QTAXPro for Psion User Guide (c) Copyright QTAC Solutions Limited 1997 All rights reserved. This manual and the programs referred to herein are copyrighted works of QTAC Solutions Limited, Bristol, England. Reproduction in whole or in part, including usage in machines capable of reproduction or retrieval, without the express written permission of the copyright holders is prohibited. Reverse engineering is also prohibited. The information is this document is subject to change without notice. All registered trademarks are acknowledged. Version 1.0 June 1997 1. Introduction QTAXPro for Psion is a PAYE and National Insurance Contribution (NIC) Calculator, the easy way to perform calculations for any tax year from 1992/1993 onwards. Results of individual calculations can be saved and then printed to any supported printer or printer connection using the text editor feature of the built-in Psion Word Processor. QTAXPro will work on any Psion Series 3a or 3c. N.B. QTAXPro and this document do not replace the Inland Revenue and Contributions Agency documentation, direct help and advice on how to operate a PAYE and NIC scheme. It is the users' responsibility to ensure compliance with his/her statutory obligations to the Inland Revenue and the Contributions Agency. 2. Installation If you received your QTAXPro for Psion software on 3.5" diskette, transfer the following files from your PC to the Psion Series 3a or 3c (Refer to your Psion User Guide for details of how to do this) ... QTAXnn.OPA to \APP\ (where nn = 97 for 1997/1998 etc) QTAX.PIC to \OPD\ Install QTAXPro on your system using PSION + I and you are now ready to start. If you want to be able to print the results of your calculations then please read section '5. Printing' for further setup instructions. 3. Using QTAXPro When QTAXPro is started, and after the 'About' screen has been cleared, the main data entry screen is displayed and a 'Suggestions' dialogue box indicates the options that can be selected to start a calculation - you will find that whenever you try to perform an action out of sequence a 'Suggestions' dialogue will prompt you with what to do next. Clear the 'Suggestions' dialogue and the main QTAXPro screen is displayed. Along the top of the screen in bold capitals are legends which indicate the main settings that are currently selected i.e. 1997/1998 Tax Year, MONTHLY paid using the EXACT NIC method of calculation on a GROSS-TO-NET basis as a 1-OFF calculation. As you change the available menu options, so the legends will change as a reminder of the way in which the next calculation will be performed. You can change all the options using a PSION hot-key combination or by pressing the MENU key and cursoring through to the required option. All the available options are described as follows... Control Reset Clears all fields and options back to their original values when PSION+R the program is loaded QuickPay Use as a quick method of data entry for simple calculations PSION+Q Calculate Calculates the result according to the options selected and data PSION+C entered Print Prints to file the calculation input and output data Shift+PSION+P(see Section 5 for full details of how this works) Next To clear the results of a calculation and make the screen ready for PSION+N the next calculation Exit Exit QTAXPro PSION+X DataEntry Employee Data entry screen for employee data such as tax code, NIC code, PSION+E taxed at month etc Payments Data entry screen for entering all payments such Basic Pay, SSP etc PSION+P Deductions Data entry screen for entering all deductions such Pension, Union PSION+D Dues etc B/F Gross/Tax/NIC Data entry screen for entering all B/F amounts if they are PSION+B applicable to the Calculation TaxYear 1997/98 Each tax year allowed for is assigned to one of the first six keys Shift+PSION+A of the middle row of the keyboard namely, A, S, D, F, G, H PayFreq Monthly Perform calculations on a monthly basis PSION+M Weekly Perform calculations on a weekly basis PSION+W 2-Weekly Perform calculations on a 2-weekly basis PSION+T 4-Weekly Perform calculations on a 4-weekly basis PSION+F Annual Perform calculations on an annual basis PSION+A NIC Exact Method Calculate NIC using a method which gives the same results as Shift+PSION+E most computer payrolls Table Method Calculate NIC using a method which gives the same amounts as Shift+PSION+T the NIC tables View B/F NIC Displays the entered B/F NIC amounts Shift+PSION+Y View TP NIC Displays the calculated NIC for the pay period Shift+PSION+U View C/F NIC Displays the calculated C/F NIC amounts Shift+PSION+V Calculate Gross to Net Performs a normal gross to net calculation PSION+G Net to Gross Allows the user to enter a target net pay and then calculates Shift+PSION+N backwards to reveal the basic pay that is needed to generate the same net pay P45 Check A convenient way of checking that a new employee's P45 tax is Shift+PSION+C correct YTD 1-Off Each calculation is performed without reference to any previous PSION+S calculation C/Fwd When the 'Next' calculation option is selected, the C/F values are PSION+Y automatically used to create the B/F values for the next calculation. The taxed at week/month number is also advanced appropriately 4. Entering Data & Calculating Before any calculation can be performed, a minimum of a valid tax code is required to be entered (all other defaults are valid fields). However, all calculations will involve the entry of other data as well and there are several data entry screens to enable you to do this. If your calculation is simply the entry of a tax code, NIC code, taxed at Tax Week or Tax Month plus a single Basic Pay amount, then use the 'Quick Pay' option (PSION+Q). Employee (PSION+E) Tax Code e.g. 404L, 656H, K1234, 0T, BR, NT, D0 Tax Basis N - cumulative tax; Y - wk1/mth1 tax basis Taxed AT wk/mth enter the tax week or tax month to be used in the