Ers NI on the payslip

zara5034

I would really appreciate some advice please.

I run a small payroll bureau business and one of my clients is requesting that i do not show the employers NI on the wage slips as he does not want the employees to know this amount.

I am extremely baffled by this request and in 10 years of payroll have never had anyone have a problem with the Employers NI being on the payslip. So does anyone know where I stand with this? What can I advise my Client. I do not seem to be able to remove it from the payslips using my current software package (12pay) and I do not want to buy another software package just to please one client!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Zara

Monsoon

Eh?

It's part of the payslip. A payslip has to show various things by law. I would guess if I read up on it, I would find that NI'er was one of those elements!

Why on earth would they not want the employees to see? It's just a basic amount, anyone who asks an accountant or Payroll operator would be able to deduce it anway, so what on earth is their problem?

Just tell them no, any proper package will show it.

*the mind boggles*

AK002

FYI mine doesn't show employers NI and I work for a firm of Chartered Accountants.

Why should it show Er's NI, it's not part of the employees salary...

Mine shows gross less deductions and net.

A-Vic

on our payroll software it shows it on the cumulatives section for the year - but am with monsoon why would they want to take it off?

anniem

A-Vic wrote: »

on our payroll software it shows it on the cumulatives section for the year - but am with monsoon why would they want to take it off?

Maybe they aren't paying it over?

A-Vic

if thats the case (if they file it) it will show on their P35 when they file it anyway but it makes no difference to the employee what the employer is paying in NI as it isnt coming out of their paypacket unless they charge their employee for the total NI contributions. ok am getting sinikle these days but as my boss said you have to be in this line of work

zara5034

Thanks for all the responses

I don't think there is a legal requirement to show it as I have previously worked for a firm of chartered accountants where it was not shown on the payslips as AK002 has pointed out, however this is a new client of mine and I am wondering what he hopes to gain by not showing it.

The main problem I have is that my software doesn't allow me to take it off, so I am not sure how to go about this without upsetting my client (I'm probably being too nice as usual)

The mind certainly does Boggle!

A-Vic

if i was in your place i would explane to your client that your software wont allow this and ask why it was important (suspouis mind again) and if the client feels this is important enough maybe put to them that you would have to charge a premium for the cost of different software?

Monsoon

Thanks for the clarification on whether its compulsory or not (glad I said in my post I wasn't sure!).

12Pay are very helpful and I do believe there is some level of payslip customisation; have you asked them about it?

I'd still love to know why he doesn't want it on there!

Regarding being too nice - remember to get the right balance between pleasing the client, and spending waaaay too many hours that you aren't getting paid for - you aren't a charity.

I still can't get over what an odd request it is.....!

zara5034

Good news, my client has decided that he no longer has a problem with the ERs NI on the payslip! (I did tell him that in over 10 years I'd never heard anyone request this before)

Luckily I didn't spent too much time looking into it, and what I did research is actually quite useful to know anyway.

Thank-you Monsoon for the advice.

Zara

payrollpro

Hi everyone,

First off you may be surprised just how little the legal requirements are for the payslip. Section 8 of the emmployment rights act 1996 says gross pay, itemised deductions and net pay with an easement which allows you to group the deductions into a single sum as long as they do not change and you can provide a statement once every 12 months, and that's it!

The comment about the relevance of Ers NIC is absolutely right, it has nothing to do with the employee and I think you will find that an employer is perfectly justified in asking for it to be removed. All payroll systems must be able to amend its payslips to client requirements.

I have to say that in 30 years of dealing with payrolls up to 30k employees I have met many instances of employers not quoting Ers NIC on the payslip and it is all about relevance and balance. Often the inclusion of Ers generates unnecessary queries which have nothing to do with the payment. This is particularly important in large payrolls where the employer needs to think carefully about the information given, too much can just overwhelm the employee and lead to additional and irrelevant queries, too little often means queries just confirming what is already known.

Is it because they are not physically paying it over, possibly but again, as far as employees are concerned completely irrelevant. as long as the Class 1, primary is evident on the payslip the employee is entitled to consider that the statutory function has been performed, it is HMRC's responsibility to make sure the money is paid over, not the employees.

Payrollpro