We've created some new reports to help you establish the Reference Salary for the Job Retention Scheme calculations in Sage 50 Payroll.

TIP: These reports are designed to help you manually calculate the Reference Salaries. To support you with processing your payments and making your claims, we’ve released an update to the Job Retention Scheme Module. Read more >

Download and install the reports

1. To download the reports, click each of the reports below:
   • JRS/JSS Payment Type History (Detailed) report >
   • JRS/JSS Payment Type History (Summary) report >
   • JRS/JSS Deduction Type History (Detailed) report >
   • JRS/JSS Deduction Type History (Summary) report >
2. Browse to the location that the reports downloaded to.
3. Select the following files:
   • JRSJSSPaymentTypeHistoryDetailed.REPORT
   • JRSJSSPaymentTypeHistorySummary.REPORT
   • JRSJSSDeductionTypeHistoryDetailed.REPORT
   • JRSJSSDeductionTypeHistorySummary.REPORT
4. Open Sage 50 Payroll then click Help then click About.
5. In the Program Details section, click the Reports Directory link.
6. Double-click the EMPLOYEE folder.
7. To paste the reports into the software, press Ctrl & V on your keyboard.

The reports are now located in the Employee folder within your post-update reports.

What's the Reference Salary?

The amount you should use for calculating your employees’ Reference Salary is made up of the regular payments you are obliged to make, including:

• regular wages
• non-discretionary payments for hours worked, including overtime
• non-discretionary fees
• non-discretionary commission payments
• piece rate payments

Calculations cannot include payments made at the discretion of the employer or a client, where the employer or client was under no contractual obligation to pay, including:

• any tips, including those distributed through troncs
• discretionary bonuses
• discretionary commission payments
• non-cash payments
• non-monetary benefits like benefits in kind (such as a company car) and salary sacrifice schemes (including pension contributions) that reduce an employees’ taxable pay

Employees who were previously eligible for the Job Retention Scheme

For your employees who have already been eligible for the Job Retention Scheme, and who are paid a fixed salary, the Reference Salary is the the wages payable to your employee in the last pay period ending on or before 19 March 2020.

For your employees whose pay is variable the Reference Salary is the greater of:

• the wages earned in the same calendar period in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• the average wages payable in the tax year 2019 to 2020

Employees who weren't previously eligible

For employees who weren't previously eligible for the Job Retention Scheme, and who are paid a fixed salary, the Reference Salary is the wages payable to the employee in the last pay period ending on or before 30 October 2020. 

For employees whose pay is variable, the Reference Salary is 80% of the average payable between the start date of their employment or 6 April 2020 (whichever is later) and the day before their CJRS extension furlough period begins.

Establish the Reference Salary for an employee with a fixed salary

To establish the Reference Salary for an employee with a fixed salary, you need to run the JSS Payment Type History Detailed report.

If you have any pre-tax and national insurance (NI) deductions, you also need to run the JSS Deduction Type History Detailed report as these need to be deducted from the amounts.

TIP: Not sure if you have any pre-tax and NI deductions? You can check using the Deduction Types report. To do this click Reports then click Company then click Deduction Types then click Preview. If any of the deductions show a Y against Tax and NI then you need to deduct these from the values on the Payment Type History. If all deductions show N for Tax and NI then you don’t need to use the JSS Deduction History Detailed reports.

1. On the Employee List, select the required employees.
2. Click Reports then click Employee.
3. Locate the JSS Payment Type History Detailed report then click Preview.
4. In the Criteria screen enter the following information:
   

   If the employee was previously eligible:

   • Date from: 06/04/2019
   • Date to: 05/04/2020
   • Payments: Select the relevant payments to include.

     For more information on the payments to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

   If the employee was not previously eligible:

   • Date from: Employees start date or 06/04/2020 (whichever is later).
   • Date to: 30/10/2020.
   • Payments: Select the relevant payments to include. 

     For more information on the payments to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

5. Click OK.
6. If the employee:
   • was previously eligible, make a note of the value in the last pay period ending on or before 19 March 2020.
   • wasn't previously eligible, you need to note the value in the last pay period before 30 October 2020.

