Downloads

Click to download and install the latest version of Payback.

Quick Start Guide

Get your payroll up and running with this Quick Start Guide. You can start processing your payroll in less than ten minutes.

Explainers

Our Explainers help clarify often complex payroll topics. We describe in more detail how cumulative payments work, why week 53 happens and other payroll enigmas.

Quick Tutorials

These tutorials were designed to help you set up various payroll scenarios quickly and with ease. You can be sure that you've set it up correctly by following the steps.

FAQ

How to set up Maternity? Why is 'Preview' being displayed?... All your Frequently Asked Questions are answered here.

Submit a Ticket

Need further assistance? Click to submit a support ticket.

Find Licence

Bought a licence but 'Demo mode' is still being displayed? Lost your licence details? Click here.

Support Forum

Visit the Payback Support forum. Post questions and read solutions.

User Manual

Read the User Manual to learn how to use Payback Payroll software

Release Notes

Release notes for desktop version of Irish payroll software.

See when features, bug fixes and changes were added

2023 Year End

2023 Year end and starting 2024. These instructions will guide you smoothly through the process.

PAYE Modernisation

The way you process payroll with Payback will change in 2019. Instead of submitting P35s at the end of the year, you will be required by the government to submit what is effectively a P35 each time you pay your employees. You will no longer issue P45s or P60s.

Top 5 Questions

Moving Payback from an old PC to a new PC
 

To copy Payback from an old PC and move it to a new PC, please follow these instructions.

 

On your old PC:

Step 1: Backup your Payback data. To do this select 'Admin' on the left and click the 'Backup' icon. Then click the 'Backup' button. Payback will prompt you for a file name. Save the file to somewhere you can easily remember, like your Desktop.

Step 2: Copy the data from your old PC to your new PC. Copy the file you backed up to the new PC to a location you can easily remember, like the Desktop. You can use a USB key, a CD-R, Dropbox, or even email yourself the file to copy it to the new PC.

 

On your new PC:

Step 1: Download the latest version of Payback onto your new PC from http://www.payback.ie/download.shtml

Step 2: Install this version of Payback onto your new PC (Run the setup.exe you downloaded in step one)

Step 3: Enter your registration details. Click 'Admin' on the left hand side of the screen, click the 'Options' icon, and select the 'Registration' tab. Input your registration details and then click the 'Update' button at the top (You will find your registration details on this screen in your old PC, or it will be in your original registration email) You can also retrieve your registration details from here:http://www.payback.ie/support/sup_regcode.aspx

Step 4: Restore your data. Select 'Admin' on the left, click 'Backup', select the 'Restore' tab, and click the 'Restore' button. Choose the backup file you copied across from your old PC, and click 'OK'

Step 5: Restart Payback and check your data is correct.

Enter the employee's email address in the contact tab in the 'Employee' screen. When you use the email payslips function, the payslip will be sent to the email you enter here.

There are three ways to email payslips:

  • Using outlook
  • Using Payback SMTP server
  • Using your own SMTP server

We recommend using the Payback SMTP server to send emails. However if you want to use MS Outlook you can. To change the email server settings, do the following; If Outlook is giving you problems (such as displaying a 'run time error', then please use the Payback SMTP server option.

  1. Click 'Admin / Options / Preferences'
  2. Under 'Email payslip options' select 'Payback.ie SMTP Server'
  3. Enter a 'Reply to' email address (if an email bounces, this is the address the bounce will go to, so we recommend entering your own email address here) Please fill this in.
  4. Click 'Update' button
  5. Once you have processed the Pay for a period, all the payslips can be emailed using the 'Email Payslips' option in the reports screen

Sometimes employees are unable to open damaged payslips

If every now and again an employee is unable to open a damaged payslip, please follow these instructions

  1. In Windows, create a new folder on your local C: drive called: C:\PaybackTemp
  2. Open Payback and click on where is says 'Support' on the menu at the top left of the screen.
  3. Click the Support Icon and select the 'Diagnostics' tab.
  4. Click the button that says 'Temp Location'
  5. Select the folder you created in step one, above (C:\PaybackTemp)
  6. Click the OK button.
  7. Try emailing payslips.

Notes

  • Make sure that you have entered the employee's email address correctly in the the 'Employee screen'. Otherwise the payslips will not be delievered to the employee
  • When using the recommended 'Payback SMTP' option, please make sure you've entered your own email address in the 'Reply-to email address' field in the Admin / Preferences screen. This is very important, as it is the address that any email bounce-backs will be sent to.
  • Make sure that the employees' emails are ending up in their spam folders, or are being blocked as 'spam' by their ISP (some ISPs require 'human verification' before releasing suspected spam emails)
  • Check that all email address are correct! (in both the 'Employee' screen, and the 'Preferences / reply-to' box.)

Step 1: Retrieve the P2C file:

  • Using your internet browser, Log into ROS https://www.ros.ie/login.jsp
  • Click on the ROS box icon. Your inbox screen will appear.
  • Select the 'View PAYE P2C Details' option.
  • Make sure your tax registration number is filled, and you have selected a Tax Year.
  • Click 'View All'. A new screen will appear displaying the tax credits for your employees.
  • Click 'Export Complete List'
  • A box will appear asking about marking the P2Cs as exported - click OK
  • If asked to 'Save' or 'Open' the file, select 'Save'
  • Choose somewhere you'll be able to find the file, like on your desktop, to save it too.
  • Click 'Close' and exit your browser.

