Insights & guides
Straight answers on UK payroll & tax
No jargon, no fluff, practical guides for overseas employers hiring in the UK, and for contractors and landlords who need to file a tax return. Written by the people who do this for a living.
No jargon, no fluff, practical guides for overseas employers hiring in the UK, and for contractors and landlords who need to file a tax return. Written by the people who do this for a living.
The year has closed and the figures were wrong. The submission it takes before and after 19 April, why the Earlier Year Update no longer applies, who carries under-deducted tax and National Insurance, and what the employee is owed.
Read the guide → Tax yearWritten from the documents published on Budget day: employer NI and the Employment Allowance for 2027/28, the April 2027 minimum wage rates, and the payroll dates in order.
Read the guide → Tax yearWritten before the 28 October 2026 Budget: the employer NI rate, threshold and Employment Allowance to find first, a worked example of what a small move costs, and the benefits in kind and salary sacrifice changes already announced.
Read the guide → CalendarFor employers: the payroll dates month by month to the end of the 2026-27 tax year, the four rules that repeat all year, and notes for an employer based outside the UK.
Read the calendar →Usually not. Why an overseas employer can employ someone in the UK with no UK entity, when a UK company genuinely earns its keep, and the trade-off between the two.
Read the guide → Overseas employersYour own UK PAYE scheme, a direct payment scheme with no UK entity, or an Employer of Record. The three routes compared, the obligations that apply either way, and the fixed monthly cost.
Read the guide → Overseas employersFive questions that settle it, including the situations where the honest answer is that you do not need a scheme and do not need us.
Read the guide → EmployersHire number one turns payroll into a legal obligation with dates on it. The scheme to register, the checks to make before day one, the pension duties that start immediately, and the 2026/27 figures that decide what the hire really costs.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollThe whole picture in one place, the three routes (own PAYE, a direct payment scheme, EOR), the real costs, your obligations and a realistic timeline, each linking to the detail.
Read the guide → Free guideOur 2026 checklist for hiring your first UK employee with no UK entity, the routes, the real costs, the compliance, and a first-30-days action list.
Get the guide → Overseas payrollThe complete guide. Compare the three routes side by side, estimate what a UK hire really costs, and see the UK employment essentials.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollSalary is only the start. Employer NI, pensions, the Apprenticeship Levy and more, the full cost of hiring in the UK, with 2026/27 numbers.
Read the guide → Overseas employersAn EOR sells speed and a shift in who is legally the employer. Everything else on the invoice has to happen on any route. The six situations where that trade is worth paying for, the three where it is not, and the two questions to ask a provider before you sign.
Read the guide → Overseas employersAn EOR buys speed at a premium. Once a UK hire has settled, moving them onto your own PAYE scheme or a direct payment scheme cuts the service fee sharply. The two destinations, the seven steps, and what to watch on continuity and payday timing.
Read the guide → Cost comparisonThree routes to employing in the UK, four questions that pick between them, and the cost comparison people usually get wrong.
Read the guide → Cost comparisonUK EOR pricing explained: the monthly fee, the deposits and extras nobody lists, and the cheaper own-payroll route for staff you intend to keep.
See the breakdown → Overseas payrollRun your own UK payroll or use an EOR? The real difference, when each wins, and why a direct payment scheme is often the leaner middle path.
Read the guide → Hiring decisionsThe commercial side of the contractor or employee decision for an overseas company: what each one gives you, a worked cost comparison at 2026/27 rates, the four signs a role needs an employee, and the employment status risk underneath.
Read the guide → Overseas employersControl, substitution and mutuality, applied to real working arrangements rather than defined. The question that decides everything after it.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollWhen do IR35 rules apply if you engage a UK contractor from abroad? The UK connection test, the small-company exemption, who carries the SDS and PAYE, and how it differs from DPNI.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollShare codes, the statutory excuse and a two-year record, how to check a UK hire's right to work before day one, and the fines if you don't.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollA realistic timeline for an employer with no UK entity, why a direct payment scheme can't be opened online, and how to be ready for the first payday.
