Frequently Asked Questions

We provide an online system that calculates the deductions from each wage payment, giving you a printable payslip at the click of a button.

Our system also calculates the tax, NIC and student loan payments that should be made to HM Revenue and Customs, and lets you send Real Time Information to HMRC.

Depending on the number of employees, it can take as little as 5 minutes to calculate your first payroll. This can be done at any time of the day or night because the service is 100% automated.

You can start the free trial immediately with no obligation. You do not need to provide credit card or other billing details and are under no obligation to continue at the end of the trial. We do ask that you supply a valid email address and you will need the tax and payment details for your employees.

The trial version is fully functional apart from year end submission. To continue using the system after your free month, please choose the 'My Account' option and make a payment.

Payroll software needs to be updated at least once a year. With our online payroll system you never have to worry about these updates, or whether your computer is new enough to support the upgrades. You can use the site from different computers at different locations and there are no installation or set up costs. Our system is continuously backed up to a secondary site at a separate UK location, meaning you never have to worry about safety of your data.

These are some of the most common mistakes:

• Not entering all the employee personal details needed for RTI.
• Putting an annual salary in the box for monthly/weekly salary.
• Guessing the circumstances of new starters instead of using the starter checklist form.
• Combining all past pay runs and entering them as one, or as pay in previous employments.

PAYE is short for Pay-As-You-Earn. It is how employees in the UK pay their income tax.

• Income tax is an annual tax based on the person's income for a full tax year.
• To make income tax easier to collect, the PAYE system was introduced in 1944.
• PAYE is like paying your annual tax bill in instalments throughout the year.

Under the PAYE system, employers must use HMRC's rules to deduct an amount from each pay packet.

HMRC's rules for calculating PAYE are an approximation to the annual income tax figure but they don't match it exactly.

The Payroll Site follows HMRC's rules exactly.

In simple cases, the PAYE for the tax year is very close to the annual income tax figure and the difference is written off.

Our privacy policy explains how we collect, process and retain personal information. You can read our Privacy Policy here.

Yes. As required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we implement technical and organisational measures to ensure an appropriate level of security. You can read a summary of these measures on the Our Network page (you may need to log out first). The information we collect is explained in our Privacy Policy.

All customer information is kept securely on computer systems located within UK datacentres.

If you have up to 5 employees, the cost is £6.50 per month.

For larger employers, there is an additional charge of £1 per extra employee per month.

All prices are excluding VAT.

Our service is fully automated, reducing the need for costly human intervention.

If you have any questions about using the system, you can call or email our friendly support team for help.

Our monthly fee is the same whether the employees are paid weekly, fortnightly, four weekly or monthly.

We accept credit cards, debit cards and bank transfers.

Please make your payment using the My Account section of our website. Unfortunately we cannot accept payment over the phone.

Although we apply our basic fee in advance, we can't always predict the number of employees for the month ahead, so we don't charge for the extra employees until the end of the month.

For example, if you had 7 employees, you would pay the normal £6.50 monthly fee by the start of the billing month and then, at the end of the month, you would see a charge of £2 for the two extra employees.

An employee who has left is not counted once their leaving date has passed.

No.

The fees for additional employees are based on the number of staff that were employed during a one month period. If you had 10 employees during the first period but only 9 during the second period, the fees would reduce accordingly.

If one employee leaves and another joins the following day, typically both would be counted as having been employed during that period.

All of the billing and invoicing is done directly by the system. When you log in, you can read and print your invoice by going to the 'My Account' section.

No.

VAT will be added at the standard rate. If you are a VAT registered business, you should be able to reclaim this in the normal way.

The service is accessed via a web browser, so you do not need to install any special software on your computer.

We recommend running any of the following browsers:

• Mozilla Firefox 115.x (Extended Support Release version).
• Safari 17.
• Safari on an iPad with iPadOS 17.
• Safari on an iPhone with iOS 17.

We recommend switching autofill features off, especially AutoFill Passwords on the iPad, which causes long delays on some pages.

Yes - as long as that computer is connected to the Internet and running one of the supported browsers.

Some features of modern browsers can cause problems by automatically filling in wrong information. If you use Safari, you can disable autofill by following the steps below.

1. Click 'Safari' in the program menu (top left) and select 'Preferences'.
2. Click the 'AutoFill' tab.
3. Untick all the boxes.
4. Click the 'Passwords' tab.
5. Untick 'AutoFill user names and passwords'.

Safari's built in PDF viewer may not print the P45 or P60 correctly.

To solve this:

1. Click the 'File' menu and choose 'Print'.
2. In the 'Scale' box, type 95.
3. Click the 'Print' button.

We only officially support a browser once we have checked every feature of every page in that version of that browser. This is to ensure that our customers do not encounter unexpected problems when they use the site.

Mozilla release a version of Firefox every six weeks and they stop supporting most versions six weeks later. This short lifetime makes it impractical to apply our high standards of testing.

Every seventh version of Firefox is designated an Extended Support Release (ESR) and is supported by Mozilla for about 12 months. We support these versions of Firefox.

Although we don't officially support the non-ESR versions of Firefox, we know of no reason why they shouldn't work and are happy for you to use them. If you do come across a browser-specific problem on our site, we will recommend you switch to using a supported browser.

Most modern web browsers have built-in features for viewing and printing PDF files, but they don't always work correctly.

If you are having trouble with the PDF features in your web browser, you could try using Adobe Reader instead.

You can download Adobe Reader for free, from Adobe's website.

Our software was accredited by HM Revenue and Customs as meeting the HMRC Payroll Standard and the relevant sections of the HMRC Quality Standard. It incorporates an online filing capability by Internet.

HMRC's accreditation was replaced by a new scheme called PAYE recognition and the old accreditation scheme was withdrawn on 6th April 2012. Our software is recognised under the new PAYE recognition scheme.

