RTI Payslip Date

Sue

I have spoken to two different people and am being given conflicting advice with regards to RTI and dates on payslips and am hoping someone here can confirm which is correct.

One person has told me that payslips should be dated the date that payment is given to employees, so if employees are paid on different dates due to cash flow the payroll will need to be split.

But another person has told me that is incorrect, that as long as the payslip date is not later than payment date or the date of submission to HMRC then it is fine.

suej

Hi

The payslip date should now be the date that the employee receives their wages:thumbup:

Regards
Sue

groundy

Sorry suej but I disagree. The payslip should be dated as per the pay day. However if due to cashflow difficulties wages are paid a day later or another reason that is fine. RTI is fine as long as declared prior to payment made. Were you have an issue is if payment is made prior to payday and no RTI reported.

Janej

Hi
I agree with groundy. My understanding is that the payslips should be dated the day the employees are due to be paid eg Friday for weekly paid staff. I usually prepare my client's payroll runs in advance of the pay date but date for their actual pay date. It makes no difference to RTI if the employees are paid a day late as long as the RTI submission is done on or before the date they are due to be paid.
Jane

coojee

How does this work when using a payroll bureau who doesn't know what day the wages will be paid on? I can't pay the wages to my staff until I receive the information from the bureau and they can't date the payslip because I haven't paid the staff yet. And so we go round in circles.

Janej

I do payroll for some of my clients and it works well. My clients tell me their pay frequency (weekly,fortnightly, monthly etc) and I date the payslips according to this. I prepare the payslips in advance of the pay date from the info given to me by my clients - I usually try to run them on a Wednesday for payment on a Friday as it suit my work load and it means that the client can check them over before the actual pay date in case of any mistakes. I file the RTI submission once the client has received the payslips and I am sure they are correct and no amendment need to be made.

Sue

Thanks all.

I have found an accountant that took part in the pilot scheme and she said that payslips must be dated the same day pay is passed to employees. She said it was one of the first things to be confirmed when they took part in the scheme.

It looks like I need to investigate further.

Janej

Hi Sue
I would be really interested to see what you find out. I think that there has to be some leeway, it is frankly unworkable for payslips to be dated when the actual pay is handed to the employee. For example one of my payroll clients runs a business where most of his employees are part time and they know he pays them on a Friday but if they only work Saturdays then they often do not collect their wages on the Friday but collect it from him when they are next in work. In this case if the payslips needed to be dated when the actual pay was handed to the employee you would have to contact every employee to find out when they would be collecting their wages and that would be ridiculous. Their wages are made up and available for collection on Friday so that is when we date the payslips.
Jane

groundy

It is not the day they are paid but the date they are expected to be paid. As long as RTI is filed before expected pay date you are fine. If wages are paid after expected pay date that is not a problem and does not affect the date on payslip!

villapb

Are hmrc going to check when actual payment is made, i doubt it........ie cash form till etc, they got enough to do...