Set up payroll

Payroll lives under Money Out. Kontala runs payroll monthly, by UK tax month: Month 1 runs from 6 April to 5 May, and so on through the year.

Who can use payroll

Payroll is visible only to users with the Tax, Accounting & Users permission level or above, and submitting to HMRC needs Full Access. See User permission levels.

Set your company start date

Payroll needs your company start date to work out the first month it can run. Open the account menu (the button showing your company name, top right), choose Settings, and fill in Company Start Date.

Until it is set, the payroll Status card says "Set your company start date on the Accounting Dates screen to run payroll", with a Go to Accounting Dates link. More in Accounting dates and settings.

Add the people you pay

Everyone on your payroll is a user in your organisation, so add them as users first. Active team members appear in the Employees table on the payroll overview, each with an Edit Profile button.

On each person's profile, fill in:

• Employment details, including their Employee start date. A person is only included in pay runs from the tax month containing this date.
• Tax and National Insurance: their Tax code, NI category letter, and whether NICs are calculated as an employee or a director.
• Monthly Pay: the standing amounts, such as Basic Pay, that go on their payslip each month.

Details HMRC needs

A pay run cannot be completed until every employee on it has a First name, Last name, Date of birth, Gender, and a home address on their profile. New starters need at least two address lines.

For filing itself, your Company Details page needs your employer PAYE Reference and Accounts Office Reference - see Send RTI to HMRC.

Ready? Prepare a pay run.