HMRC Recognised	Yes
NI for Company Directors	Yes
Employment Allowance	Yes
Quarterly or Monthly Tax Payment Periods	Yes
Statutory Sick Pay	Yes
Statutory Maternity / Paternity / Adoption Pay	Yes
Shared Parental Pay	Yes
Student Loan Deductions	Yes
Postgraduate Loan Deductions	Yes
Monthly / Weekly / Fortnightly / Four Weekly Pay	Yes
Attachment of Earnings Orders	Yes
CSA Deductions	Yes
Printable P60	Yes
Export Journal Entries	Yes
Real Time Information (RTI)	Yes
Foreign Tax Credit Relief / EP Appendix 5	Yes
Print or Email Payslips	Yes
Pensions	Yes
Pension Auto Enrolment Assessments	Yes
PAPDIS Pension Files	Yes
Export Pension Data	Yes
NEST Web Services	Yes
Apprenticeship Levy	Yes

Although the system is not able to calculate CIS payments or deductions, you can enter the figures on our HMRC Tax Payments page by clicking on 'Add a special item'. Choose either 'CIS deduction suffered' or 'CIS deduction from subcontractors', type in the amount and then click 'Add'. The system will take this into account when calculating your tax payments.

These schemes work by reducing the employee's salary and giving vouchers or another benefit instead. Since the tax and NI is worked out on the reduced salary, there is less tax and NI to pay.

You can simply reduce the salary figure, or you can enter it as follows.

1. On the right side of the Gross Pay Details screen, under 'Extra Options', click 'Add'.
2. Change the special pay type to 'Pay reduction'.
3. Enter an amount and a description.

If you want the pay reduction to appear automatically on each new pay run, you can enter it on the employee's Payslip Items tab.

Absolutely nothing. We will reconfigure the system with the new rates and limits.

We will inform you if there are any changes that require your attention.

To see an example of our payslips, why not sign up for a free trial? You can have one printed in minutes.

There are two HMRC approved methods of calculating PAYE income tax: The manual method and the computerised method. The amount of tax due can differ by up to 2p between the two methods. We use the computerised method.

There are two HMRC approved methods of calculating National Insurance Contributions: The table method and the exact percentage method. We use the exact percentage method.

The majority of computerised payroll systems use the same methods as us and therefore should produce identical figures for tax and National Insurance Contributions.

Use our 'HMRC Payments' page to see how much you need to pay and then make the payment directly to HMRC. You can find details in your HMRC payslip booklet or on their website www.gov.uk/pay-paye-tax

The employment allowance allows eligible employers to reduce their National Insurance costs.

You can check your eligibility on gov.uk.

If you are eligible:

1. Set the employment allowance option on the 'Employer' page.
2. Click 'HMRC Payments / EPS'.
3. Click on the 'EPS Submission' tab.
4. Follow the instructions on screen to send an 'Amounts to Reclaim' EPS to HMRC.
5. The Payroll Site automatically offsets the allowance against your payments to HMRC, so it appears on the HMRC Payments page but does not affect the Pay Employees section or the Export to Accounting feature.

From April 2020, changes to the eligibility rules mean that a new claim must be made for the new tax year. You also need to say which sectors apply, for the purposes of de minimis state aid.

Plan 2 refers to a student loan taken out from September 2012 onwards, in England or Wales. Older loans (from England or Wales) and loans taken out in Northern Ireland, are called plan 1 loans. Loans taken out in Scotland are called plan 4 loans.

There is a newer type of student loan, called plan 5, which includes most loans taken out in England from August 2023 onwards. Repayment of these loans is not due to start until April 2026 so they do not yet cause payroll deductions.

The interest rate, which is usually higher for plan 2, doesn't affect payroll. For payroll purposes, the differences are that an employee with a plan 2 or plan 4 loan can earn more before their loan repayments start, and the repayments are lower. Our system works out the repayments for you, provided you choose the correct plan.

Don't let the name fool you - the apprenticeship levy isn't a tax on apprenticeships. It can apply even if you don't have apprentices.

The apprenticeship levy applies to employers with annual pay bills of over £3 million. For connected employers, the total pay bill is used. Each of these employers has a levy allowance, as explained in HMRC's guidance.

If you are liable for the levy, enter your levy allowance on the 'Employer' page and the levy will automatically be added to the total on the 'HMRC Payments' page, for you to pay. You should also send the levy figures to HMRC every month by using the 'EPS Submission' tab and choosing the option for 'Apprenticeship Levy'.

Our system works out how much you should pay each employee, but it doesn't actually make the payments. You need to do this yourself, for example, using online banking.

If you are operating Statutory Sick Pay and your employee is sick, choose the employee from the options menu and then click on the Statutory Pay tab. You can enter the sick period using the table at the bottom of the page. If the sickness is ongoing, leave the Last Sick Day blank.

Once the sick period has been added, you can pay your employees using the Pay Employees option. The system will automatically prompt you for any extra information needed to work out sick pay.

For more information, see our Statutory Sick Pay Guide.

If you have just started entering sick periods via The Payroll Site, there may be some earlier period of sickness that the system doesn't know about - i.e. it does not appear on the Statutory Pay page.

Sick periods are linked if they are separated by 8 weeks or less. Linking sick periods affects the calculation of Statutory Sick Pay. The first time you enter a sick period for an employee, you should consider whether it is linked to an earlier sick period. If it is, you should enter the earlier period as well. Then, when you are paying your employees, the system will prompt you for some extra information needed to correctly calculate SSP.

Click for our Statutory Sick Pay Guide.

An employee's qualifying days are normally defined to be the days of the week that he or she usually works for you. Bank Holidays do not affect the pattern of qualifying days.

It is possible to choose an alternative set of qualifying days, by agreement with your workforce.

Click for our Statutory Sick Pay Guide.

Shared Parental Pay is a flexible way for parents to share their entitlement to paid leave. If your employee requests Shared Parental Pay, you should check their eligibility before setting it up on The Payroll Site. You can find out more about Shared Parental Pay here.

