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Adding a Company

To set up your company with sufficient information to process your payroll, you’ll need to collect a few key pieces of information.

You can enter just the basic information on the first screen of adding a new company to get going; however we recommend that you fully complete company setup to avoid having to return to fix things later.

After setup, you can change or complete any information you may have left out using Company » Setup Details from the left-hand main navigation.

Required Setup Information

Before you can use KashFlow Payroll to create payslips, process pay runs, and pay employees, you will need to complete set up for your company.

If you already have payroll software that you are moving from, you should be able to collect this information from your existing software’s setup screens.

If you are unsure about where to find any of the data required for company setup, check with your accountant, HMRC, or contact support.

Information You’ll Need

  1. The correct legal name of your company.
  2. Your current weekly and/or monthly pay date. If you pay employees each week, enter your next pay day. Likewise if you pay monthly. You may use both pay frequencies at the same time in KashFlow Payroll.
  3. Employer PAYE Reference.  Your office and reference number that you can find on the yellow PAYE Payslip booklet supplied by HMRC.
  4. Accounts Office Reference. You will find this 13 character reference number on the PAYE payment booklet or letter supplied by HMRC, printed in the format 123PA12345678.
  5. Corporation Tax Reference (optional). Normally applies to limited companies and can also be called the Company Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) and will have been issued by HMRC. Can be found on the ‘Notice to deliver a company Tax Return’ (form CT603). It may also be found on other documents issued by HMRC.  
  6. Self Assessment Unique Tax Reference (optional) – Normally applies to sole proprietors or partnerships and used in RTI submissions to help HMRC identify a sole trader. If you registered with HMRC for Self Assessment, enter the reference number they supplied.
  7. Contracted Out Number (optional) – Required if you operate an occupational contracted-out pension scheme. Sent to you by HMRC when you set up your scheme, and which you will have entered on form P35 when completing your past Annual Return.
  8. Your banking information (optional). If you plan to pay any employees by electronic transfer (BACs) you will need your BACs format, bank account name, number and sort code to hand.
  9.  Opening balances.

Commercial Information

Step 1. Commercial Information

On the Commercial information tab, provide KashFlow Payroll with contact details for your Company, such as the Address to display on payslips.

Field Help:

Business Type
Note that this is an optional field, but gives us an idea of what kind of employer you are.

Government Settings

Step 2. Government settings

Each Company in KashFlow Payroll represents a PAYE Scheme and HMRC will have given you some references and numbers to help them identify you in the RTI submissions.

References

Try and complete as many of these references as you can find;

  • Employer PAYE Reference: You will find this reference on the yellow PAYE Payslip booklet supplied by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
  • Accounts Office Reference: You will find this 13 character reference number on the PAYE payment booklet or letter supplied by HM Revenue & Customs, printed in the format 123PA12345678. References that are not 13 characters long require zeros (0) entering after the two letters to make it up to 13 characters e.g. 123PA00045678
  • Corporation Tax Reference: This reference, also called the Company Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), is ten digits long and applies to limited companies.  You will find this reference on the ‘Notice to deliver a company Tax Return’ (HMRC form CT603).
  • Self Assessment Unique Tax Reference: This reference is ten digits long and usually applies to sole proprietors or partnerships.  You will find this reference on a Self Assessment return that you have made to HMRC.
    Tip: Prior to RTI this reference was written on paper forms in the following format [123 12345 67890 A]. Only the ten numbers in italics, but without the space, are the Tax Reference. The first three numbers represent the tax office and the ‘A’ is a remnant of the CT payment system.

Contracted Out Number

This is required if your company has a certified contracted out pension scheme.  All ECONs begin with the letter “E”.

Are you eligible for Small Employers Relief?

An employer qualifies for SER if their Class 1 NICs fall below a certain level in the Tax Year.  HMRC or your accountant should be able to tell you if you qualify for Small Employers Relief but after a year of using KashFlow Payroll you will be advised if you qualify automatically.  Small Employers Relief means KashFlow Payroll will offset your monthly payments to HMRC with a compensation or recovery amount when you make any Statutory Payments such as Statutory Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay.

