Pay for groceries

At Christmas, you may want to pay your employees earlier than usual before Christmas. When you pay employees in advance, you must report the payment to HMRC with the normal pay date shown on the FPS.

If you pay a weekly pay which, for example, is due on Friday 27th December but you want to pay it on Friday 20th, you must report it as paid on the 27th to HMRC.

If you pay monthly instalments, for example, which are due on Friday 3 January but you wish to pay them on Tuesday 31 December, you must report them as paid on the 3rd to HMRC.

You must ensure that each pay date is the normal pay date on the FPS due to universal credits.

Pay a bonus to several employees

To pay a total bonus to your employees, you will need to create a compensation category called “bonus”. This article will help you do this: Pay categories – Creation and management

If you want to upload bulk bonus payments via a payroll import, you will need to follow these steps:

Create a payroll run and pay a bonus to the first employee. In the Payroll Actions menu, you need to “Export Payroll” from the drop-down list.

Open the spreadsheet and identify the employee receiving the bonus, this will then allow you to see the Pay Category ID you should use. You then need to copy the bonus payment category ID and paste it into this column for the person you want to pay the bonus to.

You will then need to enter the units and prices including:
Employee name,
Employee ID,
Location ID,
Payment Category ID,
Units,
Rate,
Remarks,
ExternalID.

​If you then save the spreadsheet, you can then import it into the payroll run (under “Payroll Execution Actions” -> “Import Payroll Run”).

You will need to make sure to edit the spreadsheet for the employee who originally received the bonus, otherwise it will show up twice in the payroll run. You can also go to the pay cycle and delete/edit the earnings line.

Pay a bonus to an individual employee

To pay your employee a bonus, you will need to create a compensation category called “bonus”. This article will help you do this: Pay categories – Creation and management

Once you have done this, you can access employee details as part of payroll processing. Next, go to Actions > Add Income Line.

This will produce an additional payline. You can then select the “bonus” pay category from the drop-down menu and apply the appropriate units.

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