Common questions

• What if I need help?

  If you have queries about operating or installing the payroll software then get in touch. We only ask that if you are satisfied with the support you receive from us that you should buy a premium licence to show your appreciation.

• Does 12Pay integrate with accounts software?

  Yes, the paid for version of 12Pay integrates well with many well-known accounts software. Our KashFlow accounts software is a great option if you're looking for software to do accounts. We know that you want to spend your time on what you do, not struggling with complicated software trying to understand how it works. Kashflow is software that works how you’d expect it to work, without using confusing jargon or complicated processes. Try KashFlow, free for 14 days.

• Is it easy to manage your own payroll?

  Our users have seen that doing your own payroll is easy when you have the right HMRC recognised software guiding you through the process.
  
  You give the company managing your payroll a fairly small amount of information about your employees:
  Who are they?
  How much are they paid?
  What documents (such as P45s) have they given you?
  When have they been off sick?
  Are they pregnant?
  
  The time you spend compiling that information on special handwritten forms or in Excel could be spent entering it into your own payroll package. It makes complete sense to save both time and money by doing it yourself.

• Is this software useful for CIS subcontractors?

  Yes, if you are a registered employer or a limited company. The free software will do some of the work for you and if you buy the CIS edition then the software will automatically take account of the CIS deduction from payments to you by your customer, allowing you to record the CIS references supplied you by your customer when they pay you.
  
  You should use the payroll system to pay yourself gross of the CIS deduction and (if you have the CIS edition) the system will then automatically subtract the CIS deduction from your PAYE/NI liability to HMRC because it has already been withheld by your customer.

• Is this software useful for CIS contractors?

  Yes, the software allows you to run payrolls that pay CIS contractors. You can specify if they are paid at the higher rate, the lower rate, or the gross rate. The system will automatically calculate their deduction and apply it to the P32 and P35 documents. It copes with materials payments to subcontractors too.
  
  You can print a CIS300 report that helps you prepare your CIS300 monthly return.
  
  If you have a premium licence as well as a CIS licence you get extra features. You can submit the CIS300 monthly return via the internet, and you can request subcontractor verification numbers via the internet too.

• What information do I need to collect about my employees?

  Here is what you need to know to starting paying someone:
  Name
  Gender
  NI Number
  Date of Birth
  Their tax code - If they started with you in the current tax year they need to give you a P45 from their previous employer OR you get them to fill in a Starter Checklist if they don’t have a P45.
  In either case enter the details in the payroll software, and the software will automatically enter their tax code. If they were already employed by you at the start of the tax year, or if you are transferring existing data to new payroll software you should already know their tax code, and you just enter it directly
  Their NI table letter for calculating National Insurance. HMRC supplies a flowchart to help you decide which letter to use, and we link to that flowchart in our software so you have it to hand when you need it Their pay
  
  The 12Pay payroll software has been designed so that all these key facts about your employee are entered in one place, to get the preparation completed as smoothly as possible.
  
  Other details such as their address are desirable but not essential at the start. Just enter the basic details, press the Calculate button and then view the smart payslips, which print on blank paper so you don’t have to buy expensive specialised stationery.

• What about variable payments, sickness, pregnancy, and so on?

  Absences such as pregnancy or sickness are simply entered into the software which then calculates the employee’s entitlement to statutory absence payments automatically. The software tells you of any further action that you need to take such as obtaining evidence from your employees.

• How can I check that I’ve got my payroll right?

  The payroll reconciliation report compares each pay period with the one before and provides you with a detailed list of the differences. You can simply go through and check this list of what has changed. Each pay period you can change everything around, run pay calculations, print your reports and payslips as many times as you like, before confirming that you are ready to finalise the results and proceed to the next period.

• How do I pay HMRC the right amount each month or quarter?

  Either monthly or quarterly you need to pay to HMRC the PAYE, NI and Student Loan repayments that you have collected, less any allowances for statutory absence payments. The 12Pay payroll software prints a P32 summarising what you owe. Many small companies like to pay quarterly, so the P32 is printed with both monthly and quarterly subtotals for you. Premium users can even pay HMRC (and their employees) electronically if they have appropriate banking software on their PC.

• What do I need to do at year end?

  At year end you need to give your employees P60s. The software prints these on plain paper for you. You also need to send a year-end FPS or EPS to HMRC. This is available virtually at the click of a button. Just check the figures and submit them across the internet to HMRC. If you register with us and keep your software up to date the software will automatically start using new tax and NI bands at the right time, and employees will automatically have their tax allowances adjusted at year end.

• Is it easy to switch to using 12Pay in the middle of a PAYE year?

  12Pay has been designed to make it easy to enter a summary of your P11 data (available from your previous package or from your manual P11 records) at any time. Once you've entered the data you can use the package just as if you'd been using it for the whole tax year, and year-end totals will include the summarised information. The member's area of this website contains a video explaining what to do when switching to 12Pay in the middle of the PAYE year.

• How do I configure my Windows Time and Date settings?

  Windows 10 has two locations to configure your PC region and language settings, both of these need to be checked.
  
  Click on the start button and then "Settings"
  
  
  
  From the settings windows, click on "Time & Language"
  
  
  
  On the following window make sure "Country or region" is set to "United Kingdom". Then click on the option "Additional date, time & regional settings"
  
  
  
  On the following windows, click the option "Change date, time or number formats"
  
  
  
  Make sure the format option here is set to "English (United Kingdom)". You should see this then correctly sets the short date format to "dd/MM/yyyy".