Contact info

Contact us for more information Ph: +(679) 330 4554 Fax: +(679) 330 4864 Email: payroll@standss.com Web: www.standss.com.fj

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

VIDEO: Generate your EMS file at the click of a button

It is FRCA's requirement that all Fiji payroll software programs be able to generate the monthly EMS file in their specified format. PayMaker users can generate the EMS at the click of a button. This video shows you exactly what you need to do.



Monday, July 6, 2015

Standss donates $10,000 to Hilton Special School

Students in a Special Class at Hilton. The teachers are an inspiration to their hearing impaired students as they share the same disability.

We are happy to report that thanks to your support, Standss has had the privilege of again making a donation to the Hilton Special School. In this post I would like to share details of how the donation will be used and some of the truly inspiring work we witnessed when the Standss team visited the school last week.

The Hilton Special School is the main organization in Fiji that works with children with hearing and physical disabilities. This organization serves a very important and often neglected group of children in our community… and they have been doing it very well for many years.

The organization operates a school, an early intervention center, an audiology unit, a physiotherapy unit and a hostel.

While they get some government assistance, a lot of their work is only possible with the help of grants and donations.

Last year we donated $10,000 to them to assist with setting up a new physiotherapy unit. The physiotherapy unit has now been setup.

Last week we donated an additional $10,000 which will be used towards the salary of a qualified physiotherapist who will work with the children.

During our visit to the school, we were given a tour of the different classes that are currently being held. Some of the truly inspirational things that we learnt and witnessed included:

• The children are taught the exact same syllabus that are taught in all other schools in Fiji. The only difference here is the mode of learning as the children here need different attention because of hearing impairments or restricted mobility.

• The teachers of one class were both without hearing. They had benefited from the work that from organizations like Hilton in their youth, had gone through teacher training and were now inspiring and teaching other students that their disabilities did not have to hold them back.

• The Hilton  School also had a computer lab. Krishneer Sen, the teacher and administrator of the lab was also a former Hilton student.

Krishneer Sen is a former student of Hilton who now teaches computing classes for their students.

After Hilton, he went to a technical school in New Zealand and then won a scholarship to Gallaudet University which is the world’s only university designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students.

Krishneer is a source of inspiration for all of us. His life shows us what is possible with support and determination. He also shows the tremendous impact that organizations such as Hilton have , not only on individuals directly affected, but also on the lives of people that that these individuals will affect in turn.

I know that I may have overused the word but this visit by our team was truly inspiring for us.

It is too easy to forget that just having normal hearing, site and mobility is a privilege.

It is humbling to see the work that others are doing to empower these children to live full lives
.
We want to thank the team at Hilton for their service and for allowing us the opportunity to contribute.

And finally… we want to take this opportunity to thank all our customers.

We are only able to support Hilton and other similar organizations because of your continued support of our products and company.

We want you to know that you have are making a difference.

Sanjay and the team at Standss

Sunday, July 5, 2015

What is the Sequence Numbers in EMS files?

PayMaker users are able to generate EMS files for monthly submission to FRCA at the click of a button. In this post I will explain the use of the Sequence Number field because it has been causing some confusion for users.

What is the EMS File?

Effective from 1st January 2013, all employers are required to submit an Employer Monthly Summary (EMS). The EMS is an electronic file that is to be completed and lodged by all employers who pay employee salaries or wages. The EMS is to be filed monthly and included details of all salaries and wages paid for the month.

The format for the EMS file is defined by FRCA. The Standss PayMaker software has been tested and certified by FRCA and creates these files at the click of a button at the end of each month.

Using PayMaker to create your EMS File
  1.  Start PayMaker
  2.  Click Reports
  3.  Click PAYE Monthly Report and File to display the following screen



    4.  Choose the Month and Year.
    5.  Enter the Sequence Number. You will normally enter 01 in this field. (more on this later).
    6.  Click the little folder icon on the screen to choose a folder where the file will be created.
    7.  Make sure that 11 character FNPF Number is selected for the format (FRCA has changed their    system to now only accept 11 character FNPF numbers).
    8. Click Create File.

