FINANCE, BUDGETS AND CASHFLOW

Year-end payroll processing checklist

7 min read
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As an employer, you'll know that paying your people is an important responsibility. So with the UK payroll year-end on 5 April 2025 fast approaching, we’ve put together this payroll processing checklist to help you meet the calendar deadlines.

We also cover two things you need to do to get ready for your next payroll year. And, along the way, you’ll also learn how payroll software can help make your job easier than ever.

You can jump to a step in our payroll year-end checklist below:

Step 1. Check when your payroll ends

Most payrolls run on a monthly-pay frequency. If this is you, then you can skip this step.

You’ll only need to check when your payroll ends if:

  • You process payroll weekly, every two weeks or every four weeks, as opposed to monthly

  • Your usual processing deadline falls on 5 April in any year or 4 April on a leap year

What do I need to do?

With the approach of the new tax year, it's essential to be aware of specific situations that may impact your payroll processing. Unlike 2024, where most payrolls did not require a Week 53, 2025 could present unique challenges depending on your pay schedule.

If your payroll operates weekly, fortnightly, or four-weekly, you may encounter a Week 53, 54, or 56 if your usual payment date falls on Saturday, 5 April 2025. This occurs because the tax year runs on a standard 52-week model, but the exact alignment of payment dates and calendar days can create additional weeks.

For businesses paying employees on these schedules:

  • Weekly pay: A Week 53 will occur if the final payday is 5 April 2025.

  • Fortnightly pay: A Week 54 arises when the final payday includes an extra two weeks.

  • Four-weekly pay: A Week 56 applies in rare cases when this schedule aligns with the year’s end.

If you encounter an additional payroll week, employees must temporarily switch to a "week one" tax code for the extra week to ensure tax allowances are calculated correctly. This adjustment may lead to a tax liability for employees, as they will have received additional weeks of tax-free allowance during the tax year.

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You may have a later payroll deadline if your usual processing deadline falls on 5 April. You may have an additional number of weeks to process, beyond week 52.

Step 2. Ensure leavers and starters are processed

Next, you need to account for any new or leaving employees. While you probably processed leavers and starters when they joined or left, payroll year-end is a good time to check everything is in order.

What do I need to do?

Check your employees are all up to date. It can be very difficult to go back and fix these details later on. 

Crucially, this needs to happen before you submit your Full Payment Submission (FPS) or Employer Payment Summary (EPS).

Step 3. Process the year-end payroll

Once you’ve clarified your final payroll end date, accounted for any starters or leavers, and got all the relevant forms ready, you’re ready to finally process your year-end payroll.

The normal payroll calendar deadline for submission of your FPS remains the same - it has to be sent on or before the employees are paid.

What do I need to do?

  1. Make sure your processing date is set to 5 April in your payroll software. Submit your final payroll on or before you pay your employees. 

  2. The software will inform HMRC that this is the final payroll of the tax year

Note: While you can send out your P60s and P11Ds after this step, it’s good to know what information you need for these forms as part of your overall year-end process.

What is the deadline for retrospective adjustments?

19 April. Before 2020-21, businesses could make retrospective adjustments through the Earlier Year Update (EYU). Now, if you become aware of an error, you can amend the final payroll and send a new revised FPS. It is best to send this before 19 April.

Step 4. Generate P60 and P11D reports

As an employer, there are a lot of key forms you need to generate and send out to both your employees and the government at the end of the tax year. Two of the most important forms for the payroll year-end are P60s and P11Ds.

P60s

A P60 details employee pay and deductions for the year. It’s a summary of the last 12 months of an employee’s payslips. The P60 is a crucial piece of documentation and is generated automatically when the final payroll run is made. Your employee must keep their P60. They’ll need it, for example, when taking out a mortgage or starting a new rental agreement.

What do I need to do?

By 31 May, you need to send a P60 to all employees who are employed by you on 5 April. You should send out your P60s after your employees have received their final regular payslip of the tax year.

Sending P60s before 31 May means you can correct any errors before the deadline.

P11Ds

A P11D outlines the expenses and benefits you’ve provided to your employees

What do I need to do?

You’ll need to produce a P11D form for each eligible employee and send it to HMRC by 31 July. You’ll also need to pay the Class 1A NICs for each of your eligible employees.

If you’ve submitted any P11Ds, you’ll also need to send a P11D(b) form to confirm the amount of your Class 1A National Insurance Contributions you need to pay.

Note: Some employee benefits like company cars and health insurance can be payrolled rather than submitted via a P11D. If you want to do this in the new tax year, you'll need to inform HMRC before 5 April.

At the end of the tax year, you need to send each employee a P60

Step 5. Get ready for the new tax year

As one tax year ends, another begins. With this in mind, it makes sense to get ready for your next payroll year now. Think of your end-of-year and start-of-year tasks as one overall process instead of two.

What do I need to do?

First, ensure the tax codes for the new tax year are correct. Most software will do this automatically for you. But if you need to do it manually, then check HMRC’s P9X to see which tax codes you need to change from 6 April and which you can carry forward.

Then you can set your employees up for the next year of payroll.

Note: If eligible, you need to inform HMRC of your employment allowance status. Again, you should be able to set your payroll software to do this automatically, guaranteeing it’s done on time and correctly.

The first thing you need to do when getting ready for your next payroll year is to make sure your employees’ tax codes are correct.

Ready to get started? If so, you can speed up the process of payroll processing with our handy downloadable checklist. 

Download our free year-end payroll processing checklist

Make your year-end payroll process hassle-free with our detailed Year-End Payroll Processing Checklist. This downloadable checklist provides step-by-step instructions, ensuring can close out the fiscal year smoothly.

Download Your Free Year-End Payroll Processing Checklist Now

Don't let year-end payroll complexities hold you back. Click the link above to access the checklist and empower your business with a compliant year-end payroll processing strategy.

Year-end payroll processing checklist dates and deadlines

There are the important dates and deadlines you need to be aware of for payroll year-end. Knowing these payroll calendar dates for 2024/25 and what you need to do - means you’ll be prepared for the year-end deadlines. You’ll also need to make sure you know how your business processes payroll.

Date

Note

5 April
2022-2023 tax year end.
6 April
2023-2024 tax year starts.
19 April
Any changes to your 2022-2023 tax year should be made by this date.
22 April
Final deadline for month 12 of PAYE.
31 May
Deadline for employees to receive their P60s.
6 July
Final report deadline for expenses and benefits. Final deadline to submit P11D’ and P11D(b) forms.
22 July
Payment deadline for Class 1A National Insurance contributions (related to P11Ds).

Keep payroll organised with Quickbooks’ accounting software

As a small business, payroll year-end processing is just one of many responsibilities that you have to deal with. Luckily, it’s another area that the right accounting software can help you out with.

Our accounting software can make everything easier, from managing your cash flow to planning your Self Assessment. Make sure you’re ready for payroll year-end by using the right software.

Feel like you’re prepared for payroll year-end? We know how busy it can be, which is why we’re dedicated to helping small businesses get their processes in place.

Discover QuickBooks payroll software.

The information on this website is provided free of charge and is intended to be helpful to a wide range of businesses. Because of its general nature the information cannot be taken as comprehensive and they do not constitute and should never be used as a substitute for legal, accounting, tax or professional advice. We cannot guarantee that the information applies to the individual circumstances of your business. Despite our best efforts it is possible that some information may be out of date. Any reliance you place on information found on this site or linked to on other websites will be at your own risk.

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