Absolute Accounting Software Help guide Payroll Getting started Update your software General settings Creating the employer Further set up Further employer details Adding employees Making payments Reports and forms Generating payslips Emailing payslips In year forms (P45 / P46) Month end reports End of Year Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Payroll \ Getting started Getting started Update your software Firstly, please ensure that you are running the latest updates for Absolute by closing all Absolute programs and going to the Absolute startup screen (from the Absolute icon on the desktop). Maximise this screen and navigate to the lower right hand corner where you will see Tools and then underneath, select Internet Update. Please highlight Payroll (4 th line down) and then select the [Install] button on the right hand side. This will download the latest updates and then prompt you to install them. Please confirm your acceptance of the licence agreement before selecting [Next] and [Install]. Once the installation has completed, please select [Close] and repeat for Absolute Tax and the Supporting Libraries update. Once completed, please exit the updates and return to ClientBase. General Settings Please go to ClientBase and Tools \ User setup \ Advanced. Please ensure the following options are ticked: Confirm changes before saving Use client code Directors as separate clients Partners as separate clients Must use ClientBase Prompt before saving Prevent duplicate client codes Creating the employer If the client is not already set up in ClientBase, please go to Edit \ New client and set up each employer as a new client (with relevant business type) ensuring all relevant fields are completed (this includes the fields behind the [Business] button). The more data you can enter here the better as it feeds through to various other aspects of the software. Particular fields to be aware of: Client code must be unique and not contain any special characters.
Business name don t use ampersand or unusual characters. Limited to 26 characters as this will cause a rejection when you try to file it to HMRC. Set business type (behind the [Business] button) to Partnership. See Absolute guides - Where to begin for further details.
Further setup Once the employer has been created as a client (see above) then please open the Payroll program. To do this, select you client (in ClientBase) and select the payroll icon. Then select the [Payroll] button and then the relevant tax year (eg 2010/11). Further employer details From the drop down menus, please select Company \ Details and complete the resulting screen:
Adding employees Employee details are added through the following screens: Then complete the fields on the left before moving on to the further details button (marked in red). And whether the employee is a director (marked in purple).
Making payments Payments are made by selecting the employee (on the left) and entered through the [Add] button on the far right hand side of the screen (as marked in red). Then selecting the details as required:
Reports and forms Generating payslips Once the employee pay for the period has been entered, payslips can be previewed on screen an / or printed. Previewing payslips Printing payslips The options are: Print on to plain paper with the format as shown above (File \ Print \ On Plain Paper) Print on to pre-printed stationery (File \ Print \ On Pre-printed Stationery) Printing to pre-printed stationery The software is set up to print to the Sage pre-printed payslips which can be purchased from most large stationers (eg Staples). Key settings Before you print however, please check the following settings:
Tools \ User setup \ Payslips
Please also check File \ Page setup is completed as below: Emailing payslips From the drop down menus please select File \ Send Email \ Send payslip This can be sent to any of: The employer The selected employee(s) All weekly paid employees All monthly paid employees
In year forms (P45 / P46) These forms can either be printed on to paper or submitted online. Submitting online For companies with 50 or more employees, HMRC insist that these forms are filed electronically. From April 2011, this will be compulsory for all companies. (See www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/employees/start-leave/notify-online.htm) Please ensure that the pay (and employee) data is complete then select Efile (from the drop down menus) and then one of: P45 (employee leaving) P45 (employee joining) P46 (employee joining) This will open the relevant form within the tax software in XBRL format. Please ensure that any validation warnings are cleared before selecting [Submit]. You will then be asked (if you haven t previously done so) to enter your Government Gateway online filing credentials.
Printing form P45 to paper Please select (from the drop down menus) View \ P45. This will display P45 (leaving) data in the display window towards the bottom of the screen: This can be printed by selecting File \ Print \ On Pre-printed Stationery
Month End reports These are accessed through the Payroll Tab and include totals of the PAYE and National Insurance payable (see below). This can be printed by selecting The Printer icon (marked in purple).
End of year P35 (Employer return) & P14s / P60s (Employee Earnings and tax) At the year end, ensure that all relevant payments have been processed before selecting the EOY tab. This will produce a draft P35 and P14s / P60s in the preview window so that you can check the data before filing. Once you are happy that the data is complete, please select efile \ P35 & P14. This will open the Absolute Tax program (which is required for online filing with HMRC) and provide options for printing the P60s. (Please follow the on screen instructions). Once the P60s have been generated, please select the FBI tab. This shows the P35 and P14s in XBRL format (this is the data that will be transmitted to HMRC). A more readable version can be found by selecting the Summary Tab. Please then return to the FBI Tab and ensure that any validation warnings are cleared before selecting *Submit+. You will then be asked (if you haven t previously done so) to enter your Government Gateway online filing credentials. It is important that you retain copies of any online filing verification messages received from HMRC as they are not otherwise retained within the software. You may also want to print the P11s (from the P11 Tab).
FAQs (1) Will the Absolute software remember the entries that I make or do I have to save? Please ensure that you save as you are going along. If you see a * in the title bar at the top of the screen then you have unsaved data. If your computer crashes then you will lose that data. You can save by any of: Clicking on the floppy disk icon (below the icons ribbon at the top of the screen) Selecting File \ Save from the drop down menus Pressing Ctrl + S (2) Why can t I email payslips? Please go to Tools \ User Setup \ Advanced and ensure that the option transform xml to html is ticked.