How do I align my worker group to a tax period?

The tax year begins on 6 April and ends on 5 April. This defines how different pay frequencies based on tax periods should be set up. When you add a new group from the ‘Manage groups’ area of your NEST home page, you’ll tell us about your earnings period also known as a pay period. If you’re using tax periods you’ll need to make sure you choose the right frequency option and dates.

Tax monthly

Tax months start on the 6th of the month and end on the 5th of the next month.

When adding a new group choose the payment frequency ‘Tax Monthly’ under Earnings period and payment due date.

You’ll have to tell us by when you’ll send us contributions. This is also known payment due date.

By law your contributions need to have cleared in our account by the 22nd day of the month following the month you deducted contributions from your workers’ wages.

Tax weekly

Tax weeks for 2019/20 starts on a Saturday and ends on a Friday. This is because the 2019/20 tax year started on a Saturday and each new pay period needs to begin on a Saturday too.

When adding a new group choose the payment frequency ‘Tax Weekly’ under Earnings period and payment due date.

When you select tax weekly as your payment frequency, the deadline will automatically default to ‘16 days after’ the pay period ends. You can change this to suit your organisation to a maximum of 22 days after the pay period ends.

Fortnightly

Fortnightly pay periods for 2019/20 starts on a Saturday and ends on a Friday. This is because the 2019/20 tax year started on a Saturday and each new pay period needs to begin on a Saturday too.

When adding a new group choose the payment frequency ‘Fortnightly’ under Earnings period and payment due date.

Next you’ll need to tell us when your current earnings period is due to end. You’ll need to choose the date that falls on a Friday.

The following table shows you all the fortnightly tax periods throughout the year that end on a Friday. Only one of these dates will appear on screen in the options provided - choose that one.

Four-weekly

Four weekly pay periods for 2019/20 starts on a Saturday and ends on a Friday. This is because the 2019/20 tax year began on a Saturday and each new pay period needs to begin on a Saturday too.

When adding a new group choose the payment frequency ‘Four weekly’ under Earnings period and payment due date.

Next you’ll need to tell us when your current earnings period is due to end. You’ll need to choose the date that falls on a Friday.

The following table shows you all the four-weekly tax periods throughout the year that ends on a Friday. Only one of these dates will appear on screen in the options provided - choose that one.

Once you’ve provided details of how often you’ll pay contributions to us, you’ll need to set a payment due date. The payment due date tells us when we can expect to receive money from you for workers’ contributions. The latest date by when contributions must have cleared in our bank account for any group is the 22nd of the month after you paid your workers, unless you’re holding on to contributions for workers during their opt-out period.

For example, if a worker is paid on the 10th day of the month we need to receive the cleared funds in our bank account by the 22nd day of the next month.

This applies to other pay frequencies too. For example, if a worker gets paid four times in a month then contributions in respect of all these pay periods need to be with us by the 22nd of the following month.

Once you’ve chosen your payment due date click ‘Next’. This will give you an overview of the information you’ve entered for the group. If you’re happy click ‘Confirm’. You’ll see an on-screen confirmation message and you can click ‘Go to your groups’ to return to your groups page.

If you’ve already enrolled your members into NEST and need to move them to a new group aligned to tax periods you’ll need to do this through a contribution schedule. Please see How do I change a member’s group by entering information for one member at a time into the website? or How do I change a member’s group using a CSV file? for more information.