2021 Example
If an employer plans to pay employees on Friday 17th December but the usual (contractual) date of payment is Friday 31st December, the employer must report the payment date on the FPS as 31st December. This must be submitted on or before 31st December 2021.
Please note, the normal PAYE reporting obligation for employers remains unaffected by the above and payments should still be reported on or before the date employees are paid. The pay date stated on the FPS should always be the contractual pay date.
PAYE is carried out this way during December in order to protect employees who are eligible for Universal Credit, avoiding double monthly earnings in one assessment period. As Universal Credit is a means-tested benefit, if two payments are received in one assessment period, the credit can be reduced.
If an employee is paid on a weekly, fortnightly or four-week basis, there will be times when more than one payment is made within an assessment period. On these occasions, amending the report will only move the issue into a different period.
If you are interested in doing business in the United Kingdom, find out everything you need to know about payroll, tax, social security, employee benefits, work permits, employment law and more in activpayroll’s Guide to Doing Business in the UK. This is available as a free PDF to download.
