Payroll Giving

The employer’s role

As an employer you are responsible for:

·         deducting the requested donation amount from your employee’s salary or wage

·         calculating the correct tax credits for each payroll donation made

·         recording the tax credits for payroll donations on your IR348

·         keeping records of all tax credits for payroll donations, donation amounts, donee organisations and payment dates

·         passing the donation on to the chosen donee organisations within the specified timeframe

·         advising the donee organisations that the donations are made through payroll giving.

Timeframe for passing on donations

Donations have to be passed to the donee organisation on or before the PAYE payment due date that is closest to the end of the two months from the last day of the pay period when the donation was deducted.

Setting up your payroll giving scheme

You’ll need to register for myIR before you offer payroll giving.

There are two options when filing online:

·         On-screen form where you complete details on your IR348 online. This may suit if you have a manual wage book.

·         File transfer through Gateway services where you attach a file from your own software. If you use an electronic payroll system this may suit you better.

If you already use payroll software it may be set up for payroll giving in your workplace. Ask your payroll software provider for help if you have any questions about using their software to support your payroll giving scheme.

You decide how payroll giving will run in your workplace but it’s a good idea to involve your employees in the decision as they’ll be using the scheme.

Some options to consider when setting up your scheme include:

·         letting individual employees choose any approved donee organisation

·         offering a limited list of approved donee organisations

·         letting employees vote for an approved donee organisation (eg, donee organisation of the month or the year) that they can donate to

·         letting your employees promote their chosen donee organisation to each other then everyone voting for donee organisation of the month or the year.

If your scheme allows it, the frequency, amount and donee organisations chosen by your individual employees can change at their discretion.

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