Year-end guide for QuickBooks Online Core Payroll

With the tax year coming to a close, it's important to make sure your payroll is organised. This guide will cover the necessary steps to get everything sorted in QuickBooks Online Core Payroll, so that you can start the new year off smoothly.

Jump to:

1. Check if your payroll date end on week 52 or 53
2. Run final payroll
3. Send final FPS to HMRC
4. Give employee payslips
5. Print P32 reports (Employer Payment Record)
6. Start the new payroll tax year
   • Move back to the previous tax year
7. Give employee P60 forms
8. Frequently asked questions

Note: For the year-end guide for QuickBooks Online Standard Payroll, see this article.

Important to know

Before you wrap up this year's payroll and prepare for the next, check if you're eligible for Employment Allowance (EA). It can lower your employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) by up to £5,000 per year. If you think you qualify, make sure to let HMRC know so you can claim the allowance in the upcoming tax year.

Payroll tax changes

Keep up with the latest payroll tax changes here.

Payroll dates and deadlines

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1. Check if your payroll date ends on week 52 or 53

If you process your employees' pay monthly, you won't need to worry about whether your payroll ends on week 52 or 53. However, if the final pay date falls on 5 April, then your payroll will end on week 53.

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2. Run your final payroll

It's time to run your final payroll of the tax year! QuickBooks will let you know when it's time to do this.

Edit or delete a pay run

If you've ever made a mistake while running payroll, like entering the wrong amount or making an incorrect deduction, don't worry. The good news is that you can make changes to a pay run and start over if you need to.

If you need to delete a pay run, remember to reset your Employment Allowance based to your eligibility for the tax year. To do this:

1. Select the ⚙️gear icon to go to your Account and settings.
2. Select Payroll settings.
3. Then, UK tax.

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3. Submit your final FPS to HMRC

Next thing to do is send an FPS to HMRC. This is important because it helps calculate your business's PAYE and NIC liability for the tax year.

Once you've submitted the FPS, you'll have to wait for a confirmation email before you can be sure that your submission has been successfully accepted by HMRC.

While you're waiting, you can check all of your recent submissions in QuickBooks. Here's how:

1. Go to Taxes, and then Payroll Tax.
2. Next to the FPS submission, select Review.

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4. Give employees their payslips

As an employer, it is your duty to provide payslips to your employees. Each payroll run generates a payslip for every employee, which must be given to them on or before their pay date.

Payslips contain important details such as earnings before and after deductions, taxes and other contributions.

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5. Print P32 report (Employer Payment Record)

Make sure you're on top of your Employer Payment Record (P32) report. This report is a summary of the payments made HMRC each tax month, helping you assess whether you need to submit an EPS. It also includes details of PAYE, NI contributions and student loans deductions.

1. Go to Reports.
2. Look for P32 report.

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6. Start the new payroll tax year

Let's go ahead and move into the new tax year. To do this:

1. Go to Payroll.
2. From either your To Do list or the Settings, select Payroll Settings.
3. Select Active Tax Year.
4. Choose the year.
5. Select Save.

Here are the payroll changes that can only be made at the beginning of a new tax year:

1. Changing the calculation method for company directors from Annual to Alternative.
2. Switching an employee's pay schedule.
3. Switching an enrolled employee's pension scheme.

When you move into the new tax year, the following will take place:

• You'll be able to generate P60 forms.
• Your Employers Allowance will be reset.

If you haven't run payroll for the 23/24 tax year, you can still transition into the 24/25 tax year. Just make sure that employee setup is complete before running payroll.

Note: If an employee's setup isn't complete, you'll need to manually set them on the 'Cumulative' method for the start of the 24/25 tax year.

You can enter CIS for the 2023/24 tax year until April 18. After that, only CIS for the 2024/25 tax year can be added.

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7. Give employees their P60 form

Finally, make sure to create and provide your employees with their P60 forms by May 31, right after you wrap up your final payroll.

A P60 form summarises an employee's pay and deductions for the entire year, and is only generated for employees who are still in your employment at the end of the tax year.

And that's it! You've successfully completed your final payroll for this tax year.

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Move back to the previous tax year

If you need to go back to the previous tax year but you're unable to do so, here's what may be happening and what you need to do:

1. Check for payroll payments: If you have any payroll payments in the 2024-2025 active tax year, you won't be able to go back. To fix this:
   1. Go to Employees.
   2. Select Payroll Payment List.
   3. Delete all payments for each employee who has been paid in 2024-2025 on or after April 6, 2024.
      If the payslip belongs to a terminated employee, make them active again to delete their payslip. You can change their status back to terminated after deleting the payslips for the tax year.
      
2. Check the pay schedules and pension schemes: If any of your employees have a different pay schedule or pension scheme compared to the previous year, you won't be able to move back. Change the employees' pay schedules or pension schemes back to what they were in 23/24.

Important: If you make changes to employees in the 24/25 tax year and then go back to the 23/24 tax year, you must manually undo those changes and revert to the 23/24 settings. Also, be aware that Core Payroll will remove any pending employee pension enrolment profiles in the new tax year. When moving forward again, make sure to doublecheck all employees manually to ensure they have the correct changes for the new tax year.

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8. Frequently asked questions

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Need more help?

Need help with year-end tasks? Sign in to QuickBooks and start a discussion with an expert in our community.

For more articles, check out the Core Payroll hub page.