Extra pay period (Week 53, fortnight 27 or four-weekly period 14)
Extra pay period (Week 53, fortnight 27 or four-weekly period 14)
An extra pay period occurs when the regular pay date for weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly paid employees falls on Monday 31 December. The number of days in the tax year doesn’t divide into a whole number of tax weeks, so the 31 December becomes an extra pay period.
Will I have an extra pay period?
In the 2018 tax year, you have an extra pay period if the following applies:
Your normal pay day is a Monday, and your…
- Weekly paid employees were last processed on 24 December 2018.
- Fortnightly paid employees were last processed on 17 December 2018.
- Four weekly paid employees were last processed on 3 December 2018.
Monthly employees don’t have an extra pay period.
In each of these instances, you’re next due to process the employees pay on 31 December 2018. These are the only scenarios where you must process an extra pay period, as the next processing date for all other pay dates falls in to the 2019 tax year.
If you don’t have an extra pay period
Once you complete your final pay period, you can start your year end routine.
If you have an extra pay period
To process an extra pay period, there’s nothing different that you need to do. Simply set the period and follow your normal processing routine. Once you’ve done this, you can start your year end routine.
How tax and universal social charge (USC) calculates in an extra pay period
To comply with government legislation, tax and USC calculates on a week 1 basis. This means that for this period only, tax and USC is calculated on your employees’ gross pay, using a weekly pay adjustment at the current tax code and USC rates.
If an employee is paid fortnightly or four weekly, the two or four weekly pay adjustment applies.
All employees paid in an extra pay period, should submit their P60s to Revenue. Any overpayment of tax or USC are taken into consideration when the credits for the new year are issued.
How to set an extra pay period
1. Open Sage Payroll 2018 and log in to a payroll as normal.
2. Do one of the following:
- From the menu bar at the top of your window, click Processing then click Set Period.
- From the process map in the centre of Sage Payroll, click Set Period.
3. In the New period to process box, enter the extra pay period number:
- In a weekly payroll – Type 53.
- In a fortnightly payroll – Type 27.
- In a four weekly payroll – Type 14.
4. Check the dates and information are correct for the last period of the tax year. If not, amend as required.
5. Once all information is correct for the new period, click OK.
FAQ #1 – I processed an extra pay period in error. How can i correct this?
If you process an extra pay period in error, and the normal processing day for the weekly, fortnightly or four weekly paid employees is not 31 December 2018, you must:
- Restore the backup taken before the extra pay period was set.
- Process your 2018 year end tasks.
- Create the 2019 tax year for each of your payrolls.
- Log in to the payroll in your 2019 software.
- Get your payroll ready for processing in the new year.
- Set period one of 2019 and process the payments.
FAQ #2 – I forgot to process an extra pay period. What should I do?
If you’re due to pay your employees on 31 December 2018, but you didn’t process this period before starting your year end, you must first process payments for 31 December. Then re-do the year end process.
- Log in to the payroll in your 2018 software.
- Set the extra pay period.
- Process and update the payments for 31 December.
- Re-do your 2018 year end tasks
- Create the 2019 tax year for each of your payrolls.
- Log in to the payroll in your 2019 software.
- Get your payroll ready for processing in the new year.
- If you’ve already processed period one of 2019, you must re-do this period now.
FAQ #3 – My employees are on holiday over Christmas. Should I run an extra pay period to pay them before their holidays?
No, you only run an extra pay period when there’s an extra pay period to be processed in the tax year, regardless of any other circumstances.
If the pay date for the holiday week falls in January rather than December, the holiday week is not an extra pay period. You must process the holiday week as period one of the new tax year.
If week 1 of the new year is a holiday week, and you still want to pay your employees for this week in advance of their holiday, carry out the following steps:
- If you haven’t already done so, run the year end update.
- Process the remaining pay periods of 2018.
- Create the 2019 tax year for each of your payrolls.
- Log in to the payroll in your 2019 software.
- Get your payroll ready for processing in the new year.
- Set period one of 2019.
- Process week one of the new year as period one.