Payroll year end is just around the corner, and it is important that your processes are all in order before the HMRC deadline comes around. The official payroll year end submission date is the 19th April.
When it comes to sorting your processes, you should ideally be handling a standard 12-month or 52-week payroll. Though this should be a simple process, it is still important to know what you need to get right.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to help you prep for payroll year end.
Checklist for payroll year end
Step 1: Confirm when your payroll ends
The majority of businesses’ payroll will end on week 52, however there are circumstances that it may end slightly later on week 53, week 54, or even week 55. If this is the case for your company, you may need to complete an additional payroll after week 52.
This tends to occur if one of the following points are true:
- Your company processes payrolls weekly, two-weekly, or four-weekly (with the exclusion of monthly payrolls).
- Your usual payroll date falls on 5th April in any year (or 4th April if it occurs in a leap year).
If your payroll runs monthly it should only ever have 12 months. That means there is never a month 13 and your payroll should be able to run as usual. However, it is always important to check, as this could cause delays in submitting your payroll information to HMRC.
Step 2: Check your employee records are up to date
Another consideration that you need to be mindful of is your employee records. As the year end approaches, it is essential that all employee information has been processed correctly.
If any of your employees have left your business during the last year, or there have been new starters employed, now is the time to make sure they have been processed. Although this sounds reasonably simple, in practice it is the biggest cause for mistakes for many HR and payroll teams.
To limit any misinformation, it is important that there are clear lines of communication between everyone in your organisation, so necessary information can be given when it is required. Especially if you are a bigger organisation, this communication will be key to make sure all information is correct.
Step 3: Submit the final FPS of the year
Once you have checked whether you have any additional weeks, have processed the final payroll of the tax year, and confirmed your employee details are up to date, you can then send your final Full Payment Submission (FPS). Additionally, you could be required to send your final Employer Payment Summary (EPS).
Before submitting either of these forms, it is important to check for any errors, as this can mean adjustments later down the line, which can delay the entire payroll process. As well as being time consuming, this can also be incredibly frustrating so it’s essential that you have an eagle-eye when it comes to this.
Once these submissions have been taken care of, you will be able to continue with the rest of the payroll year end process.
Step 4: Process your year-end and make your final submission
Now that the previous steps have been completed, you can process your year-end and make your final submission for the 2022/23 tax year.
Once this is successful, you can then produce your P60’s.
Step 5: Produce your P60s
P60s are a very important part of completing your payroll. Any employee who works for your company at the end of the tax year will need to receive and P60 that outlines their pay and any deductions they’ve received.
It is also important to remember that you will need to include anyone who works for you as an employee in line with the IR35 legislation. Though this is an additional workload, it is essential that this legislations is adhered to.
To make this task easier, payroll software can be beneficial. Our Pegasus Opera payroll solution can easily generate P60s that can be shared with employees digitally, and helps to ensure all employees receive this document on time.
Step 6: Start the new payroll year
Now that all of this is complete, you can relax.
With all of your documents submitted, you can begin the new payroll year. However, it’s important that you refer to HMRC’s P9X document to check if any amendments have been made to the tax codes for the upcoming year.
If there has, there is no need to panic. Most payroll software’s are HMRC compliant and should take any changes into account so you can keep your allowances up to date and your system ready for the new tax year.
How can you get payroll right?
By now, you have probably realised why payroll year end can be a dreaded time for many HR departments. However, you can avoid this substantial task with payroll software.
With the right kind of payroll software, it can be significantly easier to manage any complex payroll responsibilities.
At DCS, Pegasus Opera 3 comes as part of our accountancy software range, and can make the process of payroll much smoother. Not only is it ideal for automating many tedious payroll processes but the Pegasus Opera business solution provides great saleability as your company grows. From 10 employees right through to over 25,000 employees, Pegasus Opera can grow alongside your company.
Though Opera 3 Payroll & HR is available as a stand-alone system, it can also be integrated with the complete Opera 3 solution. Financial and supply chain management, CRM, business intelligence and document management, are all included in this holistic business solution to deliver unbeatable inter-departmental integration.
If you’d like to find out more information about the Opera 3 payroll solution, you can contact our friendly team on 01937 541 411, or fill in one of our contact forms here.