Scottish Tax band updates for Opera 3 (2.50) and Opera II (7.70)

In late February 2018, the Scottish Parliament confirmed changes to the intermediate rate Scottish Tax band from £32,423 to £31,580, applicable from the start of the 2018/19 tax year. If you have any employees who reside in Scotland then your Opera 3 and Opera II payroll installations must be updated with the new Scottish Tax band before the first pay period of the 2018/19 tax year is processed.

If you do not have any employees that need the Scottish tax tables (their tax code will begin with ‘S’) then you don’t need to do anything, just continue with your payroll upgrade as planned.

If you have not had your upgrade yet or have yet to download the software from the Download Centre then you do not need to take these extra steps – noting that in that instance, once upgraded, your version of Opera II will read 7.70.10 or of Opera 3 will read 2.50.10.

Instructions to carry out the Scottish Tax tables change where required

Important: the following steps must only be applied after the payroll upgrade release has been installed and your version number shows as Opera 3 2.50 or Opera II 7.70.

Update the Scottish Tax tables using the files provided in the accompanying zip file. Download the file to your Opera 3 or Opera II server and unzip it.

Note this may be something like \O3 Server VFP Static and DynamicSystem but may vary per site.

Log in to your system and open the Copy Statutory Rates form on the Payroll – Utilities menu. Ensure ‘Set to System Default’ is selected then click ‘OK’ to apply the updated Scottish Tax band to the Opera company.

Note that if you have changed the apprenticeship levy, e.g. to split over companies, then you will need to change that again after carrying out this update.

Repeat this step for each Opera company (including those of any additional systems).

The screen below shows what your Scottish table should look like once all is correct.