Posted March 6, 2020

Do I Need Payroll for my Business?

Whitesides Accountant & Tax Advisor Sarah Greenwood answers “Do I need payroll for my business?”

It depends on what you’re doing.

Self Employed

If you’re a self-employed individual then you probably don’t need to set up a payroll to pay yourself, unless you are employing any staff.

Limited Company

If you’re a limited company then you might want to set up a payroll.

It also depends on whether you’re getting your National Insurance Credits from any other source. If you’ve got an employment income at the same time as running your own limited company, then you potentially don’t need to run a payroll unless you’ve got any other employees.

If you’ve got a limited company but you’re getting your National Insurance credits through an alternative source (other than an employment income) then it might not be needed either, for example if you’re getting them from tax credits or child benefit.

The other reason might be if you’ve got thirty or thirty five years of national insurance payments then you potentially don’t need a payroll in that situation either.

Sole Traders

A sole trader doesn’t need a payroll unless it is employing another individual because the sole trader pays National Insurance credits on their sole trade. They pay class 2 and class 4 National Insurance rather than class 1 National Insurance which is paid by an employee or an employer.