June 2011

PAYROLL END OF YEAR

With the end of the financial year just around the corner, it is now time for all Attaché Payroll users to prepare for the end of year processing.

We would recommend that if you require a consultant to assist you to call us now to book – there is now only limited availability of times available.

FEATURE ARTICLE

My quick tips for reconciling my Attaché Payroll (Dianne Semmens)

• My first step is to print the PAYG Tax Reconciliation report. (Period End | Payroll | Payment Summaries)
• From this report I compare the Total Tax at the bottom with the total of the PAYG Tax remitted to the ATO.
• At this point in time I don’t try to reconcile the Total Gross, which is total taxable pay items and is nett of any Salary Sacrifice.  So to reconcile this value I use the Pay Summary Report because it gives grand totals of each item.
• I give the Lump Sums and ETP Components a quick look over. Usually there aren’t too many terminations so I would know what values to expect here.
• Next I look at the FBT. At the bottom of the report are two figures for FBT: Reportable FB and FB Empl Contr. “FB Empl Contr” includes all FBT amounts and it is NOT Grossed Up. Reportable FB is the only includes the amounts above $2000 for any employee and then the value is Grossed Up.
• AND finally I look at the RESC. Am I expecting any? Print out any Employer Contribution report and Deduction report and total the two to come to the expected RESC.

ClearView 2.0 – Release Details

CFF = Cash Flow Forecaster / FC = Financial Controller

ClearView 2.0 and CFF / FC rollout

ClearView 2.0 including CFF and FC are now available to download from the Attaché Members website. Here is a guide to installing CV 2.0 in-house and preparing for client installations. It replaces the original ClearView Appendix A of the Campaign Iceberg document.

Dashboards benefit everyone
Note: in all situations ClearView pricing is based on the total number of logins a client has. The logic is dashboards can benefit everyone who uses Attaché.  Therefore it’s important to explain the value of ClearView to the whole business, not just focus on CFF / FC benefits.

The Business Improvement Guide lists the potential dashboard benefits in strategy 2 of each section e.g. Debtors (page 11), Stock (27), Expenses (43), Sales (61), Payroll (109).

RELEASE UPDATE

Which version for EOY processing?

A new release of Attaché Accounts and Attaché Payroll will be available before 30 June, however, you are not required to upgrade to this version to complete your EOY processing.

The minimum version for both accounts and payroll EOY processing is Attaché Accounts and Attaché Payroll version 1.02 (last released November 2010).

Tax scales and flood levy

Attaché Payroll tax scales for 2011/12 will be available on or about 17 June. These tax scales will include the flood levy.

Remember, only import these tax scales after you have completed the last pay of the year and your end-of-year processing (including payment summaries).

Alternative flood levy implementation

If you have many employees, you may prefer to upgrade to Attaché Payroll version 1.04 (scheduled for release at the end of June) as this version allows you to "turn on" the flood levy for all employees. In this case, you will only need to "turn off" the flood levy for those employees who are exempt. Using this method also lets you itemise the flood levy amount on the employee's pay advice.

More information about this method of implementing the flood levy will be available with the release of the tax scales. 

For all support issues, please contact our helpdesk via our Ticketing System or phone 03 9836 6555 Option 2.

For all account queries, please contact us via our Ticketing System, email or phone 03 9836 6555 Option 0.

Do you have employees on HELP and SFSS?

As advised with the release of the 2010 tax scales in July 2010, we will not be providing tax scales combined with tables for HELP (Higher Education Loan Programme) and SFSS (Student Financial Supplement Scheme) for the 2011/12 financial year. 

In brief, in the employee masterfile:

• Select the appropriate tax scale in the Tax Code field.
• In Tax Impost Details, select the relevant checkbox for HELP (Tax Impost 1) and/or SFSS (Tax Impost 2).
• Set Tax-free threshold claimed to Yes if the employee is claiming the tax-free threshold.

You must complete the above procedures before the start of the 2011/12 financial year.

Deleting obsolete tax scales:–
Once you have updated the employee masterfile and are no longer using these tax scales, you can delete them in Setups | Payroll | Tax Scales | Delete.

For easy identification, the 2010/11 combined tax scales were given a description of OBSOLETE - DO NOT USE (although you can use these tax scales until the end of the 2010/11 financial year).