Is there a checklist for transitioning payroll mid way through the year ? Just want to be sure I don't miss anything
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What do you mean?
... by "transitioning" payroll?
Starting a new payroll mid-year?
Moving an existing payroll to new software mid-year?
Something else?
In that case ...
If you use the same payroll software as the outgoing accountant, ask for a backup of the payroll data files and restore them onto your system.
Failing that, if his software will export employer and employee data as .csv files and your software will import them, ask for .csv files.
Failing that, you can only ask for printed reports of the data for the employer and all the employees (including leavers earlier in the tax year) and enter the data manually into your payroll software. You must obtain and enter any Payroll ID (or RTI ID) used by the previous software (Sage is notorious for this) to avoid all the employees being considered as having two employments with the same employer when you submit your first FPS.
Unless you have restored a backup onto the same payroll software, you will have to ask for P11 deduction sheets - both tax and NIC - for all the employees (including leavers earlier in the tax year). If your payroll has a mid-year start facility, you can use that to enter the YTD totals from the P11 sheets - otherwise, you might have to enter all the figures for every month for every employee separately.
That might persuade you to suggest to prospective payroll clients in future that they only change to you at the start of a tax year!
Payroll ID
Thats a very good point on the software but luckily the old accountant used payroll manager which I will be using. I think many would miss this point on RTI as I nearly did.
One other point, how can I tell if the previous accountant claimed the employment allowance ?
I am not sure if your first comment above refers to the Payroll/RTI ID, but if so, Moneysoft uses the Works number/Payroll ID on the Employee Details screen. If one was entered by the previous accountant, it would be printed in brackets after the employee's name on payslips. If he did not enter anything, you should leave the field blank when setting up the employee on your Moneysoft system.
I think you will find that Moneysoft will automatically schedule an EPS to claim the EA when you set up the employer on your system. It is highly likely that the old accountant would have filed a claim, because that is what Moneysoft prompts when starting the 2013/14 year, but there is no harm in submitting a second claim.
JIm Euan usually got the answer
and if he hasnt the worlds gone to pot , get the year to date figures from the last payroll summary if you cant get the file. if ciurse you can contact him TRY send him a very simple request saying you need a back up of the payroll file and he should respond if he doesnt let us know asap.
@euan
I am so glad you questioned the terminology used by the op. I do find some of the terminology and abbreviations used in posts at times ,shall we say, unusual. Perhaps I am just having a grumpy day ( my staff would certainly agree !)