If you don’t have any pre-tax and NI deductions, the Reference Salary is this value. If you have any pre-tax and NI deductions, you need to run the JSS Deduction Type History Detailed  report for the same period before continuing:

1. On the Employee List, select the required employees.
2. Click Reports then click Employee.
3. Locate the JSS Deduction Type History Detailed report then click Preview.
4. In the Criteria screen enter the following information:
   

   If the employee was previously eligible:

   • Date from: 06/04/2019
   • Date to: 05/04/2020
   • Deductions: Select the relevant deductions to include. 

     For more information on what to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

   If the employee was not previously eligible:

   • Date from: Employees start date or 06/04/2020 (whichever is later).
   • Date to: 30/10/2020.
   • Deductions: Select the relevant deductions to include. 

     For more information on what to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

5. Click OK.
6. If the employee was previously eligible, make a note of the value in the last pay period ending on or before 19 March 2020.
   If the employee wasn't previously eligible, you need to note the value in the last pay period before 30 October 2020.

You now have the Reference Salary value which you can use to calculate the Government funded 80% furlough payment.

Establish the Reference Salary for an employee whose pay varies

To establish the Reference Salary for an employee whose pay varies, you need to run the JSS Payment Type History Detailed report.

If you have any pre-tax and national insurance (NI) deductions, you also need to run the JSS Deduction Type History Detailed report as these need to be deducted from the amounts.

TIP: Not sure if you have any pre-tax and NI deductions? You can check using the Deduction Types report. To do this click Reports then click Company then click Deduction Types then click Preview. If any of the deductions show a Y against Tax and NI then you need to deduct these from the values on the Payment Type History. If all deductions show N for Tax and NI then you don’t need to use the JSS Deduction History Detailed reports.

1. On the Employee List, select the required employees.
2. Click Reports then click Employee.
3. Locate the JSS Payment Type History Detailed report then click Preview.
4. In the Criteria screen enter the following information:
   If the employee was previously eligible:
   
   • Date from: 06/04/2019
   • Date to: 05/04/2020
   • Payments: Select the relevant payments to include. 

     For more information on the payments to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

   For employee who weren't previously eligible:

   • Date from: 06/04/2020 or the employees start date (whichever is later)
   • Date to: Enter the day before the employee's furlough period begins.
   • Payments: Select the relevant payments to include. 

     For more information on the payments to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

5. Click OK.
6. For employees who've previously been eligible, make a note of the higher amount of the payment in the same period that you’re paying the employee for in this tax period and the Total average pay.
   For employees who previously weren't eligible, make a note of the amount on the last pay period before the employees furlough period begins.

If you don’t have any pre-tax and NI deductions, the Reference Salary is this value. If you have any pre-tax and NI deductions, you need to run the JSS Deduction Type History Detailed report for the same period before continuing:

1. On the Employee List, select the required employees.
2. Click Reports then click Employee.
3. Locate the JSS Deduction Type History Detailed report then click Preview.
4. In the Criteria screen enter the following information:
   If the employee was previously eligible:
   
   • Date from: 06/04/2019
   • Date to: 05/04/2020
   • Deductions: Select the relevant deductions to include. 

     For more information on what to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

   For employee who weren't previously eligible:

   • Date from: 06/04/2020 or the employees start date (whichever is later)
   • Date to: Enter the day before the employee's furlough period begins.
   • Deductions: Select the relevant deductions to include. 

     For more information on what to include, refer to the What is the Reference Salary? section of this article.

5. Click OK.
6. For employees who've previously been eligible, make a note of the higher amount of the value in the same period that you’re paying the employee for in this tax period and the Total average pay.
   For employees who previously weren't eligible, make a note of the amount on the last pay period before the employees furlough period begins.
7. Deduct this value from the amount you noted when running the JSS Payment Type History Detailed report.

You now have the Reference Salary value which you can use to calculate the Government funded 80% furlough payment.

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