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Add Statutory Maternity Pay in QuickBooks Core Payroll

by Intuit9 Updated 1 week ago

Learn how to pay Statutory Maternity Pay in QuickBooks Core Payroll. If your employee is eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), you must fulfil your legal obligation as an employer to pay them during their maternity leave.

This article is for customers who use QuickBooks Online Core Payroll.
Follow these steps if you are using QuickBooks Advanced Payroll, or Standard Payroll.

Before you begin

  • SMP is calculated on a weekly basis, even if the employee is paid monthly. 
  • The SMP calculation method cannot be changed. 
  • For new employees or if you switched from another payroll, the starter declaration is used to calculate the employee's leave entitlement, amount owed, and taxes and National Insurance contributions.
  • If your employee has the MATB1 form, QuickBooks will verify their entitlement to maternity pay, determine the start of their maternity leave and calculate the associated taxes and National Insurance contributions if applicable.
  1. Go to Payroll, then Employees
  2. Select your employee. 
  3. Select Start or Edit to open the Pay Types section.
  4. Select Add statutory leave
  5. Choose Statutory maternity pay
  6. Select the start and end dates of the leave.
  7. Enter the average weekly earnings.
    Note: QuickBooks automatically calculates this unless you are switching from another payroll system or have not run payroll in QuickBooks for at least 23 weeks before the baby's due date.
  8. Enter the expected due date and birth date of the baby (you can make changes in the ‘Leave periods’ section). 
  9. Save your changes. 
  1. Go to Payroll, then Employees
  2. Select your employee. 
  3. Select Edit to open the Pay Types section. 
  4. Next to the leave period, select the following:
    To edit, select the pencil icon and make the necessary change, then Save
    To delete, select the bin icon and then Delete to confirm. 
  5. Select Save.

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