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These are the details for Opera 3 SQL SE (2.90.00).
Version |
2.90.00 |
Released |
Jan 22 |
Summary |
This release of Opera 3 SQL SE includes changes to the following categories: National Insurance – Veterans and Freeports: In order to try and make it more attractive for employers (ERs) to employ service veterans (i.e. men and women who used to be in the UK armed forces), the government is introducing relief on the amount of NICs an ER pays on the earnings of such employees (EEs); this relief provides a zero-rate of secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions (ERs NICs) on the earnings of a qualifying veteran for 12 consecutive months from the first day of their first civilian employment after leaving the regular armed forces. This zero-rate can be applied up to the (new) Veterans Upper Secondary Threshold (VUST). For the 2022/23 tax year the VUST will be set to the same level as the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL), so this means ERs will only pay NICs for such qualifying veterans if the EE earns in excess of the UEL. Additionally, as part of the government’s work to ‘level up’ and boost economic activity across the UK, they are creating freeports in various locations across the UK. Freeports will have different customs rules than the rest of the country and will be innovative hubs, boost global trade, attract inward investment and increase productivity. In doing so, the government wants Freeports to generate employment opportunities to the benefit of some of the most deprived communities around the UK. Therefore, the government has announced that a reduction in the rate of ERs NIC’s will be applied for all Freeport based businesses. The reduction will be handled by the introduction of a Free Upper Secondary Threshold (FUST) for ERs NICs. To implement both sets of NI changes described above, HMRC are introducing new NI category letters; category letters determine the rate of EE and ER NICs due for an EE on that letter. The new letters are as follows: Freeports: F - (standard category letter), I - (married women & widows entitled to pay reduced NICs), S - (employees over the state pension age), L - (employees who can defer paying 13.25% NICs and pay only 3.25% because they are already paying it in another job. Veterans: V - (standard category letter) Scottish Court Orders: The Earnings Arrestment’s (EA) and Current Maintenance Arrestment’s (CMA) tables are used to determine the amount deducted from a person’s wages if they are subject to an earnings arrestment and the amount of funds that are protected from arrestment if a person is subject to a bank arrestment. The bands, rates etc. for Scottish court orders have been updated for April 2022 and applies to Earnings Arrestment and Current Maintenance Arrestment order types.. Health and Social Care Levy: On 7 September 2021 the government announced a new 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy to fund investment in the NHS and social care. The Levy will be effectively introduced from April 2022 when National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for working age employees, self-employed people and employers will increase by 1.25% and be added to the existing NHS allocation. From April 2023, the Levy will be formally separated from NICs and also apply to the earnings of individuals working above State Pension age and National Insurance Contribution rates will return to 2021-22 levels. Employer Substitute forms P60 / P60 Stationery: The Form P60 is an annual tax form issued to taxpayers at the end of a relevant tax year. It contains exact information about the earnings, the PAYE and NICs paid during the specified tax year. Tax Year History – Re-print of P60: The Opera SQL SE payroll upgrade release for April 2021 introduced the ability for a user to revise an EE’s prior year end of year (EOY) figures, with the purpose of making corrections/adjustments to those figures in order to send a revised Full Payment Submission (FPS) to HMRC for that prior year. The Tax Year History form in Payroll has been enhanced to allow the user to re-print a P60 for a prior tax year, with the P60 being based on the revised data, or on original data. Real Time Information: 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 2022/23 tax year. From 2022/23 the EPS has a new field for entry of a Corporation Tax Reference (COTAX) which is required where CIS Deductions are being claimed for. If there are no CIS deductions being claimed on the EPS then COTAX does not need to be entered. This release also includes some general maintenance. For further details on this requirement, please contact your Pegasus Partner. |
Environment Information |
This release has been successfully tested using the following environments:
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