KiwiSaver

KiwiSaver Settings greyed out

If an employee is set to be paid then the KiwiSaver settings cannot be changed. This is a safety feature to ensure unexpected changes do not occur. If you need to change the settings - for example changing the percentage - do the following:

1. Go to "Enter Current Pay"
2. Select the employee
3. Look for the button "To be paid this pay run" and click it to change this to "NO"
4. Click "Save" then "Exit" to return to the main menu
5. Go back into "Edit Employees"
6. Select the employee and make your required changes to the KiwiSaver settings
7. Click "Save" then "Exit" to return to the main menu
8. Go back to "Enter Current Pay" and select the employee
9. Set the employee "To be paid this pay run" to Yes

Note that the KiwiSaver settings will also be greyed out if the employee is on the tax code NSW (Non-resident Seasonal Worker).

Make Employer Contribution Zero (but leave Employee contribution as it is - eg 3% etc)

The employER contribution can be made zero by entering 0.1 as the percentage, and leaving the employee percentage as it is (eg 3%). This allows you to have an employee contribution without an employer contribution.The reason you dont enter 0 (zero) as the employer contribution to acheive this is because zero is used for another purpose - entering zero is used to tell Payroll Pro to use the minimum legal employer contribution (which is 3% in the 2014/15 year).

Times you may want to have an employEE deduction but make the employER contribution zero might include:
Employee is under 18 and enrolled in KiwiSaver
Employee has been in KiwiSaver but has reached the age where the employer no longer needs to contribute, but the employee would still like KiwiSaver deducted from their pay.

Employee Reached Age where no longer has to contribute to KiwiSaver

In this case the employer may decide to stop making contributions, and the employee may also wish to stop having KiwiSaver deducted from their pay. If the employee wishes to continue having KiwiSaver deducted but the employer is not going to contribute any more, see the section above "Make Employer Contribution Zero".

Where the employee no longer wishes to have KiwiSaver Deducted from their pay:

In this case you would click the KiwiSaver box to remove the tick so that KiwiSaver is no longer deducted.

You will be given the option to select "Exempt" or "Opted Out". It doesnt really matter which of these you choose. In a way the employee is both exempt and has opted out.

Update Summary Report message - notes 1

In Payroll Pro Version 2 the Update Summary Report shows the following message regarding the KiwiSaver Employer Contribution:

Notes:
1. KiwiSaver EmployER contribution is: $x.xx. The figure is not included
in Total Deductions of $xx.xx as it is not deducted "from" employees pay.

This is not an error - it is just information explaining that although the employee contribution is deducted from the employees pay, the employer contribution is not. The employer contribution is paid by the employer with the IR345.

Reverse KiwiSaver

If an employee has opted out of KiwiSaver (the reason will be selected as "Opted-Out") and an Opt-Out date has been entered which is within the current or previous month, then a green button will appear labeled "Reverse KiwiSaver...".

IMPORTANT – In most cases it is far easier to leave all KiwiSaver figures in Payroll Pro, file these with the IRD and pay the amounts to the IRD in the normal way. If an employee opts out of KiwiSaver the IRD can then refund the employee directly.

However, if you would prefer to refund the employee yourself (ie only those amounts not already paid or filed with the IRD), then you can do as follows using this option:

> Before selecting this you should have a current backup of your data as this process will completely remove figures from your records so that they do not appear on IRD forms.

> This can be used to reverse any KiwiSaver deductions which have not yet been filed or paid to the IRD.

> Upon clicking the "Reverse KiwiSaver..." button, a warning message will appear – read this then click YES or NO.

> If you click YES to continue, a list of pays will appear (the latest at the top), showing KiwiSaver figures. Click the box to the left of any entry you wish to reverse so that a tick appears. To select a range of dates, you can select the first and last in your required range and all dates in between will be selected automatically.

> IMPORTANT – the dates on which to reverse KiwiSaver are selected manually by the user of the program – only select those which have not yet been filed or paid to the IRD. This needs to be selected manually since Payroll Pro cannot know which reports you have physically sent to the IRD. For example, for any IRD345 or IR348 which has been sent to the IRD figures should NOT be reversed – the IRD will need to refund any effected figures directly to the employee.

> The details of reversal will be recorded in the employees notes.

After the figures have been reversed from the records you will need to refund the employee for the amount of the Employee Deductions. There are two options for this:

(1) Outside Payroll Pro: Refund completely outside the payroll program – eg by paying a cheque directly to the employee.

(2) From Payroll Pro: Use a non-taxable allowance (which can be setup under Allowances & Extras) and pay this out in the next payrun. This means the total can simply be added to the next pay and a figure will be recorded in the employees records. A suggested non-taxable allowance you could set up is as follows:
> From the main menu select ALLOWANCES AND EXTRAS
> Click the NEW button to create a new code
> Enter the following:
Code: KSR
Name: KiwiSaver Reversed (or KiwiSaver Refund etc)
(both the name and code are arbitrary – you can entered any code and name you like)
Select "Non-Taxable"
Select Flat Amount $0.00
Reset to Zero after employee paid: set to YES (ie click so a tick appears)
Click SAVE
Click CLOSE
This code would then be used under Enter Current Pay under the Allowances/Extras tab.