How do I close a payroll period?

Summary

The following article explains how to close off a payroll period.

More Information

This procedure must be followed when you have completed a period and you are ready to submit your FPS to HMRC.

Please ensure you have printed all the necessary reports and printed payslips before proceeding.

Pre-Period Closedown Checklist

• Check that all Payroll amounts for each employee are accurate and correct, including any Sick Pay, Holiday Pay, Adoption Pay, Maternity Pay and Paternity Pay.

• Check that you have marked any employees as leavers if applicable.

• Check that you have printed all the reports that you want for this period, i.e. Payroll Analysis, Pension Contributions, Payslips etc.

Go into " Payroll Run Payroll Period".

• Select the frequency to close then click [OK].
• If you have not already done so print the required reports.
• If you are outputting a file containing Pension data, make sure you have done so before closing the period.

Submitting the Full Payment Submission (FPS)

When you are ready to close the period and submit your FPS :

• Click [Close] or press <F2>.
• Confirm you wish to proceed with closing the period and submitting your FPS to HMRC.
• Click [Yes] to proceed.

Your payroll period will be moved on to the next period and your FPS submitted electronically to HMRC.

• When the submission has been successful, you may click [Print] to print the summary then [Close].

• If any employees left during this period you will be prompted to print their P45's.
  • At "Print from P45" select the correct option from the dropdown menu i.e. If you have ordered P45 stationery from HMRC choose the relevant 'on pre-printed form' option else choose 'on plain paper'.
  • Click [Ok] once you are happy it has printed successfully.
  • Repeat for any additional leavers in the period.

If you experience any difficulties submitting the FPS, please see this article for advice or Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page for assistance.

At the end of each Tax Month don't forget to submit your [EPS]. See steps below.

Submitting the Employer Payment Summary (EPS)

This is the method by which you must inform HMRC about any statutory payments that you have made and/or are recovering.

It must be submitted by the 19th of the following Tax Month.

It informs HMRC about amounts owing or to be reclaimed including SSP/SMP/SAP, Employment Allowance and Employment Levy.

Go to " Payroll Payroll Procedures/Reports Monthly Payroll Routines Employer Payment Summary Submit a 2020/2021 EPS".

• Ensure you select the settings relevant to your business for Employment Allowance and De minimis state end.
• Click [Next].
• View the figures on screen so you are aware of any additional amounts you owe or are owed.
• Click [Next].
• Check the summary screen which shows totals for the Tax Year to date.
• Click [Submit].
• When the submission has been successful, you may click [Print] to print the summary then [Close].

If you experience any difficulties submitting the EPS, please see [Troubleshooting Payroll RTI Submission Errors this article] for advice or Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page for assistance.

Posting the Wages Journal

At this point if you use the Platinum Accounts Module (Sales Ledger, Purchase Ledger, Nominal Ledger), you will need to post a journal in the Nominal Ledger to account for your wages. See here for how to do this.

If your system does not include Platinum Accounts but you are interested in getting it please don't hesitate to Contact your Platinum dealer or our sales team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website sales contact page.

Historic Notes

Additions to Period End Procedure for RTI Submissions

As of April 6th 2013 (after your year end) with the addition of RTI (Realtime) Payroll Submissions, there are some extra procedures that will need to be carried out. These are detailed below. Two of them, the EAS and the FPS, will be done automatically by your Platinum Software as part of the normal period end procedure; the EPS must be done manually once a month when necessary.

The instructions for submitting the FPS and EPS are in the article above.

Employer Alignment Submission (EAS)

This is a special version of the Full Payment Submission which is only required the first time you file under RTI and under certain circumstances. See here for more details. Platinum will send the necessary information automatically on the first occasion when you close off the first period under RTI. In addition to the employees being paid, it includes all other live employees (i.e. with different payment frequencies) and includes details and year-to-date values (obviously all zeroes if the employer is starting RTI at the beginning of the year).

It is important that the employee database is clean - e.g. no "test" employees in payment frequencies which are never run - as these will be included. All such employees, if any, must be put 'On Hold' to exclude them. It is important that the employer updates the tax codes for ALL employees before sending the first FPS or an EAS.

Carrying out these processes closes the period and moves you into the next one.

See also

• How do I run a payroll period?
• How do I run reports at the end of a payroll period?
• Troubleshooting payroll RTI submission errors
• How do I post the wages journal?
• How do I journal a Covid19 grant?

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Keywords AND Misspellings

close, closing, payroll, period, fps, eps, payslips, payroll analysis, end of period, e.p.s., f.p.s., employment allowance