Payroll year end has a habit of arriving while you are busy doing literally anything else. Here is the whole thing in one checklist, in plain English.

Before your final pay run of the tax year

  • Check employee details. Names, addresses, National Insurance numbers and dates of birth. Wrong details are the number one cause of HMRC queries.
  • Process leavers properly. Anyone who left during the year should already have a P45. If someone slipped through, fix it before the final run.
  • Review benefits and expenses. Anything that belongs on a P11D should be gathered now, not in June.

Your final submission

  • Run your last pay period of the year as normal.
  • Mark the Full Payment Submission (FPS) as the final submission for the tax year, or send a final Employer Payment Summary (EPS) if you need one.
  • File it on or before pay day, exactly like every other run.

After the year closes

  • Issue P60s to every employee who was with you on the last day of the tax year. The deadline is 31 May, but there is no prize for waiting.
  • Update for the new tax year. New thresholds, new National Insurance rates, new National Minimum Wage rates and any changed pension bands take effect from the first pay run of the new year.
  • Check your payroll software has applied the new rates. Trust, but verify.

Or hand the whole thing over

Every item above is included in the Ookkee payroll bureau, all year round, for every client. If this checklist made your shoulders tense, that is worth knowing. Payroll, now that’s a doddle.