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Your first pay run

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After you've migrated from Sage Instant Payroll, you you're ready to complete your first pay run. This article takes you through all the steps in a pay run, to make sure you understand everything and help you know you've processed your pay run correctly.

If you haven't moved your employee information yet, we recommend you import the data using a Full Payment Submission (FPS) file from Sage Instant Payroll. For instructions on how to do that, Transfer your employee information to Sage Payroll

How to process a pay run

Below we explain how to process your first pay run. These steps are the same each time you run your payroll. There's also a How to process a pay run option within each pay run in Sage Payroll. You can use this to watch a short video that covers the same steps as this article.

1. Start the pay run

  1. From the Pay Runs tab, select Process Pay Run.
  2. Check the pay date is correct, then select Next.

2. Absences

  1. To record an absence, select the relevant employee then Add Absence.

  2. Select the relevant absence type, then complete the relevant details and click Save.

    For more information about the different absence types, see our Absences support article

  3. Repeat the steps for any other employee absences.

  4. If there are no absences, or you have finished entering absences, select Next.

3. Payments and deductions

  1. Select the employee whose pay details you want to review or edit.
  2. To edit or enter payment details, select Add Payment then do one of the following:

    Add an existing payment If you’ve set up a new payment and need to add this to the employee’s pay this pay run, select Add Payment, then the required payment and enter the amount.
    Add a new payment If you need to use a payment that’s not already set up, select Add Payment, then Add a new payment and enter the amount.
    Remove a payment

    To remove a payment you don’t want to use for the current pay run, select the discard button next to the relevant payment.

     TIP: This doesn’t delete the payment type. 

  3. To edit or enter deduction details, do one of the following:

    Add an existing deduction To add an existing deduction to the employee’s pay in this pay run, select Add Deduction, then the required deduction and enter the amount.
    Add a new deduction If you need to use a deduction that’s not already set up, select Add Deduction, then Add a new deduction and enter the relevant amount.

    For Stakeholder Pension deduction types, select fixed amount or percentage of pay. This determines the deduction amount.
    Remove a deduction

    To remove a deduction from an employee’s pay in the current pay run, click the discard button to the left of the deduction.

     TIP: Note: This doesn’t delete the deduction type. 

  4. If the employee is not due any money in the current pay run, select the Exclude Employee check box.

    Failing to exclude an employee when their salary is zero may result in the system calculating a tax rebate. This is because the application will assume that they worked but earned no salary or wages.

  5. Repeat for each employee whose pay details you want to review or edit and then select Next.

4. Confirm your pay run information

  1. Once your pay values are correct, select Complete Pay Run.
  2. From the Confirm Pay Values screen, confirm your company details and Government Gateway credentials, then select Confirm.

    The Full Payment Submission is sent automatically and a summary of the completed pay run appears.

    For help finding your government gateway details, see our Government Gateway credentials help article

    My submission has failed

    Don't worry, there is usually a quick solution.

    To view more information about the error, select Resolve Issue. If required, select the link to the help file for that specific error.

    After you have resolved the issue, select Re-Submit.

    Resolve RTI Submission Errors

  1. If required, you can export PDF copies of all payslips on the completed pay run. If you have configured online payslips, they are automatically published on the date specified in your online payslips settings.

    Online Payslips guide

5. Record the pay run in your accounting software

You can use the salary information from a pay run to create a Salary Journal report. If you use an accounting product, you can import the report as a journal transaction. This can save you time and reduce processing errors.

Set up the Salary Journal Report