Sage 50 Payroll Year End 2024

Stage 1: Prepare for Year End

Sage 50 Payroll v29 comprises both the new legislation for the 2023/2024 tax year and the legislation for 2022/2023 and before that. This essentially implies that you can install v29 before you finally process the final pay period of the 2022/2023 tax year.

One can update using the automatic update prompt once you launch your software, or manually download and install the update following the steps below:

Note: Before you try and process your payroll year end, one must check that you are on the current version of the software. One can check the software as follows:

Go to the Program Details check:

• Start by Clicking on  Help
• Next, click About and check the version begins v29.00.
• In case your version number is v29.00.239 and you have already installed your update you do not need to take any further action.
• In case the version number starts with v28, one needs to follow the steps below to install v29
• If not, you must install the update before you can proceed.

Guide to Payroll Year End 2023/2024

Start by Installing  Your Year End Software Update:

1. First Close Sage 50 Payroll.
2. Next, click the link below:
   • First Download Sage 50 Payroll v29.00.239 
   • In case you are prompted to Run or Save the installation file, click Save, it then downloads to your system
3. To start the process of  installation, locate and right-click exe
4. Finally, click Run as administrator
   NOTE: The installer should be launched using the Run as administrator option.
5. Click Accept License
6. and click Next.
7.  Check the path is the same as the program directory you noted earlier, then click Yes.
8. In case the path is not  the same, click No then Yes, and go to the program directory you noted:
   
   1. click Sage50Payroll_2900239.exe, then click Open
   2. Click OK, once the installation completes, click Close.
9.  Enable background updates
   
   

NOTE: In case the Sage 50 Payroll has been installed on more than one system, repeat these steps on each one.

Once you log in to a company for the first time after you have installed v29, the software upgrades your company data to the current version. Now from v29, once the data upgrade process is completed the software automatically optimizes the database for
your company. This helps to minimize the size of the backups and to maintain error-free data. 

 Paid your employees for the last time in the 2022/2023 tax year:

• Go to the payroll desktop, and check the date in the previous Updated column.
• In case you have paid your employees on Tuesday 5 April 2023, you can have an extra pay run by the end of the tax year.
• Week 53 occurs in case your regular pay date for weekly, fortnightly, or four weekly paid employees falls on 5 April. This is basically because the number of days in the tax year does not divide into a whole number of tax weeks.

TIP: You do not have a week 53 if you process a monthly payroll.

Processing of  any leavers who left on or before 5 April 2023:

• Go to the payroll desktop and check the Current Status column to see if it displays Leaver.
  
• Once an employee has left your company, you need to offer them a P45. To do this, after updating the final payment, but before submitting the full payment submission (FPS), you need to mark them as a leaver.

Submitted your FPS for the last pay period:

• From the payroll desktop, check the date in the last FPS Date column.

The FPS is the submission you must make to HMRC every time you pay your employees. It comprises of:

• Starter and leaver details
• Employee details such as name, address, NI number, and tax code
• Employee payment and deduction details
• Tax, NI, and student loan contributions

If needed, submit your employer payment summary (EPS) for month 12:

• Start by  Clicking e-Submission, then click e-Submission Log.
• You can use the EPS to report values to HMRC that you can not include in your full payment submission (FPS). These values that are sent in the EPS affect the payments that you make to HMRC on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Backed up your Sage 50 Payroll data:

• Start by Click File
• Next, click Backup
• Now follow the steps in the Backup Wizard.

Stage 2: Process Year End

This is the third step of four inorder to complete your payroll year-end. 

1. Payroll year end is quick and simple, let us take a look at the tasks you are required to complete below:
   
   • Start by Setting the process date
   • Within the Payroll navigation bar
   • Now click Change Process Date.
   • Enter 05/04/2023
   • Finally, click OK.
2. Choose tax year
   • In order to start the year-end process, click Payroll Year End.
   • Now Click on Choose Tax Year, and next click Yes to include all employees.
   • Next, Check the Tax Year is 2022/2023.
   • Now Check the Report date is 05/04/2023.
   • In case your company has ceased trading, within the Cessation Date box enter the date it has ceased trading. If not, leave this blank.
   • Finally, Click OK
3. Internet submissions:
   This is the final submission of the 2022/2023 tax year. One must submit it no later than 19 April 2023:
   • Start by Clicking on Internet Submissions
   • Next, read the Important Notice
   • Now click Continue.
   • Next, Check your company details are correct, 
   • Finally, click Submit.
   • Check the correct tax year is showing and your details are correct.
   • Click Submit.
   • When the HMRC Government Gateway is busy, it can take a while for the submission to send. If you want to continue processing and come back later to check the progress of your submission, click Check again later.
   • After your submission has been successfully sent, click the link offered, then click Print.
   • Finally, Click Close.
4.  Produce P60s
   • Anyone who is still employed by you on 5 April 2023 will need a P60. One must offer them with this by 31 May 2023. 
   • You do not need to produce a P60 for any employee who leaves on or before 4 April 2023.
   • To produce your P60s;
   • Click Produce P60s and click select whether to upload, print, or email them.
5. Backup data
   At this point, it is a good idea to back up the payroll data. 
6. Complete year-end
   
