You will also need to send an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) by the 19th of the following tax month for HMRC to apply any reduction (for example, statutory pay) on what you’ll owe from your FPS.
If you’ve not paid any employees in a tax month, send an EPS instead of a FPS.
Your payroll software may have different names for the fields below.
Employer information
Report these in every FPS and EPS.
Field
Description
HMRC office number
The first part of your employer PAYE reference (3 digits)digits). —This thisis on the letter HMRC sent you when you registered as an employer. You can also find it on P6 or P9 coding notices
Employer PAYE reference
The second part of your employer PAYE reference (the letters and numbers after the slash)
Accounts Office reference
Format ‘123PA00012345’‘123PA00012345’. —You’ll you’llget this from HMRC after you’ve registered as an employer. It’s available online if you pay electronicallyorviayourpaymentbookletP30BCifyoudonot
Your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) for Self Assessment (SA) if you’re a sole trader, or the partnership UTR if you’re a partnership
COTAX reference
Your Corporation Tax reference, if you’re a limited company. If you have more than one, enter the reference for the company responsible for employment contracts
Employee information
Report this information in a FPS every time you pay an employee.
Field
Description
National Insurance number
The employee’s National Insurance number. Leave blank if you do not know it, but make sure you enter their address
Title
—Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, or other title
Surname or family name
—Make sure the surname or family name is spelt correctly
Forename or given name
—Use your employee’s first full forename and do not use nicknames or familiar names. Make sure the forename or given name is spelt correctly
Second forename or given name
—Enter your employee’s second full forename if applicable. Do not use nicknames or familiar names
Initials
Only needed if you do not know their full forename(s)forenames
Date of birth
—Enter the date of birth of your employee. Do not use a fictitious or default date of birth. You must show an employee’s date of birth on all Real Time Information (RTI) submissions
Gender
—You must show an employee’s current gender on all RTI submissions
Address
Enter their address if they’re a new employee, you do not know their National Insurance number or the employee’s address has changed
UK postcode
It is important that if you enter your employee’s post code, you ensure that it is correct. If you enter an incorrect post code this could result in the employee’s address being changed on our systems leading to correspondence being issued to the wrong address.address
Foreign country
Only enter their country of residence if they live outside the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man. Also complete the ‘Address’ field
Payroll ID
You can assign payroll IDs to your employees. The ID must be unique. Use a different one if you re-employ someone (if you do this within the same tax year restart their year-to-dateyear to date information from ‘£0.00’) or have an employee who has more than one job in the same PAYE scheme. If you reuse a previous payroll ID you’ll create a duplicate record and report payroll incorrectly
Payroll ID changed indicator
Only set the payroll ID changed indicator when reporting payroll ID changes and ensure both the ‘OLD’ and ‘NEW’ payroll ID is entered. You should not include the original start date. Do not put ‘Yes’ if you used a different payroll ID when you re-employed someone who left in the same tax year. You should ensure that the year to date financial data cumulates from that on the previous submission.
Old payroll ID for this employment
Only enter their old ID if it’s changed since your last FPS. You must not complete this if you are re-employing someone. If you do not supply it, and they have more than one job in your PAYE scheme, your PAYE bill may be calculated incorrectly
Irregular payment pattern indicator
Only put ‘Yes’ if the employee is not being paid regularly (for example, they’re a casual employee or on long-term sick leave) or if you’re not going to pay them for 3 months or more
Pay and deductions
Report information about each employee’s pay and deductions in a FPS.
Pay and deductions made this period
Field
Description
Taxable pay
The total pay to the employee that is taxable (even if tax is not due) in this period, including any benefits in kind which you have taxed viathrough the payroll
Tax deducted or refunded
—Enter the tax deducted or refunded from this payment
Student Loan repayment recovered
—Enter the student loan deductions in this pay period
Postgraduate Loan repayment recovered
—Enter the postgraduate loan deductions in this pay period
Pay after statutory deductions
Their net pay after you’ve deducted tax, National Insurance contributions and Student Loan repayments. Do not include payments you’re including in ‘Non-tax or National Insurance contribution payment’
Deductions from net pay
Any other deductions you’ve taken for example, child maintenance payments (do not include tax, National Insurance contributions and Student Loan repayments)
On strike
Only put ‘Yes’ if you reduced your employee’s pay because they were on strike
Non-tax or National Insurance contribution payment
Any payment made to the employee that is not subject to PAYE tax or National Insurance contributions that has been sent with the ‘salary’ payment for this period
Student Loan Plan type
Select the student loan plan type that your employee is on. If you do not know, your employee should check with Student Loans Company, otherwise default to plan type 1 until you receive a student loan start notice (SL1)
Year to date totals
Field name
Description
Taxable pay to date
The total taxable pay to date in this employment only, including any benefits that have been taxed through the payroll, including this payment
Total tax to date
—Enter the total tax to date in this employment within the tax year, including this payment. Do not include tax deducted from any previous employment.