Shared Parental Pay is associated with a period of Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay (SMP/SPP/SAP). You should set up the SMP, SPP or SAP on the employee's Statutory Pay tab by clicking the 'Use Wizard' button and following the instructions. Once complete, click on the Week Pattern to set the pattern of Shared Parental Pay.

Yes - You can use our ePayslip feature. It will email payslips to your employees as password-protected PDF attachments. Although our system sends the emails on your behalf, they will appear to come from your email address, so your employees know who sent them.

To send an ePayslip, you must first set an email address and password on the employee's Personal Details tab:

• Click on the employee's name in the options list
• Use the Edit Details/Save Changes buttons to set the email address and password

Next, use the Pay Employees option to calculate a payrun and confirm it.

Finally, click onto the Payslip Options tab and choose the option to email the payslip.

If you have email addresses for more than one employee, you can send them all ePayslips at the same time using the 'Send Payslips as Bulk Emails' button.

To process a leaver, follow these steps:

1. Enter a leaving date and final pay date on the employee's Tax Details tab.
2. If they are in a pension scheme, you may be prompted to copy the leaving details to the pension membership record.
3. Use Pay Employees to calculate their final wages.*
4. Once the final pay run is confirmed and sent to HMRC, go back to the employee's 'Tax Details' tab to produce a P45.

*If you have already paid the final wages, skip step 3. The next time you pay your remaining employees, the system will automatically include information about the leaver in your RTI submission.

If you have entered the employee's leaving date, sent the RTI submission and issued a P45 and then discovered you need to make an extra payment to the employee:

1. On the employee's Tax Details page, set the Final Pay Date to be the Pay Date of the extra payment.
2. If the tax code starts with an S, change it to S0T, otherwise change it to 0T.
3. Set 'Tax Code is Week1/Month1?' to Yes.
4. Use the Pay Employees option to enter the pay run for the employee (if you are not paying the other employees, start the pay run and then untick them).
5. Once you have confirmed the pay run, send the RTI submission and give the payslip to the employee.

Note: If the final payment is to be made in the next tax year (6th April onwards), remember to set the Final Pay Date before you click 'Finish Tax Year'.

If an ex-employee rejoins the company then you should treat them as a brand new employee. It does not matter if the gap is 2 weeks or 2 years simply enter their details as you would with any new starter. If they rejoined within the same tax year, they should appear twice on the list of employees.

Note: When they rejoin you must use a different 'Employee Reference Number' otherwise HMRC may calculate your payments using incorrect information.

If you employ someone who works on an irregular basis you should mark them as an occasional worker on their Tax Details tab. Every time you do a pay run for your other staff who have the same pay frequency, you should include the occasional worker with a salary of zero for that period.

This not only keeps HMRC up to date but it means we won't charge you for them as an extra employee.

You can sign up for more than one account by using a different email address. If you are an accountant or payroll bureau please contact us about an agent account. It could make administration easier if you manage the payroll of more than one employer.

Choose the employee from the options list and then click on the Working Sheet tab. This will show you all of the payments you have made to that employee in the current tax year. Find the payment you are interested in and click on the rightmost figure on that line (you may need to use the scroll bar). The payslip should then appear, with an option to print it.

You can print a payslip from a different tax year by first selecting the tax year and then following the same steps as above.

We have recently moved these settings and you can now access them using the 'Payslip Items' tab. Court orders appear at the bottom of that page, under the heading 'Attachment Orders'.

The system can calculate hourly pay and display details on the payslip. To use this feature, start a pay run and then follow these steps:

1. On the right side of the Gross Pay Details screen, under 'Extra Options', click 'Add'.
2. Change the special pay type to 'Hourly or unit rate'.
3. Enter the number of hours in the Qty box.
4. Enter the hourly rate in the Rate box.
5. If you use more than one rate, repeat the steps above.

Alternatively, you can enter a note in the Pay Advice box and it will appear at the bottom of the payslip.

If you want the hourly rate to appear automatically on each new pay run, you can enter it on the employee's Payslip Items tab.

There is an overtime box on the gross pay details page, if you just want to show a simple figure.

In other cases, click the 'Add' option on the right of the Gross Pay Details page and choose a special pay type.

• The 'Hourly or unit pay' option is suitable for overtime.
• For holiday which is included in the normal pay cycle, either use 'Extra Pay' or 'Hourly or unit pay'.
• If a weekly-paid employee gets their holiday pay before they take their leave, use the 'Holiday pay in advance' option. This will work out the tax and NI using HMRC's special rules for this situation.

If you want the overtime rate to appear automatically on each new pay run, you can enter it on the employee's Payslip Items tab.

Yes. On the Gross Pay Details page, click the Add option on the right and then choose 'Payment free of tax/NI'. This will add an extra amount to the payslip without affecting the tax, NI or other deductions.

Yes you can but an extra fee may apply. See our Pricing page for details.

You can print payslips onto plain A4 paper using an ordinary printer, such as an inkjet or laser printer.

You can also:

• Use the PDF format to send the payslips by email.
• Print onto A5 paper using the A5 format PDF payslip.
• Print two per sheet, using the A5 format PDF and choosing the 'Multiple pages per sheet' option in Adobe.
• Print onto security mailer stationery, suitable for posting.

The format of PDF payslips can be selected on the Preferences page of our site.

A security mailer is an A4 page with a clear window and an adhesive strip around the edge. After printing the payslip, the mailer is folded in half to create a secure envelope with the address showing through the window.

For security mailer stationery that has been tested with our site, you can order blank payslips EUF-SS from Evrite. To print onto security mailers, set the payslip format within Preferences and then go to the PDF version of the payslip you want to print. Some PDF viewers automatically resize documents for printing. To ensure the address aligns with the window in the mailer, please check the scale is 100%.

Note: The EUF-SS mailer is designed to be used with a laser printer and may not seal correctly if used with an inkjet printer.

