Payroll end of year

Summary

This article explains what you need to do before, during and after the last period of your tax year.

Introduction

Please read through this guide now as there are certain procedures you need to follow sooner rather than later:

• Register for On-line Filing.
• Order P60 stationery from the Inland Revenue.
• Install a Pre-Year End Software Update on Platinum.

Steps to take as you approach the Year End

Register for Online Filing

Most of you will now be registered for on-line filing, so you can skip this step if you have already done so. If you intend to file your year end returns electronically and haven't done so before please make sure you have registered for electronic filing with HMRC.

Order P60 Stationery from the Inland Revenue

Please order your P60 forms. Click here for a direct link to the HMRC Online Employer Online Order form.

When you file on-line, you will still need the following forms for Platinum to use:

• If you have a laser or inkjet printer :

P60 (SingleSheet/Shortened) (2017-2018) - Certificate of Pay. For manual completion or with a Laser Printer.

• If you have a dot matrix printer using continuous paper :

P60(Continuous)(2017-2018) - Certificate of Pay. For use with a Continuous Printer.

The Inland Revenue advise it will take at least 7 days for delivery.

Install a Pre-Year End Software Update on Platinum

Before printing and submitting your year end information you will need to run a Platinum Software update. This ensures your system has the current P60 layout and any amendments to the way information is submitted for the year end. This is not the update that will move you into the new tax year.

• Click here for instructions on downloading and running the update.

Closing your last Payroll Period

Complete your final payroll period for 2017-2018 and file your FPS as normal.

WARNING: If there is some reason why you cannot file your FPS on or before the pay date, please note this MUST be submitted BEFORE 19th APRIL 2018 as HMRC do not accept 2017-18 FPS filings after this date.

Week 53? - If you intend to pay your employees on Thursday 5th April 2018 and you pay Weekly then you will be in the position to run a Week 53. Process and close this period as usual before submitting the year end information.

If you do not need to run a Week 53 please ignore this period. DO NOT close it. If you are unsure please contact HMRC to enquire if you need to run a week 53.

Steps to take when you have closed your last Payroll Period for the Year 2017-2018

• Print a P11 for each employee to keep for your records. It is worth checking the figures shown before producing your P60's in case you need to correct any errors.
• Print the Employee Tax NI and Summary report to provide a check against the Tax and NI paid by each employee over the year. This used to be referred to as the P35. Your final EPS Submission now contains this data.
• Print Employee P60s. These must be issued to all employees still in your employment at April 5th (they must be given to the employees by 31st May 2018).

Printing Year End Reports

Go to " Payroll Procedures/Reports Yearly Procedures".

Note: For your P11 and P35 reports, you could print these to PDF instead of paper for archive purposes. We would recommend that if you do this, the files should be copied along with the backup mentioned below onto a memory stick or another machine for safe keeping.

Printing P11s

• Make sure there is plain paper in your printer.
• Choose 'P11 Current Tax Year - 2018' then click [Start] to print. This will print a P11 for every employee who has been included in your payroll for the year. Keep these for your records.

Printing Employee Tax NI and Summary (P35 Substitute)

• Choose the 'Employee Tax and NI Summary' report.
• Check the value in the 'NIC's' column on the Employee Tax and NI Summary agrees to the value in the 'NI Details' line under the 'Total Cont'ions' column on each employee's P11.
• Check the value in the 'Income Tax' column on the Employee Tax and NI Summary agrees to the right hand value in the 'PAY Details''This Employment' on each employee's P11.
• Check the total NIC's and Tax paid on the Employee Tax and NI Summary.
• As a final check, you can log onto the HMRC site and view your filing information for the year as seen by HMRC. Check the HMRC totals against this report to ensure that they reconcile.

Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page if you find any discrepancies at this stage and are unsure how to correct them.

Printing P60 Forms

If you are unsure whether you are on Windows Printing and/or your paper doesn't line up, please Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page

.

On a Laser/Inkjet Printer

Load the printer with the P60 stationery (P60 (SingleSheet/Shortened) (2017-2018) - Certificate of Pay for manual completion or with a Laser Printer) as you would with normal paper:

• Select the 'P60 End of Year Cert. - 2018' report.
• Press <F1> to select the first employee on record and press <Enter>.
• Press <F1> twice to select the second employee on record.
• If you are using a laser printer you may be on Windows printing so set the "Windows Printing" to 'Yes' and enter '3' for the Left Adjustment and '20' for the Top Adjustment then click [Start] to print.
• From this test print, check that you have correctly lined up the paper in your printer.
• Once you are happy with this, select the 'P60 End of Year Cert. - 2018' report again. Leave the employee fields blank to print all employees.
• Click [Start] to print.
• Distribute these to all employees still in your employment at the end of the tax year. Do not send them to any employees who have left.