Total Student Loan repayment recovered to date
—Enter the total student loans repayment recovered to date in this employment within the tax year, including this payment
Total Postgraduate Loan repayment recovered to date
—Enter the total postgraduate loan repayment recovered to date in this employment within the tax year, including this payment
If you’ve employed the same person more than once in a tax year, report for their current employment only.
Pension deductions
Field
Description
Employee pension contributions paid under ‘net pay arrangements’
Pension contributions paid under ‘net pay arrangements’ in this pay period
Employee pension contributions not paid under a ‘net pay arrangement’
Contributions taken from their pay after deducting tax and National Insurance contributions in this period
Employee pension contributions paid under ‘net pay arrangements’ year to date
The amount of pension contributions your employee paid under the ‘net pay arrangements’, to date, in this employment, within the tax year
Employee pension contributions not paid under a ‘net pay arrangement’ year to date
The amount of pension contributions that are not paid under the ‘net pay arrangements’, to date, in this employment, within the tax year
Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental bereavement and neonatal care pay
Field
Description
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) year to date
—Enter the total SMP paid to date in this employment
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) year to date
—Enter the total SPP paid to date in this employment
Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) year to date
—Enter the total SAP paid to date in this employment
Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) year to date
—Enter the total ShPP paid to date in this employment
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) year to date
Enter the total SPBP paid to date in this employment
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay Northern Ireland (SPBP NIRE) year to date
Enter the total SPBP NIRE paid to date in this employment. The SPBP NIRE fields are only for cases for claims under miscarriage or expected earnings/day 1 right. Amounts reported in this field should not also be reported in the SPBP Year to date field
Access to Statutory Parental Bereavement pay (SPBP) in Northern Ireland due to miscarriage
Enter ‘Yes’ if the SPBP NIRE claim reason is for miscarriage and ‘No’ if it is not.
Northern Ireland employee workplace postcode
Enter the employee’s workplace postcode
Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP) year to date
—Enter the total SNCP paid to date in this employment
ShPP: Partner surname or family name
Only put this when you report ShPP for the first time for this employee
ShPP: Partner forename or given name
Only put this when you report ShPP for the first time for this employee
ShPP: Partner second forename or given name
Only put this when you report ShPP for the first time for this employee
ShPP: Partner National Insurance number
Only put this when you report ShPP for the first time for this employee
—Enter the value of items which are subject to Class 1 National Insurance only
Benefits this period taxed viathrough payroll
Enter the value of benefits in kind on which PAYE has been operated through the payroll in this pay period. Also include this in ‘Taxable pay in this period’
Benefits taxed viathrough payroll year to date
—Enter the value of benefits in kind on which PAYE has been operated through the payroll to date in this employment within the tax year
Employee pay information
Report details of each payment you make an employee in a FPS.