HMRC do not require you to send them this form, they only ask you to keep a form P11 or an equivalent, for your records. The Working Sheet page of our system is an equivalent, so you do not need to fill out a separate form P11.

Form P11 should not be confused with form P11D, which is used for a totally different purpose.

If you click onto an employee and then click the Tax Details tab, you will see a box for Department. Once you have set the department for your employees, click on Reports and then click 'Total pay and deductions by department'.

National Insurance number, surname, full forenames, date of birth and gender are sent to HMRC and used by them to match against the employee's NI contribution record. If these fields do not match the information held by HMRC, your employee may lose out on their entitlement to benefits, pensions and universal credits. For this reason, HMRC recommends you check these details against official documents, such as passports and NI cards.

To save you from retyping figures into your accounting system, you can transfer your pay run data to QuickBooks Online, KashFlow, QuickFile, FreeAgent or various Sage products. Each of these systems is covered by a separate question in our FAQ list.

You can also export your figures to a CSV file which is compatible with Excel and some accounting systems. To access this feature, calculate and confirm your pay run as normal and then click the 'Export to Accounting' button.

KashFlow is an online accounting system provided by KashFlow Software Ltd. If you have an account with KashFlow, you can send your payroll figures directly to their system, to save you from retyping them.

To set up your KashFlow account:

1. Switch on API access. Depending on when you joined KashFlow, the API settings may be within Apps or Settings.
2. If you want to limit access, set KashFlow to only allow API requests from our IP addresses, which are currently 46.245.248.18 and 185.17.175.81.
3. Switch on journals using the option at the bottom of the Chart of Accounts within your KashFlow settings.

To set up your account on The Payroll Site:

1. Click the 'Accounting' option.
2. Click 'Edit Details' and then select 'KashFlow API'.
3. Fill in the username, password and nominal codes that you use for KashFlow.
4. Click 'Save Changes'.

To transfer your figures:

1. Use The Payroll Site to calculate your pay run as normal and click 'Confirm Payments'.
2. Click the 'Export to Accounting' button.
3. Click 'Create Accounting Transaction'.
4. Click 'Send to KashFlow', which will create a journal entry in your KashFlow account.

Please note that Xero no longer accepts new connections from our customers. If you use a connection already, you can continue to use it.

Xero is an online accounting system provided by Xero Ltd, based in New Zealand.

The easiest way to send your figures to Xero is using the Xero Bill API, which you can set up as follows.

1. Click the 'Accounting' option.
2. Click 'Edit Details' and select the option for 'Xero Bill API'.
3. Set the Xero Organisation Name.
4. Click 'Set to Defaults' or fill in the fields manually.
5. Optional: If you put the code for your bank into the 'Bank Code for Net Pay' box, it will split the invoice into payments in Xero, making your reconciliation easier.
6. Click 'Connect' and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be redirected to the Xero site, where you should click the 'Authorise' button.

To transfer your figures:

1. Use The Payroll Site to calculate your pay run as normal and click 'Confirm Payments'.
2. Click the 'Export to Accounting' button.
3. Click 'Create Accounting Transaction'.
4. Click 'Send to Xero', which will create a bill in your Xero account.

Xero shows a padlock symbol next to some accounts. These are system accounts - do not use them. You can also transfer figures to Xero using the Journal API.

Sage Business Cloud is an online accounting system created by Sage. It was previously called Sage One. If you have a Sage Business Cloud account you can transfer your payroll figures directly, saving you from retyping them.

To set up your account on The Payroll Site:

1. Click the 'Accounting' option.
2. Click 'Edit Details' and select the option for 'Sage Business Cloud'.
3. Click 'Set to Defaults' or fill in the nominal codes manually.
4. Click 'Connect' and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be redirected to the Sage website, where you should click the 'Allow' button.

To transfer your figures:

1. Use The Payroll Site to calculate your pay run as normal and click 'Confirm Payments'.
2. Click the 'Export to Accounting' button.
3. Click 'Create Accounting Transaction'.
4. Click 'Send to Sage', which will create a journal entry in your Sage account.

The Sage 50, 50c and 50cloud accounts products include a CSV import feature, which can be used to transfer your payroll figures.

To set up your account on The Payroll Site:

1. Click the 'Accounting' option.
2. Click 'Edit Details' and select the option for 'Sage CSV'.
3. Click 'Set to Defaults' or fill in the nominal codes manually.

To transfer your figures:

1. Use The Payroll Site to calculate your pay run as normal and click 'Confirm Payments'.
2. Click the 'Export to Accounting' button.
3. Click 'Create Accounting Transaction'.
4. Click the 'Download CSV' button and save the file onto your computer.
5. Open Sage (Note: These are instructions for Sage version 23 and other versions may vary).
6. From the File menu in Sage, select 'Import'.
7. Click 'Next'.
8. Choose 'Audit Trail Transactions' and click 'Next'.
9. Click 'Comma-separated (*.csv)' and ensure 'First row contains headings' is ticked.
10. Click 'Browse', find the CSV file you downloaded earlier and click 'Open'.
11. Click 'Next' and then 'Next' again, then 'Import'.

QuickBooks Online is an online accounting system from Intuit. If you have a QuickBooks Online account, you can transfer your payroll figures directly, to save you from retyping them.

If you access QuickBooks Online via a login with Barclays, MyBusinessWorks or Smarta, we can not connect to these systems so you will need to transfer your figures manually.

To set up your account on The Payroll Site:

1. Click the 'Accounting' option.
2. Click 'Edit Details' and select the option for 'QuickBooks Online'.
3. Click 'Set to Defaults' or fill in the account names manually.
4. Click 'Connect' and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be redirected to the QuickBooks Online website to complete the authorisation.

To transfer your figures:

1. Use The Payroll Site to calculate your pay run as normal and click 'Confirm Payments'.
2. Click the 'Export to Accounting' button.
3. Click 'Create Accounting Transaction'.
4. Click 'Send to QuickBooks Online', which will create a journal entry in your QuickBooks account.

