If you set up Sage 50 Payroll part-way through the tax year, you need to ensure your tax and National Insurance (NI) calculations are accurate. To do this, you normally enter employee year to date values.

However, your software doesn't include YTD values you enter manually for directors in your full payment submission (FPS). To ensure HMRC receive the correct information, process directors from the start of the tax year. This applies even if their pay hasn't exceeded the thresholds for tax and NI.

Also, take account of the director's RTI ID. Find out below why this is important, and how to do it.

The RTI Payroll ID is a series of letters and numbers that HMRC's systems use to identify an employment. Normally, this doesn't change once it's set. HMRC uses it to identify when an employee has moved jobs or has a second job.

When you set Sage 50 Payroll up mid-year, set directors up with the same RTI ID as the previous payroll software. This avoids HMRC thinking the employee has a new or second job.

Enter the RTI ID

If you use a different RTI Payroll ID than the original, it can cause duplication with HMRC. Check your old software for the RTI ID and enter this if possible. If you can't get the original ID, you can use the 'Unknown' RTI ID option if you're using Sage 50 Payroll v31.

You can't use the unknown RTI ID flag for directors if you're using Sage 50 Payroll v30. If you need to update your software, visit the download and install Sage 50 Payroll article.

NOTE: You can only amend the RTI ID field when you first create an employee's record. Once you save and create an employee's record, you can't amend it.

1. Click Employee, then Quick Employee and enter the director's details.
2. Next to RTI Payroll ID, click Edit.
   • If you have the original RTI ID, enter it now, then set the Old Payroll ID drop-down to As above then click OK
   • If you don't have the original RTI ID, set the Old Payroll ID drop-down to Unknown then click OK
3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until you've set up all directors.
4. Reprocess the director's payroll for each period and submit a dummy fps for the last period HMRC received any liability values.
5. Process the payroll for the next period and submit a live FPS as normal.

I've already entered YTDs

If you've already processed a director after manually entering their YTD values, you need to correct this.

To find out more, visit the known issue: manually entered NI year to dates for directors not included in FPS article.