   • Start by Clicking on Complete Year-End
   • Next, click Yes.
   • In case you keep mileage records, click Yes, or if you do not, click No.
   • Finally, Click OK.
7.  Distribute YE returns
   This step is simply a reminder that one must offer your employees their P60s by 31 May 2023. You must also pay any tax and national insurance due to HMRC for tax month 12 by 19 April 2023 as normal. To complete this step:
   simply click Close.

Stage 3: Get ready for the new tax year

This section tells us how to get ready for the 2023/2024 tax year in Sage 50 Payroll.

This is the last step to completing payroll year-end. Check out all four steps here:

Before processing within the new tax year, follow the simple 4 steps in order to make sure your software is ready.

1. Start by Checking if you are using the correct version. Before you can start processing within the new tax year, you need to have installed the update for the 2023/24 tax year. 
2. Update the tax codes of the employees. 
   For the 2023/24 tax year, the personal allowance and emergency tax code remain the same at £12,570 and 1257L.
   This implies that you do not need to change your employees' tax codes unless it is informed by HMRC, however, you are required to remove the week 1 / month 1 flag on any employees' tax codes before processing in the new tax year. Next, Update your employees' tax codes.
3. Small employers' relief
   In case you are eligible for the small employers' relief, you are required to set up your software to calculate and claim it. What is Small Employers' Relief (SER):
   
   1. Start by Clicking on the Company
      • Next click Settings.
      • Now Select the Eligible for Small Employers' Relief check box.
      • Next ClickGuide to Payroll Year End 2023/2024 
      • Now Apply for Employment Allowance
      
      TIP: Ensure that your process date has been set to 06/04/2023 before completing this.
      In the 2023/2024 tax year, the employment allowance allows eligible employers to reduce their annual Employers National Insurance liability by up to £5,000. In case you are eligible to claim employment allowance, you can easily apply to HMRC in order to claim the employment allowance and keep track of how much you've claimed through your software. 
4. Pensions Data Exchange
   In case you use Pensions Data Exchange (PDX) in order to send pension data to your provider, there are some additional steps to complete at the start of the tax year. Prepare Pensions Data Exchange for the new tax year.
5. New legislation for the 2023/2024 tax year
   There are a couple of changes to legislation in the new tax year. 
6. 2023/2024 Tax Year Calendar
   In the 2022/2023 tax year, week 53 is Wednesday 5 April 2023. This way the user will have a week 53 if the following applies:
   • the normal payday is a Wednesday and
   • the last process of your weekly paid employees is on Wednesday 29 March 2023.
   • the last processed your fortnightly paid employees on Wednesday 22 March 2023.
   • the last processed your four weekly paid employees on Wednesday 8 March 2023.
     In each of these instances, you're next due to process the employees on 5 April 2023, week 53.

What's new in Sage 50 Payroll v29

Let us take a look at some of the current updates:

Updated name and desktop shortcut

The current version comprises of simplified software name to Sage 50 Payroll. Do not worry though, all the cloud-based features such as Online Services and Pensions Data Exchange remain in place and work as usual. Once you have installed v29, a new icon termed Sage 50 Payroll has been added to your desktop. Now you simply need to delete the old Sage 50cloud Payroll icon and use your new icon to launch your software.

Legislation for the 2023/2024

Up-to-date legislation for the current tax year has been built in, thus offering you everything you need to stay completely compliant.

Enhanced help within your software

In case you are not sure and need support, or just want to know a little more we're proud to give you enhanced access to the support. Simply click any help option within your software including the F1 shortcut and the required window will be launched.

Nominal link file export for Sage Business Cloud Accounting (SBCA)

The user can now set up a nominal link in order to export a file within your payroll values, ready to import right into SBCA. Setup and post-nominal link onto a file for Sage Business Cloud Accounting >Guide to Payroll Year End 2023/2024

Submit year-end submissions for multiple companies

We have added a great new functionality to the multi-company tasks feature, available within Sage 50 Payroll Professional. One can easily submit the year-end submission for various companies with a few simple clicks.

You can use the Multi-Company Tasks option to process year-end Extra company analysis fields. We have increased the number of company-level analysis fields from three to 20! This gives the user better and greater flexibility if you are required to enter details that are unique to your business and reporting requirements.