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Getting started with PayFit
Getting started with PayFit
Rebecca Russell avatar
Written by Rebecca Russell
Updated over a week ago


1. Getting your own company credentials for HMRC Online Services

As a requirement to PayFit sending RTI submissions to HMRC on your behalf every month, we respectfully ask you to input your company credentials to the HMRC Online Services in the one of the three onboarding files that our Onboarder will be sending for you to fill up.

If you, as an employee of the company, have already created your own credentials and received your activation code, then you are go to go and can skip to section 2.

On the other hand, should you have requested a third party (e.g. accountant) to register your company as an Employer on the HMRC Online Services for you the first time, or should you simply have not yet registered as an Employer, we will need you to contact HMRC to request the creation of your own company credentials for Online Services.

To do so, you will have to call HMRC:

  • Telephone: 0300 300 3600

  • Textphone: 0300 200 3603

  • Outside UK: +44 161 930 8445

Opening times:

  • Monday to Friday: 8am to 8pm

  • Saturday: 8am to 4pm

  • Sunday: 9am to 5pm

More info here.

You will be asked a couple of security questions that enables HMRC to identify you as a true representative of the company. Receiving your credentials can take several days (up to 21 days if you are based abroad) so please start the process ASAP. Please also note that once you have received your credentials, you will need to log in to HMRC Online Services and request an activation code which can take an extra 7 days. Only once you have credentials and these are activated can you input the credentials on the app for us to use them for RTI submissions.

Important note: Failure to do so can result in late submissions to HMRC, which in turn can cause financial penalties.

2. Your Company account set up by our Onboarding team

A member of our Onboarding team will be responsible for setting up your Company account in order to provide you with your company's turnkey account, ready to be used. In order to set up your account correctly and generate the correct payslips and tax information, we need to collect some information and documents from you.

To do so, we send you a link to a secure online folder via Tresorit (an End-to-End Encrypted File Sync & Sharing system) so that you can upload the following documents:

Information about your company (company name & address, Employer PAYE reference, first day of annual leave year, etc...) : the Excel document Onboarding_Company name attached on your Tresorit file needs to be filled in by you.

Information about your employees (personal information, annual leaves, gross salary, bank details, type of contract, etc...) : the Excel document Onboarding_Employees_Company name in your Tresorit folder needs to be filled in by you. You will be able to gather this information via your accountant or exports from the existing payroll software you use.

Information about your pension providers (pension scheme, pension contributions deduction method, etc...): the Excel document Onboarding_Pensions name attached on your Tresorit file needs to be filled in by you. If you would like us to manage pensions on your behalf, we would need you to add PayFit as an admin via your pension portal. Please liaise with your onboarder directly for this process.

The data required in the Excel files should be findable in the following forms, please feel free to upload them as well so that we can make double checks on the information:

  • P11 forms

  • This tax year's payslips last payslip before our first run payroll for every employee

  • An export from the month before our first run payroll of the pension provider information for the company (for each pension provider, if more than one)

3. Your account activation

Once your account is set up on our end, we inform you that your account is up and running and it's up to you to fill in some final information before being able to us it. Below are the final steps:

Sign the GoCardless Direct Debit Mandate if it hasn't been already signed.

Complete your company banking details on PayFit so we can do the necessary on our end in particular around setting up BACS.

  • If you haven't used BACS payment, please familiar yourself with the Service User Number (more information via this link here)

Submit your HMRC online services credentials in your account. (see below for additional information).

Once the first payroll is processed and successful, our Support team takes over! You will be assigned someone so that moving forward whenever you have a question, you can contact this person us via the Help center at the bottom right of your screen.

4. Final steps in the app

Once all is ready, we send you an invitation email to activate and log in to your account. When you are logged in, please watch out for red notifications on the top-right corner of your screen. These will indicate the required steps in order for us to process your payroll. Sample notifications could be:

  • You have not entered your HMRC credentials in the app

  • One or more employees have opted-in to automatic enrolment, but you haven't assigned them yet to a pension scheme

When all notifications are cleared, you are up and running!

5. Your responsibilities

  • It is your responsibility to contact HMRC to get your company credentials prior to you using the PayFit app.

  • It is your responsibility to log onto your HMRC portal before the 22nd of each month to pay HMRC the right amount for the previous month.

  • It is also your responsibility to pay your employees (using or not the BACS file we provide you with) by the date indicated on the PayFit app.

  • It is your responsibility to pay your pension scheme every month.

  • Should you have not liaised with your onboarder about PayFit managing your pensions on your behalf, it will also be your responsibility to submit monthly information to your pension scheme.

  • It is your responsibility to keep your account up-to-date with your company's changes (e.g. add a new employee on the app when a newcomer joins your company, update their tax code on the app when HMRC send a P6 tax code notice, etc...).

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