On a Dot Matrix Printer

It is important that the ribbon is printing as darkly as possible. There have been instances where this has not been the case and the document is unreadable by your employees.

Load the printer with the P60 stationery (P60(Continuous)(2017-2018) - Certificate of Pay For use with a Continuous Printer) making sure the top of the printer head lines up with the top of the paper.

• Select the 'P60 End of Year Cert. - 2018' report.
• Press <F1> to select the first employee on record and press <Enter>.
• Press <F1> twice to select the second employee on record.
• If you are using a standard dot matrix printer set the "Form Length (Lines)" to '66' and the "Windows Printing" to 'No' and then click [Start] to print.
• From this test print, check you have correctly lined up the paper in your printer.
• Once you are happy with this, select the 'P60 End of Year Cert. - 2018' report again. Leave the employee fields blank to print all employees.
• Click [Start] to print.
• Distribute these to all employees still in your employment at the end of the tax year. Do not send them to any employees who have left.

Moving into the New Tax Year 2018/2019

The update containing the changes for the tax year 2018/2019 will be ready for download from 12th March 2018.

When you are happy with the reports you have produced above, you may move into the new tax year.

• Take a backup of your system. We suggest you label it "PAYROLL YEAR END 2017/18 and set it aside from your usual backup - Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page if you need further assistance.

• Run a Platinum Update to move the payroll into the new tax year, this is done as follows:

• • Download a Platinum Update following the instructions in the article. Note the location your system saves the 'Platwin.exe' file to.
  • Find the 'Platwin.exe' file and double click it.

As you are going through the update process, please make sure you read each information/message box carefully. If in doubt choose [No] or [Cancel] to abort the update. Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page if you are unsure how to proceed at any stage of the update.

• • Choose [No] at the first screen that says "Welcome to the Platinum Setup Wizard".
• On the list of options, click "Move Payroll on to the 2018-2019 Tax Year" - a tick will appear in the little box.
• Click 'Next'.
• Read the warning box that appears and click [Yes] or [No] as appropriate ([No] will abort the update).

If you haven't printed all the P11s, choose [No] to cancel the update then go into those companies and finish the year end.

Once you confirm the update, your system will be moved forward into the new payroll tax year. This will also install any changes to the Statutory Pay and National Insurance Bands as per HMRC guidance.

This WILL NOT alter your employee's tax codes. You must carry out this change manually: see below.

Altering Employee Tax Codes

Once you have moved your year forward, you will need to update your employee tax codes.

You may receive P9(T) notification of changes to employee tax codes, or they may be e-mailed to your Government Gateway area. If so, check from when they are effective and wait until you are in that payroll period before making the changes. You will not necessarily receive notifications for all employees. For those without P9(T) notifications:

• If you received a P6 at the last minute and were unable to enter it in the previous year, enter it to be effective in the next period of the new year.

Don't Forget - Change the Week1/Month1 to 'No' on any employees where this flag is set. The system should now do this for you, but checking this is never a bad idea.

If any of your employees have a 'D0' tax code then you must go to their records in "Employee Amendments" and make sure "Wk/Mth1?" is set to "Y" (or "N" if you have received notification that they should use tax code D0 on a cumulative basis), as Platinum previously ignored this field.

If any of your employees have a 'NT' tax code then you must ensure that they have "Wk/Mth1?" set to 'N', as you should remove any Week 1/Month 1 status after the end of the tax year, like you should already be doing for other suffix tax codes.

Individual Tax Code Changes

Go to " Payroll Run Payroll Period".

• Select the correct pay period from the selection, e.g. 'Monthly' or 'Weekly'.
• Select the employee in question.
• Press <Shift+F10>.
• Press <Page-Down> to get to Page 2 and then amend the "Tax Code:" field accordingly.
• Press <Esc> and [Accept] to complete the change.

Multiple Tax Code Changes

The following instructions should be done BEFORE manually altering any employee tax codes. For any employee where you have received and entered a P9T, their tax code MUST be checked and changed to match the P9T.

• To change tax codes for all employees by a set amount, go to " Payroll Maintenance Options Payroll Settings Global Tax Code Changes".
• Select the suffix you wish to change, e.g. 'L', and then enter the amount you wish to raise it by in the "Allow." column.