Intuit and QuickBooks are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc. Used with permission.

QuickFile is an online accounting system provided by QuickFile Ltd. If you have an account with QuickFile, you can send your payroll figures directly to their system, to save retyping them.

Log in to your QuickFile account and connect to us via the Marketplace:

1. From the 'Help' menu, choose 'Additional services'.
2. Click onto 'QuickFile Marketplace'.
3. On the line that says 'The Payroll Site', click 'Connect' to get your token, which is a short code.
4. This token and the account number shown in the top right corner will be needed later, as explained below.

To set up your account on The Payroll Site:

1. Click the 'Accounting' option.
2. Click 'Edit Details' and select the option for 'QuickFile'.
3. Fill in the account number and token from the QuickFile Marketplace.
4. Click 'Set to Defaults' or fill in the nominal codes manually.

To transfer your figures:

1. Use The Payroll Site to calculate your pay run as normal and click 'Confirm Payments'.
2. Click the 'Export to Accounting' button.
3. Click 'Create Accounting Transaction'.
4. Click 'Send to QuickFile', which will create a journal entry in your QuickFile account.

FreeAgent is an online accounting system created by the Scottish company FreeAgent Central Ltd. If you have a FreeAgent account you can transfer your payroll figures directly, to save you from retyping them.

To set up your account on The Payroll Site:

1. Click the 'Accounting' option.
2. Click 'Edit Details' and select the option for 'FreeAgent API'.
3. Click 'Set to Defaults' or fill in the nominal codes manually.
4. Click 'Connect' and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be redirected to the FreeAgent site, where you should click the 'Approve' button.

To transfer your figures:

1. Use The Payroll Site to calculate your pay run as normal and click 'Confirm Payments'.
2. Click the 'Export to Accounting' button.
3. Click 'Create Accounting Transaction'.
4. Click 'Send to FreeAgent', which will create a journal entry in your FreeAgent account.

When you enter figures into an accounting system, they are allocated to different 'accounts' so they can be analysed. Accounts which don't relate to specific customers or suppliers are usually called nominal accounts.

Each nominal account has a unique number, called a nominal code. Different accounting systems use different terminology:

• KashFlow uses the word 'Type' to describe nominal accounts, and each type has its own code.
• In QuickBooks Online, the unique number is disabled by default, so you will not see them unless you change the settings.

If you use our 'Export to Accounting' feature, you will need to decide which nominal account to use for each figure. You can set these on the Accounts System Configuration page by entering the nominal codes, or the account names if you use QuickBooks Online. The nominal account for gross pay can be overridden on the Tax Details page for each employee.

Yes, simply cut and paste the relevant pages into an Excel worksheet.

We do not provide bookkeeping, tax advice or the preparation of VAT returns, company accounts or self assessment tax returns. If you require any of these services then you will need to use a suitably experienced person, such as an accountant.

If you offer your employees a workplace pension scheme, you can add details using the 'Pension Schemes' tab within the Workplace Pensions option. Once the pension scheme has been added, you can set up an employee's membership of the scheme from their 'Pensions etc' tab.

You don't have to auto enrol directors, but in some cases you have a choice.

Some directors are not workers for the purposes of auto enrolment.

• If a director is the only person in the company, they are not a worker
• If a director doesn't have an employment contract, they are not a worker
• If they don't ordinarily work in the UK, they are not a UK worker

In the above cases, change the UK worker setting to 'No' on their 'Pensions etc' tab.

If you have directors who are UK workers, they are assessed in the same way as normal employees but you don't have to actually enrol them into a pension if you (or they) don't want to.

For more information, see the website of The Pensions Regulator.

It is up to each employer to choose a pension provider. We can't help you choose but you can get help from The Pensions Regulator or an independent financial adviser.

The Pensions Regulator's website has a list of providers. It says you should pick a scheme that either has master trust assurance or is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

You must tell your pension company about your staff and their pension contributions. Many pension providers let you do this online but our system gives you easier ways to transfer your data to the following:

• NEST
• The People's Pension
• NOW: Pensions
• Smart Pension
• Pensions that accept PAPDIS CSV files.

These are the actions the employer must take when a worker is assessed and falls into the category Entitled Worker.

If you are not using postponement, the action required is to ensure the worker receives information about their right to 'join' a pension. You can give them a letter about their rights as an Entitled Worker, or you can use a combined letter that also explains the rights of Non-Eligible Jobholders.

You can download a template for the combined letter from The Pensions Regulator.

Once you have given the letter to the employee, the action has been completed and you do not need to repeat it each time they are found to be in this category. You will have to act if the worker notifies you that they wish to join a pension.

You can read more about Workplace Pensions / Auto Enrolment in our Automatic Enrolment guide.

These are the actions the employer must take when a worker is assessed and falls into the category Non-Eligible Jobholder.

If you are not using postponement, the action required is to ensure the worker receives information about their right to 'opt in' to a pension.

You can give them a letter about their rights as a Non-Eligible Jobholder, or you can use a combined letter that also explains the rights of Entitled Workers.

You can download a template for the combined letter from The Pensions Regulator.

Once you have given the letter to the employee, the action has been completed and you do not need to repeat it each time they are found to be in this category. You will have to act if the worker notifies you that they wish to opt-in to a pension.

You can read more about Workplace Pensions / Auto Enrolment in our Automatic Enrolment guide.

These are the actions the employer must take when a worker is assessed and falls into the category Eligible Jobholder.

The Pensions Regulator can give you guidance about when you can postpone enrolment, and situations when you don't need to enrol certain employees. For example, as of 6th April 2016, you don't have to automatically enrol directors.

If exceptions and postponement do not apply, the actions required are to

• enrol them into a qualifying pension
• start making regular contributions to their pension
• give information to the employee, explaining that you are enrolling them into a pension and that they can opt out

You can download a template letter and accompanying insert from The Pensions Regulator.

Once you have carried out these actions, you will need to continue making contributions to the pension unless the worker chooses to opt out.

