New Ireland Master Trust
Standard Interface File (SIF) upload template and process
This guide provides you with the information you need to correctly complete the SIF template and to successfully upload onto the platform.
What is the SIF?
The SIF is the template you need to input and complete with the data of your employees for the initial joining of the retirement plan and then on an ongoing basis following the frequency of your internal payroll processes; this may be weekly, monthly etc.
The SIF acts as the Master file and is used to change and update employee details, such as address or email. If you are changing the name of employee you will need to contact the team at [email protected]
When is the SIF used?
The SIF is used to;
1. Add Members to the Retirement Plan.
2. Upload Contributions for Members to the Plan
3. Make Changes to Employee Details e.g. Address
4. Notify New Ireland if a member leaves the plan.
Completing the SIF
The link below gives you a colour coded template to help you complete your SIF
Important: editing of the headers in the first row is not allowed |
Row 1 should always remain in the SIF even if the column is noted as ‘Optional’.
For the SIF to successfully upload the values of each of the fields must display as shown here.
Completing the SIF for employees joining my retirement plan
For employees joining your retirement plan you need to include them in this file. By including them in the file this will automatically trigger a welcome email. The email will ask your employee to create a password giving them access to their employee portal. They can then log into their account and if relevant to the retirement plan choose to become a member. The following link is to a helpful video on the process Webinars
Knowing the contributions to deduct and to include on the SIF for employees of my retirement plan
If your Email address is listed on the Membership Emails list of the Notification Centre on the platform, found via Menu < Company Details < Notification Centre, you will receive a notification email when an employee chooses to Opt-In and join the retirement plan. This is your action to start deducting contributions via payroll.
The latest contribution rates for your active members can be found on the portal via Menu < Retirement Plan set up < Employees then click the Export button to download.
The exported file gives details for all employees, which can be filtered by the ‘Opt In/Opt Out’ column, active members of the plan are defined as ‘Opted In’ or ‘Automatically enrolled’.
Completing the SIF with Member Contributions
Once a member has opted in, contributions must be remitted.
Refer to the SIF Template for the details to be included in respect of these contributions.
Completing the SIF for employees leaving my company
You will need to complete the SIF for the relevant employee leaving by filling in the fields ExitDate and ExitReasonCode , the date must not be post dated and the correct applicable code should be used Leaver or Death. This updates immediately upon successful upload of the SIF.
Important: if you submit an employee as a leaver in error, please let us know immediately. |
Saving and uploading the completed SIF
You will need to save the completed SIF as file type CSV UTF-8 Comma delimited if this version is available on your machine or the alternative is CSV Comma delimited.
You then need to log in to your New Ireland MyPension365 Employer/Advisor portal and follow the steps to upload your file.
What should I do if the upload process is unsuccessful?
If you are presented with a Partial Success or Fail upon upload, you should view the errors on screen, open your excel workbook version of your file (not the csv) make the necessary changes to correct the errors, save in excel workbook format, then convert to a new csv file again and re-upload.
Please see SIF troubleshooting guide here.
What should I do if I have noticed an error within the SIF after uploading?
If after a successful upload you notice incorrect information was uploaded, you will need to amend the Excel workbook version of the file with the correct data, save, then convert to a new CSV file and re-upload. Your new correct file will automatically overwrite the old incorrect file. This can only be done if the contribution collection process has not started.
Once your upload is successful the status will automatically update to reflect this.
Important: Please check the data in the file is completed correctly on the first upload |
What’s next?
Once your contributions have been successfully uploaded via SIF you will be able to see a summary of your uploaded contributions by navigating to Menu < Contribution and Payroll < Contributions.
This screen will show the total Contribution Amount which was on the uploaded file , this should be verified against your payroll for that month. You will also see a 'Pay Now' button on this screen.
When you are ready for the payment collection process to begin you have the option to either press the Pay Now button which will trigger the payment collection process and the funds will be deducted from your company's bank account within the following 5 working days (bank dependent) or wait for the automatic process to start after the 7th of the month at which point the funds will be deducted automatically within the following 5 working days (bank dependent).
The Pay Now button will only be available as long as the following requirements are met:
You have an active direct debit mandate set up.
There is not already a payment run in progress
Important: · Making an employer contribution is the responsibility of the employer only and this amount should not be deducted from the employee's salary. · Employee contributions should be deducted from their salary before the deduction of income tax · Section 58A of the Pensions Act 1990 (as amended) requires you, as employer, to make sure that contributions deducted from employee’s salaries are paid to us within 21 days of the end of the month in which contributions were deducted
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SIF template- Important points
● You need to save the file as file type CSV UTF-8 Comma delimited if you have this version on your machine otherwise CSV Comma delimited is also accepted.
● The platform will not accept special characters in address fields, these must be alpha-numeric only
● No column headers should be removed or edited in Row 1
● No additional column headers should be added
● Fields marked as Mandatory (denoted as dark green and orange coloured columns) must be completed with a valid input
● Fields marked as optional (denoted by lighter green coloured columns) can be left blank. If completed the input must be valid
● Fields marked as conditional (denoted as blue coloured columns), these are ad hoc columns so should remain blank on each monthly upload unless the applicable Column data is required.
● Please refer to our colour coded SIF for further guidance