Enable Online Filing

Normally you would leave RTI Filing switched on so that KashFlow Payroll makes RTI submissions for you online and on time.  There are no buttons to press or procedures to follow; KashFlow Payroll simply files everything required online when it is needed.

An FPS submission is required on or before every Pay Date and KashFlow Payroll will perform these automatically for you when you finish with a Pay Date.  You should only disable RTI Filing if you are sure RTI submissions have already been made for the Pay Dates you are closing.  Examples of why you could turn RTI Filing off are:

  • A separate system is performing the RTI submissions.
  • Historical data is being entered in to KashFlow Payroll so actual RTI submissions are not required.
  • KashFlow Payroll has already made the RTI submissions because the user has performed the Rollback Action to an earlier Pay Date.  A Rollback generally disables RTI Filing and any amendments to the earlier payroll will be reflected in the Year To Date figures of the next normal FPS when RTI Filing is enabled again.

If RTI Filing is disabled you must remember to turn it on again when processing the current Pay Date and KashFlow Payroll will remind you to do so.

HMRC Online Filing Credentials

When KashFlow Payroll makes an online RTI submission for you, it needs to login to HMRC with a user name, password and some contact details (your ‘credentials’).  If you have ever done any online filing before then you should already have the necessary credentials and should enter them here.  If you do not have any credentials, or just don’t feel like typing them in, you can use KashFlow Payroll’s credentials.

Payment Options

Step 3. Payment options

This company setup tab is all about how you pay your employees.

Pay Employees By

You can pay your employees by

  • Cash
  • Cheque, or
  • Electronic Transfer (for example, by BACS)
  • Other (for example, if you use your online banking system)

Banking Information

If you pay by Electronic Transfer then KashFlow Payroll needs to know your bank details in order to create the appropriate payment file for you.  For building societies you may need to enter your Building Society Roll Number in the BACS Reference box.

When you close a Pay Date you will be able to download a BACS file for a specific Electronic Payment Type, such as

  • Barclays Business Master
  • HSBCnet
  • Lloyds Link
  • etc

You can then import the BACS file to your banking software to pay your employees directly, without having to rekey any information.

Payroll Control Settings

Step 4. Payroll control settings

This company setup tab tells KashFlow Payroll how you want your Pay Dates to be set because every time you close a Pay Date, KashFlow Payroll will create the next one for you. For example, you may want your weekly Pay Dates to be on every Friday, or your monthly Pay Dates to be on the 25th of the month or earlier if this is a weekend or bank holiday.

Payslip Format and Delivery

You can choose from a number of layouts for the employee payslips and how you generally want payslips to be delivered.  For example, you may like to print payslips yourself or use the Employee Self Service facility.

Employee Self Service

KashFlow Payroll runs over the internet, so your employees can login and get what they need from KashFlow Payroll.  Employees can collect their own current or historical payslips (sometimes called electronic payslips) so when you have closed a Pay Date there is nothing to print or deliver – saving you time and paper.

Opening Balances

Step 5. Opening balances

Opening Balances tell KashFlow Payroll what the Year To Date figures were before you started using KashFlow Payroll, so you only need Opening Balances once for the Year that you start using KashFlow Payroll and only if you processed payrolls earlier in the year. KashFlow Payroll sets the Year of the opening Balances for you.

Before you pay employees the first time through KashFlow Payroll

It is best to enter the Year To Date compensation and recovery amounts from your previous payroll system before you finish your first Pay Date in KashFlow Payroll.

Zero Values

Opening Balances can all be zero if

  1. your Company is not eligible for Small Employers Relief (as there wouldn’t be any compensation or recovery figures in the first place)
  2. you did not process any payroll for this Company earlier in the year (ie you are a new Company and have not paid anyone before)
  3. you start using KashFlow Payroll in the first week or month in April (the easiest time to start using a new payroll system)

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