The amount you choose to pay the people that work for the business, including their gross salary and bonuses. This will also include their employee PAYE/NIC/adjustments, however will not include the Employer NIC.
If filing payroll through Ember you should not be categorising to this and instead categorise payments to employees using the payroll tile.
What's included
The gross amount paid in employee wages
Bonuses to employees.
What's not included
Amounts paid to subcontractors.
Employer National Insurance.
Director salaries & wages.
How is it taxed?
When paying salaries and wages you have to consider they may be subject to the following government payments:
Employer National Insurance
Employee National Insurance
Pay as you Earn (PAYE)
Student loan repayments
Auto enrolled pension
These are all explained in the relevant Ember category descriptions if you want to learn more.
Tax tips
All salary, pension, bonus and NIC payments must be made within 9 months of your year-end to qualify for tax relief. Where they are not, then the deduction can only be taken when they are paid.
Note: if you use Ember for payroll, then your net pay to employees will be automatically posted for you to employee's salaries and wages.