Record redundancy pay in FreeAgent
This article explains how to record redundancy pay in FreeAgent.
Please note that:
- Statutory redundancy payments are not liable for National Insurance contributions.
- The majority of cases aren't taxable up to a certain value as seen here.
- If the amount of statutory pay is above the tax-free threshold you won’t be able to submit the final payslip for this employee using FreeAgent. Instead you should use HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools or another software that supports this kind of filing, after which you can obtain a P45 from there to give to your employee. HMRC has provided guidance on producing a P45 in its support guide.
- If the amount of statutory pay is below the tax-free threshold, you can follow the steps below to record the redundancy pay on the final payslip, explain the redundancy payment and access the employee's P45.
- If the amount of statutory pay is above the tax-free threshold, as the submission is made through HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools, you can create journal entries to record the payroll information in your accounting records. Please note that journal entries will not pull through, or be included, in the P45 in FreeAgent.
1. Record the redundancy pay on the final payslip
When it’s time to run payroll with the relevant employee’s final payslip, navigate to their final payslip and enter the redundancy amount due into the ‘Pay Not Subject to Tax or NI’ box.
If you're at all unsure about adding it to the same payslip as their final pay, please check with your accountant.
Please remember that you’ll need to enter a leaving date for this employee before you make the final RTI submission for them.
2. Explain the redundancy payment
When the money is paid to the employee, navigate to the relevant payment.
Select ‘Money Paid to User’ from the 'Type' drop-down menu and ‘Net Salary and Bonuses’ from the 'Category' drop-down menu.
Select ‘Explain transaction’ to complete this process.
3. Access the P45
You’ll be able to access the employee’s P45 once the leaving date has been entered into their Payroll Profile and their final payslip has been created.
Navigate to the 'My Money' tab at the top of the screen and select 'Salary' from the drop-down menu.
Select the relevant employee.
Select ‘View P45’ in the top-right corner of the screen.
From here you can save the P45 as a PDF by selecting ‘Save as PDF’ in the top-right corner of the screen, so you’re able to print it if required.
Please note that if the redundancy pay is below the threshold for tax, it won’t be included in the P45 total pay figure. On the other hand, if the redundancy pay is above the current tax-free threshold and the final payslip for the employee is filed through HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools, the amount would be subject to income tax but not National Insurance, so would show on the P45 produced on Basic PAYE Tools.