You can read more about Workplace Pensions / Auto Enrolment in our Automatic Enrolment Guide and our Opt-Out Guide.

Every 3 years, you must put certain staff back into a pension scheme.

The system tells you which employees to check. You should check that they are still in a qualifying pension and contributing at least the required minimum amount. If they have left the pension scheme, you must put them back in. If they have reduced the contributions below the minimum, you must increase them again.

There are some exceptions to these rules. For example, you don't have to re-enrol directors or anyone who left the pension in the previous 12 months. Full details can be found on the regulator's website.

You must also complete a re-declaration of compliance, even if there was nobody to re-enrol.

The phrase 'qualifying earnings' has a specific meaning for pensions. For the tax years 2021/22 to 2024/25:

• 'Qualifying earnings' is a band of earnings, which means that it is always less than gross pay.
• The band starts at £520/m (or £120/wk) so earnings below this aren't counted.
• A pound above the threshold counts as a pound of qualifying earnings.
• The band ends at £4,189/m (or £967/wk).
• Any pay that doesn't count for National Insurance purposes, doesn't count as qualifying earnings either.

The minimum amounts you must contribute to an auto enrolment pension are based on qualifying earnings, not gross pay.

When you tell your pension company about contribution levels, you must say whether they are a percentage of qualifying earnings, gross pay, or something else. You should set the contributions on The Payroll Site using the same choice.

You are free to choose a more generous pension but contributions can't be below a minimum percentage of Qualifying Earnings (QE). For the 2023/24 and 2024/25 tax years, QE is a band of earnings starting at £520/m (or £120/wk) and ending at £4,189/m (or £967/wk).

If a worker is automatically enrolled

• Employer contributions must be at least 3% of QE.
• Employer plus employee contributions with tax relief must total at least 8% of QE.

Employers can meet these rules in different ways, such as paying the whole 8% themselves. If an employer chooses to pay the minimum and the pension scheme uses Relief at Source (the tax relief used by NEST) then the minimum contributions are

• Employer contribution 3% of QE.
• Employee contribution 4% of QE.
• Tax relief 1% of QE, claimed from HMRC by the pension company.

To use the above figures, choose the option 'Minimum Pension for Auto Enrolment (RAS)'.

Examples

1. Jack earns £110 for one week. His earnings don't reach the QE band, so no pension contributions are made.
2. Jill earns £620 for one month. £100 of this falls in the QE band, so the employer contributes £3, Jill £4 and HMRC £1.

The minimum case works differently if the pension uses the Net Pay Arrangement for tax relief. In this case, the deductions from pay include a higher pension contribution (5% of QE) and lower tax, assuming the employee earns enough to pay tax.

When an employee is first enrolled in a pension scheme, it may be in the middle of a tax period. For example, if a monthly-paid employee is auto enrolled on the 1st of the month, this is not the start of a tax month.

Your pension scheme rules should tell you whether to take a contribution for a partial period, and how to calculate it:

• If the scheme rules say there is no contribution, put the enrolment date in the 'Contributions Start Date' box on the 'Pensions etc' tab. The system will skip the partial tax period and start with the next period.
• If the scheme rules say a partial contribution should be made, leave the 'Contribution Start Date' blank and set the contribution amount manually.

If you are making the minimum allowed contributions for automatic enrolment, there should be no payment for the partial period.

If you are prompted to take any auto enrolment actions, you may see an 'Action Complete' button on the 'Auto Enrolment' page.

Clicking the 'Action Complete' button sets the answers to the three questions at the top of the 'Pensions etc' tab for the relevant employees.

The three questions are:

• Entitled Worker actions completed?
• Non-Eligible Jobholder actions completed?
• Eligible Jobholder actions completed?

If you clicked the 'Action Complete' button by mistake, you can set the answers manually on the 'Pensions etc' tab.

If you enrol a worker in a pension, your pension company needs to be told about this event. When you create a pension file, the enrolment information is included in the file. Once the file has been accepted by the pension company, you should click 'Mark as Done'.

The 'Mark as Done' button sets the 'Enrolment Complete' option on the 'Pensions etc' tab of each employee whose enrolment details are in the file. You can change the 'Enrolment Complete' setting manually if you prefer. Once it has been set, the enrolment details won't be included in future pension files (unless you change it back to 'No').

Similarly, if a worker leaves a pension, the exit event is included in the pension export file. In this case the 'Mark as Done' button sets the 'Exit Complete' option on the 'Pensions etc' tab.

When an employee takes maternity leave, her employer is required, by law, to continue paying full pension contributions. This applies to the contributions paid by the employer, but not to employee contributions. Contributions must be kept up while the employee is on paid maternity leave, or for 26 weeks if she isn't entitled to maternity pay.

You can adjust the pension contributions using the 'Pensions etc' tab for that employee. If there is already an employer contribution, you can simply change the pensionable earnings to be a fixed amount. If you are using one of the 'Auto Enrolment Min' options, change that contribution to 'None' and then add separate employer and employee contributions instead.

If the employee has been paid variable amounts, there may be more than one reasonable way to work out the normal pension contribution. The law does not specify which method you should use.

If your employee recently arrived in the UK, they should call 0345 600 0643 to register for an NI number.

While waiting for the number, you can enrol them as you would anyone else except:

1. On their 'Pensions etc' tab, click to 'View' the membership details and check they have an 'Employee Identifier'.
2. NEST won't claim tax relief unless you declare they are a foreign national awaiting an NI number.
3. Our system automatically includes this declaration in the enrolment file.

If they are not a foreign national awaiting an NI number:

1. Enrol them manually on NEST's website (don't create a file from our system).
2. NEST won't claim tax relief for them.
3. You may need to raise their pension contributions to compensate for the lack of tax relief.

If the employee has lost their NI number, HMRC can trace it for you.

These were for contracted-out pensions and are not needed after April 2016.

