Basic PAYE Tools - a strange program

[Cabin Fever]

Greetings to everyone on the forum - this is my first post. Thank you for a great resource.

I have a question about Basic PAYE Tools, a program I have used over many years which generally does what I need it to do.

However there are two oddities which I have always experienced:

1. Massively long start-up time - nearly a minute. This is odd considering the nature of the program and what it actually does. Horsepower of the computer seems to make no difference.

2. Severe screen formatting issues, almost like a website with the CSS disabled. This has plagued me for years regardless of the various laptops I have used, with the exception of a Dell XPS 13 on which it seems to display perfectly normally, although still with the long start-up time.

Am I alone in this?

 

[DontAsk]

I think it 'phones home, which accounts for the (sometimes) long startup time.

I have not experienced screen formatting issues.

The BPT dedicated helpline has been very helpful in the past. Much easier to get through than general tax enquiries. I would try calling them, but things may have changed...

 

[Cabin Fever]

I think it 'phones home, which accounts for the (sometimes) long startup time.

I have not experienced screen formatting issues.

The BPT dedicated helpline has been very helpful in the past. Much easier to get through than general tax enquiries. I would try calling them, but things may have changed...

Thank you, yes that's probably it - phoning home. Perhaps it's checking the version number, although that check doesn't take long when you do it via the program. Likely it does some other comms stuff as well.

Regarding the screen formatting issue, it now occurs to me that it has to be down to some other software that I routinely install on my laptops that is clashing with BPT. A very old version of MS Office springs to mind - which I have not installed on the Dell XPS.

Many thanks! You've helped me think through this long-standing problem.

 

[DontAsk]

Regarding the screen formatting issue, it now occurs to me that it has to be down to some other software that I routinely install on my laptops that is clashing with BPT. A very old version of MS Office springs to mind - which I have not installed on the Dell XPS.

I have seen strange effects in other software from outdated graphics drivers.

I doubt it's MS Office. I have always had that installed (Office 2010 I think) on the same machine as BPT.

 

[Bumbling Amateur]

I experience the same long start up time but formatting is fine.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Many thanks for the replies. I have now identified the source of the issue.

An old version of Macromedia Dreamweaver (v8) was installed and it was this that caused the screen formatting problems with Basic PAYE Tools.

Uninstalling this program has cleared up the problem.

As for the BPT launch time, I timed it with the Dell XPS Core i7 (on flight mode) and it took 1 min 40 secs !!

 

[N-UPS]

Same long start up here
No graphics issues - Geforce GTX 1650 super card

also for the staff payments amounts due to HMRC (NIC and PAYE tax) it never thinks I've paid anything. So for the first month its saying pay eg £2000 to HMRC

then the second month, it adds the new £2000 on to the other £2000 (already paid by bank xfer)

this goes on the whole year till the next April

Do you get this?

 

[Newchodge]

Same long start up here
No graphics issues - Geforce GTX 1650 super card

also for the staff payments amounts due to HMRC (NIC and PAYE tax) it never thinks I've paid anything. So for the first month its saying pay eg £2000 to HMRC

then the second month, it adds the new £2000 on to the other £2000 (already paid by bank xfer)

this goes on the whole year till the next April

Do you get this?

Do you tell Basic tools that you have paid HMRC?

 

[N-UPS]

Hello - no - err can you give a pointer where to look then I'll dig in and investigate

 

[Newchodge]

Hello - no - err can you give a pointer where to look then I'll dig in and investigate

I'm afraid I don't know, I haven't used it in years, but it is basic. It won't connect to your HMRC account and update the payments made. All it does is record your payroll and submit the RTI to HMRC.

 

[DontAsk]

You don't tell the tool when you have paid.

Are you submitting each month? Were the submissions successful. As I've said, I found the BPT helpline very helpful.

 

[N-UPS]

Hi
we make the sumission in BPT and then send the amount due via bank payment

do you do something else as well Mr DontAsk?

 

[DontAsk]

Hi
we make the sumission in BPT and then send the amount due via bank payment

do you do something else as well Mr DontAsk?

Nope, that's it.

Do you get the e-mail acknowledgement for your submission?

Have you checked your on line PAYE account to see that the payments are showing?

Which screen are you looking at that keeps adding on new payments?

 

[N-UPS]

Hi

I click on the company name to get to the front of the program, then "calculate amounts due to HMRC"
I click on "View" for the current month

The bottom line is "Amount now payable to HM Revenue and customs" xxxxx - this is the total for the year

Perhaps its just the wording on the program. It is probably just a total and they should have text something like "Total paid to HMRC this year"