What's New

Sybiz Visipay 22.20

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Important Information

Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 (STP2) deferral extended
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has extended Sybiz’s STP2 deferral until 31 October 2022 as they are preferring a staggered roll out among payroll products. This deferral automatically covers all Sybiz Visipay customers.

Sybiz Visipay 22.20 has been released with the new deferral date pre-configured, meaning STP reporting will not switch over to version 2 until 1 November 2022 and there is no action required by users to activate STP2.

Essential upgrade to Sybiz Visipay 22.20 for certain employers
Employers with Working Holiday Makers will need to upgrade to Sybiz Visipay 22.20 to complete the 2021/22 financial year successfully. Further, those employers utilising the new allowance categories (Task, Tools & Qualifications) will be required to upgrade to Sybiz Visipay 22.20 prior to completing their first STP submission for 2022/23. Finally, SybizSuper customers will need to upgrade to Sybiz Visipay 22.20 prior to completing their first superannuation export for the 2022/23 financial year (typically August for monthly contributors and October for quarterly contributors).

Web Service/ESS app requires upgrading
Customers using ESS will be required to upgrade ESS with Sybiz Visipay 22.20. Further, the Web Service that powers the ESS app was upgraded in Sybiz Visipay 22.00, resulting in ESS and the Web Service being combined. The old Web Service will not be supported from Sybiz Visipay 22.20. If you are still running the ESS app from the old Web Service you will need to the new combined ESS/Web Service (named ESS) prior to upgrading to version 22.20. To check your Web Service, please contact your Sybiz Authorised Business Partner.

Microsoft.NET Framework upgrade
Version 22.20 of Sybiz Visipay utilises Microsoft.NET Framework version 4.8 and therefore some custom add-ons may require updating. Some custom add-ons may require updating if upgrading from versions older than Sybiz 22+. Some older supported operating systems may also be required to download .NET updates prior to installation of Sybiz 22+. This update will not affect Microsoft SQL Server but may impact servers running Sybiz Visipay Employee Self Service (ESS).

Any customers on a Microsoft.NET Framework prior to version 4.8 may not be able to web update. We recommend having Microsoft.NET Framework version 4.8 installed and ready prior to upgrading to Sybiz version 22.20 to prevent any complications.

Operating system compatibility
Certain older operating systems (Microsoft Windows XP, some versions of Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Server 2003), Microsoft SQL Server (2008/2008R2), and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 are not compatible with Sybiz 22.20 - if uncertain consult your Authorised Business Partner prior to upgrading. Microsoft Windows 11 is supported for Sybiz 22+ with compatibility extending to some other later versions of Sybiz solutions.

DevExpress upgrade
Version 22.20 of Sybiz Visipay utilises DevExpress version 21.2.7.0.

 

 

Ready to Report: Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 (STP2)

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has extended Sybiz’s STP2 deferral until 31 October 2022. The ATO has had to interact with employers reporting under STP2 to a greater extent than they did with STP1 and the deferral helps the ATO stretch out the volume of employers transitioning to STP2 over a longer time frame. This deferral automatically covers all Sybiz Visipay customers.

Sybiz Visipay 22.20 has been released with the deferral date pre-configured, meaning STP reporting will not switch over to version 2 until 1 November 2022 and there is no action required by users to switch to STP2. 

Multiple references are made to the ATO in the content below and ATO resources pertaining to STP2 are readily accessible via the ATO website. The ATO has requested software developers to refrain from republishing the information as it is being updated and extended on a regular basis. Therefore, the ATO resources should be used as the source of this information.


Get ready for STP2 with Sybiz Visipay
Sybiz Visipay 22.10 included a number of changes that helped customers get prepared for STP2 - further changes, including the ability to report STP2, have been included in Sybiz Visipay 22.20.

New employee data requirements have been automated through the upgrade process but employee records should be checked upon upgrade - especially those that are not regular employees, such as working holiday makers. In most cases additional pay items will be required to be added and Other Allowance pay items should be reviewed to complete their configuration or reclassify them (see below), and new allowances should be created if required. By ensuring this data has been entered and/or updated in advance of 1 November 2022, customers will be in a good position to start reporting STP2 after upgrading to Sybiz Visipay 22.20 and rolling into the 2022/23 financial year.


Mandatory Tax Details contact name and email address
The contact name and email address fields are now mandatory under the file menu > Company > Tax Details.

