PAYE Registration Services for International Businesses in the UK

PAYE (Pay As You Earn) is the UK system for collecting income tax and National Insurance contributions directly from employees’ wages, ensuring employees pay tax correctly at source through HMRC’s system.

It matters because it ensures employee wages are taxed correctly, while keeping employers compliant with HMRC regulations from the very start of employment.

When you pay your employees, the relevant tax and National Insurance is deducted from their pay and paid to HMRC.

You may also need to make other deductions, such as pension contributions or student loan repayments, and report your payroll information to HMRC each time you pay your employees.

In addition to managing your PAYE registration, our specialists at Goodwille can handle the calculations, deductions, HMRC reporting and payments on your behalf.

If you’re hiring employees in the UK, you’ll most likely need to register for PAYE. Specifically, it’s required to register for PAYE if any of the following apply to your employee:

• They earn £96 or more a week
• They receive expenses or company benefits
• They receive a pension (mandatory in the UK, but employees can opt out)
• They have had another job
• They receive certain benefits, such as Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance

If you’re managing UK payroll alongside everything else involved in running your business, it’s easy to miss a deadline or get something wrong, particularly when you’re dealing with UK payroll requirements for the first time. But late payroll reporting can lead to monthly penalties, depending on the number of employees you have. These range from £100 for 1 to 9 employees to £400 for 250 or more employees.

We’ll guide you through the PAYE registration process step by step, so you know what’s happening, what we need from you and what you can expect along the way.

You’ll need to register as an employer with HMRC before your first payday. We’ll complete the employer registration with HMRC and arrange your employer PAYE reference number, which you’ll need for your UK payroll.

You can register for PAYE 2 months before you start paying employees, and once the application has been submitted, it can take 5-15 days to receive your PAYE reference number. We’ll help you plan the timing so the registration is ready when you need to run your first payroll.

As an overseas business, you might find your PAYE arrangements need to change as your UK structure develops.

For example, if your employees currently work for your overseas company and you later transfer their employment to a new UK company or UK establishment, you may need to close the existing PAYE scheme and register a new one. If you stop employing people in the UK, you’ll also need to tell HMRC that you no longer need the PAYE scheme.

We run your payroll through IRIS Payroll Professional, calculating employee pay, PAYE, National Insurance and other deductions.

You’ll receive the payroll reports through a secure portal to review and approve. Once approved, you can make the payments yourself, or we can handle payments to your employees, HMRC and pension provider on your behalf.

Every time you run payroll, you need to tell HMRC what you’ve paid your employees and what you’ve deducted. This is Real Time Information (RTI). We can take care of this reporting as part of our partnership with you, so you don’t have to manage the submissions separately.

There are two main types of RTI submission: an FPS and an EPS.

An FPS is submitted when you pay your employees and includes details such as their pay, tax and National Insurance. An EPS may be needed when there is other information HMRC needs to know about your payroll, such as certain statutory payments or periods when no employees are paid.

If you have eligible employees, you’ll need to enrol them into a workplace pension scheme. We’ll help you understand how the process works and what you need to do as an employer, as well as managing the payroll side for you.

Our payroll process connects with your chosen pension provider, so we can calculate the correct contributions, process deductions from employee pay and make the required payments on your behalf.

If you don’t yet have a UK entity, an Employer of Record can provide a way to hire employees without setting up your own local company.

With an EOR, a third-party organisation becomes the legal employer of your UK employee, while the employee works for your business day-to-day. The EOR typically manages responsibilities such as payroll and employment contracts.

A Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) works slightly differently. It involves a shared employment arrangement, where the PEO and your business share certain employer responsibilities. A PEO can support with areas such as payroll, benefits and HR administration, while your business remains more directly involved in managing the employee relationship.

Not sure which approach fits your UK plans? Goodwille can explain your options and provide the support you need as your business grows in the UK.

There are a few important PAYE requirements to take care of at the end of each tax year, alongside your regular payroll reporting. We can manage the relevant forms and submissions for you, keeping track of what needs to be completed and when.

At the end of the tax year, employees should receive a P60, which confirms their pay and the tax they’ve paid during the year. If you provide employees with certain expenses or benefits, you may also need to complete a P11D to report these to HMRC. This can apply to benefits such as company cars, private medical insurance or other taxable benefits.

Kate Brennan
As a Manager, Kate is responsible for our Payroll delivery and line management of the Payroll team. She completes regular client work including onboarding clients, running payrolls whilst also leading on the strategic changes across the payroll function.