Field name
Description
Employee tax code
—Enter the tax code operated
Employee tax code: Week 1/Month 1 indicator
Only put ‘Yes’ if their tax code has ‘W1’ or ‘M1’ at the end
Employee hours normally worked
Put ‘A’ if less than 16 hours, ‘B’ if 16 to 23.99 hours, ‘C’ if 24 to 29.99 hours, or ‘D’ if 30 hours or more. Put ‘E’ if you do not pay your employee regularly or you pay them a workplace pension or annuity
Pay frequency
Put ‘W1’ if weekly, ‘W2’ if fortnightly, ‘W4’ if every 4 weeks, ‘M1’ if monthly, ‘M3’ if quarterly, ‘M6’ if twice a year, ‘MA’ if annually, ‘IO’ if a one-off payment, or ‘IR’ if you pay your employee irregularly
Payment date
The date you paid them, not the date you run your payroll. Use the normal payday if it falls on a non-banking day
Tax week number
The week you paid them if you pay them weekly, fortnightly or every 4 weeks
Tax month number
The month you paid them if you pay them monthly, quarterly, twice a year or annually
Number of earnings periods covered by payment
—
BacsEnter hash‘1’ code
Onlyif putyour thisemployee is paid at regular intervals, for example, weekly, monthly, multiples of weeks or months
However, if you’reyour payingemployee themgets throughpaid Bacsin usingadvance or arrears for more than one earnings period, then you should reflect the number of earnings periods covered. For example, if your ownemployee Serviceis Userpaid Number1 (SUN)week’s —wage thereand 2 weeks’ wages paid in advance for holidays the number of earnings periods covered is no3 longerand ayou requirementshould enter ‘3’
You are paying foreign tax on your employee’s behalf and it is taking longer than usual to calculate the PAYE and National Insurance contributions on that tax
As soon as possible and no later than one month after usual reporting date —select ‘Late reporting reason’ code G
On your next regular FPS, or an additional FPS, report the correct payment details. Send by the 19th of the tax month after your original FPS for HMRC to show the correction in that month’s PAYE bill
F
You have an employee who’s either paid less than £96 a week or has worked with you for less than a week
Within 7 days of paying your employee
D
You pay your employee an expense or benefit where you must pay National Insurance contributions, but not Income Tax, through payroll. This depends on the benefit
Within 14 days of the end of the tax month
F
You pay your employee based on their work on the day (for example, harvest workers paid based on how much they pick)
Within 7 days of paying your employee
A
You’re an overseas employer paying an expat employee, or you pay them through a third party
By the 19th of the tax month after making the payment
B
You pay your employee in shares at less than market value
Usually by the 19th of the tax month of giving them the shares—shares, contact HMRC for complex situations
C
You make any other non-cash payment (for example, vouchers or credit tokens) to your employee
By the 19th of the tax month after making the payment
If HMRC disagrees or you do not send a FPS or EPS, they may send you a filing notice through PAYE Online or your commercial payroll software package. Penalties for late reporting started from 6 October 2014.
National Insurance
Include information about National Insurance in your FPS when you pay an employee £96 or more a week.
For employees paid less, you only need to include this information if you’re not required to report their earnings for tax (for example, you’re an overseas employer that does not need to pay tax in the UK).
This must be a UK postcode. If your employee is based in a designated Freeport or Investment Zone special tax site which does not have a postcode assigned by Royal Mail, contact the employer helpline for more information.
If you make a mistake by submitting an incorrect employee workplace postcode, use the correct workplace postcode from your next regular FPS.
Gross earnings for National Insurance contributions in this period
The total pay that’s subject to National Insurance contributions this periodperiod, —usually all payments £96 a week or over. Also include pay below this if you’re not required to report it for tax
Gross earnings for National Insurance contributions year to date
The total pay subject to National Insurance contributions this tax year
Earnings at the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) year to date
The total pay at £125£129 a week (£542(£559 a month) or over. Do not include any smaller payments, even if you’re not required to report it for tax
Earnings above LEL up to and including the Primary Threshold (PT) year to date
The total pay between £125£129 and £242 a week, or £542£559 and £1048 a month
Earnings above the PT, up to and including the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) year to date
The total pay between £242 and £967 a week, or £1048 and £4189 a month
Employee contributions payable this period
The primary contributions (employee’s National Insurance contributions) deducted from your employee’s pay this period. If you do not pay an employee in a pay period enter 0.00
Employee contributions payable year to date
The total primary contributions (employee’s National Insurance contributions) deducted from your employee’s pay. If you do not pay an employee in a pay period put the same figure as on your last FPS
Total of employer’s contributions payable in this pay period
The secondary contributions (employer’s National Insurance contributions) you need to pay this period. If you do not pay an employee in a pay period enter 0.00
Total of employer’s contributions payable year to date
The total secondary contributions (employer’s National Insurance contributions). If you do not pay an employee in a pay period put the same figure as on your last FPS
Scheme Contracted Out Number (SCON)
Do not complete if reporting National Insurance contributions for tax years 2016 to 2017 onwards
Director’s National Insurance contribution calculation method
Put ‘AN’ if you’re using the standard annual method of work out the director’s National Insurance contributions, or ‘AL’ if you’re using the alternative method
Week of director’s appointment
Put the tax week the director was appointed
EPS: what to report
Send an EPS by the 19th to claim any reduction on what you’ll owe HMRC (for example, statutory pay) from your FPS sent the previous tax month. If you’ve not paid any employees in a tax month, send an EPS instead of an FPS.
