Late Payroll: How to Avoid Penalties and Keep Your Team Happy

Running payroll late can not only lead to hefty penalties but also do irreversible harm to employee confidence. If paid late, you can be sure to expect a less productive and disgruntled workforce, with some employees possibly seeking employment elsewhere.

Having your payroll processed by an experienced payroll specialist will help to ensure your payroll is processed accurately and on time, mitigating the risks to your business and therefore keeping morale up within the team.

In addition to potential employee trouble, you could also be faced with monthly penalties & interest charges for missed submissions & payments to HM Revenue & Customs. Interest on late payments ranges between 3 – 6%, depending on the amount you owe, and currently, the monthly penalties for missed payroll submissions are:

Number of employees	Monthly penalty
1 to 9	£100
10 to 49	£200
50 to 249	£300
250 or more	£400

 

What are some of the reasons for a late payroll submission?

• The biggest reason employers may delay payroll submissions is to attempt to benefit their cash flow and put off payments. However, the penalty charge can end up costing you more than you could have potentially saved from delaying payroll therefore this can be financially damaging.
• Administrative reasons - Often in large companies the payment process can involve many departments and if one person hasn’t played their part or supplied the correct information they were required to do so this can result in a late payroll submission.

Reasons why you would receive a penalty…

• Your full payment submission was late
• You did not send the expected number of full payment submissions
• An employer payment summary when you did not pay an employee in a tax month.
• If an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) isn’t submitted when no payments have been made to employees
• If HMRC discover deliberate or careless errors on payroll submissions

How can we help?

Here at Pierce Accountants, we can offer you a complete, time-efficient, and compliant payroll and auto-enrolment service for businesses of any size. If you are a new business paying employees for the first time, or an established company with complex policies and various procedures across departments. Our specialist team have the knowledge and the resources to provide you with a first-class service.

By outsourcing your payroll we guarantee compliance regardless of any new legislation. We can offer you proactive advice to optimise your payroll function and provide solutions that help retain employee confidence. So you can concentrate on growing your business knowing that your payroll will be handled and completed efficiently every time.

Some of the benefits of outsourcing your payroll

• Cost-saving to your business
• Continuity regardless of holidays or sickness
• No need to waste resources on training & development
• Benefit from an Experienced Payroll Professional in your team for a fraction of the price
• Reduces your risk to GDPR
• Expensive payroll software is no longer required
• Increases employee satisfaction

That’s not all, we make sure we go the extra mile by offering additional services such as; assisting with employee tax queries, providing updates on legislation changes, always asking questions if something looks incorrect, managing the full handover of payroll provider, and arranging annual meetings so you can meet your dedicated advisor regularly.

With 99.61% accuracy on client payrolls processed and being 70% CIPP qualified, you can trust us to pay your staff on time, every time.

Book a free, no-obligation initial consultation with our payroll team today.