Noob: Doing PAYE/NIC online

[MugsGame]

I've been contracting for a while but have recently gone from just paying myself in dividends to paying myself minimum wage plus dividends.

I used to get a yellow payment book each year which I simply filled in 'nil' each month and sent off the slip. Now I don't get sent a yellow book each year but I registered to look after my tax affairs online via the HMRC site.

I have the figures I need to pay broken down: my income tax, my NIC and employers NIC. Couple of questions:

1) Do I still just pay my income tax by doing my self assesment and sending HMRC a cheque when they send me a nasty letter?

2) Do I pay my employees NIC seperate to employers NIC? Should I go on the HMRC site and pay employees NIC from my own bank account, then pay the employers NIC from the company bank account? Or can I pay them in one lump sum somehow?

Thanks very much for any advice...

[VectraMan]

1. You pay the tax and NI on the PAYE part as you earn it (the clue is in the term PAYE) - i.e. once a month, or once a quarter. Then any non PAYE income (i.e. dividends, interest) you do via the tax return.

2. The company makes a single payment for all the NI and tax.

[MugsGame]

1. You pay the tax and NI on the PAYE part as you earn it (the clue is in the term PAYE) - i.e. once a month, or once a quarter. Then any non PAYE income (i.e. dividends, interest) you do via the tax return.

2. The company makes a single payment for all the NI and tax.

Great, thanks.

[NotAllThere]

1) Your company pays the income tax, ernic and eenic due on your salary once a quarter/month. You then pay the rest of your tax liability by doing your self assesment and sending HMRC a cheque when they send you a nasty letter. Or before, if you want to save yourself some money.

2) Your company pays the income tax, ernic and eenic due.

[hgllgh]

you can also easily work out your income tax, ernic and eenic by using the updated 07/08 employers cd rom from HMRC. This way you don't have to wade through antiquated tables to get the right figures