Your EMS file will be created for you in the folder you selected. You will need to send this file to payeems@frca.org.fj.

What is the Sequence Number?

Most of the time, you will need to enter 01 (or 1) as your sequence number.
This indicates that this is the first EMS file that you are sending for the month.

When do you use a different Sequence Number?

You will only ever need to use a different sequence number if FRCA rejects your file because they found some errors (or if you want to resubmit your file because you discovered that the file that you originally sent had some errors).

Since the sequence number of the file that you sent the first time was 01, you will change the sequence number to 02 which indicates that this is your second try at sending the same file. If changes have to be made again, then change the sequence number to 03 before resubmitting… and so on.

Each time you send the file, FRCA will use it to replace all the information you sent previously.
And remember… when you send your EMS file for the next month, the sequence number will go back to being 01.


Sunday, June 21, 2015

Answers to your PAYE Questions

FRCA CEO Jitoko Tikolevu anwers questions related to PAYE as final tax in this Fiji Times article. Questions include:

What are the employers obligations?
What are the employees obligations?
Who should pay PAYE (Employer or Employee) if the correct amount was not deducted?

See full article on Fiji Time website.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

What's new in PayMaker in 2015

Due to changes announced in the 2015 budget, and changes introduced by FNPF, we have released a new version of PayMaker. Some of the changes in the new version include:

  • FNPF Changes: Allow 10% Employer Contribution
  • FNPF Changes: Allow excess employee contribution
  • FNPF changes: Allow monthly exporting of contributions
  • PAYE Changes: Changes in formula based on revised FRCA spreadsheet
  • PAYE Changes: Change in EMS file format to cater for new 11-digit FNPF member number
  • PAYE Changes: Special Tax Rate for employees on S (secondary) employment
  • PAYE Changes: Allow Benefits such as excess FNPF (Employer)

We are committed to doing our best for our customers so that they are compliant with any regulations that affect payroll in Fiji. 

Although these changes were announced fairly late in the year, our team worked with FRCA and FNPF to ensure that all file formats etc met their requirements. 

The team have worked through the holiday season to udpate the software and are now busy rolling out the update to our customers.

Please contact us on 3304554 or payroll@standss.com.fj if you need more information.

Check the Number of Pay Periods BEFORE your first pay.

You may need to update the number of pay periods in PayMaker before you process your first pay for the year.

The number of Pay Periods is important because it is used in FRCA’s formula to calculate the PAYE.

The number of pay periods in a year can vary, particularly for weekly or fortnightly pays depending on the week-ending day.

How to calculate the number of Pay Periods

This has to be done manually. Use a calendar to work out the number of pays that you will be paying this year.

For weekly pays, this number will usually be 51, 52 or 53. For fortnightly pays, the number will usually be 25, 26 or 27.

Where to update the number of Pay Periods in PayMaker

Start PayMaker.
Click the Administration button on the main menu.
Open the Standard Payrolls screen (double click Standard Payrolls on the menu).
Move to the relevant payroll and ensure that value under Total Pay Periods THIS year is correct.

You need to do this for all the different types of pay paid out by your company!

Effect on First Pay because of 10% Employer FNPF Contribution in 2015


How should you process the first pay of 2015 if it includes some days from 2014.

As of 1st January 2015, the compulsory employer contribution for FNPF has increased from 8% to 10%. Employee contribution (compulsory) remains at 8%. Both employers and employees can also make voluntary contributions to a total FNPF contribution of 30% (employer and employee combined).

What should you do if your first pay of 2015 includes some days from 2014?

FNPF is not interested in the individual days for which the pay was for. Instead it calculates the contributions based on the pay date you entered for the entire pay (usually the week-ending date).

OPTION 1
The easiest thing to do is to treat the entire pay as a 2015 pay.

This means that the employer will pay an extra 2% FNPF for the few days which were still in 2014.

OPTION 2
Create two separate pays… Pay 1 will be for the remaining days in 2014 and Pay 2 will be for days in 2015.

If you choose to do this, then you will need to process Pay 1 before you carry out your End of Year updates for 2015.

The downside of this is the extra work involved in preparing and paying out two separate pays.