owned cars, Accommodation and 'Other'. The details held are as per the Tax Office requirements. The system also caters for Superannuation. For each of the Payments, Deductions, Savings Benefits in Kind and Expenses there are four elements. The names (such as 'basic pay') are defined in a separate list and can be called up and selected as needed. There are also elements for quantity, multiple and rate so that no calculation is required when entering each item. This makes entering such items as 15.7 hours of time and a half at a basic rate of £18.25 simple to accomplish. System Parameters The system is designed with several parameters to allow the user to set up their system to reflect their own company details and needs. On the ITIS tab the company's YTD totals and reference numbers are stored and the SSC tab holds the information that will be required to complete the SSC quarterly returns. There is also a Parameters tab which allows you to set the system to default to Weekly or Monthly and the day of the week that you would normally use for the pay day if you are running a weekly payroll. Create Payroll The Create Payroll routine requires only two parameters but these are provided as defaults which can be modified if required. If you run both Weekly and Monthly payrolls you can do so in the same system and in this situation you would set the default to Weekly. You can then choose if you want to define your payroll day as Friday or some other day. Once you have set the frequency and the date of the payroll you just click the 'Prepare' button. The system will run through all the staff and select each member that is paid at the Frequency selected. If you are running a weekly payroll, all those paid weekly will be selected and their standard pay will be executed. This takes just moments. Payroll Run Log You will then be able to move to the next stage to finalise all those details that might need changes, such as hourly paid staff who have worked overtime or who have worked non standard hours. The log will show a list of all payrolls that have been run, whether Weekly or Monthly, when they were run, by whom and what the actual pay date was. On the right side of this form is a list of all those staff in any one of the payroll runs. Selecting any payroll run record will display all the members in that payroll run. Simply by double clicking any of the individuals records on the right side of this form you will have a complete detail of the payroll record for that person Once a Payroll has been run the system parameters can be set to lock the previous Payroll. When a Payroll is locked it can only be changed by using a special parameter to allow this. Pay Detail The pay detail record for any member of staff in a pay run will give all the specific details for that particular person. This form shows the basic information such as SSC rates applied, hours of sickness and holiday, both paid or unpaid. Sickness and holiday which is paid will automatically create or update existing sickness or holiday pay records. Deductions, Savings, Benefits in Kind and Expenses can also be added or edited. As changes are made the effect will be seen in the payment calculation in the lower right of the form. Once all the payment records have been modified as necessary you can run the payslips from the run log screen. Of course your situation might be that your staff are paid a regular amount with little change. In this case the job is even easier. Payslips There is a simple and easy to understand payslip provided which lists not only the makeup of the payment but gives a list of any payments, deduction, savings and benefit in kind that has gone into the payment. The payslip can also be set to provide the statutory reminder if the payment includes a percentage for Holiday Pay Reports Both Monthly and Weekly paid staff can be held in the same system. Holidays and Sickness, whether they are paid or unpaid, are recorded. Savings records are shown on the staff record making it easy to view them. You may define any Savings scheme. The system produces payslips, ITIS returns 1A and 1B and Social Security quarterly returns. You can also view all Pay Runs where you can see who was paid and how and the detail of each payment can be interrogated. In the System's ITIS section, Year to Date figures are held for Gross, Tax and Superannuation for staff, sub-contractors and Exempt Sub-Contractors. The monthly ITIS returns and the quarterly SSC returns can be handle electronically, via the internet, by the Tax Office's own automated system, embedded into Payroll Essentials, completely removing the paperwork usually associated with these returns ITIS Report Form The reports provide you with everything you will need. There are clear Payslips, SSC quarterly returns and ITIS returns. There is a comprehensive help system included and every screen in the system has F1 help so you are never far from assistance and a 30 day trial is available. So why not download the trial system and give it a try. If you decide to use the system for your own payroll you will be able to continue to use it without having to start again. If you find it does not fulfil your requirements then you can easily remove the files from your system. If the system fails to meet your needs we would be pleased if you would send us a message to explain why as we are constantly looking for ways to make the system more flexible and suit more companies. Impressions of users