Ask any payroll professional and regardless of which industry they work in, it’s almost guaranteed that they will agree that the payroll year end represents a significant demand on their time and resources.
The payroll year end finds the usual stresses and demands of the pay cycle compounded by various other deadlines and commitments such as recording P11Ds, noting any benefits or expenses, keeping on top of any potential tax liabilities and of course, running the year end payroll. Missteps in any of these processes can have severe consequences for organisations, with the threat of legal or financial repercussions a very real possibility, particularly when It comes to non-compliance with HMRC deadlines.
We understand that the payroll year end is a significantly stressful period for your pay people, which is why we wanted to take a look at what steps you can take in order to ease some of the pressure of the financial year end and to ensure that your organisation is ready to meet your commitments in a compliant and efficient fashion.
With that in mind, we thought it might be a good idea to put together a quick checklist of everything you need to know in order to be ready for the payroll year end.
When is payroll year end 2022/2023?
Payroll year end for the 2022/2023 tax year is scheduled for the 5th April 2023.
Your payroll year end checklist.
Check when your payroll ends.
In most cases, payroll ends on week 52 of the year, with this being used as a waypoint to determine payroll year end. Although this Is the general rule, it doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions to this. A variety of factors can occur which mean that you are required to run an additional payroll, meaning your payroll year ends with week 53 or 54.
This usually occurs when:
- You process payrolls weekly or fortnightly (monthly payrolls are excluded).
- Your usual payroll date falls on 5 April in any year (or 4 April if it’s a leap year)
Check for turnover and new starters.
Even in smaller organisations, it pays to be aware of shifts in the workforce throughout the year and this is no more crucial than when reconciling your payroll year end. Understanding who you may have had join the business recently is crucial at year end as it offers you a final opportunity to check in with management to ensure that no processing of employees has been missed.
Conversely, if people have left the organisation, it is just as important to make sure that this has been taken into account before you run your final payroll of the year.
In most instances, today’s payroll software takes most of these adjustments in its stride and will account for them and update in real time. For seasoned professionals however, payroll year end will still mean making that final manual sweep, just for their peace of mind.
Issue P60s
One of the most crucial demands of the payroll year end is the issuing of P60 to all employees on your payroll who are working for you on the last day of the tax year (5 April). The P60 summarises their total pay and deductions for the year and must be sent to HMRC for approval.
This is a key legal requirement of any payroll year end and failure to remain compliant can lead to severe financial and legal penalties for organisations.
In some cases, a replacement P60 will need to be issued to employees, the procedure for which is outlined by HMRC.
Update your payroll software.
There’s no getting away from the fact that your payroll year end, represents a crucial and demanding time for your payroll teams, one where compliance, data integrity and accuracy are in the spotlight more than ever.
Unfortunately, the importance of payroll to a business and the consequences of getting it wrong has created a paradox wherein payroll has lagged behind in terms of digital investment. Organisations fixate on the idea of bungling an integration of a new system or solution to the point where it can blind them to the ROI potential offered by digital transformation.
Payroll year end often represents a turning point for businesses- the perfect jumping off point to make a fresh start and source a new solution. As you begin to reconcile your payroll year end, take the time to assess your processes, make notes of any roadblocks being thrown up by your technology and take the time to consider whether now is the time for a change.
What’s next?
Payroll is an ever evolving environment and the professionals who work within this space understand more than anybody the need for accuracy and compliance and keeping on top of the legislative changes which the new financial year can bring. Fortunately, at Advanced, we firmly believe in the power of new systems and technology to help you achieve more and eliminate the stress and anxiety which is so commonly associated with payroll year end and the advent of the new one.
Advanced Payroll is the payroll system designed by experts within the field of pay to specifically tackle the challenges faced by pay professionals day in and day out across all sectors.
With Advanced Payroll, you get:
Real time calculations – instantaneous gross to net calculations for up to 20,000 employees
Super speed processing – calculating BACs in under 20 minutes.
Pay on-demand – employees can draw down earned pay as they need it
Reporting – building your own reports has never been easier
Employee on-line access – data, documents and payslips
Advanced Payroll offers you the scalability and flexibility you need to completely transform the way in which you run payroll, and is capable of working effortlessly across multiple sites and pay grades. Whether operating as a standalone system or integrated with our Time and Attendance, HR and Access Control solutions to form a comprehensive Workforce Management suite, Advanced Payroll helps you process payroll efficiently.
Our solution gives you the comprehensive reporting, GDPR auto-processing and audit trail capability you need to have peace of mind that your payroll is being run accurately and in a compliant fashion, month in and month out.
To find out more about how Advanced Payroll can transform the way you meet the demands of new legislation and ensure accuracy and compliance throughout the next financial year and beyond, get in touch with one of our friendly team members today.
