6.13 Wages & Payroll

The purpose of this section is to outline guidelines for administering payroll. All employees must be paid in accordance with their agreed contracts of employment and the NGB must meet its statutory obligations as set out below. The payroll run can be completed by the Treasurer or by another member of staff who has responsibility for the administration of the payroll. A payroll software package is useful for NGBs with several paid staff and makes life much easier for the Payroll Administrator.

- All staff pay and benefits are at the authorised rates in force at the time and have the necessary approval in line with Board decisions

• The management with the approval of the Board decides on the basic and overtime rate at which each employee is paid.
• Management must approve all overtime before the work is undertaken.

- Amendments to the payroll master file are authorised, accurate and complete

• Set and communicate timetables for each month end detailing the dates by which information must be submitted for processing, when each payroll will be paid and when the general ledger will be updated.
• Any errors in the administration of the payroll must be remedied as soon as possible after they have been recognised and, where appropriate, such remedy will involve consultation with the individual(s) affected by the original error.
• The person in charge of human resources issues must:

- Complete a form for all additions, deletions and amendments to the payroll master file.

- Advise the payroll administrator of the date of commencement of any new employees and their details.

- Remove employees who have left the organisation in advance of the next payroll.

- Approve all amendment forms.

- Review and test the payroll master file data to ensure the information held is complete and accurate.

- Statutory and voluntary deductions are appropriately authorised and correctly deducted

• The tax rates are fixed in accordance with tax legislation.
• It is the Treasurer/Payroll Administrator's responsibility to ensure that the payroll software is updated annually to reflect any changes in the tax system after the Minister for Finance's budget.
• New tax credits are received from the Revenue Commissioners. This determines each employee's appropriate PAYE deduction.
• PRSI is based on the employee's salary and the PRSI code applied is based on the terms and conditions of each employee's contract of employment.
• The following deductions may only be applicable to employees in some NGBs and must be formally agreed in advance and authorised by both the employee and management:
  - Family Protection Policies
  - Pensions
  - Life Assurance Policies
  - Union Deductions
  - Other voluntary deductions

- Third party submissions and payments are timely and accurate

• At the end of each tax year, the P35 Annual Return must be submitted to the Revenue Commissioners by the 15th of February. This can be done manually or on-line. The P35 details the total PAYE and PRSI deducted from all employees during the tax year. If there is a discrepancy between the total amounts deducted and the total of the twelve P30 payments made during the tax year the Revenue Commissioners refund/deduct that amount to/from the NGB.
• A P30 return can be made to the Revenue Commissioners using the "ROS" (Revenue On-line System). An official electronic document "Acknowledgement of P30 Return" is sent to the organisation confirming the tax and PRSI deducted. In addition, the "Acknowledgement of P30 Return" is an electronic receipt detailing the deductions that have been debited from the NGB's bank account.

- Travel, subsistence and other expenses incurred by staff on behalf of the organisation are paid through the payroll system

• All expense claim forms must be signed by the claimant and their manager. All receipts should be attached to verify that the employee incurred the expenses while conducting business on behalf of the NGB and to ensure that the correct amount is being claimed. (See appendices for an example of a Travel, Subsistence and Miscellaneous Expense Claim Form )
• Expense payments wholly, necessarily and exclusively incurred for the organisation are not subject to PAYE or PRSI deductions

- All payments and statutory documentations given to staff must be timely, accurate and paid to bonafide employees

• Overtime is itemised as a separate amount from regular gross salary payments on payslips and is subject to PAYE and PRSI deductions in the normal way. All overtime claim forms must be signed by each employee and their manager.
• Management must approve all wage payments prior to net pay details being sent to the bank for processing. All payslips (detailing the wage calculations) should be filed together with a spreadsheet with any other relevant additional information and passed to management with the previous period's salary run for comparison. The management must authorise and sign this document once they are satisfied that all the employees are bonafide and the details and amounts are correctly stated.
• In order for the NGB to fulfil its statutory obligations to staff, forms P45 and P60 (where appropriate) must be issued promptly within statutory guidelines.
• The Payroll Administrator must issue payslips to all employees.

- The payroll master file and payroll processing must be kept secure and confidential

• The payroll master file must be filed on the computer network and is password protected and accessed only by the Payroll Administrator.
• All hardcopy employee details, payroll records and reports must be kept in a secure cabinet. Access is restricted to the Treasurer and Payroll Administrator.
• If using a payroll software package, it must be backed-up to floppy disk and stored off-site for security reasons.

- Payroll accounts and reports are reconciled and reviewed monthly

• The Treasurer must ensure that the payroll accounts are reconciled to the monthly management accounts.

- Terminations of employment are properly assessed, authorised and recorded

• The person with responsibility for human resources in the NGB must inform and provide a copy of any documentation to the Payroll Administrator for any of the following:
  - A copy of written procedures used and followed for terminating an employee's employment in line with statutory
  guidelines.
  - Immediately inform the Payroll Administrator and the Treasurer of all leavers.
  - A copy of all severance payments authorised at management level.
  - Submit supporting documentation of severance pay to the Payroll Administrator and to the employee.
  - Maintain a separate personnel file for all documentation relating to employee termination.

See Appendix 11 for further information on Wages.