Payroll update 19 February 2025

News for School Payroll Staff

 

Kia ora koutou

This week we’re sharing some reminders from the Ministry about terminations, allowances and timesheets, as well as our final Start of Year reminders and information about tailored tax codes.

Start of Year (SoY) reminders

SoY screen closes

The SoY screen closes on 21 February 2025. Please check the restart counter before the screen closes, as this will be your last chance to restart employees in the SoY screen.

Thank you for all your work making sure your employees’ start dates and other pay information is correct for the new school year.

Reminder: download your SoY report

Please remember to download your SoY report before the SoY screen closes on 21 February 2025. This is important because auditors will need this information and it will not be available after the SoY screen closes.

Preparing for the next financial year – tailored tax codes

If an employee provides you with a tailored tax certificate from Inland Revenue, please update their tax code in EdPay to STC (Special tax code) before 25 March 2025. This will make sure your employee starts the new tax year with the right tax deductions coming out of their pay.

To change an employee’s tax code in EdPay

  1. Select the employee.
  2. Click on Financial details.
  3. Scroll down to Other financial details and click on the pencil icon.
  4. Click on the + symbol next to the tax code, then select the new tax code: STC.
  5. Select SEND. Please ignore the start and end date that displays when you click save – your payroll advisor will update it.

When you change the code to STC, we’ll email you to ask for a copy of the tailored tax certificate by return email.

For more information about tailored tax, please see Inland Revenue’s website – Employees with tailored tax codes.

From the Ministry: Cultural Leadership Allowance for primary and area school teachers – extending the allowance end date

If the Cultural Leadership Allowance (CULA) is currently assigned to any teacher(s) at your school, you may need to extend the end date of the allowance in EdPay.

CULA is intended to be permanent and should be awarded with an end date of 31 December 2049 but a significant number of eligible schools assigned this only to January 2025. It may mean your teacher(s) are longer receiving the allowance.

Please check the Allowances Entitlement section of EdPay for your teacher(s) and, if required, update the end date for the allowance to 31 December 2049.

In some cases, the allowance may be awarded as a fixed term but this is only if you have an agreed reason to do so, eg, to cover parental leave.

For detailed instructions on how to change the end date, please refer to our Cultural leadership allowance page.

From the Ministry: Issues raised in the 2023 audit

Every year Ernst & Young audits schools’ payroll operations. The 2023 audit highlighted some issues around terminations, allowances and timesheets. We’d like to give you more information and guidance on these issues to help us resolve them.

Issues identified in the audit

This table sets out the issues identified in the audit and their potential impact or risk.


Information and guidance

Please check the information below and make sure that your school understands the rules and regulations around terminations, allowances and timesheets.

Terminations

Termination processing needs to be prompt.


More detailed instructions are on our website

Please see the EdPay website to find out more about Terminations and End of Year terminations.

Allowances

Mileage claims

Where an employee is paid for the use of their vehicle, they must be paid the mileage rates agreed in the collective agreements.


Transport allowance for relieving teachers

This allowance is to help relief teachers traveling to and from school:

  • for distances greater than 10 km, and
  • when there is no public transport available.

The intent of the transport allowance is to assist schools with finding short term relief cover.


School camp allowance (or Field allowance)

The camp allowance is a daily flat rate applicable across all teacher and principals’ collectives.


Timesheets

Record hours in the relevant pay period

Some school employees may work unusual hours, or hours that vary week to week. For example:

  • part time teachers
  • relief teachers, or
  • an employee at a small school with several roles (e.g. administrator / librarian / learning support).

It is the responsibility of the employer (the school) to maintain accurate employment records, including recording the hours worked by employees in the relevant pay period.


Check you are using the correct pay code

The Education Payroll system has many codes, and they can change from time to time. Also, employees may not be eligible for certain pay codes.

Please check that you are using the correct pay code for each employee when entering their timesheets. You can find this information on the EdPay website’s Codes page.


Thanks for reading our payroll updates and keeping up with our news. We know that payroll may be only one of your many jobs and we appreciate your attention and mahi to make sure your school’s employees are paid correctly.

Ngā mihi

Education Payroll