Pay and Tax
Pay and Tax
Pay and Tax – This is how HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collects Income Tax and National Insurance from employment.
Pay and Tax – You will need to deduct tax and National Insurance from most employees’ wages.
Reporting payment and deductions
Pay and Tax – If you run your own payroll, you will need to report all payments (this includes things like tips, bonuses and sick pay as well as salary) and deductions for your employees to HMRC.
You should do this on or before payday. You will need payroll software in order to report to HMRC.
Pay and Tax – Your payroll software will calculate how much tax and National Insurance you need to pay.
Free payroll software is available for companies with ten employees or fewer. For larger businesses, there is a range of paid-for software.
All of these have been tested and recognised by HMRC.
Pay and Tax – You also need to keep HMRC informed if a new employee joins your staff, or if an employee’s circumstances change – for example, if they reach State Pension age or become a director.
Using a payroll provider
Pay and Tax – Instead of running your own payroll using payroll software, you can pay a payroll provider such as a bureau or account to run your payroll for you.
However, you are still responsible for keeping records of your employees’ details, although some payroll providers do offer this support.
You are legally responsible for completing your business’s PAYE tasks, even if you pay somebody else to do them.
Keeping records
Pay and Tax – The records you keep must be retained for three years from the end of the tax year they relate to. You may be charged a penalty of £3,000 if you do not do so.
If you have lost records that can’t be replaced, you should tell HMRC as soon as possible.
Pay and Tax – You can include figures in your final payroll report of the tax year that is estimated (that you wish HMRC to accept as final) or provisional (that you’ll update with later figures).
You must make HMRC aware of which system you are using, however.