Some Good Reasons to Outsource Your Payroll

Here at JLP Payroll we offer an outsourced payroll service to our clients. Most of our clients are small businesses who don’t have a dedicated in-house finance or HR department that runs the payroll for them. That means the business owner was probably trying to do it him/herself on top of trying to run the business, before they outsourced it to us.

This article looks at just some of what HMRC requires if you are paying employees through PAYE. There is a lot of it and when you read it, it might just be that it helps you decide to outsource your payroll while you get on with running your company.

What HMRC asks for – SUMMARY

The HMRC website has this to say:

“If you’re paying employees through PAYE, find out what to put in your Full Payment Submission (FPS) and Employer Payment Summary (EPS).

As an employer running payroll, you should report your employee’s pay, any payrolled benefits, and deductions in a FPS on or before their payday (unless an exception applies).

You should also send an EPS by the 19th of the following tax month for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to apply any reduction (for example, statutory pay) on what you’ll owe from your FPS.

If you’ve not paid any employees in a tax month, send an EPS instead of an FPS.”

In reality, the HMRC website is very useful, but if you don’t know your way around it, don’t know the jargon, or you are new to payroll it can all seem a bit daunting and be very time consuming. And then you realise there is more!!

What HMRC asks for – DETAIL!!

The website then goes on to detail what you need to do for the following:

• Employer information. Report the following in every FPS and EPS………..
• Employee information. Report the following information in a FPS every time you pay an employee.
• Pay and deductions. Report information about each employee’s pay and deductions in a FPS.
• Employee pay information. Report details of each payment you make an employee in a FPS.
• Late reporting reason. If you send a FPS after your employee’s payday, let HMRC know why in the ‘Late reporting reason’ field.
• National Insurance. Include information about National Insurance in your FPS when you pay an employee £112 or more a week. For employees paid less, you only need to include this information if you are not required to report their earnings for tax (for example, you’re an overseas employer that doesn’t need to pay tax in the UK).
• EPS: what to report. Send an EPS by the 19th to claim any reduction on what you’ll owe HMRC (for example, statutory pay) from your FPS sent the previous tax month. If you’ve not paid any employees in a tax month, send an EPS instead of an FPS. Include your employer information as well as the information below.
• New employees. When an employee starts working for you, register them with HMRC by including this information in your FPS the first time you pay them.
• When an employee leaves. Report this information when an employee leaves or if you close your PAYE scheme.
• Workplace pensions. Report this information when you’re paying a workplace pension or annuity.
• End-of-year or final reports. You’ll need to complete certain annual reports and tasks to prepare for the next tax year, which starts on 6 April. Report this information in your final FPS or EPS of the tax year. You should also fill in the relevant fields if it’s your last report because you’re closing your PAYE scheme.

There’s a lot in there, and it’s all very helpful. But the above doesn’t show the detailed tables that follow! More of your time is required. Much more.

So, if you would rather spend time running and growing your business rather than running your payroll, contact us or call us on 0121 422 0550 for a chat about outsourcing your payroll.