Run your payroll
A company that pays a salary is an employer and reports every payday to HMRC in real time: a Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before each payday, and an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) for a month with no pay, to claim Employment Allowance or to recover statutory pay. Fileyear works out the tax, National Insurance, student loans, pension and statutory pay for everyone paid, weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly or monthly, files both, and gives you payslips, P45s for leavers and P60s at the year end.
- Prepared for you, checked by you
- Pay only when you’ve checked it
- Not HMRC or Companies House
Where this sits in your company’s year
Sample year end 31 MarchIs this the right payroll for you?
You’ll answer these when you start, before you pay anything.
- Everyone is paid weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly or monthly
- Nobody on it is paid a pension, seconded from abroad, or working through an off-payroll (IR35) arrangement
- Nobody works in Northern Ireland on statutory parental bereavement pay
What’s included
Fileyear does
- Tax for every tax code (cumulative, week 1/month 1, K, Scottish and Welsh) and National Insurance for every category letter
- Directors’ National Insurance on the annual or the alternative method
- Student and postgraduate loans, workplace pension deductions, statutory sick, maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, bereavement and neonatal care pay
- New starters and leavers on the FPS, with the leaver’s P45
- Benefits taxed through payroll, including company cars
- The EPS: no pay, Employment Allowance, statutory pay recovered, the Apprenticeship Levy
- A payslip for everyone each payday, and P60s after the last payday of the year
- Corrections to 2025-26 pay already reported
You do
- Confirm each person’s gross pay and tax code
- Declare your workplace pension duties to The Pensions Regulator (it has no service software can file to)
- Sent to HMRC through Fileyear, with your approval, using your company’s own HMRC login
How it works
The payday
Which payday and who was paid. Fileyear carries the people and their pay over from the last payday and suggests new ones from the bank lines it holds.
Check and submit
Tax, National Insurance, loans, pension and what the company pays HMRC by the 22nd.
Deadlines and penalties
| What | Due | If late |
|---|---|---|
| FPS | On or before each payday | From £100 a month, by number of employees, after the first late month of the year |
| EPS for a month without pay | By the 19th of the next tax month | HMRC may estimate what you owe and charge a penalty |
| PAYE and National Insurance | By the 22nd of the next tax month (paid electronically) | Interest, then penalties |
| Payslips | On or before each payday | An employment tribunal can award the pay deducted without a payslip |
| P60 | By 31 May after the tax year | Penalties |
| Pension declaration of compliance | Within 5 months of your duties starting | The Pensions Regulator fines |
Questions directors ask
Can a one-director company claim Employment Allowance?
No. Employment Allowance is not available to a company whose only employee paid above the secondary threshold (£5,000 a year in 2026-27) is a director. With two directors both paid above it, or one employee who is not a director, the company can claim it once a year.
How is a director’s National Insurance worked out?
On an annual earnings period: on all their pay in the tax year to date against the annual thresholds. Or, if you choose the alternative method, each payday like an employee’s, squared up on the last payday of the year.
What if I made a mistake in an earlier payday?
Run that payday again with the correct figures and tick that it corrects pay already sent. For 2025-26, choose that year: Fileyear sends HMRC a further FPS for it with the corrected year-to-date totals, which is how HMRC takes corrections since it withdrew the Earlier Year Update.
Where do the pay figures come from?
From the last payday, and for a first payday from the salary payments in the bank lines Fileyear holds. A bank payment is net pay, so check the gross figure.
What salary should a sole director take?
A company whose only paid employee is its director can’t claim Employment Allowance, so the company pays 15% National Insurance on salary above £5,000 (2026-27). With no other income using your personal allowance and a company that pays Corporation Tax, £12,570 is usually best: no tax or National Insurance for you, and the Corporation Tax saved on the salary and the company’s NI is more than the NI. A company with no taxable profit is better at £6,708, the lower earnings limit, which still counts the year for your State Pension. Fileyear shows this on the review.
Can I pay my salary once a year?
Yes, through HMRC’s annual scheme, if everyone on the payroll is paid once a year. Choose “once a year”: Fileyear sends one FPS in the month you pay, marked as the year’s final submission, and gives you the P60. Tell HMRC the scheme is annual (its employer helpline or PAYE for employers online; there is no service software can use), or it will expect a return each month.
How do I register as an employer?
At gov.uk/register-employer, with the company’s Government Gateway login: before the first payday and no more than 2 months before it. HMRC posts the employer PAYE and Accounts Office references within 5 working days; Fileyear needs both. You don’t need to register if nobody is paid £96 a week or more, gets expenses or benefits, or has another job or a pension. HMRC has no service software can register through, so this step is yours.
Can I pay benefits through payroll?
Yes, once the company has registered with HMRC’s payrolling benefits service before the tax year starts. From 6 April 2027 HMRC requires most benefits to be payrolled.
Guides for this filing
Related filings
Run your payroll, prepared for you
Enter your company and Fileyear prepares it. You only pay once you’ve checked it.