The following information is needed to complete the Register New Employee starter wizard. Getting the employee to complete the HMRC starter checklist and provide you with a P45 (if available) will enable you to collect the required information.
Employee identity details should be verified from an official source, for example a birth certificate, passport, driving licence or official documents from HMRC or the DWP.
Employee Name
Title
If known.
First Name
Use first full forename.
Do not use nicknames or familiar names. Do not include extra information such as 'staff' or 'temp'.
Middle Name
Enter full forename.
Do not use nicknames or familiar names.
Surname
Required for RTI. Make sure it is spelled correctly.
Address
At least 2 lines of address are required.
Postcode
Enter a valid UK postcode. Do not enter a foreign country, Channel Islands or Isle of Man information here.
Foreign Country
Record here if your employee's address is outside of the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
Employee Info
Date of birth
Make sure you enter the correct date of birth.
Gender
Male or Female. It is required for FPS submissions.
Pay Pattern
Pay Frequency
This is based on your pay run settings. If you run more than one pay frequency, you can select which pay runs the employee is added to.
Regular Hours
Indicate one of the following 5 banding's that is most appropriate to your employee, based on the number of hours you expect them to normally work in a week:
a) Up to 15.99 hrs
b) 16-23.99 hrs
c) 24 – 29.99 hrs
d) 30 hrs or more
e) Other
If your employee is on paid leave, for example annual leave or sick leave, please report the normal hours worked. If you consider a, b, c or d are not appropriate then indicate e. You should only select e) Other, if your employee does not have a regular pattern of employment, or if the payment relates to an occupational pension or annuity.
It is important to record the correct number of hours your employee has worked to help ensure they receive the right amount of benefits and tax credits they are entitled to. For more about this follow the link below to 'How to work out usual working hours for your tax credits claim'.
Irregular Payments
Indicates that the employee will not be paid on a regular basis whilst in this employment.
This would apply to employees paid on an irregular basis, for example;
casual or seasonal employees whose employment contract continues
employees on maternity leave, long term sick or leave of absence and will not be paid for a period of three months or more - but you still regard them as employees.
HMRC will assume employees not paid for some time have left their current employment. Ticking the box will let HMRC know that this employee is still employed if you do not pay them.
If an employee is changing to irregular payments, for example, a student that only works in the holidays, select this box before you next pay them, so that it is marked correctly on the next FPS sent for the employee.
A director that does not receive regular payments would have this box ticked. For more info on Director payroll, please see this help article Director Payroll.
Tax Settings
National Insurance Number
Your employee should supply you with their National Insurance Number, sometimes referred to as a NINO.
A national insurance number has two letters, followed by six numbers, followed by one letter A, B, C, D or a space.
If the employee is waiting for their national insurance number, you should leave the box empty.
Within Shape, there will be a flag on both the Employees screen and the pay run screen to show that the NI Number is not set for that employee.
Do not make up a number, use temporary numbers or use someone else's number. This will duplicate records within the HMRC system and cause issues for both the employee and employer.
Once supplied you can edit the tax settings within the employee's details.
NI Category
Most employees are category A. See this article for a more details on the different NI Categories.
If you are only seeing category X, check that you have put the employees correct date of birth, as this category normally applies to under 16.
Student Loan and Postgraduate Loan Type
You need to make deductions if employees earnings are above an earnings threshold. Further details here.
Is Director
See our specific director guidance here: Director Payroll.
Off-payroll Worker (IR35)
This is a complex area and relates to whether the employee falls within off-payroll working rules (IR35). Select this box if the worker falls within the scope of IR35. HMRC further guidance is linked below.
HMRC Further Guidance
Claim tax Credits - information on working out regular working hours.