Do I need YTD data when trasferring payroll ?

Trasferring to inhouse payroll and YTD figures?

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Good Afternoon,
I am currently studing my level 3 AAT, and work part time as a bookkeeper for a small business, the owner would like to transfer the payroll from a third party to inhouse.  He has informed my to just add all of the current employees as new starters, my argument is that I will need the YTD earnings, pension contributions, tax / national insurance information to accurately calculate the tax / national insurance and pension contribtutions for the year end figures.  Who is correct in this case, myself asking for the ytd figures or his way of just adding existing employees as new starters?

Thank in advance.
Scott Pattison

Replies (8)

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By kestrepo
12th Nov 2018 14:01

You need to be adding the YTD earnings - otherwise at a minimum your RTI submissions will be wrong as well as any employees paid using tax codes without an X! Having said that it is unusual to move systems mid year - if you waited until the new tax year in April there would be no YTD figures to worry about. Would that make all parties happy?

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By Pygmy
12th Nov 2018 14:07

If you are bringing employees over before 05/04/2019 you need to make absolutely sure that you give them the same Employee No. as they had on the other payroll system or fun will ensue.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
12th Nov 2018 14:07

Move mid year ?

Crazy idea.©

But it can be done if you insist. Be prepared for a rough ride with HMRC duplicating half your employees' records.

Sure you need YTD pay and tax - as an absolute minimum - just to run the payroll for the next few months.

Ask your boss how he's going to complete the P60s at the end of the year if he only has NIC data for five months of it. If you can keep him thinking about that until April, you'll be grand.

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By ScottPattison
12th Nov 2018 14:18

Thank you for the quick answers, looks like a face off with my boss.

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By Alex_T
13th Nov 2018 12:14

You absolutely need YTD figures if moving payroll mid-year. It can be a relatively straightforward process if the payroll isn't too complex. I would recommend running both systems parallel for a while to make sure everything is in order.
Best of luck!

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By ScribbleD
13th Nov 2018 12:30

I thought it was worth mentioning that some payroll providers offer an import facility from other payroll providers which will minimise the amount of work involved in moving the payroll inhouse. Brightpay for example offer an import from several payroll providers - BPT, Sage, Iris, Moneysoft etc. It might be worth checking if the software your client is using can offer similar. Good luck with the face off with your boss.

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By brumsub
14th Nov 2018 11:13

You don’t say how many employees are involved – if there are only a few then maybe you could enter them into the new program from scratch. And yes, you will need the YTD figures.

If the owner’s intended software program is the same as the external payroll bureau (EPB), ask the EPB for the back-up file. The client will have paid for the processing and this forms part of the payroll records. Try and get the same software program if you can.

If the owner’s software program is going to be different, ask the EPB to send you the export data of the payroll in CSV format – you may be able to import this into the owner’s software but it may be incomplete.

Of course, the EPB might not co-operate but insist that back up files form part of the payroll records for which the client has paid.

If you can’t do any of the above, get the last YTD figures, set up the employees on the owner’s payroll software and run it for a couple of months (or weeks if it is weekly payroll) and see whether your figures match with the EPB. Then disengage. The owner will need to co-operate with you because of the added cost.

Hope that helps.

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By psimonparsons
14th Nov 2018 21:40

Yes you will need YTD to be brought across for all employees in the current tax year including any leavers, else the payroll and HMRC Dashboard will not match.

if transferring mid year, then you must ensure that the individuals are not treated as new starters on the new payroll (that assumes that the PAYE reference is not changing), and you must indicate a change of payroll ID and indicate the old payroll ID as used by the prior supplier - that is your means of preventing as best as possible inadvertent duplicate employee records by HMRC (HMRC label such duplications as 'employer error').

Of course if the transfer is to a new PAYE reference, then they are new starters.

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