What Is TNA in Banking?

If you’re involved in HR or the payroll process for your company more generally, you may have heard the term ‘TNA’ crop up in discussions. But what does TNA mean and how does it relate to payroll? Find out everything you need to know about TNA and banks with our helpful guide.

TNA explained

So, what is TNA in banking?

TNA stands for Transaction Negotiation Authority. This is a type of arrangement that enables payroll bureaus to initiate payroll payments on behalf of clients. In other words, if you have a TNA in place with your bank, you can rest assured knowing that requests for payment within the parameters of the TNA will be honoured for payment immediately. It’s also important to note that TNA can be used for employee payments, PAYG, and payroll tax payments.

As you can see, TNA is an important concept for anyone involved in the accounting process at your company to have a handle on.

A short note on TAC

If you know anything about TNA, you may also have heard of TAC. But what is TAC in banking? Essentially, TAC stands for Transaction Activity Cap. It’s the same thing as TNA, so you may see the two terms used interchangeably.

How to set up a TNA

If you would like to set up a TNA with your bank, there’s a relatively simple process that you’ll need to go through. Here are the key steps:

1. Contact your point of contact at the bank and obtain a TNA application form.

2. Contact your payroll bureau to get the appropriate details.

3. Fill in the form and lodge it with your bank.

4. The process should be completed within 4-6 weeks.

And there you have it, the TNA bank process is complete.

What are the benefits of a TNA?

A Transaction Negotiation Authority is necessary for businesses that want to outsource their payroll function to a payroll bureau. If you don’t have a TNA, you won’t be able to do this. So, why go to the bother in the first place? Well, there are many different advantages associated with using a payroll bureau.

Essentially, it takes payroll completely out of your hands, ensuring that your risk of non-compliance when it comes to paying your employee wages is zero. Plus, payroll bureaus will be compliant with the latest tax laws, so you won’t need to worry about any issues around compliance and accountability.

Payroll bureaus are also extremely useful for businesses with small accounting departments which may not have an appropriate level of resources to handle the entire payroll function. If you choose to handle payroll in-house, you may need to upskill your current team or make new hires, which may not be the most efficient use of funds. Outsourcing your payroll can save time and money, giving you the opportunity to focus on your core business.

In addition, many payroll bureaus will allow clients to access their data anytime, anywhere, and from any device, which can be another advantage to consider.

Bottom line: if you want to take advantage of the benefits we’ve outlined above, you’ll need to send a request for a TNA to your bank.

We can help

GoCardless helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of admin your team needs to deal with when chasing invoices. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.