Your guide to Payroll Year End 2023

Your guide to Payroll Year End 2023
By Anthony Wolny | 3rd February 2023 | 5 min read

New content: looking for advice on Payroll Year End 2024? Check out our new and updated PYE 24 article.

Tick tock, tick tock, it’s almost that time of year again – Payroll Year End is on the horizon.

No need to panic!

To ensure Payroll Year End 2023 is stress-free, we’ve detailed all the basics, covered the upcoming changes for this year and provided some handy tips.

What is Payroll Year End?

Payroll Year End is the final submission you make to HMRC, where you send vital information such as your Full Payment Submission (FPS) and Employer Payment Submissions (EPS).

Your main tasks include:

  • Reporting to HMRC on the previous tax year, which ends on 5 April
  • Providing employees with their P60
  • Preparing for the new tax year, which starts on 6 April

When is Payroll Year End?

The HMRC payroll tax year runs from 6th April to 5th April of the following year.

Payroll 2023 calendar

The timeline for the main payroll Year End dates for 2023 are:

  • Send your final FPS payroll report of the year on or before your employees’ payday
  • 5 April: declare your payroll benefits  
  • From 6 April: update employee payroll records
  • From 6 April: ensure your payroll software is updated
  • By 31 May: give your current employees a P60
  • By 6 July: report employee expenses and benefits if they aren’t being processed through payroll
  • By 22 July: pay Class 1A NIC on P11D benefits

Legislative changes for payroll in 2023

Different year, same story.

Payroll Year End 2023 brings with it a range of updates, which you need to be aware of.

Personal allowance threshold  

For the 2023-2024 tax year, the personal allowance threshold, which is the amount of income you don’t have to pay tax on, remains £12,570 per year, £1,048 per month and £242 per week.

As there is no change to personal allowance, the L, M and N tax codes also remain the same.

Income Tax rates for England & Northern Ireland

Rate (%)Band (£)
20 (Basic Rate)1 - 37,700
40 (Higher Rate)37,701 – 125,140
45 (Additional Rate)125,141>

Income Tax rates for Scotland

Rate (%)Band (£)
19 (Starter Rate)1 – 2,162
20 (Basic Rate)2,163 – 13,118
21 (Intermediate Rate)13,119 – 31,092
42 (Higher Rate)31,093 – 125,140
47 (Top Rate)125,141>

*Income Tax rates and thresholds are subject to parliamentary approval.

Income Tax rates for Wales

Rate (%)Band (£)
20 (Basic Rate)1 - 37,700
40 (Higher Rate)37,701 – 125,140
45 (Additional Rate)125,141>

*Income Tax rates and thresholds are subject to parliamentary approval.

National Insurance Contributions

In 2023/2024, we see Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) revert to normal in that a separate set of rates and thresholds are no longer required for employees and directors.

The rate for both Class 1A NICs and Class 1B NICs will be 13.8%.

NICs rates and thresholds for 2023/2024 will be as follows:

Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) £Primary Threshold (PT) £Secondary Threshold (ST) £Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) £Upper Secondary Threshold (UST) £Apprentice Upper Secondary Threshold (AUST) £Freeport Upper Secondary Threshold (FUST) £Veterans Upper Secondary Threshold (VUST) £
Weekly  123242175967967967481967
2 Weekly  2464843501934193419349621934
4 Weekly  49296770038673867386719243867
Monthly  533104875841894189418920834189
Quarterly  159931432275125681256812568625012568
Half-yearly  3198628545502513525135251351250025135
Annual63961257091005027050270502702500050270

2023/2024 National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW)

DescriptionRate (£)
Aged 23 and above (National Living Wage rate)£10.42  
Aged 21 to 22£10.18  
Aged 18 to 20£7.49  
Aged under 18 (but above compulsory school leaving age)£5.28
Apprentices aged under 19£5.28
Apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship£5.28

You can see rates for previous years here.

2023/2024 Statutory Payment Rates

Type of payment or recoveryRate
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) – weekly rate for first 6 weeks  90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings  
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) – weekly rate for remaining weeks£172.48 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) – weekly rate£172.48 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) – weekly rate for first 6 weeks90% of employee’s average weekly earnings
Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) – weekly rate for remaining weeks£172.48 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower  
Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) – weekly rate£172.48 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) – weekly rate£172.48 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
SMP, SPP, ShPP, SAP or SPBP – proportion of your payments you can recover from HMRC  92% if your total Class 1 National Insurance (both employee and employer contributions) is above £45,000 for the previous tax year

103% if your total Class 1 National Insurance for the previous tax year is £45,000 or lower

5 top tips for Payroll Year End

1) Be prepared

To ensure Payroll Year End is as smooth as can be, gather all the required data beforehand. Actively chase if you must as you don’t want to have to make corrections in another tax year.

2) Reconcile all previous periods

Check your reports against the HMRC website to make sure they balance.

If they don’t, investigate why.

Doing so will make life so much easier before the deadline and prevent any need for an Earlier Year Update/amended FPS submission.

3) Know what submissions you need to make

Do you need to send an EPS or just an FPS?
RTI submissions can be confusing, so ensure you know which ones you need to make.

FPS OnlyEmployees paid in final pay period and EPS not required

FPS and EPSEmployees paid in final pay periodForgotten to mark your FPS as the final submission of the yearSent final FPS early and didn’t pay anyone for one or more full tax monthsIf any statutory payments need recoveringApprenticeship Levy paid in tax year

EPS onlyNo employees paid in the final pay period of the tax year

4) Apprenticeship Levy payments = sending EPS

If you have hit the Apprenticeship Levy threshold at any point during the year you will have to submit an EPS.

This will ensure that the correct amounts are showing against your record. 

H3: 5) Create a checklist

Are all the responsibilities feeling overwhelming? Create a checklist for Payroll Year End, stick to it and update it for the following year to use again.

Having a checklist will make sure you have followed all the right steps and you haven’t missed anything crucial.

IRIS is here to help

We’ve got the tools to help you Unlock Your Power, whether you want best-in-class payroll software or to outsource your responsibility completely.

Staffology HR, our integrated payroll and HR solution starts at just £1.50 per employee or alternatively, our world-class outsourcing service is here to help.

*please note this blog is purely for educational purposes and does not constitute as legal advice.