Step 2: Open Payback and click on 'Utility' on the menu at the left, and then select the 'Import Tax' icon. The P2C file import screen will appear.

P2C file import screen

Step 3: Click 'Load File' at the top of the screen and select the P2C file you downloaded from ROS in step 1. Check the data in the grids, and if you are happy, click the 'Import' button. Make sure that the company has been successfully matched before importing the data.

NOTE: Payback matches P2C data using:

- Employer No. (Details tab in Company Screen)

- PPS No. (Contact tab in Employee Screen)

Please make sure that you have entered these correctly before importing P2C files. If you have not entered an employer number for your existing companies, or have entered it incorrectly, then Payback will not be able to match up your data. If you continue with the P2C import, then a duplicate company will be created. If you have not entered PPSNs for any of your employees, or they are incorrect, then (like company, above) Payback will not be able to match the employees up to the P2C data. If you continue with the import then duplicate employees will be set up. If you find that duplicate employees have been set up, these can be deleted by following these instructions:http://www.payback.ie/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3

Duplicate companies can be deleted following these instructions: http://www.payback.ie/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=420

Holiday pay in Payback exists for two main reasons;

  1. To ensure you don't pay the employees by mistake while they're on holiday
  2. To ensure that your employees get the correct amount of tax credits, cut-off point and insurable weeks when you're paying them in advance

It has the added benefit of allowing you to keep track of holidays taken.

Scenario

A weekly paid employee who is paid every Wednesday is going on holiday for 2 weeks from the 7th April 2008 to the 18th April 2008. They want their 2 weeks holiday pay in advance to be included in their pay for the 2nd April

Requirements

  1. You need to pay them 3 weeks worth of pay on the 2nd April payroll run (the current week, plus 2 weeks in advance)
  2. They should get 3 weeks worth of PRSI insurable weeks, tax credits and cut-off point on the 2nd April
  3. You need to ensure they don't get paid on the 9th April or the 16th April runs

Method

  1. In the Payroll screen, select the required employee
  2. On the Elements tab, select a blank row, select 'Holidays', and click the 'View' button on the right of the grid. The 'calculate leave' pop-up box will appear.
  3. Highlight the weeks they are on holiday for. In this example you should highlight all the days between the 7th April - 18th April inclusive.
  4. Ensure 'Insurable weeks' says '2'
  5. Click 'Ok', this returns you to the Payroll screen
  6. Ensure the Holiday Pay and the Salary is as required. Also, that the 'Insurable Weeks' at the bottom says '3' (this week plus the 2 holiday weeks)
  7. Pay the employee as usual

You will also notice that for the following two pay runs (16th April and 23rd April) the employee is in green, indicating they are on holiday and will not be paid.

Notes

It may sometimes be necessary to change the figure in the 'Insurable Weeks' to the correct figure manually. Payback attempts to calculate the insurable weeks based on the holiday days you mark, but you should confirm the number is correct before paying the employee and change it if it doesn't look right. This figure determines the Tax credits and Standard Rate Cut Off Point used.

Payback is in fact doing the 'insurable/tax' weeks calculation correctly, although it might seem counter-intuitive. The reason for this is the way the Revenue tax calendar works. Insurable weeks start from the 1 January onwards. The first week from 1 to 7 January, second week from 8 to 14th January etc. Insurable weeks can be overridden.

The holiday entitlement tab is only a calculator. It is there to give an indication of holiday entitlement. It has no bearing on any calculations in the payroll screen, or how much holiday you can actually allocate to an employee. Payback does not store or use the holiday calculator information. (HR rules can be complex and we recommend confirming any holiday entitlements with a practitioner.)

Setting up Payment Frequencies

The pay date can be changed in the Company screen, under the 'Pay details' tab. Payment frequencies can also be set up here:

  • Weekly
  • Fortnightly
  • Four-Weekly
  • Monthly

(The following frequencies can be set up under Other)

  • Two Monthly
  • Quarterly
  • Four Monthly
  • Six Monthly
  • Annually

If a payment has been made for a pay frequency, then it can not be unticked. This is to stop 'Orphan payments'. At least one payment frequency must be set up. Click 'Update Company' at the top of the screen to update the Payment frequency.

The Pay date will be determined by the way you set up the payment frequency. For example, if pay day of Monday is set up for the weekly pay frequency, then the pay date will be the date of each Monday in the year.

Changing Payment Frequency mid year

Once you start processing pay using a payment frequency (eg Monthly) it is possible to change payment frequency mid-year (eg Monthly to Weekly). However, we do not recommend this. Changing Payment frequency mid year can cause problems with tax credits and insurable weeks. For example a monthly paid person has been paid for 3 months, with a total of 13 weeks and are then moved to weekly, but the user starts them on week 12 or 14, then they will end up with the wrong number of insurable weeks.

If the pay date is changed, you may not be able to easily select past, processed payslips. This is because in the Payroll screen payslips are selected according to the pay date in the calendar. (You have to change the pay date back again to see the old payslips and things start to get messy).

We recommend only changing pay frequency at the start of the year, before any payments have been processed. If you have no choice but to change pay frequency mid-year, please consider the above two issues:

  • viewing old payslips (with the old payment frequency)
  • making sure that the insurable weeks are correct.

(If you've already processed a payment at the 'wrong' pay date, it will be easier to just rewind that payment first before changing the payment frequency or pay date)