Latest updates
These are the details for Opera 3 SQL SE (2.81.00).
Version |
2.81.00 |
Released |
Feb 21 |
Summary |
This release includes the payroll statutory changes for the 2020-21 tax year-end and the new 2021-22 tax year. This release also includes the changes for Making Tax Digital for VAT fraud prevention that were first made available in the v2.80.00 release. |
Product |
Version |
Updates |
|---|---|---|
| Pegasus Opera 3 | 2.81.00 | Statutory payroll changes for the 2021-22 tax year are updates for National Living Wage eligibility criteria, a new plan for Scottish student loans, P60 plain paper printing, payrolling company cars, changes to the FPS and EPS submissions to HMRC, and new NI, PAYE and statutory payments rates and bands. |
| The age threshold for the National Living Wage (NLW) will reduce from its current level of 25 years of age, to 23 from April 2021. The Opera NLW system table has therefore been updated for this age reduction. This age reduction has also been reflected in Opera’s Payroll calculation and reporting functions. | |
Software changes
|
Payroll Calculation When running a calculation for a pay period end date after 31 March 2021, the Calculation Audit Report now reports any employees who are turning 23 years old during that pay period. PAYE/NI/Stat. Payments A new checkbox has been added to the PAYE/NI/Stat. Payments form to ensure, when selected, that the new National Minimum and Living Wage bands are used from 1st April 2021. Employee Age List The Payroll - Misc. Reports - Employee Age List report has been amended to show where an employee is 23 years old. Note: Both variants of the report including the Excel outputs have been changed. |
| Applies to | Employees affected by the age threshold for the National Living Wage (NLW) reducing from its current level of 25 years of age, to 23 from April 2021. |
| Effective | From 1 April 2021. |
| More information | For details about the National Living Wage, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/low-pay-commission-consultation-2020. |
| Scotland will be raising their student loan earnings threshold to £25,000 from April 2021. This threshold will be for new and existing borrowers and the repayment period has also been reduced to 30 years, previously 35 years which will bring it in line with England and Wales. As a result of this increase, a new Scottish student loan plan, type 4 has been introduced. This plan type will be applied at a 9% deduction rate. | |
Software changes |
Payroll Processing – Details & Bank A new checkbox called “Student Loan – Plan 4” has been added to the Detail & Bank form which is available from the Payroll Processing form. Payroll Calculation The calculation routine has been amended to process employees who have been marked as having a type 4 plan. |
| Applies to | Employees who have either new or existing Scottish student loans to repay. |
| Effective | From 6 April 2021. |
| More information | For details about changes to Scottish student loans, visit https://www.gov.uk. |
For the 2020-21 tax year, HMRC are no longer providing pre-printed P60 stationery. Therefore, the option to print to HMRC stationery has been removed. The P60 design itself has been updated for the 2020-21 tax year and includes the new Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay box and new text has also been added to the Certificate by Employer/Paying Office section. The report can now be printed on plain paper in either colour or monochrome format and uses the approved HMRC substitute P60 design. |
|
Software changes |
The P60 End of Year Returns selection criteria form has been updated to:
|
Applies to |
Employees with Payroll administrative duties. |
Effective |
From 2020/21 tax year. |
More information |
For details about changes to P60 and plain paper printing, visit https://www.gov.uk. |
From 6 April 2020, additional details need to be recorded for company cars: • The date the car was first registered. This is mandatory from April 2020. • The zero-emission miles before exhaust emissions start. This is required from April 2020 only if the car has between 1g/km to 50g/km of CO2 emissions. |
|
Software changes |
|
Applies to |
Employees with company cars |
Effective |
From 6 April 2020 |
More information |
For details about payrolling car benefits, visit www.gov.uk/guidance/payrolling-tax-employees-benefits-and-expenses-through-your-payroll. |
Opera’s RTI file formats have been updated to comply with HMRC specific ‘tax year related fields’ in the file format of the FPS and EPS XML files for the 2021/22 tax year.
Two new reports (Standard & Excel variants) have been added to this release to handle the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) from February 2021 to April 2021. Both reports are available from the Payroll, EOY/Special Reports – Advanced Pay/Ded List report.
HMRC has recently clarified requirements for software vendors to include fraud-prevention details in the VAT Return.
The required fraud-prevention changes for MTD VAT Returns were originally included in Opera 3 (2.80.00). HMRC has not clarified exactly when they will start to reject VAT Returns without these fraud-prevention changes. However, customers who send MTD VAT Returns must upgrade their software to avoid VAT Returns being rejected by HMRC.
Opera 3 guides are available in the User Guides section at docs.pegasus.co.uk.
Guide |
Description |
|---|---|
This guide includes the legislation and release details for Pegasus Opera 3 (2.81.00) in PDF format. |
|
This guide describes the steps necessary to upgrade to Pegasus Opera 3 (2.81.00) and then complete the payroll year-end and start the new tax year. |
|
This guide includes instructions for upgrading Opera 3. |
|
This guide lists the editions of Microsoft Office, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Windows desktop, web browsers and Microsoft .NET supported for Opera 3. |
|
This guide explains the licensing options for different editions of Microsoft SQL Server. It explains how to calculate the number of CALs (Client Access Licences) required for Pegasus products that use Microsoft SQL Server for the datastore. |