For 2013-14 tax year, all employers should make electronic payments to Cumbernauld Accounts Office for the tax year 2013-14.
This will not affect any employers who currently pay to Cumbernauld but those employers making PAYE/NI payments to Shipley Accounts Office will need to change payment details to:
Sort Code: 08-32-10
Account number: 12001039
Starting in April 2013, HMRC will be requiring employers to submit payroll information in real time (RTI) rather than making an annual submission after a tax year has ended. From April 2013 a submission to HMRC needs to be made at or before the time of payment to employees, so this may be a weekly or monthly activity depending on the frequency of the payroll runs.
Before the new tax year starts on 6th April 2013, it is important to get prepared; if an employer is running their payroll in-house they need to check that the software is RTI compliant or if the payroll is outsourced that the payroll provider is ready for RTI.
As part of the preparation for RTI, employers need to ensure that they have accurate and upto date information about all their employees including:
Employee names should be their legal name and include any middle names. For example if a Frederick Simon Smith is currently included as Fred S Smith, the name should be amended to his full name.
From the 6th April 2013 additional information will need to be reported to HMRC as part of the payroll such as
The information submitted by employers (or their payroll providers) will mean that HMRC will hold current information about earnings and so there should be fewer incorrect tax codes for individuals. This information will also be used to assess payments under the new Universal credits. All employers regardless of their size will be required to operate RTI during 2013-14.
We like to be prepared for most things in the office. Today as it is very cold, we are very glad that we have corporate gloves!
Recently Cohub opened to provide a collaborative working space for businesses based in and around Eastbourne. We have used their meeting room for meetings and have been impressed with the space and facilities they have in the town centre.
During November, Cohub will be running a series of Knowvember workshops at lunchtimes on a variety of topics. We have been asked to do a workshop and will be looking at some of the common areas HMRC look at to establish if someone is an employee or self employed.
For further details of the workshops and to make a booking, please click the image below:
We hope to see you at our workshop on 28th November.
The UK National Minimum Wage increases on 1 October 2012 for workers aged 21 and over and apprentices.
From 1 October 2012 the hourly rates are as follows
£6.19 – workers aged 21 and over
£4.98 – workers aged 18-20
£3.68 – workers above school leaving age – aged 16 – 17
£2.65 – apprentice rate for apprentices aged under 19 or if aged 19 or over and in their first year of their apprenticeship.
The team at AFH Payroll are thrilled to have been nominated as a finalist in the category of Non-retail business award at the Crowborough Chamber 2012 business awards. Unlike many business awards, the nominations for each category were made by fellow members of the Chamber rather than businesses submitting their own application. To have been nominated by fellow Chamber members makes it very special to reach the final within our category.
The Chamber awards are on 18th September, for more information about Crowborough Chamber or if you would like to attend a meeting please visit their website.
People are at the heart of every successful business and it is so important to get payroll right. From April 2013 payroll departments will need to manage some of the biggest changes since the introduction of PAYE with the introduction of RTI (Real time Information) by HMRC.
Our top tips for employers are:
Taking on an employee
Ensure that the worker has the right to work in the UK as the legal responsibility lies with the employer to ensure that every worker they employ has the right to work in the UK.
A new employee will usually give the employer their P45 from their previous job which contains their tax code. If they do not have a P45, ask them to complete a P46 which will contain all the personal information needed to set them up on the payroll and for the appropriate tax code to be used when running the payroll.
Quality of Information
In readiness for RTI, all employers should check that the data they hold for each employee is accurate
Employee leaving
Check that all payments due to the employee such as holiday pay are included in the final payment made to the employee before the P45 is issued.
Deadlines
Set up reminders for deadlines (taking into account bank holidays and weekends) for payments to HMRC, payroll processing and payroll payment dates.
Contingency Plan
Payroll must be processed on time, every time. Therefore a business should have a plan for the processing of payroll if there are unexpected absences or other unforeseen circumstances.
Keeping up to date
Legislation and regulations are constantly changing so it is important that anyone involved with payroll is abreast of current and future legislation changes and regulations that may affect the payroll.
Similarly payroll software must be kept updated and checked to ensure that the correct legislation rates are in use.
Confidentiality
Ensure access to all information is restricted and kept secure whether stored on a computer system or as physical files.
We recently took part in the Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce Quiz night with our friends from NX Photo (www.nxphoto.co.uk) and Recruitment South East Ltd (www.recruitmentsoutheast.co.uk) . An enjoyable evening that gave us a chance to catch up with other members of the Eastbourne Chamber and we are delighted to report that we were part of the winning team!
Eastbourne & District Chamber of Commerce have kindly given permission to use this image.
Fiona Hill of AFH Payroll Solutions Ltd receiving the winners shield from Mike Reid of Reid+Dean Chartered Surveyors & Estate Agents.
Eastbourne & District Chamber of Commerce arrange a variety of events for local businesses and more information is available on their website www.eastbournechamber.co.uk.
During 2011 we found out about some of the great work done by The Children’s Respite Trust and so we have decided that we will support this charity during 2012.
The Children’s Respite Trust is a registered charity that supports children with disabilities and their families by helping them to get a break. For more information about their work see their website:
In addition to our donations, during the year we will regularly mention The Children’s Respite Trust on Twitter and they tweet as @ChildRespite . If you are on Twitter, please do think about following them and tweeting with them. This is one of the many ways that you can help raise awareness of their valuable work in Sussex.
If you would like to make a donation or find out more about The Children’s Respite Trust please do take a moment to visit their website.
The new tax year starts on 6 April 2012 and the basic personal allowance for an individual aged 64 and under is £8,105 providing that annual earnings are £100,000 or less. The personal allowance is translated to a tax code by dividing by 10 followed by a letter and so a person entitled to the basic personal allowance will have a tax code of 810L.
At the beginning of a tax year, HMRC instruct employers to automatically uplift their employee’s tax codes if they have a suffix of L if a tax code has not been issued by HMRC for the new tax year. For example the standard tax code of 747L for 2011-12 will increase by 63 to become 810L for the tax year 2012-13.
For the tax year 2012-13 the emergency tax code is 810L.