How do I run a payroll period?

Summary

This article explains how to run a payroll period, and deals with the issues that will arise.

Coronavirus Information

The current situation changes regularly so please ensure you visit HMRC's website for the most up to date information.

Please visit this page for information relating to furloughing workers, eligibility and how to calculate an 80% rebate.

Use the information on your 2019/2020 P11's and/or copies of employee payslips to assist you with calculating the wages per employee.

Please seek advice from your accountant if you are unsure of the amounts to use.

The HMRC portal address is here. Use your Government Gateway username and password.

More Information

Platinum Payroll will allow you to combine different Pay Frequencies or run them separately within the same system. You may pay some of your employees weekly and some monthly, some on an hourly rate and some on a salary - all this is available in the payroll. It is advisable that you run each frequency separately i.e. run the payroll for the Weekly paid employees then go back in to run the Payroll for the Monthly paid employees, but this is not compulsory.

Run Payroll

To run a payroll period, follow the instructions below:

• Go to " Payroll Run Payroll Period".
• This will bring up a "Payroll Selection" Screen.
• Select the Payroll frequency you wish to run, by selecting [Yes] next to the appropriate frequency.
• Check the period you are running the payroll for and the date you are paying the employees.
  • The "Period End" date should be the last day of the period you are paying the employees for. If this is the first time that you are running the payroll, you may need to set the "Period End" date appropriately. Once you have set this, it should update to the correct period end each time you close the payroll period.
  • Weekly paid employees: To fall in line with Statutory Pay and Tax Credit date settings it is advised the date you enter is the Saturday at the end of the week you are paying for.

if you are paying employees for time worked from Monday 7th April to Friday 11th April it is advised you enter Saturday 12th April as the Period End date (Sunday 6th April would have provided the first day in the 7 day period).

• Click the [Drop Down] to choose a date. The system will take the day after this to be the start date for the next pay period of this frequency.
• Enter the "Pay Date". This is the date you are actually going to pay the employees and must be within the current Tax Period.

Week 1 runs from 6th April - 12th April, if your pay date for weekly employees falls within this date range then you should be in weekly payroll period 1. The payroll system will not allow you to enter a date which falls outside the permitted pay period.

• Click [OK] to start entering your payroll information.

Entry Screens

You have the choice of two screens to enter your Payroll information i.e. Hours worked, Pre/Post Tax Adjustments, SSP, Holiday Pay etc.

• Standard Entry Screen
• Detailed Entry Screen

Using the Standard Entry Screen

This screen allows you to move freely around it, using the arrow keys on your keyboard or clicking on the fields with the mouse.

All employees due to be paid during the Period are listed on screen. The order in which they are listed is defined in the " " Reports & Settings Maintenance Options System Administrator Module Settings" Payroll Module Settings".

You may temporarily change the order from the standard entry screen by pressing <Alt+F2> to Re-Sort Data although the changes will be lost as soon as you exit the Run Payroll Screen.

The headings across the top of the screen will be made up ofPay Rates and Period Adjustments.

For each employee, these fields will pick up the default values e.g. Standard Hours Worked, Standard Pay Rate and any Period Adjustments which have been set up to be added/deducted each period - see Employee Amendments.

Note: If you have amended payment defaults for any employees, you should press either <F7> for an individual employee or <Shift+F7> for all employees to update the default pay amounts before you enter any hours or other adjustments for this period.

Using the Detailed Entry Screen

From the Standard Screen, press <F5> to Edit/View Run Totals. This will pop up the Detailed Entry screen.

• At the top of the screen is the Employee's Code & Name and the Period.
• The middle of the screen is for entering the basic period details i.e. Hours Worked and Additions/Deductions.
• The bottom half of the screen is for information only. This displays the current period totals:

Gross Pay, Nett Pay, Employee's and Employer's NI contributions & rebates (if applicable) and Tax.

It will also display any Pension Contributions, SSP, SMP/SAP/SPP and Holiday Pay if entered for this employee. If the employee contributes to the Holiday Credit Scheme, the amount they are contributing this period is displayed alongside 'Hol. Credit' and the amount they have available to draw on is displayed in the brackets. It is a more detailed screen so that you can see a summary of the payroll period totals for the chosen employee as you are entering information.

Then you will need to enter basic payroll details for the employee:

• Enter the number of hours worked.
  • If they are paid an hourly rate, enter the number of hours worked at the Standard Rate, if it differs from their standard hours.
  • If they are paid a salary, enter the number of hours worked. This is not compulsory for salaried employees, although you may wish to keep a record of the number of hours the employee has worked (this can also appear on the employee's payslip). This will not affect the amount the employee will be paid.
• Enter the number of hours worked at any other Rates e.g. Time 1/2, Double Time.
• Enter any additions/deductions under the relevant Period Adjustments e.g. Commission due, if necessary.
• If the employee is drawing any of their Holiday Credit, enter the amount in the 'Hol. Credit' Adjustment field. This automatically deducts the value entered from the employee's savings.

Special Period Adjustments/Attachments like Tax Credits, Student Loans and CSA Deductions, are displayed on the right hand side of the screen if they have been set up in the " Payroll Payroll Maintenance Payroll Settimngs" menu, and should be entered here.

• Once you have filled in the basic details for the first employee, you may also need to enter other additions/deductions e.g. Sick Pay, Holiday Pay, Tax Credits or Attachments.

• When you have entered the information for the first employee, tap <F1> to move on to the next employee. When you look at the Employee Name at the top of the screen, you will see that you are now on the next employee. <F1> or <Shift+F1> scroll forwards/backwards through the list of employees, in the order they appear on the Standard Entry Screen.

Reporting and Submitting

Once you have finished entering all the information for each employee for this period, you need to produce the End of Period Reports, i.e. Payroll Analysis, Payslips and so on.

• How do I run reports at the end of a payroll period? will guide you through this process.

• How do I close a payroll period? explains how to close and submit your FPS (Full Payment Submission) to HMRC.

See also

• How do I close a payroll period?
• How do I run reports at the end of a payroll period?
• How do I create an employee in the payroll?
• How do I set up payroll adjustments?
• How do I set up payroll attachments?
• How do I prepare for automatic enrolment?
• How do I journal a Covid19 grant?

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