Set default pension contribution settings
This article explains how to customise the default pension contribution settings for your employees included on your payroll in FreeAgent.
Please note:
- You’ll need full (level 8) access to your FreeAgent account in order to update your Payroll settings.
- FreeAgent's payroll functionality won't be available if you have an unincorporated landlord or non-UK account type, or if you're preparing your accounts using cash basis accounting.
- The settings will be applied as the default for all new employees that you add to payroll, and will be transferred to the following tax year when starting a new payroll tax year.
When setting up a pension scheme, you’ll initially agree with your pension provider the specific portion of your employees' earnings that will be used to calculate their pension contributions, whether that's all or just part of their pay. You’ll also determine the percentage of these earnings that will be contributed by both the employer and the employee, as well as the type of pension contribution tax relief. If you’re unsure what was agreed, please check with your pension provider.
If you’re using FreeAgent to automatically calculate employees’ pension contributions, you need to select which types of pay should be included in the pension calculations. These can be selected when creating or editing a payroll profile.
To choose which types of pay are selected by default for all new employees that you add to the payroll, select 'Settings' from the drop-down menu under your business name and then select 'Payroll'.
Select which types of pay should be included in the employee’s pension calculations.
FreeAgent will ignore any types of pay that aren’t selected when calculating the pension contributions. If you’re not sure which types of pay should be included, please ask your pension provider or your accountant.
Once you’ve selected the relevant options, select ‘Save Changes’ to complete the process.