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Mandatory personal detail fields required for STP2
Certain employee fields require data to be entered for STP2. On creation of new employees, these fields will issue errors if no data is entered, whereas other mandatory fields will auto-populate and can be manually changed where necessary.

Employee number, employee name, full address details and tax file numbers have been required data in Sybiz Visipay for STP since its launch.

The Tax treatment category, tax treatment option and tax scale fields are also all required, but values are included by default when creating a new employee and can be updated where necessary. There are a number of new Tax treatment categories as defined by the ATO.

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Employment Basis required field
The employment basis of an employee needs to be classified for STP2. Logic is used upon upgrade to set this value for employees to Casual if they are linked to a staff type that is flagged as casual, Full Time if they are linked to a staff type with a working week of at least 35 hours and Part Time for all others. Note that other options such as Death Beneficiary are available and must be manually selected if relevant. The Non-Employee option (such as contractors etc.) is not supported in Sybiz Visipay 22.20 and will be reverted via the same logic as other employees on upgrade to this version.

For clarification on setting the correct employment basis, please consult with the ATO or your trusted business advisor.

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New allowance types
There are three new types of allowances being Qualifications, Tasks and Tools. These would have previously been listed as Other under STP1 and if you provide these allowances we recommend creating new allowances for the new specific categories for STP2. 

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Some allowance types renamed
Additionally, the way Other allowances are reported has also changed in that a code is transmitted in the STP2 report, rather than the description which was previously used. All Other allowances will need to be edited and a code selected from the Payment Summary Code list for use with STP2.


New Leave Categorisations
Some new Leave Categorisations (found in Lookups > Payroll > Earnings) have been defined by the ATO, including Ancillary & Defence Leave, Workers Compensation & Paid Parental Leave. These new categories have been added to support the new reporting requirements in STP2 for non-accruing leave. 

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New Payment Types for leave when processing pays
Under STP2 it is necessary to use new Payment Types for leave when processing pays. These are now available in Sybiz Visipay as defined by the ATO. The Payment Types include Cash Out, Unused Leave on Termination and Other. Please note that Other is terminology used by the ATO and represents the normal taking of leave, for example, when an employee takes annual leave for a holiday.

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New default payment type for leave
When adding a new earning, a new elipses menu is available to select a default leave type where preferable, making adding additional leave earnings an easier process. If no default leave payment type is specified, ‘other’ will be used. (CR2203-0422)

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New Salary Sacrifice and Payment Deductions features
The reporting of salary sacrifice under STP2 has changed compared to STP1.  In STP2, the source of the salary sacrifice remains at its pre-sacrificed value and the salary sacrifice is reported separately. The key change that is required when processing salary sacrifice other for reporting under STP2 is that the sacrifice is now processed as deduction, rather than a negative earning item. The deduction must be offset against Salary Sacrifice Deductions added to employees' records. Individual records can be created for each salary sacrifice or a single item can be used to offset all salary sacrifice deductions.

Payment Deductions can also be configured in the Employee’s record which facilitates the tracking of loans (or similar) and the repayments.

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Enhancements

Timesheet Management is now in the ESS app!
Timesheets are now able to be accessed via the ESS mobile app as well as on the ESS portal. Scroll through dates with a swipe of your finger, quickly add and submit your hours whilst seeing your total hours accumulated for the week at the bottom of your screen. Employees can now manage their time on the go, while employers and managers can approve hours easily from their mobile device.

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Maximum value of tax scales increased
The maximum value of tax scales has been increased to accommodate larger one-off payments. (CR210746578)

Accrual Tracking History report improvements
The Accrual Tracking History report now uses the last modified date instead of the processing date to improve clarity on any manual changes made to leave accruals. (CR2204-0523)

Statement of Earnings lodgement improved for PNG
Character restrictions have been removed for phone numbers on Statement of Earnings submissions for PNG companies. (CR210345764)


 

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Fixes and Improvements

  • Files that are unsupported by the Sybiz Viewer now open in external applications. (CR2206-0709)

  • Employees that are only paid superannuation are now in included in STP submissions. (CR2205-0611)

  • Opening employee timesheets in the desktop application and ESS no longer results in an error. (CR2205-0585)

  • The user name written to the application log and other locations now ignores the way it is entered on the login screen by the user. (CR2205-0580)

  • Working Holiday Makers are reported correctly in STP1. (CR2205-0572)


 


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