The new tax year is near and not only are there the usual changes, but for the majority of SAP HR users it will be the first year end after the implementation of RTI and PAE (Pension Auto Enrolment). So, let’s have a quick look at this year’s changes.
I remember it very well: last minute changes from HMRC and SAP made the RTI go live last year a bit stressful for most people involved. In the end, we successfully submitted the first FPS file on 11th April 2013 and everybody was quite relaxed after that. You are certainly hoping for a less stressful year end this time and being prepared is one good way to achieve this.
SAP has provided an overview of notes required for the year end in note 1950723 and most of the changes referred to are said to have been delivered in the January support package number 70 (for ECC604) or A4 (for ECC600) – out on 23rd Jan. 2014. Amongst several technical changes and corrections, the note you are probably looking for is 1952775, which includes the changed limits, rates and bands from the Autumn Statement. Here’s an excerpt from the note on the SAP support portal (click to enlarge):
Only Note 1955259, is included in the following package (71 or A5 respectively). This last note implements legal changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme and if you are affected by them, it is highly recommended to apply the appropriate support package as the note involves quite a few manual activities.
So, you definitely need to apply SP 70 / A4 or the corresponding CLC (Country Legal Change package). However, even if you are not in local government, applying more recent support packages than 70 or A4 before April would be a good idea, because a lot of corrections are still coming from SAP. We already alerted our blog readers to this note required to transmit the January EPS via RTI. But there are more changes and corrections in support package 71 / A5 (planned to be available from 13th Feb. 2014), most notably:
- Note 1961612: avoiding dumps in OxP and OxS reports, if concurrent employment is active
- Notes 1961699 and 1967693: this will be relevant for employers with weekly payrolls to make it easier for them to manage repayments after pension scheme opt-outs, as the system will now always automatically recognise the necessary retroactive calculation
- Several notes correcting minor issues in the P11D and P46 forms
- RTI: several FPS corrections required, if you use multiple employment or if your FPS calculation is amended in a BAdI
- Note 1963243: makes sure that changes in infotype 0007 (court orders) can only be captured for the next available payroll period
Unfortunately, the information provided by SAP is inconsistent at the time of writing, so some notes, which should have been included in the January support package according to note 1950723 are not displayed in the list of content. This includes some forms required for 2014, which can be a nuisance to implement manually. I guess you have to check these points after the January package has been applied or wait to apply both packages at the same time.
So, after having applied both support packages, what else should you do to have a smooth start in the new tax year?
- Watch the SAP support portal for any last minute changes
- Get out your usual end-of-year check-list (sure, you’ve got one?) to work through and have a discussion between the payroll and SAP team, what may need to be updated.
- Make sure you are familiar with the legal changes and test them by running April payroll for some test cases in your QA system once the support packages are in
- Be extra vigilant with everything involving RTI, pension and most notably a combination of both
- If you have been exempt from using the RTI hashtag in your BACS file so far, because your bank couldn’t deal with it yet, please check with your bank now. They will probably have changed to the standard BACS format or will do so very soon and then you’ll be required to comply with the RTI standard for your BACS file
- If you haven’t done a proper reconciliation of your RTI data yet, this is a good time to start using report RPURCNG0
- If you went live with RTI in April 2013, you haven’t run the EYU (Earlier Year Update) submission yet and as it was a last minute change from SAP, you may not yet have it configured in your HR and PI systems. Arrange for this to be configured in time.
If you need help with your end-of-year process or want it reviewed, even if it’s just a one day one-2-one coaching session, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We are happy to help, but as schedules fill up quickly, it makes sense to make appointments early.
Happy New Tax Year!
P.S.: if you haven’t submitted your personal tax for 2012/2013 yet, hurry up! Deadline is on the 31st January :-)