You can check the amount to raise by on HMRC website here.

• Press <F2> to view the proposed changes.
• All employees will be tagged as standard. This can be left as is or you can untag certain employees, e.g. the ones with a P9T form by pressing <U>.
• Press <F2> to finalise the changes.
• Select [Tagged] or [UnTagged] to indicate which set of employees to alter or press [Cancel] to abort the changes.

This change is immediate and affects the calculated PAYE in the current payroll period.

Please also check each individual employee. This can be done by printing and checking this report:

Go to " Payroll Procedures/Reports Yearly Procedures".

• Select [Employee Listing].

Increasing Automatic Enrolment Contributions

You should have been notified by your pension company of the increase of automatic enrolment contributions. It is your responsibility to input this increase into Platinum Payroll. The year end update will not carry out this change for you.

Please see this article for further instructions.

Send the Final EPS to HMRC

You may carry out this process before or after you have moved into the new tax year. It must be submitted by 19th May 2018.

If before closing the year: Go to " Payroll Payroll Procedures/Reports End of Year Payroll Routines or Yearly Procedures/Reports".

• Choose " Internet Filing of Returns".
• Select " Submit Final 2016/17 EPS".
• At the bottom of the box is a drop down list of periods.
• Select " 2017/2018 Final Submission for the year".

If after closing the year: Go to " Payroll End of Year Payroll Routines Employer Payment Summary".

• Choose " View or Submit Final 2017/2018 EPS".
• At the bottom of the box is a drop down list of periods.
• Select " 2017/2018 Final Submission for the year".

Check the values shown agree to the payments and deductions you made to HMRC for the 2017/2018 Tax Year.

You will need to calculate the total actual amount that you have paid to HMRC over the year relevant to your payroll. Do NOT just copy the figures from your P35 - check that the amounts you actually paid from your bank account agree to your reports. This allows you to check that you have included Student Loan deductions, Employment Allowance (if you are eligible) and any SMP/SAP/SPP compensation to which you may be due.

• Fill in the relevant amounts in the fields available to you. You may press <F11> on any field for an explanation of the information shown.
  • For most people, this will involve filling in the "NICs and Tax paid already" field based on the results of your check on payments made this year.
• Leave any that don't apply set to £0.00.
• Click [Next].
• If you are taken to a [Checklist] tab, please answer the questions shown.
• On the [Declaration] tab, please complete the required information.
• Click [Submit] to send the final return to HMRC.

Please read the section below on submissions:

Types of Submission

When submitting you may choose to send a Test before submitting your live return.

• Depending on which type of submission you are making, click the drop down key and choose [Live Submission] or [Test Submission].

TEST

• You may return a test submission, which will be checked by the Inland Revenue to make sure some of the information is accurate. It will not completely verify your return but it will check details such as:
• Whether the Employee Names, Tax Codes & NI numbers are correct and acceptable.
• You will get a reply from this test, which will tell you if any details are inaccurate or need to be altered. If so please make the necessary changes. You may submit as many tests as you like.

If you have submitted a test return, please wait for the response to it before trying to submit your live return.

LIVE

• Once you have sent the final live return, you will no longer be able to make any changes to the return. You must not submit more than one live return.
• Click [Submit] to proceed.

What happens next

The software will now start to send your return. The time it takes to send and get a response to your return is entirely down to HMRC. You will receive a message on screen telling you if your return has been successful and you will receive an email to the address you specified.

If the submission appears to be taking a long time please click here. HMRC will post a message on their site if they are experiencing specific issues receiving submissions. If your return is taking a long time please be patient as HMRC is likely to be inundated with returns. You have until 19th May to return these figures but we would advise you don't leave it until the last minute!

If the return is taking a long time you may click [Stop]. The system will carry on awaiting a reply to the submission. You may continue to use Platinum as normal whilst this is in progress.

To check the status of the submission:

• Go to " Payroll Payroll Procedures/Reports Yearly Procedures/Reports Internet Filing of Returns" or " Payroll End of Year Payroll Routines Employer Payment Summary"
• Choose " Check 2017/2018 EPS Status".

Unsuccessful Returns

If you have an unsuccessful return you will be given a response message telling you why the submission wasn't successful. Please read the message then try to resolve the problem. If you cannot resolve the problem please Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page. Once a problem has been resolved you can submit the return again making sure you fill in the fields again.

After a Successful Return

If after a successful return you find you need to adjust any figures you may need to complete an Earlier Year Update. Platinum cannot submit an EYU so please use the service provided by the HMRC website.