Read the guide → UK subsidiariesFor overseas groups with a new UK company: the 2-month registration window, what HMRC ask for, the PAYE and Accounts Office references, PAYE Online activation, and how to pay staff before the letter arrives.
Read the guide → Overseas employersA UK entity puts you on the standard PAYE route rather than DPNI, with one scheme covering the whole UK team. What registration involves, what the scheme owes HMRC each month, and whether to run it in-house.
Read the guide →PAYE vs W-2, employer NI vs FICA, no at-will, the five differences that surprise American companies, and how to hire with no UK entity.
Read the guide → Country guidePAYE vs CPP/EI source deductions, T4 vs P60, 5.6 weeks' holiday vs 2 to 3, and how to hire with no UK entity.
Read the guide → Country guidePAYE vs PAYG, 3% pension vs 12% super, 5.6 weeks' holiday, the differences that matter, and how to hire with no UK entity.
Read the guide → Country guideEmploy UK staff with no UK entity, one PAYE deduction instead of TDS/PF/ESI, right-to-work basics, GBP pay and the time-zone overlap.
Read the guide → Country guideCPF vs UK NI and a separate pension, PAYE deduct-at-source vs settle-it-yourself tax, right-to-work, and why you usually need no UK entity.
Read the guide → Country guideFrom zero payroll tax to full PAYE: WPS vs RTI, gratuity vs pensions, and the on-costs to budget, the Gulf employer's guide.
Read the guide → Country guideUK PAYE/NI vs Irish PAYE/PRSI, Common Travel Area right-to-work, and the close-but-different details, same time zone, no UK entity required.
Read the guide → Country guideUK PAYE vs the bulletin de paie, employer charges vs French cotisations, posted-worker rules, and why you usually need no UK entity.
Read the guide → Country guidePost-Brexit right-to-work checks, lower employer costs than Sozialversicherung, no works councils, what German companies need to know.
Read the guide → Country guideLoonheffing vs PAYE, no vakantiegeld, how employer costs compare with the Dutch stack, what changes post-Brexit.
Read the guide → Country guideWhy an EU employer pays UK employer's National Insurance, the NI-only scheme or your own UK PAYE, and right-to-work checks post-Brexit.
Read the guide → Country guideWhy an EU employer pays UK employer's National Insurance, the NI-only scheme or your own UK PAYE, and right-to-work checks post-Brexit.
Read the guide → Country guideEmploy UK staff with no UK entity, what the UK-Israel social security convention means for postings, and right-to-work basics.
Read the guide → Country guideEmploy UK staff with no UK entity, the five-year posting rule in the UK-Japan social security agreement, and right-to-work basics.
Read the guide → Country guideWhy the UK and Switzerland convention makes a Swiss employer pay UK employer's National Insurance, the NI-only scheme or your own UK PAYE, and timing.
Read the guide → Country guideWhy an EU employer pays UK employer's National Insurance, the NI-only scheme in your company's name or your own UK PAYE, and what you must do.
Read the guide → Country guideWhy an EU employer pays UK employer's National Insurance, the NI-only scheme in your company's name or your own UK PAYE, and how long setup takes.
Country guideEmploy UK staff with no UK entity, how UK National Insurance works for a posting from Brazil, and right-to-work basics.
Read the guide → Country guideEmploy UK staff with no UK entity, how UK National Insurance works for a posting from South Africa, and right-to-work basics.
Read the guide → Country guideEmploy UK staff with no UK entity, why the UK and Hong Kong tax treaty does not cover National Insurance, and right-to-work basics.
Read the guide →For employers based in the EU with staff working in the UK: what an NI-only scheme covers, who registers it, how it differs from a DPNI and a DCNI, what happens to the employee's income tax, and the price.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollHow overseas companies can employ UK staff without a UK entity, what a DPNI or NI-only scheme is, when you need one, and how to set it up.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollDPNI covers tax and the employee's NI; DCNI covers the employee's NI alone; an NI-only scheme adds the employer's, and a tax-only DPGEN scheme can collect the tax. What each scheme covers, who's responsible for the tax, and how the scheme is settled.
