Important 

Q. Why does a payslip show as a scheduled payslip? 

A. If you see that there is a scheduled payslip in place of your normal payslip, it means there is an earlier payslip for that employee that hasn’t been completed yet.

If an employee hasn’t been paid for a particular period (for example, they were on unpaid leave or there was no payment due), you’ll need to finalise their payslip with a pay amount of €0.00 in BrightPay. This allows you to move forward and process future payslips as normal.

Once all previous payslips have been finalised, even those with zero pay, you’ll be able to see and process the current draft payslip as usual.

If they are a new employee and have just been added to the payroll, their start date may be in the previous period (for which they are not being paid if they started later in that period) so their payslip may need finalising with zero pay to move them forward to the current period.

Q. An employee will be on Annual Leave next week and is being paid their holiday pay this week. How do I ensure they receive an extra week’s tax credits and cut-off points?

A. When paying holiday pay in advance, you will need to apply the additional week’s tax credits and cut-off points so the employee is taxed correctly. please see our step by step guidance on pre paying 

Q. An employee is now showing negative net pay following an updated RPN, is there a way to cap the net pay at zero until the outstanding tax is recovered?

A. When an updated RPN is issued, the system must apply the tax calculation exactly as instructed by Revenue. This can sometimes result in additional tax being deducted to correct earlier periods, which may cause a reduced or negative net pay.

There is no facility within the software to override or cap the tax being applied, as the RPN details are pulled directly from Revenue and must be followed.

If you believe the tax treatment is incorrect or would like to explore alternative options (such as a Week 1 basis), you will need to contact Revenue directly, as changes to an employee’s tax basis can only be made by them.

Q. Why is a benefit in kind (such as health insurance) not appearing on the employee’s payslip?

A. If a benefit in kind is not showing on the payslip, it is likely because Notional Pay is currently not selected to appear on the payslip layout.

To display this:

1. Go to Create/Send Payslips

2. Select Email Payslips

3. Click Customise

4. Tick the option for Notional Pay under the amounts section

Once enabled, the benefit in kind will appear on the employee’s payslip.

Q. How do I clear or reset hours/pay at the start of a new pay period in BrightPay?

A. You can reset hours and/or pay on payslips as follows:

1. Go to More.
2. Select Zeroise Payslips.
3. Choose the relevant employees.
4. Tick the items you want to zeroise (e.g. hours, basic pay, additions).
5. Click OK to apply the changes.

Here’s how to update it:

1. Go to Payroll and open the relevant payslip for the employee. 
2. On the payslip, find the periodic pay amount. 
3. Click the spanner (settings) icon on the far right of the periodic pay line. 

4. In the pop‑up, locate the field called “Equivalent Annual Salary.” 

   Click on the underlined amount 

   

5. Enter the new annual salary in this field and save.

   

The system will then automatically recalculate and display the correct weekly/monthly pay for that employee.

Q. Why does it always take me to an earlier year when I log in?

Q. Why are changes made in Payroll not carrying forward to the next period?

A. If changes to payroll are not saving or carrying forward to the next pay period, there are two things to check.

The first is whether payslips were reopened and amended before being re-finalised. When you finalise payslips, BrightPay carries forward the original amount rather than the amended one. To carry forward the new amended amount, when re-finalising the payslip, click the option to 'Reset items and settings' — this will ensure the updated amount is carried forward to the next period.

The second is whether any pay elements have been set to auto-zeroise. To check this, go to any pay element on the payslip, click the spanner icon on that line, and check whether the auto-zeroise option has been enabled. If it has been selected in error, simply untick it.

If an employee has been added to the wrong tax year and no payroll has been finalised for them, you can delete the record. Go to Employees, select the employee, click the More spanner icon and select Delete.

If payroll has already been finalised for the employee, the record cannot be deleted.