If a P60 figure for an employee was £100.13 and should have been £10.13 your amendment would be £90.00.

If you experience any problems please Contact your Platinum dealer or our support team on 0116 230 1500 or by using our website support contact page for help with Platinum Payroll or contact HMRC for advice on incorrect figures and submitting an EYU.

Key Dates & Year End Check List

Key & Useful Dates

As soon as possible

Order your P60 stationery from from the Inland Revenue to ensure it arrives in time for the year end.

Download and run a Platinum Update to ensure you are ready to produce the year end reports.

Payroll Week 53

If your pay date for week 52 falls on 29th March you WILL need to run a Week 53.

5th April

End of current Tax Year.

6th April

Start of next Tax Year.

Increase of Automatic Enrolment contributions. You are responsible for inputting this change.

19th April

RTI Deadline for Final FPS and Final Payment to the Inland Revenue for the Previous Tax year.

19th May

Last date for Final EPS and P11D to be submitted to the Inland Revenue.

31st May

P60 forms must be given to employees by this date.

Year End Check List

• Registered for On-line Filing.
• Ordered Stationery from Inland Revenue.
• Download and run a Platinum update for the Platinum Software.
• Completed and Closed Week 52/Month 12 (or Wk53 if applicable).
• Taken a backup of Platinum.
• Printed all necessary reports:
  • P11
  • P35
  • P60's
• Moved Platinum into the new tax year.
• Increased Automatic Enrolment contributions.
• Filed EPS on-line.
• Handed out P60s to all employees in your employment as at 5th April.

Historic Notes

Getting ready for PAYE Real Time Information: From April 2013 there will be a new way to report PAYE information online: Real Time Information, or RTI. PAYE itself will not change, just the way, and how often, you send details to HMRC. You may have received a letter recently from HMRC letting you know about the upcoming changes. You should read it carefully and its enclosed helpsheet so that you are aware of the new processes and things you can do in advance to prepare. We at Catalyst are updating the Platinum Payroll module with all the necessary changes, and are an active participant in the HMRC RTI trial programme ensuring that all new processes work correctly as expected. For more information from the HMRC website click here and on our website click here.

*Registering for On-line Filing - As of 2010 it is now mandatory to file your Payroll year end returns online. This is a simple and trouble free automatic process using your Platinum System, but you must have registered with HMRC, and obtained your Government Gateway User Name and Password. For help on how to enter this click here or see this section below.

When you use the on-line filing, you will be submitting electronic P14 forms and P35 report to HMRC so these documents should not be sent on paper. By all means, print copies for your records if you so wish. Your return must be made by May 19th at the latest, even if you are filing on paper.

User name and password

Go to " Reports & Settings Maintenance Options System Administrator Platinum Settings".

• Remind yourself of your User Name and Password from when you registered for on-line filing. Fill in your On-line User Name in the Gateway User ID field and your Password in the Gateway Password field. Please ensure you enter them in the case you used when you set them up i.e. upper or lower case as appropriate.
• Press <Esc> 4 times to return to the menu.

Click here for more detailed information.

PAYE Reference

Go into " Payroll Maintenance Options Payroll Settings Company Parameters General Company Details".

• Make sure you have correctly filled in your PAYE Reference. This is the reference specific to your organisation and not the Tax Office reference.
• Press <Esc>.
• If you operate a contracted out pension scheme go into Pension Schemes and fill in your Contracted Out number at the bottom of the screen.
• Press <Esc> 4 times to return to the menu.

Other checks you should make

• Make sure you have a valid National Insurance number for all employees. Temporary numbers are no longer allowed. If you have a temporary number and cannot get their real number in time, blank out the NI field and make sure you fill in their date of birth. To print a list of all employees showing their NI numbers go to " Payroll Procedures/Reports Employee Listing". Choose 'P' to print the report, or 'S' to view it on screen then press <F2> to print.
• Check your employee dates are correct i.e. their birth date, starting date and leaving date, if applicable.
• Check there are no symbols in employee's names, titles or addresses i.e. commas, full stops, dashes although hyphens in surnames will be accepted. 'Mr. John Smith' would be rejected but 'Mr John Smith' would be fine - the full stop in "Mr." in the first example is the problem.

See also

• Downloading a Platinum update
• Setting up the Platinum Backup Program
• Payroll Tax Code Changes 2016-2017
• How to amend your Payroll Tax Bands
• Troubleshooting Payroll RTI Submission Errors
• How do I setup a Pension Scheme in Platinum?

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