Congratulations on becoming an employer for the first time. Your business is growing and it’s time you had that extra help and support you need to let you get on with more planning, more growth and more work, which can only result in good things.
However there are things you must do early on when becoming an employer. Your employee will need to be paid via a payroll, and you’ll need to ensure that you’re getting that right. Getting it wrong can become costly very quickly as HMRC are understand that small businesses have a learning curve when becoming a first time employer, but their patience is not infinite.
To ensure that you don’t get a penalty straight away, you should register as an employer with HMRC as soon as possible. You should definitely do this before the first payday. If you are running your own payroll you will need to speak to HMRC, however it is a job that your payroll company should be able to do for you. It can take up to two weeks to register as an employer, however you can register up to 2 months before.
Further information about what to do when becoming an employer can be found at the Gov.UK website here:
You may also want to think about ensuring that there is no ambiguity around what is expected of your employee. This can easily be done via an employment contract, and this gives a feeling of security and peace of mind for both parties. This lays out working hours, holiday and sick pay arrangements and rates of pay.
PayrollAbility can take care of all of the ‘first-time employer’ tasks for you, completing employer registration with HMRC, and providing Employment Contracts and Employer Handbooks for the first time employer at an affordable cost. Call the office today on 01384 92 90 20 for a no-obligation chat to see how we can help you best achieve your goals.