Put youhow wantmuch HMRCNational toInsurance paycontributions intocompensation ifyou’ve you’rerecovered overpaidthrough orSmall you’veEmployers’ reclaimedRelief. anyThe statutorySPBP maternity,NIRE paternity,fields adoption,are neonatalonly payfor cases for claims under miscarriage or CISexpected earnings/day 1 right. Amounts reported in this field should NOT also be reported in the SPBP deductions.
reclaimed field
Field
Description
Name
SNCP ofreclaimed accountthis holdertax year
—Put how much SNCP you’ve reclaimed this tax year
Account
SNCP numberrecovered this tax year
—
BranchPut sorthow codemuch National Insurance contributions compensation you’ve recovered through Small Employers’ Relief
—
Building
CIS societydeductions referencesuffered
If applicableyou’re a limited company that has had CIS deductions made from payments received for work in the construction industry, enter the total amount of CIS deductions suffered year to date
You did not pay any employees in a period
Send an EPS with the following information by the 19th after the tax month you did not pay any employees. The tax month starts on the 6th. Do not send an FPS.
Field
Description
No payment for period
Put ‘Yes’ to tell HMRC you did not pay any employees
No payment dates from
Put the 6th of the first month where you did not pay any employees
No payment dates to
Put the 5th of the last month where you did not pay any employees
Period of inactivity from
Tell HMRC in advance if you will not be paying any employees for a minimum period of one month, and a maximum of 12 months. Put the 6th of the first month where you will not pay employeesemployees. —You youcan only notify from the beginning of the next tax month
Period of inactivity to
Put the 5th of the last month where you will not pay any employees
Claim Employment Allowance
You could get up to £10,500 a year off your National Insurance if you claim Employment Allowance.
Field
Description
Employment Allowance indicator
Put ‘Yes’ to claim the allowance. This is your declaration that you’ve checked your eligibility to receive Employment Allowance.
If you do not check your eligibility or you answer incorrectly you may have to repay any Employment Allowance you have received
Employment allowance must be claimed each tax year. The claim will be retained for the full tax year and the following year you’ll need to submit a new claim.
Only select ‘No’ if you are not eligible to claim or want to withdraw a claim.
If your claim is rejected you’ll receive a Generic Notification Service (GNS) message to advise you.
Report Apprenticeship Levy
FromEmployers April2017,employerswho have an annual pay bill greater than £3 million,million orneed whoareconnectedto othertell employersHMRC byabout virtuetheir ofApprenticeship theLevy. connectedThis companiesalso orapplies to connected charitiesemployers rules,who whichhave ina total haveanannual pay bill of more than £3 million, needunder tothe tellrules HMRCfor aboutconnected theircompanies Apprenticeshipand Levy.connected charities.
Field
Description
Tax year
Put the tax year to which the return of the Apprenticeship Levy relates
Employer’s HMRC office number
—The first part of your employer PAYE reference (3 digits). This is on the letter HMRC sent you when you registered as an employer. You can also find it on P6 or P9 coding notices
Employer‘s PAYE reference
Put the PAYE reference to which the return of the Apprenticeship Levy relates
Employer’s accounts office reference
—Format ‘123PA00012345’. You’ll get this from HMRC after you’ve registered as an employer. It’s available online if you pay electronically
Annual Apprenticeship Levy allowance amount
Amount of annual Apprenticeship Levy allowance the employer is allocating to the employer’s PAYE reference
Apprenticeship Levy due year to date
Amount of Apprenticeship Levy liability due to date which the employer has calculated
Tax month
Put the tax month to which the return of Apprenticeship Levy relates
New employees
When an employee starts working for you, register them with HMRC by including this information in your FPS the first time you pay them.
Field
Description
Start date
Only fill this in the first time you pay a new employee
Starter declaration
Put the starter declaration that you’ve worked out. Do not put anything for new pensioners, or employees seconded from abroad
—Enter the date your employee stopped working for you, at the time of reporting the final payment to your employee, if they both fall in the same tax year.
Payment after leaving indicator
Put ‘Yes’ if you pay an employee after you’ve sent an FPS with their leaving date (for example, you’re paying them after giving them a P45)
Workplace pensions
Report this information when you’re paying a workplace pension or annuity.
Field
Description
Occupational pension indicator
Put ‘Yes’ if you make occupational pension payments
Annual amount of occupational pension
Only put this the first time you pay someone from an HMRC-registered workplace pension scheme. Otherwise leave this field blank (do not enter £0.00)
Employee receiving occupational pension because they’re a recently bereaved spouse/civil partner
Put ‘Yes’ if this applies
Trivial commutation payment type
If you’re paying a lump sum —put ‘A’ for a trivial commutation lump sum (TCLS), ