I have a client that processes their own payroll. This is done by one of the employees.
However, once a year, one particular member of staff gets a large bonus in their salary. The company do not want anyone else to know about this (especially the person that processes the usual payroll.)
In the past, it has been possible to keep this from the wages clerk, as we as their accountants processed the P60's and year end returns, therefore adjust the figures before final P35 submission (obviously having made sure that the correct tax and NI was paid over by the directors at the time of the bonus)
Now with RTI, I cannot see how this can be done.
Having spoken to HMRC - we cannot open another scheme for the company to process this annual bonus, and if we submit an RTI for this payment - then the future RTI submissions will overwrite our submission!!!
Has anyone else had this problem - and if so - any ideas how to get around it?
The best way would be to pay this annual bonus after Month 12 and before you prepare the P60s.
Failing that, I can only suggest skulduggery. Can you process the bonus through a fictitious name and reallocate it when you do the EOY Returns? This could, of course attract a penalty but penalties these days are supposed to punish wrong-doing and that is not what is happening.
Alternatively, see if you can alter the 'Year To Date' figures in your particular software and hope that employee doesn't notice. You could change the payslip and report formats of any visible data to something which does not readily show Year To Date figures.
It goes without saying that there ought to be a means of maintaining confidentiality without resorting to this sort of thing.
It is possible to do this - but it means ALL payments for this particular employee are processed separately. The same as processing Director's wages separate from other employees wages. I can't see any way of doing it fro just one payment though.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
No harm in a completely separate payroll run. I know we've done this in the past just for the bonus and taxed it at basic rate. Not sure what the Revenue's attitude to this would be under RTI or if they are yet. The employee concerned will guess the reason but then perhaps they should never have been processing payroll for anyone who requires confidentiality.
