As the tax year draws to a close, payroll teams everywhere are gearing up for year-end processing. It’s a crucial time for businesses to ensure accuracy, compliance, and efficiency in their payroll systems, which can often be daunting to small-to-medium sized businesses – in fact, around 1 in 3 small businesses admit to having made significant payroll errors at this time. Particularly in a time of uncertainty, with a new government and everlooming tax-changes, having a scalable system that can handle these changes is a necessity.

To ensure a smooth end-of-year process, we’ve outlined the top 5 features your payroll software must have to keep your business running efficiently:

1. Automated Tax Calculation, Filing, and Updates

A reliable payroll system should automatically calculate tax deductions based on the most up-to-date tax laws. The system should be able to generate and file the necessary year-end documents, such as P60s for employees and P11D forms for expenses and benefits.

Automated filing ensures everything is submitted on time to HMRC, minimising the risk of errors and penalties while keeping you fully compliant with UK tax regulations. Plus, automated updates ensure your payroll system adapts to any mid-year changes in tax codes.

2. Fully Customisable Reporting & Dashboards

Every business is unique, so the way you generate reports should be tailored to your specific needs. Partnering with a payroll solution that works with you to create tailored reports provides a clear overview of year-to-date payroll and tax data. Customisable dashboards give you a clear, real-time view of key payroll metrics, helping you stay on top of any discrepancies or issues that need attention before year-end processing. 

This level of flexibility ensures that you can focus on the most important aspects of your payroll, saving time and reducing errors when it matters most.

3. Employee Self-Service Portal

An employee self-service portal is invaluable when employees need quick access to essential tax forms. Employees can easily view and download their P60s, check their tax code, and review their total earnings for the year without having to rely on HR or payroll teams, which also fosters trust between the employees and organisations, which increases employee engagement and in turn maintains high retention rates.

This significantly reduces the volume of inquiries your payroll team needs to manage during this busy period. 

4. Integration with your back office

Seamless integration with your back-office systems, such as HR software, is crucial to ensuring payroll accuracy and efficiency. Having a payroll system that integrates smoothly with your back office allows for real-time data syncing, reducing the need for manual data entry and ensuring that financial records are always accurate and up-to-date.

With everything in sync, you can quickly reconcile payroll against financial records, making year-end reporting and audits easier than ever.

5. Compliance Tracking & Alerts

Finally, the best payroll systems come with built-in compliance tracking and automated alerts to notify you of any changes to tax laws or upcoming deadlines. These can also remind you when it’s time to complete year-end reports or submit filings, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. By seamlessly applying tax year updates for the relevant thresholds, statutory payments and deductions, you ensure legislative requirements are met as soon as you start processing the first pay period without needing to worry.

Streamlining your payroll year-end process is about more than just checking boxes. It’s about leveraging the right payroll features that save you time, reduce errors, and ensure compliance. By investing in the right payroll software, you can confidently approach year-end with ease, allowing you to close the year on a high note. 

Companies trust mywage to work with them to mitigate year end processing. Book a demo with us today to learn why companies are partnering with mywage.