Jul 2013
26
Maternity Benefit and issues with P2Cs!
Maternity Benefit is taxable in Ireland since 1st July 2013, but remains exempt from PRSI and USC. Adoptive Benefit and Health and Safety Benefit are also taxable since 1st July 2013.
Revenue has advised that the employee’s tax credit certificate (P2C) will issue on the Week 1 basis when Revenue receives details of the payments from the DSP.
However it would seem that in some situations P2Cs have issued incorrectly on the cumulative basis. Employers should check before importing P2Cs from ROS to ensure that this does not occur. The impact from an employees point of view is that they would possibly end up owing money to revenue as the credits and SCOP would be lower that the original amounts put in at the beginning of the tax year and because the cert has been issued on a cumulative cert it would look for the extra tax as soon as the employee is due payment again . Its bad enough that women have to pay tax on their maternity payment without ending up with a tax bill in error aswell !
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
Jul 2013
25
Holiday Entitlement for Employees with Flexible Contracts
With the onset of the recession more employees are working part-time or on “zero hour” contracts.
This means that the employee is available to work when needed but does not have a specified number of hours guaranteed. The employee could have no work in one particular pay period but work full time the next pay period. These contracts are more usual in the hospitality and retail industries.
Employers often find it difficult to calculate holiday entitlements in these circumstances.
Thesaurus Software makes this task simple by incorporating a holiday calculator within the payroll itself which looks at the hours worked and calculates the holiday entitlement based on that. It also includes formation from the Organisation of Working Time Act and also other helpful guides dealing with different aspects of employment.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
Jul 2013
23
BrightPay supporting Barretstown
Congratulations to our BrightPay team members, Denise and Caroline, on their completion of the PowerFit spinathon in aid of Barretstown.
Thesaurus Software is a strong advocate of Barretstown who offer an invaluable service to society rebuilding the lives of seriously ill children and their families.
We at Thesaurus Software recognise the hard work of all charities and the current difficulties they face in meeting their challenges, to that end we offer all registered charities a free standard payroll software license and customer support on an ongoing basis. Click here for our terms and conditions.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
Jul 2013
22
Government is offering Vouchers for €2,500
Is your Business online? If not, the Government is offering Vouchers for €2,500 to assist you! If yes, have you an ecommerce site – is it working for you?
The evidence is that if your company engages in online trading - your business is more likely to grow twice as fast.
The first phase of the state's National Digital Strategy will provide vouchers worth €2,500 to small firms who want to build their presence on the web. The funds will go to 2,000 businesses around the country to help them "prioritize digital, get the resources, training and expertise needed to develop an online trading presence". The Vouchers will be available for redemption in 2014. Watch this space - Thesaurus Software will alert all our customers as to commencement of the application process.
There will be no geographic restrictions on the vouchers, so businesses from across Ireland will be able to apply. Quotas for different areas will not apply.
Some six out of 10 Irish adults now shop online and 61% of consumers plan to increase their online expenditure. However, 73% of this is leaking out of this economy to international vendors. There’s no point in trying to stop that, but what we can do is compete and sell our wares and services online.
The plan also aims to reduce the number of people who don't use the internet – so called non-liners – by 50pc to 288,000 by the end of 2016.
Launching the plan, communications minister Pat Rabbitte said the State needed to focus more on the practical aspects of doing business online. "Governments tend to focus on the engineering side of the internet – building out the hardware. We need to get more small businesses set up for Ecommerce."
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
Jul 2013
11
JobsPlus - New Irish Employer Incentive
JobsPlus is a new employer incentive which encourages employers to employ jobseekers on the live register. The scheme replaces the Revenue Job Assist and Employer Job (PRSI) Exemption Scheme from the 1st July 2013; the scheme will be operated by the Department of Social Protection.
There are two levels of payment:
- A payment of €7,500 over 2 years to the employer for each employee recruited who has been unemployed for between 12-24 months
- A payment of €10,000 over 2 years to the employer for each employee recruited who has been unemployed for more than 24 months
Payment will be made monthly in arrears by Electronic Fund Transfer over a 24 month period. Income received from the initiative will not be considered as revenue/income for income or corporation tax purposes.
To qualify for JobsPlus, employers must meet the following conditions:
- The employer must be registered for PAYE with the Revenue Commissioners
- The employer must be tax compliant, employers will be requested to give an officer of the Department of Social Protection permission to check their status with the Revenue Commissioners and to obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate using Revenue’s on line service at the time of application
- The employer must offer a full time position for a minimum of 30 hours per week and the employee must work at least 4 days in any 7 day period
- The employer must give details of the company when applying e.g. size of the workforce, bank details etc
To apply for the scheme employers log on to www.jobsplus.ie and complete the online application form, if approved the Department of Social Protection will revert to the employer via email.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
Jul 2013
7
Classification of working directors
Up to now the classification for PRSI purposes, of directors of limited companies who work in that company (“proprietary directors”), has been determined on a case by case basis. This determination takes into consideration the Code of Practice for Determining the Employment or Self-employment Status of Individuals. (http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Code-of-Practice-for-determining-Employment-or-Self-Employme.aspx )
Under the provisions of Section 16 of the Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 proprietary directors who own or control 50% or more of the shareholding of the company, either directly or indirectly, cannot be an employee of that company. This provision comes into effect from 1 July 2013.
In these circumstances the individual is classified as self-employed and is liable to pay PRSI at Class S.
The classification of proprietary directors who own or control less than 50% of the shareholding of the company will continue to be determined on a case by case basis, taking into consideration the Code of Practice for Determining the Employment or Self-employment Status of Individuals.
The new provision will apply to proprietary directors both prospectively and retrospectively.
Where these provisions are to be applied retrospectively, a person has the option of electing to have the decision, in relation to his or her employment prior to the enactment of the legislation, made under the Code of Practice for Determining the Employment or Self-employment Status of Individuals. Any decision will only apply to the period of employment prior to the enactment of the legislation.
Bright Contracts – Employment contracts and handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
Jul 2013
4
Maternity benefit tax could cost women up to €3,000
Mothers and pregnant women face losses of up to nearly €3,000 a year as part of the tax on maternity benefit which came into force on July 1st.
Women’s representatives said the measure was a mean-spirited move by the Government.
The tax will contribute €15m to the exchequer in 2013, and €40m per full year from then on.
But the National Women’s Council yesterday expressed concern that many women were not aware when the reductions in benefit would take affect.
Its policy advisor Ann Irwin explained: “It’s a very mean-spirited move in a lot of ways. Even the commission on taxation has said that maternity benefit should remain outside the tax net. It’s there for mothers to nurture children when outside the workforce.
“The benefit payments are an important acknowledgment for mothers of the cost of having a baby in Ireland.”
Opposition parties have branded the new tax measure as “anti-family” and it could see working mothers pay up to €2,700. Mothers will pay different rates depending on their top-up payments from their employer as well as assessments on their means.
The tax could see benefits reduced by up to €103 a week, the council said.
The Department of Social Protection paid out €309m in maternity benefit payments in 2011.
Mothers get between €217.80 and €260 a week in payments for 26 weeks.
The council said women who got employer top-up payments would be worst affected but that it remained unknown how many would be affected by the levy.
But ministers have insisted women overall will not be worse off. Some had been receiving high payments while on maternity leave, ministers have also said.
However, Ms Irwin said many women remained in the dark about the tax. “The first they may know about it while on leave is when their next pay package comes in.”
Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks
BrightPay – Payroll Software
