Payroll services in Potterhill

Employers in Potterhill with one to around ten people on the payroll: single-director companies paying a salary alongside dividends, trades with a few employees, cafes, salons and shops with hourly staff, professional practices, and anyone taking on their first employee who needs PAYE registration and auto-enrolment set up correctly from day one.

• Payroll processed every pay period with electronic payslips to each employee
• Full Payment Submission to HMRC on or before every pay day, and the Employer Payment Summary when needed
• PAYE, National Insurance and student loan deductions calculated, with a monthly payment note for HMRC
• Workplace pension assessment, enrolment and contribution files each pay period
• Starters, leavers, P45s, statutory sick, maternity and paternity pay handled as they arise
• Year-end: P60s to employees, final submissions, and P11Ds where benefits are provided

1. Scope the job

   We find out what you need filed, when it is due and what state the records are in, and tell you which fixed-fee package applies.

2. Agree the price

   The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.

3. Hand over the records

   Photographs, PDFs, software access or a spreadsheet, sent however suits you. We confirm what we have and what is missing within two working days.

4. Approve, then we submit

   You review the draft with our explanation, sign off, and we file. Receipts, copies and the next deadlines come back to you immediately.

Potterhill is in Scotland, Scotland. Tax in Scotland differs from the rest of the UK on earned income: six bands with a 21% intermediate rate and a 48% top rate, identified by an S prefix on the tax code. The interaction between Scottish rates on salary and UK rates on dividends makes the salary-and-dividend split for Scottish directors a distinct calculation, and Land and Buildings Transaction Tax replaces Stamp Duty.

The 60-day property CGT return

Since April 2020 a gain on UK residential property must be reported and the tax paid within 60 days of completion through HMRC's dedicated service, separately from the annual return. Non-residents must report all UK land disposals in the same window whether or not tax is due. Getting the computation right first time matters because the figure is then carried into the Self Assessment.

Crypto records and reporting

Most crypto holders have taxable events they do not recognise, because every swap is a disposal even when no pounds change hands. The computation requires the complete transaction history from every exchange and wallet, pooled by asset with HMRC's matching rules applied. Exchange-generated tax reports are frequently wrong because they cannot see transfers between a user's own wallets.

Allowable expenses

The expenses sole traders most often miss are home working costs, claimed by actual proportion or HMRC's flat rate, the business share of phone and internet, mileage at 45p for the first 10,000 business miles, and training that maintains existing skills. The ones most often claimed wrongly are commuting, entertaining customers and clothes that could be worn outside work.

Record keeping

HMRC requires records of all income and expenses, bank statements, invoices and receipts to be kept for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline of the tax year they relate to, and companies must keep records for six years from the end of the accounting period. Digital copies are acceptable. Under Making Tax Digital the records must be kept in compatible software.

Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment

Auto-enrolment duties begin the day you take on your first employee, not when the Pensions Regulator writes to you. Eligible staff must be enrolled, contributions paid every pay period and re-enrolment carried out every three years. Director-only companies without employment contracts are usually exempt. Fines for non-compliance are fixed and escalating.

Employer National Insurance

Employers pay National Insurance at 15% on each employee's earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold, following the April 2025 changes. The Employment Allowance offsets up to £10,500 of this for eligible employers, which for a small team often removes the liability entirely, but companies where the director is the only employee do not qualify.

The trading and property allowances

Small side incomes are covered by two £1,000 allowances, one for trading and one for property, which remove the need to register or report income below that level. Once income exceeds £1,000, the allowance can be used in place of expenses, a choice worth making deliberately: a freelancer with £900 of costs is better off with the allowance, one with £3,000 is not.