Add, update an employee record in QuickBooks Online

Ready to add your employees to payroll? Let’s get started.

What you need to get started

Before you start, you need to gather some basic information about the employee, such as their proper name, date of birth, and contact information.

• If this is a new employee, you can find their info on their most recent P45. If your employee doesn't have a P45, ask them to fill out HMRC's starter checklist.
• If your employee gives you two P45s, use the one with the most recent date. If they give you two P45s with similar dates, use the P45 which shows the highest earnings or tax code.

To add an employee

• Personal Details
• Employment Details
• Year To Date

To fill out each section of the employee details

1.  Fill in your employee's full name, gender, date of birth, and other personal details.
   1. Employee ID - this is a unique number for the employee and is required by HMRC to identify an employee when sending RTI submissions
   2. Join date - select the date in which the employee starting working for you.
   3. Seconded -  this is for employees who are working in the UK less than 183 days.
   4. Address Details - this is the address where the employee currently lives.
2. Select Continue.

Tax Details

We’ll use this tax information to calculate taxes and contributions when you run payroll. You can find the tax info for new employees on their P45. If you’ve already paid this employee before, get the tax info from the employee’s last payslip.

1. Tax code – the tax code for the employee.
   HMRC provides a wizard to help employers work out an employee's tax code. See Work out your new employee’s tax code
2. Tax Basis- Tax calculation method – select Cumulative or Week 1/Month 1.
   • Cumulative applies to most people. If the employee is Week 1/Month 1, it will be marked on their P45.
   • Week1/Month1 is on a pay-by-pay basis, so you’re taxed what's required for each payment amount. Cumulative calculation means that the tax is calculated on a year-to-date basis, taking into account the tax you have already paid in the year.
3. NI number – Enter the employee’s unique National Insurance number. You can find this on their last payslip or on the employee’s P60.
4. NI letter – the NI letter that is applicable to the employee.
   1. If you enter another letter, you need some evidence that the employee is on that letter (for example, NI letter C is for employees over the SPA, so a birth certificate is needed to confirm the NI letter).
5. Director National Insurance Since – if you have a director in your payroll, please ensure you enter the start date of when the employee became the director. Please note the national insurance calculation is calculated on an annual basis not per period.

Payment Details

1. Pay Basis – select Salary if you’ll be paying this employee a salary or select Hourly if you pay this employee by the hour, if the employee's pay varies please select Variable, but please note the payment must be manually added each time on the Variable Input tab.
2. Payment Method - please select how your employee receives their payment.
3. Pay Rate – enter an amount that you pay this employee, for the year or by the hour.
4. Working days – if you select Salary, select the days this employee works.
5. Pro Rata Method - this will automatically calculate for new starters and leavers.
6. Hours per week – if you select Hourly, fill in the number of hours that the employee works each week. For Salary, the default hours per week is 37.5 hours.
7. Irregular Payments - this is if the employee is a casual or seasonal worker
8. Offset SSP - Change to Select offset SSP to adjust the pay so the employee receives their normal salary not salary plus SSP.
9. Select Continue.

Year to Date

If your employee has worked with you during the tax year please ensure these fields are populated. If your employee is a new starter and has a P45, please enter the P45 details on the Tax & National Insurance tab - P45/P46.

• This employment – enter the amount the employee has been paid since April 6
• National Insurance – enter the amount of NI the employee has paid since April 6

If you’re switching from another payroll, get their last payslip. If you have their P11 Working Deductions sheet or details of their last FPS submission, you’ll need that as well.
You will need to include the Tax and NI information for payments already made to your employee for this tax year.

Here’s what you need:

• This Employment Taxable Pay
• This Employment Tax Paid
• SMP
• SAP
• SPP
• ShPP
• SSP
• Student Loan
• NIable Code
• NIable Pay
• AT LEL
• LEL to PT
• PT to UEL
• UEL to UST
• Employee NI
• Employer NI

That's it! You have setup your employee for payroll.

Update your employee details

To update your employee's information, follow the steps below:

If you need to edit an employee's tax code or tax basis please ensure the payroll is not approved otherwise the changes will not reflect on the payslip