ECON stands for Employer's Contracting-Out Number. SCON stands for Scheme Contracted-out Number. They are optional 9 character reference numbers. You will have an ECON if the employer has an occupational pension scheme that is contracted out of the State Second Pension. Depending on the type of contracted-out pension, you may also have an SCON for each member of the scheme.

When the employer started the Contracted-out pension scheme they would have received a copy of the Contracted out certificate from HM Revenue and Customs. The ECON and SCON are shown on the top of this certificate.

Most employers do not have an ECON or an SCON and should leave these boxes blank.

The most common error message is 'NEST doesn't have a contribution schedule that exactly matches the header of this file. Log on to NEST's website and check the Payment Source, Payment Frequency and the end of the Earnings Period.'

If you see that message:

1. Click Show File and then View Data to see the Payment Source, Frequency and Earnings Period End Date.
2. Log into NEST, view their list of contribution schedules and compare it to what was on our system.
3. Check NEST's Payment source, Payment frequency and the end of the Earnings period against what was in the file.
   • If the Payment frequency on NEST is 'Monthly' or 'Weekly', you need to change it to 'Tax Monthly' or 'Tax Weekly' on NEST by adding a new group and moving the employees across.
   • If Payment source doesn't match exactly, change it within our Workplace Pensions option and then recreate the file.
   • If just the Earnings period is different, NEST may not have created the contributions schedule yet.

For more information see NEST's website or our NEST guide.

Real Time Information was the biggest change to PAYE since 1944 and requires employers to send a return to HMRC every time they pay their employees. Nearly all employers have had to send RTI returns since April 2013. Please see our RTI guide for more information.

This means 'Authentication Failure. The supplied user credentials failed validation for the requested service'.

The possible reasons for this error are:

• User ID is wrong.
• Password is wrong (Try logging in at the HMRC site).
• You registered your HMRC account for PAYE but haven't yet received the activation PIN.
• The PAYE Reference on the Employer Details page is wrong (Log in to the HMRC site to see what reference they hold).
• The User ID is for a different business.
• Most symbols on a UK keyboard are fine, but if your password contains £, € or ¬, these non-ASCII characters can cause problems.
• Government systems are too busy.

There are several types of Employer Payment Summary (EPS) for different situations. During the tax year, you should send an EPS if any of the following are true.

1. You are reclaiming parental pay, CIS deductions or the employment allowance.
2. You have not paid any employees for a full tax month (i.e. from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next).
3. You need to pay the apprenticeship levy.
4. You are no longer an employer.

To send any of these four types of EPS, click on 'HMRC Payments / EPS' and then on the 'EPS Submission' tab.

At the end of the tax year, you should send a final RTI submission by the 19th April. Please see our Year End Guide for more information.

If you can't find out the Payroll ID used by your previous payroll system, please follow these steps.

1. Add the employees onto The Payroll Site, giving them all new references.
2. Enter and confirm any previous pay runs in the tax year, if any, to match your old system (don't send as RTI submissions).
3. Enter and confirm your first new pay run and go to the RTI Submission tab.
4. Tick the checkbox that indicates you don't know the Payroll ID and then click the button to create the RTI submission.
5. When you send the RTI submission, it will automatically send the Payroll ID Changed indicator to HMRC.

If you have already sent HMRC any information about an employee, sending a starter notification would cause a duplicate employment on HMRC's systems. The only time you should do this is if the employee has more than one job with you (e.g. they have left and rejoined). If an ex-employee has rejoined, please see the separate answer in the 'Features and General' section of our FAQ list.

If you have created an RTI submission but not yet sent it, you should discard the RTI submission before adding or changing any starter details.

If an employee is working overseas, HMRC may allow you to operate FTCR using a procedure known as EP appendix 5. This involves reducing the amount of UK tax to take into account the amount of foreign tax deducted. For more information, please see HMRC's guidance.

Many payroll packages are not capable of correctly reporting the reduced UK tax in their RTI submissions, but The Payroll Site does have this ability. If you are operating appendix 5, you should use the system as normal except, after creating the pay run:

1. Use the 'Extra Options' column on the right to enter a Deduction from Net Pay for the amount of foreign tax.
2. Once you have completed that page, click 'Calculate Deductions' as you normally would.
3. Next click the 'Edit' button next to the employee's name, manually change the amount of UK tax and click 'Save Changes'.

Once you have confirmed the pay run and created the RTI submission, it will include the correct figures for Tax and for Deductions from Net Pay. As with all of our RTI submissions, you can view and print it before deciding whether to send it to HMRC.

The late reporting reasons are as follows.

• A Notional payment: Payment to Expat by third party or overseas employer.
• B Notional payment: Employment related security.
• C Notional payment: Other.
• D Payment subject to Class 1 NICs but P11D/P9D for tax.
• F No working sheet required; Impractical to report.
• G Reasonable excuse.
• H Correction to earlier submission.

For more information, please see HMRC's guidance.

The tax year ends on 5th April and any pay dates from 6th April onwards fall in the new tax year. Before paying your employees in the new year, you must click the Finish Tax Year option.

Under RTI, you still need to send a year end submission but it is quite simple, as you have already sent details of your employees. You should also give P60 certificates to your employees by 31st May. Please see our RTI guide for more information.

Click on the 'Log In' option and then click the 'Lost Password?' link. You will be asked for your email address, and instructions will be sent to you by email.

Tax, National Insurance and other figures are calculated using the employee details and previous pay runs held on the system, so it is worth checking these were entered correctly. If you call our support team, we can look into your account and help you get to the bottom of it, even during your free trial.

Log in and select the Preferences option. Scroll down to the 'Account Status' section and select from the drop down menu to either close the account, make it dormant or pause it. We would appreciate it if you would take the time to tell us why you are leaving, either by email or using the form provided.

On many pages you cannot enter details until you have clicked the 'Edit Details' button towards the bottom of the screen.

Your account may still be set to the old tax year. To move it to the new tax year, select the 'Finish Tax Year' option.