Read the guide → Direct payment schemesEight things overseas employers say with complete confidence about direct payment schemes, each checked against HMRC's own PAYE manual. Whether you need a UK company, who is actually allowed to register the scheme, whether employer's National Insurance ever arises, how DCNI differs from an NI-only scheme, how many schemes a team of three needs, where the liability really sits, whether the pension rules reach a company with no UK office, and what happens when someone has already been paid gross.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollHow it works in practice: three illustrative setups for overseas employers, and how we work with international teams across timezones.
See the examples → Overseas payrollFour to eight weeks on our own estimate, and the difference between the two is mostly within your control. What can run in parallel while HMRC processes it.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollMonths of gross pay and no scheme. The disclosure route, the arithmetic, and the awkward conversation about who funds the catch-up.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollThe most misunderstood fact about direct payment schemes, and the one that changes an employee's mind when they finally understand it.
Read the guide → Overseas employersAlmost everyone answers this off the group chart, and the group chart is not the test. HMRC's own conditions turn on whether anybody here is on the hook for the payroll: who the employer is, whether that employer has a UK tax presence of its own, and whether the employee actually works in the subsidiary's business, which can make that company responsible for PAYE and both sides of National Insurance without anyone signing a thing. Three situations, the case where a direct scheme is still right with a subsidiary sitting there all along, and four things that decide nothing, including who pays the salary.
Read the guide → Direct payment schemesA direct payment scheme exists because there is no UK employer to run payroll, so a UK branch or subsidiary usually ends it. Which change you have actually made, the host business rule that can make a UK company responsible before anyone signs anything, closing the old scheme without leaving estimated charges behind, and the mid-year traps: restarted student loan thresholds, emergency tax codes, National Insurance starting again, the director's annual earnings period, Employment Allowance, and pension duties that may not be new at all. Including the points where HMRC publishes nothing.
Read the guide → Direct schemesFor overseas employers and their UK staff when a DPNI employee leaves: who closes the scheme, the final submission and cessation date, the last quarterly payment, and what happens if the scheme is simply left open.
Read the guide →For overseas employers with UK staff: who is owed a payslip, the four things it must show, the hours rule for variable pay, fixed deductions, and whether it can be electronic.
Read the guide → PayrollReporting payroll to HMRC in real time, what the FPS and EPS are, when each is due, and the on-or-before-payday rule that catches employers out.
Read the guide → HMRC mechanicsA demand for a month you settled weeks ago is nearly always one of four things: a payment referenced to the wrong tax month, a submission carrying the wrong pay date, a reduction never reported on an EPS, or an employee sitting on HMRC's system twice. The fingerprint each one leaves, how the seventeen character payment reference works, and when to stop waiting and ring.
Read the guide → CalculatorsEstimate the penalty for a late or missing FPS, or for paying HMRC late, using HMRC's own tables.
Use the calculator → PayrollA P6 tells you to change an employee's tax code mid-year. What a P6 and a P9 are, what to do when one lands, and what happens if you miss one.
Read the guide → PayrollWhat employer NI is, the current rate and threshold, the Employment Allowance, and how to work out what you'll actually pay on a UK salary.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollYes, you usually have to enrol UK staff in a workplace pension, even with no UK entity. The duties, the 8% minimum and qualifying earnings for 2026/27.
Read the guide → Payroll & pensionsHow salary sacrifice cuts Income Tax and NI for both employee and employer, a clear 2026/27 worked example, what still qualifies, and the pitfalls to check.
Read the guide → PayrollThe £5,000 and £12,570 salary options, the Employment Allowance trap, and the new dividend rates, how owner-directors pay themselves efficiently.
Read the guide → UK payrollThe apprentice minimum wage, the employer NI saving from category H (under 25), and the Apprenticeship Levy, what actually changes in payroll, with a 2026/27 worked example.
Read the guide → PayrollSince 6 April 2026 the agency is jointly and severally liable for PAYE an umbrella company fails to pay. Who is liable, when, and what to do now.
Read the guide → Cost comparisonOnly one line of the in-house payroll bill arrives as an invoice. The employed time of whoever runs it, pension administration, cover when they are away, keeping up with April, and HMRC and Pensions Regulator penalties, with a worked example at 2026/27 rates.
