The Inland Revenue has published version 6.1 of the Payroll Standards, the standards that payroll systems developers must meet in order to obtain or retain accreditation for their software. The changes in the latest standards are relatively minor, as follows:

• the system must be able to calculate directors' NICs using the annual earnings period method and the alternative arrangement for administrative. (This change may only be a correction to the wording of this requirement - all accredited systems should have been able to calculate director's NICs correctly.)
  
  
• ECON is now short for "employer's contracted-out number" instead of "employer's contracting-out number". Presumably, the Inland Revenue will now correct the countless occasions on their website where "contracting-out" is used!
  
  
• "Collector of Taxes" is replaced by "Inland Revenue"
  
  
• we now "file returns" rather than "send forms"
  
  
• Billpay is added to the list of electronic payment methods that must be supported
  
  
• when a supplier intends to make an additional charge for the provision of legislative and procedural changes, the charge must be set out "specifically" in the marketing material

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...back to 12 November 2004


Sources:
www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/ebu/payroll.htm