Payroll Truths
Most business owners think payroll is simple
Pay your people on time
Job done
After years working with SMEs, here is what most of them did not know
Payroll is one of the most compliance heavy things your business does every single month
Here is what often gets missed:
Real Time Information means HMRC knows your payroll before your employees are even paid. Every submission is logged. Every late filing is noticed.
The Employment Allowance can reduce your Employer NIC bill by up to £10,500 in 2026/27. A significant number of eligible businesses never claim it. Note: single director companies with no other employees are not eligible.
Statutory payments, sick pay, maternity, paternity, adoption, have strict calculation rules. Get them wrong and you are either underpaying your employee or overclaiming from HMRC. Neither is a good position.
Benefits in kind processed through payroll have changed significantly. If you are still issuing P11Ds for everything without reviewing whether payrolling benefits makes more sense, it may be worth a conversation.
Pension auto enrolment does not stop at setup. Contribution rates, eligible earnings and re-enrolment every three years all require ongoing attention. The auto enrolment trigger remains at £10,000 per year for 2026/27. Most business owners set it up once and assume it runs itself. It does not.
Payroll is not just an admin task. It is a legal obligation with real financial consequences when it goes wrong.
If you are running it yourself and not entirely sure it is right, that uncertainty is worth acting on.
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