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Set up a PAYE scheme

Registering as an employer with HMRC so the company can pay a salary — including to its own director.

A company that pays anyone, including a sole director taking a small salary, is an employer. That means a PAYE scheme, real time information submissions on or before each payday, and a workplace pension duty to assess.

When it is due

Before the first payday. HMRC will not backdate a scheme indefinitely, and payroll cannot be reported without one.

What we do

  • PAYE and National Insurance scheme registered with HMRC
  • The employer reference and accounts office reference obtained and recorded
  • Guidance on the director's salary level and how it interacts with dividends
  • A note of your automatic enrolment duties and the date they start

What happens if it is not done

Paying a salary without a scheme means late RTI submissions and penalties from the first month. Automatic enrolment duties apply from the first employee's start date, not from when you get round to them.

Questions

Do I need PAYE if I am the only director?
If the company pays you a salary, yes. If you take only dividends, no — but that decision has tax consequences worth checking first.
Can I run payroll myself?
Yes, with recognised software. The scheme still has to exist first.
What about a workplace pension?
Automatic enrolment duties start when you have your first eligible worker. A sole director with no employment contract may be exempt — confirm rather than assume.

Related

  • Confirmation statement — The annual filing that confirms the information Companies House holds about your company is correct. Due every year whether or not anything has changed.
  • Identity verification — Directors and people with significant control must have a verified identity. We verify you as an authorised corporate service provider.
  • Director appointments and resignations — Filing an appointment, a resignation or a change of a director's details at Companies House, with the statutory registers updated to match.
  • Change of company name — Changing a registered company name by resolution, with the new certificate issued by Companies House.
  • Issue of shares — Allotting new shares — to bring in an investor, reward a joiner, or restructure who owns what — with the return of allotment filed at Companies House.
  • Transfer of shares — Moving existing shares from one holder to another — stock transfer form, board approval, register of members and the next confirmation statement.

PAYE registration

£40 + VAT

No Companies House fee applies to this filing.
Ask us to handle it

Every fee is on the pricing page. Statutory fees are passed on at cost.

All filing services

Enquire

PAYE registration

Tell us the company number and what needs doing. If it is already late, say so — that changes the order things have to happen in, not whether we will help.

PAYE registration enquiry

Tell us what you are trying to do and we will reply with what is involved. No obligation, and we will say so plainly if what you need is not something we do.

Permanent once registered — it cannot be moved later.
We use what you send to reply to you, and we keep it for as long as we need to. See the privacy notice.

Start with the name.

Run it through the checker — statutory rules first, then the Companies House register — and we will tell you plainly what stands in the way. Nothing to pay to find out.

Check a company name