As an employer, if you operate PAYE (Pay As You Earn) there are a number of important tasks you need to complete around the end of the tax year (5 April). This guide tells you what to do and the deadlines you'll have to meet. This information is summarised in 'Deadlines - at a glance' below.
On this page:
At the end of the tax year, submit your final Full Payment Submission (FPS) and/or Employer Payment Summary (EPS) for the pay period as normal. You must indicate on your last FPS or EPS for the year that it is your 'Final submission for the tax year' and then answer the end-of-year declarations and questions. You must do this even if you have not made any deductions of PAYE tax or National Insurance contributions (NICs) from your employees in that pay period.
If you submit more than one FPS, for example, for weekly and monthly payrolls, your final submission is the last FPS or EPS you submit for that tax year, regardless of whether it relates to the weekly or monthly payroll.
If you used Basic PAYE Tools RTI version in 2012-13 you cannot use this version to send your final submission for the 2012-13 tax year. You need to download the 2013-14 version of the tools in order to finish 2012-13.
Pilot Employer Monthly Supplementary Update (PDF 21K)
If you have not made a payment to any of your employees in the final pay period for the tax year then you are not required to submit an FPS. Instead you must submit an EPS indicating the following:
Finally, complete the end-of-year declarations and questions.
If you wish to make a claim for Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deductions suffered you will need to complete two EPS submissions. The first should simply indicate 'No Payment for Period', the second should indicate:
Complete the end-of-year declarations and questions.
You may need to send HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) an Earlier Year Update (EYU) if you need to correct any of the payroll information sent in a previous tax year. You can only use an EYU for tax years where you operated PAYE in real time.
If you sent PAYE in real time during 2012-13 and need to correct any of the information you sent on FPS, you must send an EYU to show the difference between what you have already sent and what it should be. If you have reported incorrect information on an EPS for 2012-13, you must submit another EPS to report the correct total year to date figures for all recovered payments within that tax year.
Your payroll software may include this function - if you're not sure check with your payroll software provider. Or you can use HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools to send an EYU - you can do this even if you use another payroll product to run your payroll. There's full guidance on completing and sending an EYU for 2012-13 in the following guides - but make sure you choose the version that's right for you.
If you use Basic PAYE Tools to run your payroll and need to submit an EYU, you need the user guide 'Using Basic PAYE Tools: Earlier Year Update - payroll user'.
Download 'Using Basic PAYE Tools: Earlier Year Update - payroll user' (PDF 750K)
If you use commercial software to run your payroll but want to use Basic PAYE Tools to submit an EYU you need the user guide 'Using Basic PAYE Tools: Earlier Year Update - alongside commercial software'.
Download 'Using Basic PAYE Tools: Earlier Year Update - alongside commercial software' (PDF 1MB)
The P60 summarises an employee's total pay and deductions for the year. You need to provide a form P60 (either paper or electronic) to each employee on the payroll who was working for you on the last day of the tax year (5 April). You must do this by no later than 31 May.
HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools - HMRC's free PAYE software package will automatically prepare the P60s for you. You can either print copies of the P60s or you can complete paper versions of the forms.
Commercial payroll software - most payroll software should automatically prepare the P60s for you in either an electronic or printed format (contact your software provider for further details). Any printed version of an electronically provided P60 must clearly state 'This is a printed copy of an eP60'.
Electronic or paper versions - when deciding whether to provide forms P60 electronically or on paper you will need to take into account the employee's ability to easily access that information by providing secure facilities to view and/or print their P60. If this is not possible, the P60 can be issued to an email address that has been agreed with that employee. If you are unable to produce either electronic or printed forms P60 you will need to complete paper versions of the form. If you would like to use your own design P60s in either electronic or printed format, you must follow the HMRC guidelines provided in the RD1 booklet 'Specification for employer substitute forms P60' which can be downloaded using the link at the end of this section.
In all cases if:
Download 'Specification for employer substitute forms P60' (PDF 176K)
Forms P9D and P11D relate to any benefits and expenses paid to an employee. Form P11D(b) is your return of the overall amount of Class 1A NICs due on the expenses and benefits you have provided as well as your declaration that you are reporting all relevant expenses and benefits on those forms.
These forms must reach HMRC no later than 6 July.
Completing forms P9D, P11D and P11D(b)
You must pay HMRC any Class 1A NICs that are due on the taxable expenses and benefits you've paid or provided. If you're sending payment by post, it must reach your HMRC Accounts Office by 19 July.
If you're sending payment by an approved electronic method, your payment must be cleared in HMRC's bank account by 22 July.
Interest will be charged on due amounts not paid by these dates.
How to pay Class 1A National Insurance
As explained earlier in this guide, there are a number of key tasks to complete in addition to submitting your FPS or EPS for the end of the tax year. The table below summarises this information for your convenience, including each appropriate deadline.
Deadline |
Task |
|---|---|
31 May |
Give each relevant employee a form P60 |
6 July |
Send expenses and benefits annual return - forms P11D, P9D and P11D(b) - to HMRC, and give a copy of the relevant P9D/P11D to each employee who was in your employment on 5 April This is the last date for your forms P9D, P11D (or substitutes) and P11D(b) to reach HMRC |
19 July |
Class 1A NICs - postal payments must reach your HMRC Accounts Office |
22 July |
Class 1A NICs - cleared electronic payments must reach HMRC's bank account |
The key task when preparing for the new tax year - which begins on 6 April - is to set up new payroll records for your employees. Most employers now send PAYE returns electronically using payroll software each time they pay their employees. So you need to use a payroll package to keep your payroll records - either commercial payroll software or HMRC's free Basic PAYE Tools package if it's suitable for you. You can download Basic PAYE Tools, which is designed for employers with nine or fewer employees, using the link below.
Software packages and other payroll options
Using Basic PAYE Tools (RTI) to operate payroll and report in real time
If you have been paying employees and reporting PAYE information in real time in 2012-13, your payroll information for the first routine payday after 6 April 2013 should be sent on your first submission for the 2013-14 tax year, even if you run your payroll before 6 April.