calculation - N.B. if the normal tax week is 23 and 2 weeks holiday is being paid, enter 25 NIC Code valid codes are A, B, C, D, E, c, F,G, S and X. Note that c is Table C contracted out and that X is exempt from NIC Director Flag N - normal employee NIC Y - Director's cumulative NIC Director Date If the director became a director during the current tax year, enter the date (dd/mm/yyyy) so that the NIC can be proportionately adjusted. Payments (PSION+P) Basic Pay enter either the total taxable pay or basic pay / salary if you want to show other pay separately SSP, SMP enter the appropriate pre-calculated amounts The following 4 fields allow for the entry of all possible combinations of payments being subject to tax and/or NIC ... TX-Y : NI-Y --> Tax - YES and NIC - YES (e.g Holiday Pay) TX-Y : NI-N TX-N : NI-Y TX-N : NI-N Deductions (PSION+D) Pension enter any pre-calculated pension /AVC Payroll Giving enter any authorised payroll giving amount The following 4 fields allow for the entry of all possible combinations of deductions being allowable against tax and/or NIC ... TX-Y : NI-Y TX-Y : NI-N TX-N : NI-Y TX-N : NI-N --> Tax - NO and NIC - NO (e.g. Court Orders) B/F Gross / Tax / NIC (PSION+B) B/F Taxable Gross enter the B/F taxable gross pay(P45 + This Employ)net of any cumulative pension contributions B/F Tax Paid enter the B/F tax paid YTD(P45 + This Employ) B/F NIC values these 6 fields can be used to enter the B/F NIC values but note that they are only used in the NIC calculation for directors. For non-directors they are used to show the equivalent C/F NIC values after the calculation When all the required data has been entered, check that the calculation options have been set correctly and then select the 'Calculate" option (PSION+C). The results are displayed on the right-hand side of the screen. At this point you can choose to print the calculation details (Shift+PSION+P), display any of the input details (PSION+E, PSION+P, PSION+D) or display B/F, This Period or C/F NIC values (PSION+Y, PSION+U, PSION+I). To move on to the next calculation, select the 'Next' option (PSION+N). The screen display will then be initialised according to the setting of the 'YTD' option on the main menu - if set to '1-Off' (PSION+S), all the input values are left unchanged; if set to 'C/Fwd' (PSION+Y), all input B/F values are replaced with the new C/F values from the calculation and the tax week/month number is advanced appropriately. To completely remove all previous input values select the 'Reset' option (PSION+R). Net to Gross Net to Gross calculations are performed in exactly the same way to Gross to Net except that when the option is selected (Shift+PSION+N), the user is prompted to enter the Target Net Pay. Any Basic Pay previously entered is set to zero as the result of the calculation will be to calculate the amount of Basic Pay that will generate the Target Net Pay. P45 Check The P45 Check (Shift+PSION+C) provides a simple and quick way of checking P45 Tax for new employees and has a separate simplified data entry screen to match. 5. Printing QTAXPro makes use of the extensive printing facilities that are already available in the PSION Word Processor. Thus, whether you want to print one, or save several prints, in the same or a variety of files, the process of saving to file for later printing is the same and, of course, all the print options that you have configured into your PSION are available to you. Before doing any printing you will need to set up your PSION to save the QTAXPro prints to a file, preferably in a separate directory. The way to do this is described in full in your PSION User Guide under the heading of 'Plain text files' - in summary the steps are... 1. Highlight the Word icon and select the 'Create new list' option on the 'Special' menu. 2. On the 'Directory for files' line, enter QTAX. 3. On the 'Extension for files' line, enter TXT 4. Make sure the 'Type' line is set to 'Text editor' 5. On the 'Save list as: Name' line enter QTAX 6. Press Enter. A dialog is shown, listing your choices; press Enter again to confirm them. A new Word icon is shown on the system screen and any print files that you create from QTAXPro will be listed under this new icon. If when you install QTAXPro you position QTAXPro next to this icon, printing will be even simpler - just select Shift+PSION+P to print a calculation, and then when you close your print file in QTAXPro, press the 'System' button to access the new Word icon. If printing is not successful at the first attempt review the list of 'Printing Considerations'... Printing Considerations... * Check that your printer connection is working by printing from an application that you know has previously printed successfully * In order to maintain the format of the report in aligned columns, always use a non-proportionally spaced font * Adjust the font size and margins so that each report fits on to a separate page. You can check this from Psion Word using the Print Preview option (PSION+*). Once you have set this up for your printer it will be correct for all further prints using QTAXPro * When a print file name is specified in QTAXPro, every following print will be added to this file until the print file name is changed. In this way you can logically group your printouts for later printing The Psion Word print file cannot be sent to the printer until you close the print file in QTAXPro. To do this select 'Print & Close' if you know that this is the last calculation, or just 'Close', if you have already finished calculating but now want to print all or part of the file * To send individual calculations to the print file and then print immediately... In QTAXPro - print the calculation using Shift+PSION+P and change the print option to 'Print & Close' using the same print file name each time as a work file In PSION Word - open the print file and print using PSION+P