The number of days in the tax year doesn’t divide into a whole number of tax weeks.

If you pay your employees near the end of the tax year, you may have an extra pay run.

This is a Week 53.

This article explains how to check for this in Sage Payroll.

If you want to watch a video that contains further information about extra pay runs, you can do so below:

Do I have an extra pay run?

In 2024, you have an extra pay run if your normal pay day is a Monday or Tuesday, and your last pay date is:

• Monday 23 or Tuesday 24 December 2024 for weekly paid employees
• Monday 16 or Tuesday 17 December 2024 for 2-weekly paid employees
• Monday or Tuesday 3 December 2024 for 4-weekly paid employees

If you pay your employees monthly, you don’t have an extra pay run.

 CAUTION: Never change your process date to get an extra pay period, or to avoid one. This goes against Revenue legislation and will have consequences.

Check if you have an extra pay run

1. From Settings, select Pay Day Settings.

2. Select View Pay Calendar.

Extra pay runs appear as follows:

• Weekly payrolls as Week 53
• 2-weekly payrolls as 2-Week 27
• 4-weekly payrolls as 4-Week 14

Process your extra pay run

Process your extra pay run like you do any other payroll.

In line with Revenue requirements, the extra period uses week 1 / month 1 free pay allowance. This ignores previous pay and tax and calculates on a non-cumulative basis.

This may cause the deduction of higher or lower than expected tax. The is because the tax calculation doesn’t include the employee year-to-date figures.

Payroll does everything for you. You don't need to make any changes to the program.

If you need help with processing the extra pay run, read our processing a pay run article.

• Prepare for payroll year end