Record a salary journal - UK only

Summary

How to record a salary journal in Sage 50 Accounts - UK only.

Description

After each payroll period, update Sage 50 Accounts to include employee payments, for example wages, National Insurance (NI), Statutory Adoption Pay (PAYE), and pension contributions. Post salary journals to your Nominal Ledger to update your profit and loss and balance sheet nominal codes accurately.

Post bank payments to your balance sheet liability nominal codes, which clears the liabilities and reduces your bank by these costs.

If you're using Sage 50 Payroll, use the nominal link to post the salary journals.  

Resolution

▼ Payroll information required

You need the total values for the following:

  • PAYE
  • Total gross pay
  • Net pay
  • Student loans, if applicable
  • Employee pension contributions, if applicable
  • Deductions and attachments, if applicable
  • Sage 50 Payroll - available in the Attachment and Deduction history reports in the Employee reports folder
  • Total NI contributions. Total of employer and employee NI contributions
  • Employer's NI contributions
  • Employer pension contributions, if applicable

 NOTE: If you're using Sage 50 Payroll - Payment Summary (Part 1) and Payment Summary (Part 2) reports.  The post update P32 report will show Employment allowance, Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), or Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) Reclaimed, if applicable.  

▼ Nominal codes

If you're using the Sage default nominal structure, you'll already have some of the required nominal codes. You'll need to create them if these codes don't exist.

In addition to nominal code 7000, the default nominal structure includes nominal codes 7001 to 7005. These are optional codes that you can use to split your gross wages into subcategories. The examples below use the nominal code 7000 for Gross Wages.

Nominal code Name Report Report section
2210 PAYE Balance Sheet Current Liabilities
2211 National Insurance Balance Sheet Current Liabilities
2214 Student Loans Balance Sheet Current Liabilities
2215 Attachments Balance Sheet Current Liabilities
2216 Deductions Balance Sheet Current Liabilities*
2217 Apprenticeship levy Balance Sheet Current Liabilities
2220 Net Wages Balance Sheet Current Liabilities
2230 Pension Fund Balance Sheet Current Liabilities
7000 Gross Wages Profit and Loss Overheads
7006 Employer's NI Profit and Loss Overheads
7007 Employer's Pension Profit and Loss Overheads
7011 SMP Reclaimed Profit and Loss Overheads
7012 SPP Reclaimed Profit and Loss Overheads
7013 SAP Reclaimed Profit and Loss Overheads
7015 Apprenticeship levy Profit and Loss Overheads

*Depending on the reason for the deduction, it can be an overhead.

▼ Create a nominal code
  1. Click Nominal codes then click New.
  2. Complete the Nominal Record window as follows:
    N/C Enter the number for the nominal code you want to create, for example, 7012.
    Name Enter the name for the new nominal code, for example SPP Reclaimed.
  3. Click Save then click Close.

When you create a new nominal code, check your Chart of Accounts to ensure you include this nominal code in the correct range.

▼ Post the salary journal

If you're using Sage 50 Accounts Professional, you can use the Memorise and Recall options to create a skeleton salary journal. To discuss moving to this variant, leave your details and we'll be in touch.

  1. Click Nominal codes then click Journal entry.
  2. Enter a reference and the date for the salary journal.
  3. Enter the relevant details on the Nominal Ledger Journals window, for example:

The balance for the whole salary journal must equal zero before you can save.

Salary journal example

N/C Name Debit Credit
7000 Gross Wages - The total of gross wages for all employees, before employee pension deductions.
Debit
  
7006 Employers NI - The total employer NI contributions.
Debit
  
2210 PAYE - The total PAYE deducted.  
Credit
If you receive a tax rebate, post the value to this nominal code as a debit and net wages credited.
2211 National Insurance - The total employer and employee NI contributions.  
Credit
If you receive an employee or employer NI rebate, post the value to this nominal code as a debit and net wages credited.
2214 Student Loans - If applicable, the total of student loan deductions made.  
Credit
2215 Attachments - If applicable, the total of attachments deducted from employees net pay.  
Credit
2216 Deductions - If applicable, the total of remaining employee deductions, excluding attachments, and student loans.  
Credit
2220 Net Wages - Total net wages that are the total of employees' take-home pay.  
Credit
2250 Childcare vouchers -   For more information, follow our salary journal for Childcare Vouchers article.
  
Credit

Pensions

If your payroll includes pensions you need to post the following two entries:

2230 Pension Fund - Total employer and employee pension contributions.  
Credit
7007 Employers Pensions - Total employer pension contributions.
Debit
  

Account for the employee contribution in Gross Wages (7000).

Statutory Pay reclaimed

If your payroll includes SMP, SPP or SAP Reclaimed, to post the following entries:

7011 SMP Reclaimed - Total SMP Reclaimed.  
Credit
7012 SPP Reclaimed - Total SPP reclaimed.  
Credit
7013 SAP Reclaimed - Total SAP reclaimed.  
Credit
2211 National Insurance - Total SMP/SPP reclaimed.
Debit
  

Employment allowance

7006 Employers NI - Reducing the Employers NI with the amount of employment allowance claim.    
Credit
2211 National Insurance - Reducing the National Insurance liability with the amount of employment allowance claim.
Debit
  

Apprenticeship levy

If your payroll needs to account for the apprenticeship levy:

7015 Apprenticeship levy - Increasing an expense code with the apprenticeship levy amount. This is the levy liability value on your P32.
Debit
  
2217 Apprenticeship levy - Increasing the apprenticeship levy liability by the amount due. This is the levy liability value on your P32.  
Credit

Childcare vouchers

If your payroll includes a salary sacrifice for Childcare vouchers, follow our Record a salary journal for Childcare vouchers article.

▼ Post bank payments to clear the liabilities

The last step is to post bank payments to clear the liabilities from your nominal codes, for example, your employees' net wages.

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200427112156046
Last Modified Date
Fri May 22 13:48:10 UTC 2026
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