Pension contributions

FreeAgent simple payroll is only for tax years prior to 2013/14.

FreeAgent now has a new payroll which supports RTI submissions to HMRC. Please see our 2013/14 payroll article, or guide to setting up payroll to get started.

Simple Payroll

As an employer, you might operate a pension scheme which allows your staff to pay into a pension fund directly from their wages.

You might also put some money into the fund for them.

Here's how to record both your employees' contributions and your own, if you are using the FreeAgent's simple payroll. Alternatively, you would need to post these as journal entries.

1. Set up the payroll

Set up a payroll for your employee as normal, under My Money > Payroll.

2. Edit each payslip

To add pension contributions, make sure you have the right member of staff selected from the Users drop-down menu.

Find the payslip to which you want to add the pension contributions, and click on it.

Click the Edit button at the top right.

Underneath the basic details, you'll find the pension contributions boxes, for employee's and employer's contributions.  Put your pension figures in here.

Please note that, as you can see underneath this box, FreeAgent assumes that you've registered your pension scheme with HM Revenue so that your employees get tax relief on their pension contributions.  If you haven't registered your scheme, you'll need to manually adjust the PAYE calculation.  Click this box here to manually adjust the PAYE that FreeAgent works out.

Save your changes.

Looking at the revised payslip, you can see that both pension contributions show there.

FreeAgent will also seamlessly deal with the accounting for this, putting the money that you'll pay out to the pension scheme into a separate category called Pension Creditor.

3. Paying the money over to the pension scheme

When you come to pay the company's and your staff's contributions over to the pension scheme, explain or enter that payment with type Other Money Out, reason Pension Creditor.