Updates to COVID-19 System Items

We have implemented two changes to our COVID-19 system items: Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme and COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme.

Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme

Revenue has introduced a new field to the Payment Submission Request (PSR) for amounts paid to employees under the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme.

We have updated our system to incorporate this change. When adding the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme system item **to an employee’s payslip (outlined in this blog post) the subsidy amount will be reported separately to Revenue. This is reflected in the **Other Payments column in the Excel spreadsheet showing submissions to Revenue. Revenue has indicated that they may use this field when doing reconciliation later in the year for the subsidy payments made to employees.

To view the Excel spreadsheet, go to Filing > Regular submissions and click on the Excel link under the relevant period date.

 COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme

The COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme was applicable from the 15th to the 25th March 2020. To avoid errors in reporting, the system item for it was removed when the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme replaced the COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme. However, we have made the system item available again for those employers who paid employees under this Refund scheme but did not finalise payslips and submit the information to Revenue. Please only use this system item if you made an actual payment to employees during the 15-25 March period. If the payment was made after the 25th March, you must use the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme system item.

To add the system item to payslips with a payment date in the 15-25 March period, go to the employee’s profile. Click on Add next to Payslip Inputs and select COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme (obsolete).