Becoming Registered With Hmrc

[Guest]

I have been running a voluntary run out of school club, so far, just a few activity sessions to entertain local children. This is becoming more popular and I think we will soon be in a situation where there are too many sessions to expect voluntary help and will need to offer to pay the staff. This is where the minefield begins! I have phone HMRC to enquire and they were very helpful and said I simply need to call them 4 weeks before I pay anyone and they will send me everything I need, including a CDROM to help me calculate what to pay etc.. Maths is seriously NOT my strong point. Does anyone else do this, without the help of a payroll company etc? Is it fairly straightforward? Would be a real shame not to progress the out of school club just because we're too scared to deal with the pay/tax side of becoming an employer.

 

Thanks in advance for any useful tips!

[AnonyMouse_13457]

I've found them very helpful. We only have one member of staff paying tax and 3 who occasionally pay National Insurance. It's very simple to do - even end of year return which must be done online now.

korkycat

[AnonyMouse_13453]

Yes, it's not difficult, I have software I downloaded from moneysoft and it does all the P32, P11, P45 etc etc etc for me - it even helped me do statutory maternity pay! It checks everything and sends it all to the taxman for me once a year. It does payslips and the chaps on the phone are genuinely helpful - I was almost in tears when I thought I had SMP to fight with, but they talked me through it all and it was great - Can't praise them highly enough!

[AnonyMouse_3735]

I used the cd supplied by HMRC.. so cost nothing.. and did all the paperwork for me.. i could print all I needed from there or from the website once logged in.. including the P45, P60s etc.. all of which were explained on the CD.

 

all very easy to do and does all the calculations as to how much tax and Nat Insurance to deduct-( if any) and how much you have to send to HMRC...

 

we had an arrangement where any payments were sent 3 monthly , rather than monthly as it was so little.. so I would ask about this.. you do have to remember to send it in .. but was easy to do..

 

end of year returns were easy online.. and they had begun to link the data from the cd you had entered on your PC to be able to download it direct rather than manual input.. not tried it but others said it was easy to do..

 

 

main problem was sick pay etc.. but a phone call and they helped me with it..

 

In our case staff had timesheets they filled in and we paid them for the hours monthly.. you can do it weekly as well , this was useful where hours fluctuated a lot.. If a set hours each week you can work out an annual wage but this is where it begins to get complicated...

 

you need to remember to add holiday pay into the calculations on pay as well a employers National Insurance contribution both of which are costs which need to be taken into consideration when working out a wage budget.

 

Inge

Edited July 29, 2010 by Inge

[Guest]

Yes i agree with all that has been said the Inland Revenue people are very nice and so helpfull. I had trouble after doing my end of year return online and couldn't get my P60's to print. even went to the trouble of wiping my computer and re doing thinking it was the computer. Got in touch with their online help and after a few clicks could print them off. It was just a wrong setting on my laptop. Had such a laugh with the chap on the phone about how much trouble i had gone to before I rang them. I told him it was the thought of ring the inland revenue makes you worried and scared!!!!! he said that the usual reaction of people.

The program is so simple to use that you actually can't go wrong unless you put in wrong amounts and even those you can go back and take off when you find a mistake.

I'm useless at maths but as long as you can work your way around a computer then you will be fine

 

Steph