Basic PAYE tools

Thanks Estimator

I was just searching the forum after spending most of the day looking for some help with the HMRC basic tools. I am using this for the first payroll year end. I'm not really sure what the software should/could do, which order to do things (would hate to print one form before another and then find the info is cleared).
So I looked on the HMRC website for maybe a step by step , nothing.
I finally found the same as Estimator, that although I have automatic updates on it does not do the latest download, which you think you woud have.
I've downloaded this update and now I'm still not sure what to do in which order.

1. Viewed & printed the P11 end of year summary
2. Viewed & printed the P32 deductions summary

I've gone into employees fill in forms on screen and looked at the P60. When I select the employee etc and then go to next page the tax details and so on. There are no figures on the form? Is the software meant to enter the relevant data or am I meant to fill it in and then save and print them?

If I file my forms online, do I then get further options?

As you may have guessed I am confused!

Also you said there is a data transfer utility - but I can't find it?

Thanks

Click the 'Options' toolbutton at the top of the window, then click the 'Application settings' tab. That will show you what version number you're using. If it says version "3.something" the automatic updates will only update new version 3's. To get the latest version ("4.something") you need to download and install the latest version from the website yourself. Then the automatic updates will carry on updating version 4.

To find the data transfer button click on the 'Employer Database' menu option and you should see a button at the bottom of the window. It disappears after you've transferred your data (I think).

Estimator said:

I will answer this myself as I have just sorted it out. It might help anybody else who is stuck.
You need to download the latest Basic PAYE Tools 2012 (version 4.0.0.19694).
There is then a data transfer utility option which will copy details from the previous version from a file on your computer which it finds.
Now there is a clear 'complete year end 2011/12' option in your Employer Database which will generate print outs and can be used to send off relevant forms to HMRC, and then you are into next year.

Click to expand...

We've been hit by a gotcha - our accountants prepare yearly returns, not us, so we merely want to continue into 2012/13 payroll -- trying to do today's payroll ready to pay everybody tomorrow, with 2012's software duly installed, and it won't let us use the new year's dates but it doesn't explain why not. The employee data however imported OK.

Maybe there was an issue running 2012 alongside 2011 on the same PC, so we backed up 2011's database then deleted the 2011 software to leave 2012 running. Of course that didn't work...

Then I read here that we have to close off last year's first.

So the question is, how to silently close off the previous year and put it out of its misery, without sending any yearly returns? HMRC Helpline, after a long pause, claims it can't be done so we're hosed, with a old database that we can't re-install, and new software that won't run either unless we start from scratch.

Do the year end 'printouts' mentioned above refer to physical printouts [that we can silently file away] and close off last year's payroll program that way, or does it submit something online to HMRC, conflicting with what our accountants are doing anyway?

And how to fetch 2011's software again if we need it?

Much appreciate any pointers or comments!

Alan

When I read all the above postings, I'm glad a use a 'cloud computing' solution which works brilliantly and is reasonably priced. Monthly payroll and year end returns. Each year kept separate. Server resides securely in the UK. One set of headaches avoided.

Smallbusinessman said:

When I read all the above postings, I'm glad a use a 'cloud computing' solution which works brilliantly and is reasonably priced. Monthly payroll and year end returns. Each year kept separate. Server resides securely in the UK. One set of headaches avoided.

Click to expand...

So what system do you use?

Dawn

First year ive used the Basic PAYE Tools software and it works great.

To submit the year end forms i just use the HMRC Online Services site.

Following up the above, we dumped HMRC's free tools and installed Sage Instant Payroll. Bought, downloaded, installed, running and payslips printed within 45 minutes. The best £105 we ever spent. It's backed up to Amazon Cloud Drive for free.

We've had quite a few calls from people having trouble understanding what's going on with the PAYE tools "update" to 2012 as well, and I agree not being able to start a new year without closing out the old is a little bit of an odd workflow, but what do we expect from people who build software that won't install on February 29th!

In any case, if you do want to carry on with the free tools, we offer a payslip add on program for Windows systems for a one time charge of £12.50, and the data's backed up on your own machine, not the cloud.

Just search for Payslips for PAYE Tools.

Anthony Wieser
Wieser Software Ltd

Thanks for the offer -- we're committed to Sage Payroll for now though. It seems to be a very well sorted package.

We're running it on a dedicated laptop at home (it's the only way to find the time) and having run the first weeks' wages and backed it up, we were feeling pretty pleased for once -- and then the laptop hard disk failed.

We recovered most of the data onto a new disk but we were grateful for the 5GB free cloud backup on Amazon.com -- I really recommend it and you can buy more space for next to nothing. We also take external backups onto a small HDD, using Acronis or (better) Reflect.

Onwards to the next problem...

-- Alan