| Ok, so next to the taxman, your company payroll
department might well be the most criticised people
on the planet. Of course, when your pay is accurate
and on time then you love the payroll people with a
passion but when things go wrong it is a completely
different matter. Rightly or not the payroll professionals
come in for an awful lot of abuse if your pay is not
perfect.
I have had experience of working in a payroll department,
in fact, I WAS the payroll department so I am going
to put forward a few ways that you can help your payroll
department perform their job more efficiently and process
all the money that you are due correctly. Yes, it is
largely up to you I am afraid!
Your payroll department is only able to work with the
information that you give it so it is important that
you provide them with everything they need. I don’t
mean handing in your expense forms the day after they
are due either. It is your responsibility to send your
payroll department everything that you are claiming
for in good time for them to process it.
If you live in a country where you have a tax code
that may be open to change due to your circumstances,
your payroll department can’t be expected to be
psychic, even if you wish they were. For example, in
England, if you have not submitted your previous tax
form when you start with a new company then the payroll
department is obliged to set your tax deduction rate
at the basic rate. This is a lot higher than your tax
code is likely to be but it is the only course of action
that they can take. So, when your pay is processed you
may find that you have a lot more tax deducted than
you should have. This is down to you and means that
you have to wait until the end of the tax year to claim
back your overpayment form the local tax office, not
your payroll department.
Of course, not every country works the same way but
they do have similar policies when it comes to claiming
work related expenses. If you do not send in your claims
in a timely and accurate manner your payroll department
is not going to be able to reimburse you for the amount
you have paid out.
Payroll departments are usually extremely busy around
pay day because of the volume of last minute submissions
for expenses and other additions to your pay. They are
only human and mistakes are not always avoided due to
the high pressure they are under.
At the end of the day, your payroll department IS only
human. You need to do your part to help them perform
their job efficiently. The larger the company that you
work for, the more that liasing with your payroll department
becomes a necessity. Next time you look at the amount
of pay that you have received and start to complain
about it being less than it should be, think long and
hard about whether it is the payroll department’s
fault or yours. Chances are, it is the latter!
About The Author
May Bowden
This article was written by May Bowden of http://www.vipayroll.com.
With her previous knowledge in payroll, she can help
give you information relating to any of your payroll
needs. Be sure to contact her if you have any questions.
bowden.may@vipayroll.com |