The 31^st March, end of financial year, is a key date in the payroll and finance industry. Many accounts and payroll teams are particularly busy ensuring everything is in order and correct for the current financial year as well as having all the correct information ready to start the new financial year.

advo specialise in working with SME’s and from our experience of managing clients we know that often, in smaller businesses, the responsibility for payroll and finances is carried out alongside many other functions.

With this in mind we have provided a check list of key things to be aware of around this time. This list is not exhaustive and will vary from business to business.

P11D submissions – you must send HMRC a separate report (P11D) for each employee you’ve provided with taxable expenses or benefits. Whilst the deadline is 6^th July many businesses start collating this sooner to avoid delays and potential financial penalties. Please call us for advice if you need further help with understating what needs to be sent to the HMRC.

Changes to statutory pay – we have included rates below. It’s important to ensure these are reflected in your April pay run:

Gender pay gap reporting – Organisations that employ 250 or more workers are required to annually publish a report with data relating to their gender pay gap. This has been the case since 2018 and the usual deadline was the 30th of March. However, the pandemic and its resultant pressures did lead to a temporary extension of the reporting deadline to the 4th of April. But recently, the deadline reverted to its original date, this was for 2022, and will be the same for 2023.

Check insurances – from our experienced many insurances are set up in line with the financial year and renew on the 1^st April. Its good practice to check your insurance premiums and cover at this time.

Pay and salary reviews – many companies choose the 1^st of April as the time for bonus payments and salary review increases. This is often due to wanting this to align to the accounting year. This alignment enables easier review of profit and overheads.

Start preparing your end of year accounts – The HMRC provide an overview on why, how and where to do this https://www.gov.uk/prepare-file-annual-accounts-for-limited-company. Once prepared and filed you can also use these to calculate how much corporation tax to pay.

Due to our specialisms in HR, Benefits and Payroll advo can advise and assist you with a wide range of tasks relating your end of year duties.  As always please reach out if you need assistance.

Once again this is not an exhaustive list of tasks and its key to consult your dedicated account and tax advisors.