Read the guide → Cost comparisonThe real hours, software costs and penalty risk of DIY, plus an honest panel on when doing it yourself genuinely makes sense.
See the honest maths → ReferencePAYE, RTI, FPS, DPNI, P60, qualifying earnings, every term you'll meet in plain English, plus the dates that matter.
Open the glossary →Income tax, NI, statutory pay, minimum wage, student loan and pension thresholds for 2026/27, a clear, scannable UK payroll reference.
View the rates → PayrollThe year-end process in order, the final FPS/EPS, P60s by 31 May, P11Ds by 6 July, new tax-year codes, and what overseas employers must do.
Read the guide → PayrollWhat benefits in kind are, the P11D and P11D(b), Class 1A NIC at 15%, the 6 July deadline, and why payrolling benefits becomes mandatory from April 2027.
Read the guide → Overseas payrollDo you owe UK statutory sick and family pay with no UK entity? The 2026/27 rates, who qualifies, and how much you can recover from HMRC.
Read the guide →Written for the person rather than the company. What lands in your account, what is not yours, and what to ask your employer for in writing.
Read the guide → Direct schemesFor employees paid gross on a DPNI, DCNI or tax-only scheme: what each scheme collects, a simple method for working out what to hold back each payday, when to run the sum again, and when the money goes to HMRC.
Read the guide → For employeesForeign employer, no UK office, nothing deducted from your pay? Why it isn't just a tax return, the National Insurance trap, and how the right HMRC scheme sorts it.
Read the guide → For employeesPAYE, NI category letters, BR and K tax codes, YTD, the statutory pay codes and the loan plans. Every line on a UK payslip in plain English, at 2026/27 rates.
Read the guide → Tax codesTake home pay drops and the only clue is a few characters on the payslip. What the number and the letter are actually saying, the six things that usually put a code wrong, why your employer cannot change it, and the Check your Income Tax route that can. Plus HMRC's fifteen working day turnaround and how the refund reaches you.
Read the guide → For employeesThe document list that satisfies a UK lender when there is no UK employer, and the one letter that most often unsticks a stalled application.
Read the guide →If your employer is abroad and your tax or National Insurance runs through a direct scheme, you may have a personal filing obligation nobody mentioned. The 5 October registration deadline, how it differs from 31 January, and why the £100 penalty everyone quotes is for filing late rather than registering late.
Read the guide → Self AssessmentRegistering by 5 October, your UTR, the records to keep, and the payments-on-account ambush every first-timer should see coming.
Read the guide → Self AssessmentThe £1,000 property allowance, rent-a-room relief, what you can deduct, non-resident landlords, and the MTD timeline.
Read the guide → Self AssessmentWhen PAYE through an umbrella isn't the whole story, who needs to file Self Assessment, what you can claim, and how to avoid penalties.
Read the guide → Self AssessmentQuarterly digital updates now sit alongside the annual return for sole traders and landlords. The thresholds, the timeline, and what to do now.
Read the guide →For practices taking over a payroll part way through the tax year: the documents to ask the outgoing provider for, why payroll IDs matter, why nobody gets a P45, and four checks for the first run.
Read the guide → For practicesWritten for a practice principal rather than a business owner. Who actually runs the payroll and who covers them, the mechanics of an ordinary month in one table, and the questions a bureau would rather you didn't ask: who pays when they get it wrong, what their indemnity cover responds to, how you leave, and where your clients' data sits.
Read the guide → For practicesThe three options open to a small practice, the arithmetic on a five-employee client, and three tests that settle it faster than a spreadsheet.
Read the guide → For practicesWhat to do in the first week, what to decide in the first month, and how to make sure the next departure is an inconvenience rather than a crisis.
Read the guide → For practicesDo the sum on one client with five employees. Then decide whether you are choosing to subsidise payroll or discovering that you were.
Read the guide → For practicesHow the arrangement actually works, and the four questions to ask a bureau before you put a client anywhere near it.
Read the guide →Ask us directly, we're happy to point you the right way, no obligation.
Email the teamQuick enquiry, we reply within 1 UK business day