There are a number of ways this can happen, including forgetting to enter a start date for an employee, or missing out pay runs. If this is the first out of sync payment you should return to the 'Gross Pay Details' page and check the period start and end dates.

The period start/end dates affect Statutory Sick Pay, Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay, but they do not affect tax or national insurance. If there is no statutory pay, you can normally correct the problem by simply changing the Period End date on the Gross Pay Details page. If the employee does have statutory pay please contact us and we will advise on how to correct the situation.

When someone changes job, a P45 is created by the old employer and passed, by the employee, to the new employer. In some cases, the P45 includes figures for pay and tax, which are used by the new employer. The new employer should check the figures from the P45 and ensure the correct tax figure is used.

If you add the information from the P45 using the 'Add Employee' option, our system will automatically check the tax figure and correct it, if necessary.

There are three common reasons for this:

1. The NIC table letter is set to C, S, K or X.
2. The employee's pay for this period does not exceed the Primary Threshold.
3. If the employee is a company director, the NI is calculated over a longer period - typically a year. This often leads to zero NI in the first few periods of the year and then higher NI figures later in the year. For more information, see HMRC Help Book CA44.

The Primary Threshold for 2023/24 and 2024/25 is

• £242 per week.
• £1,048 per month.
• £12,570 per year.

When using the normal method for director's NI, the figures are calculated on an annual basis (or pro rata basis if appointed within the same tax year).

This often leads to zero NI in the first few periods of the year (while the total earnings are below the annual threshold) and then higher NI figures later in the year.

For more information, see HMRC Help Book CA44.

The week or month number is determined from the pay date.

If you pay your employees on the same day of each week, the week number will be different every week. If, for example, you pay them on Saturday one week and Friday the next week, these may have the same week number.

With monthly paid employees, each tax month starts on the 6th. If, for example, you pay someone on the 6th April and then on the 5th May, these payslips will both be in month 1.

The week/month number can affect tax but not national insurance. If you have two payslips with the same month number, you will normally find that the second payslip has a higher than usual tax deduction.

A figure of 0.00 means there is nothing to pay HMRC.

It could be because you haven't paid your employees or because you are reclaiming statutory pay or CIS. In these cases, you should send a type of RTI submission called an EPS (Employer Payment Summary). Alternatively, if you paid your employees and sent the usual RTI submission but the pay was low enough not to attract tax or NI, there is no further return to send.

You should click 'Save as Today' on our HMRC Payments page, which will then move on to calculating the figures for the next month.

A figure of 0.00 can mean that HMRC owe money to you, for example if you are recovering SMP that is more than the tax and NI liability. The system will automatically carry any excess forward to the following month.

If net pay is negative, this means the deductions are more than the gross pay. You should be able to tell which deduction is causing the problem by looking at the payslip. It can also happen if the gross pay is negative.

If you have just confirmed a pay run and then noticed a mistake, you can delete one or more of the payslips by following these steps:

1. Click on the name of the employee in the options list.
2. Click on the 'Working Sheet' tab at the top.
3. Click on the 'Delete Last Payment' button at the bottom of the page.

When you confirmed the pay run, you may have also saved the HMRC payment. If this is the case, you must delete that line from the 'HMRC Payments' page before deleting the payslip(s).

To re-enter the corrected payslips, use the 'Pay Employees' option to start a new pay run. Then, select which employees to include using the 'Include in Payrun' boxes and continue with the pay run in the usual way.

When you create an RTI submission for the new pay run, the system will automatically check for other RTI submissions with the same pay date. The new submission will contain the differences from the figures which were previously reported.

Yes. A payment is saved by entering a 'Date Paid' and clicking 'Save'. This indicates that you have paid the tax and NIC to HM Revenue and Customs.

If there is no 'Date Paid', then the tax payment has not been saved and therefore need not be deleted.

The most recently saved tax payment can be deleted at any time by clicking the 'delete' link.

If you print a page from our website, your web browser may automatically print the web address on the edge of the page.

Depending on which web browser you use, you may be able to override this within the browser settings or an option may appear after you choose to print the page.

DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance. It is a way to prevent and monitor fraudulent email and spam. DMARC enables the owner of an internet domain to limit who can send emails on behalf of email addresses within that domain. For example, the company that owns 'yahoo.com' uses DMARC to limit who can send emails on behalf of addresses that end '@yahoo.com'.

When you email payslips to your employees, our system sends the emails on your behalf and they appear to come from your email address. This can cause problems if your email provider has a strict DMARC policy, causing the payslip emails to be rejected by the recipient's email system.

You can solve this problem by setting the option on the Preferences page so email payslips are sent from a noreply email address. This uses a DMARC-safe from address, along with some text that explains it was sent on your behalf.

Firstly, check that the email address you log in with is actually your correct address. If you are not sure, please double check as important emails are sent to your email address.

If we have the correct address, the problem is most likely caused by a junk mail filter. Junk emails, or spam, are a common problem on the Internet and there is no foolproof way of determining which emails are of genuine interest and which are spam. If your email program has a bulk email folder, please look there for our email. Otherwise, please check your filter settings.

If you would like us to resend your account validation email, please choose the option on our Preferences page.

Details of your tax office can be found on most HMRC correspondence.

The following numbers may also be helpful.

• HMRC New Employer Helpline: 0300-200-3211
• HMRC Employer Helpline: 0300-200-3200
• HMRC Online Services Helpdesk: 0300-200-3600
• HMRC Orderline: 0300-123-1074

Statutory Sick Pay, SMP, SAP and SPP are all calculated by the system and will appear on the deductions summary when they apply.

They will normally also be added to the payslip, but this can be disabled using a setting on the employee's Statutory Pay tab - you may wish to do this if you pay the employees their full salary during leave.

To add sick pay to the payslip, set 'Add Statutory Sick Pay to Wages?' to Yes.

To add SMP, SAP or SPP to the payslip, set 'Add to Wages?' to Yes.