How to edit or delete payroll in a previous tax year that has been marked as filed
This article explains how to mark payroll as unfiled in FreeAgent so that you can edit the payslips in a previous tax year. It also explains how to delete payroll that has been marked as filed in FreeAgent.
If you haven’t filed the payroll to HMRC and you need to make corrections in a previous tax year, follow the steps below.
If you need to make corrections to payroll that has been marked as filed in the current tax year, follow these steps instead.
Please note:
-
Don’t select the ‘Make corrections’ button as this will prevent you from deleting any pay periods and rolling back payroll to a previous month, meaning corrections would need to be made using journal entries.
- FreeAgent's payroll functionality won't be available if you have an unincorporated landlord account or if you're preparing your accounts using cash basis accounting.
- You need to have full (level 8 access) to be able to edit or delete a payroll submission that has been marked as filed.
- If you’ve filed the payroll submission to HMRC using FreeAgent, it’s not possible to delete or undo the payroll submission. To make any corrections in the current tax year to an employee’s pay or deductions after filing the payroll, edit the relevant payslip which will submit the correct year-to-date figures to HMRC in your next submission. If you need to make corrections to filed payroll in a previous tax year, find out how to make a payroll correction for a previous tax year.
1. Delete each pay period in the current tax year
First, you’ll need to mark each pay period in the current tax year as unfiled.
To do this, navigate to the most recent pay period and select ‘Mark as unfiled’.
Once the pay period has been marked as unfiled, select ‘Continue Month [X] Payroll’ in the top-right.
Then, select ‘Delete Month [X] Payroll’.
Repeat this process until the month 1 payroll period of the current tax year has been deleted.
2. Delete all payroll profiles
Next, you’ll need to delete each employee’s payroll profile for the current tax year.
To do this, select ‘Edit Profile’ to the right of the first employee in the ‘Employees’ section.
Select ‘Delete Payroll Profile’ in the top-right.
Repeat this process for each employee until every payroll profile has been deleted.
3. Navigate to the relevant pay period in the previous tax year
Select the previous tax year from the drop-down menu in the top-left.
Select ‘Month 12’ in the ‘History’ section. Again, don’t select ‘Make corrections’ as this will prevent you from deleting any pay periods and rolling back payroll to a previous month, meaning corrections would need to be made using journal entries.
Select ‘Mark as unfiled’ in the top-right.
Select ‘Continue Month 12 Payroll’ in the top-right.
Then, select ‘Delete Month 12 Payroll’.
Repeat this process until the payroll period you’d like to make corrections to has been marked as unfiled.
4. Edit or delete the relevant payroll month
Once the relevant payroll period has been marked as unfiled, you can either edit the payslips or delete the pay period.
Edit the payslips
To edit the payslips, select ‘View Payslip’ to the right of the relevant employee’s name.
Next, select ‘Edit Payslip’ in the top-right.
Make the required changes and select ‘Save Changes’ at the bottom of the screen. Find out more about how to review and edit payslips.
To complete the process, mark the pay period as filed again.
Delete the pay period
To delete the pay period, select ‘Continue Month [X] Payroll’ in the top-right.
Next, select ‘Delete Month [X] Payroll’. This will delete that month’s payroll, including the generated payslips. Please note that you won’t see the option to delete the pay period if there is an account lock in place or if there is an employee leaving the business who has been marked as hidden.
Select ‘OK’ in the pop-up window to complete the process.
You can then prepare the payslips again and mark the payroll as filed if you’re filing it to HMRC outside of FreeAgent, or file the payroll to HMRC using FreeAgent.