If you’re a small business owner in any type of business I’m sure your payroll is a big part of how your business is run. [You’ll find it useful] the best payroll software for small business . It saves you valuable time and energy, while saving you hard-earned money. Best payroll software for small business uk ensures that the tedious and time consuming aspect of HR is taken care of so that you can focus on what’s important, running your business.
Are you in need of a good payroll software for small business in the UK? Payroll Hero’s range of online payroll software for small businesses in the UK are designed to save you time, money and hassle. We want to take the stress out of running your business. Our payroll software for small businesses in the UK comes with unlimited support to help you through every aspect of the process.
Xero – Best small business payroll software UK
Has many good features and is easy to customise for any type of small business. Directly integrates into their accounting software which is a plus.
The Xero mobile app offers a self-service option employees can use to view their payslips, submit timesheets or apply for leave.
30-day free trial. Standard pricing starts at £5 / mo in addition to your package fees for up 5 payroll employees. Each additional employee £1 extra per month.
Sage Business Cloud Payroll – Simple payroll for small business UK
A comprehensive web-based solution from one of the best accounting software firms. It integrates easily with Sage’s other systems for faster financial management.
Alternatively, you can run payroll on it’s own in the cloud. Has some direct integration to popular AE pension providers. You can also print or email your payslips, P60s and reports to save yourself from all that paper clutter.
It’s easy to amend previous pay runs and adjustments are handled automatically.
Try it free for 30 days, then standard pricing starts at £7 per month + VAT if you have between 1 and 5 employees. It’s important to note that all features are included even in the basic plan. Pricing changes according the number of employees.
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is an accounting software package developed and marketed by Intuit. QuickBooks products are geared mainly toward small and medium-sized businesses managing payslips, pensions and statutory pay, then making real-time submissions to HMRC. Your payroll data is connected to your other accounts, so you get the complete picture of your business – anytime, anywhere. There is one interface to understand and pay just one bill.
QuickBooks has three payroll products: Simple, Essentials & Plus with prices currently ranging from £6-15 per month.
FreeAgent payroll
FreeAgent payroll is our third option. Its easy-to-use HMRC-recognised payroll software allows you to run your monthly payroll and file the PAYE and National Insurance contributions that have also been calculated directly to HMRC.
FreeAgent automatically generates payslips for all your employees each month which you can view and edit online and print them off as PDFs. At the end of the tax year, you can generate P60s for all your staff members too.
The Freeagent subscription package is totally different from our first two contenders in that it charges are based on the type of business you run (i.e.: Limited Company, Partnership/LLP or Sole Trader) rather than the services you use and includes payroll as standard.
Their monthly pricing start from £9.50 for Sole Traders, £12 for Partnerships & £14.50 for Limited Companies.
If you are a NatWest or RBS business current account holder you can get full access for free, as long as you retain your bank account.
MoneySoft Payroll Manager
Payroll Manager is a “comprehensive, easy to use, HMRC-recognised RTI compliant payroll software package used by thousands of SMEs, agents, accountants and CIS contractors across the UK”, according to its Hampshire-based makers, Moneysoft.
Price:
Payroll Manager costs £72 + VAT per year for a single company, with multi-company licenses available from £144 + VAT per year. There are no hidden or additional costs. Only available as a desktop package.
Main selling points:
- RTI compliant payroll software.
- Easy to use; data entry is straightforward.
- RTI filing, payslips, comprehensive reporting, automatic calculation of statutory sick, maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay, etc.
- Supports auto enrolment of workplace pensions.
- The main screen provides a complete year’s pay history at a glance, “so that you can print payslips and reports for any period, at any time”.
- Always kept up to date with the latest legislation by quick, automatic updates.
- Low-cost option.
- Free trial available.
Support:
Free email support, but no telephone support. Wealth of free payroll information available on the Moneysoft website.
Customer review:
“We are lucky to have used Payroll Manager, which has saved us a lot of time and effort. Our previous software was bloated and inflexible and caused a great deal of frustration for our management and staff. By contrast, Payroll Manager is easy to use and versatile.”
Don Powell – Direct Painters
HMRC Basic PAYE Tools
Basic PAYE Tools is free payroll software from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. You must be registered with HMRC as an employer and have a login for PAYE Online before you can use Basic PAYE Tools. HMRC has produced user-friendly guidance on downloading and installing the software.
One major drawback is you cannot use it to produce payslips and it isn’t suitable for accountants/bookkeepers with many clients. And Basic PAYE Tools does not help you work out who to automatically enroll or enable you to calculate pension contributions. To ensure the amounts you enter are correct, you must calculate pension contributions before using Basic PAYE Tools.
Price:
Free
Key selling points:
- No cost.
- It enables you to perform most payroll tasks, including working out tax and NICs for your employees.
- You can send data directly to HMRC as required.
- Compatible with Windows 7 and Mac (OS version 10.14 Mojave and 10.15 Catalina).
Support:
HMRC has produced a guide to downloading and installing the software if you need help getting set up or want to check if your computer can run Basic PAYE Tools.
Conclusion
Small business payroll software UK is a reliable system to automate your payroll processes, otherwise it is a time consuming task, with lot of paperwork. To keep abreast with all the statutory monetary and employment related calculations and responsibilities, a tool with a simple interface making it user friendly with sophisticated features would be indispensable. With so many different type of software available in the market to aid your payroll needs, selecting the most suitable one for your business still becomes a daunting task.