There may come a time when your company changes status, for example, from a sole trader or a partnership to a limited company. If this happens, you're ending one company and starting a new one and that means you get a new PAYE reference.

You can find out more about the implications you may need to take into account for Transfer of undertakings (TUPE) and business transfers.

Changing your company status may affect your company's automatic enrolment staging date. Therefore, before following the steps in this guide you should contact The Pensions Regulator (TPR).

If you're changing the company status, you need to contact the Sage Company Name Change team, to transfer your Sage 50 Payroll licence to your new company name:

• Telephone: 0191 479 5955
• Email: [email protected]

Your existing company

Print the required reports

Once you've closed your existing PAYE scheme, you need to print reports that show information about your employees that you need to carry over into the new company.

Before you print the reports, you need to ensure that all employees, including current year leavers appear on the employee list:

1. Click Criteria then, in the Exclude Employees who are section, clear the following check boxes:
   • On Hold
   • On Holiday
   • Current Year Leavers
2. Click OK then click Clear then click Swap.
3. Click Reports then run any reports that you need.

   Some reports that we recommend you print are:

   • Employee Details - Banking
   • Employee Details - Cumulative
   • Employee Details - Deductions
   • Employee Details - Loans
   • Employee Details - Payments
   • Employee Details - Personal
   • P11 Deduction Card (NIC Details)
   • P11 Deduction Card (PAYE Details)
   • Payment Summary History Part 1 - By Date
   • Payment Summary History Part 2 - By Date
   • Payment Summary (Part 3)

   If any employees are currently receiving statutory payments, have a pension or attachment of earnings order (AEO), you need to know how much has been paid to date so they can be set up correctly in the new company. You can find all of these in the employee's YTD Values:

   • Double-click the employee then click the Employment tab then click YTD Values.

Export your employee details

You can use the Export Data option in Sage 50 Payroll to export your employee information to make it easier to set up your employees in the new company. Export data from Sage 50 Payroll >

You can also export your employee P45 information as you’ll need this information for the new company.

 TIP: Before you export your employees' details, ensure you only select the employees you want to set up in your new company. 

Preparing the Employee Details Import File

Before you can import your Employee Details, you need to make some changes to the import file to ensure it imports correctly without any errors.

Make sure all the information in the file is correct and up to date (for example, employees names, bank details, address etc). 

 TIP: You can also amend the employee reference at this stage. Make sure the number isn’t in use if you are transferring the employees to an existing company.

RTI Payroll ID important information

The RTI Payroll ID, also known as the Payroll ID is a unique number for each employee that your software creates when you create an employee record. This number is included in each FPS you send to HMRC to identify the employee and this period of employment.

HMRC require an employee to have a new RTI Payroll ID for each new employment.

If you've exported your employee details, you must remove the payroll ID before you import your employee details to the new company. With the Payroll ID column blank in your employee details spreadsheet, your software automatically creates a new payroll ID when you import the data into the new company.

1. Locate then double-click the exported file.
2. In column AC which holds the Payroll ID, delete all RTI Payroll IDs.
3. Remove any information under column AD, this is the Previous Payroll ID Status column.

You also need to amend the following:

1. Delete any employee reference numbers that are already in use in the company you're importing employees into.
2. Check the file includes only employees who are employed by the new company. If any aren't, delete their row.
3. If you have any directors, amend Date Directorship Began (column AK) to the new company start date.
4. In Work Start Date (column AR), enter the new company start date.

   If your employees are protected under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE), you must still issue a P45 for the employee and enter the new company start date here. This ensures the correct employment periods are declared to HMRC for each PAYE reference.

5. In SLR From Date (column AT), enter the new company start date.
   NOTE: Only do this for employees with student loan deductions.
6. In Sort Code, check that Microsoft Excel hasn't converted these into dates as this causes the data import to fail.

   If Microsoft Excel has converted these into dates, you need to correct them in Excel before saving. Alternatively, you can delete them from Excel then re-enter them in Sage 50 Payroll after you've imported data.

7. Remove any information from fields Pension 1 through to Pension 5 (columns BA to BE).
8. In Departments (column BV) and Cost Centre (column Bw) remove this information unless you're setting up the same Department and Cost centre in the new payroll.
    NOTE: You must set up the departments in the new company before you import employee details, or the import fails. 
9. In Last Processed Date (column CC), delete the last processed dates.
10. If any of your employees are on statutory payments, remove any values in columns CE to EQ.
11. If you have any apprentices, amend the Apprenticeship Start Date (column FK) to the new company start date.
12. Click File then click Save.

Create a new company