You can use SimplePay for your filing even if you previously used another system for the first period(s) of the tax year, or even for the whole tax year. You will also be able to generate P45s for any employees that leave. You have two options here: using take-on balances or recreating payslips – both methods will allow SimplePay to generate P35s, P45s and P60s for your employees as necessary.

Using Take-on Balances to Generate Revenue Documents

We strongly advise you to use take-on balances when capturing information for filing purposes. This removes the possibility of any discrepancies between your previous system’s payslips and those on SimplePay. In order to capture take-on balances, your first payroll period must be after the first January pay period and the employee’s appointment date must be before this. More information on these aspects can be found in the following section:

• Payroll Setup

If you have been using another payroll system for the whole tax year but now want to use SimplePay for filing purposes, you will need at least one finalised payslip for that tax year.

• For example, if you used another system for the 2017 tax year, you should follow these steps:
  • Set your first payroll period end date to the end of December 2017, as described in the Pay Frequencies section of the article linked to above.
  • Enter take-on balances for the full tax year – including information from January 2017 to December 2017 – as described in the Take-On Balances section of the article linked to above.
  • Finalise the December 2017 payslip as a zero payslip.

Recreating Historic Payslips

However, if you would like, you are welcome to recreate all of your historic payslips from January onwards. You will need to ensure that your first payroll period is set to January as described in the Pay Frequencies article linked to above.

Please note that using this method opens up the possibility for discrepancies in the calculations between your previous payslips and those you create on SimplePay. This may be the case if you previously did payroll calculations manually, for example. Again, for this reason, we would strongly recommend you use the take-on balances option.

Filing Documents

SimplePay generates your annual filing documents from the data captured on the system. You can access these documents by going to Filing > Year-end Filing (P35, P60). For more information on this aspect, please refer to the following article:

• Year-end Filing

Still stuck? You can browse the index for related topics or simply contact us.

You are using the help system of SimplePay, a payroll system that simplifies the payroll process. Designed just for Ireland, it's a fully online solution. Read more.