Running payroll

Setting up and running payroll

1. Set up the scheme

   On the Payroll tab enter the employer PAYE reference, accounts office reference, pay frequency, the employment allowance if claimed and the workplace pension basis.

2. Add employees

   Enter each employee's details, starter statement, tax code and NI letter, and salary or hourly rate. Mark directors to use the annual earnings period.

3. Start a pay run

   Enter the pay date and frequency and press "Start a pay run".

4. Enter the pay

   Enter basic pay, overtime, bonus, holiday, SSP and SMP for each employee and press "Save and work out".

5. Finalise

   Press "Finalise and post the journal". The payslips are locked and the journal posts on the pay date.

Payslips and year-end forms

Each employee has a payslip per run, and P60 and P45 forms to print.

Payroll covers the 2025-26 and 2026-27 tax years, for the rest of the UK, Scotland and Wales.

The Full Payment Submission and Employer Payment Summary are prepared on the same pages, and pass HMRC's 2026-27 schemas and business rules. Sending them to HMRC switches on once HMRC has issued Accountin its own vendor ID and a submission has been accepted by HMRC's test service.

An Employer Payment Summary that claims back CIS deductions a company has suffered needs the company's Corporation Tax UTR on the PAYE scheme. Employee names can only contain letters, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes, up to 35 characters, and Accountin says which record to change.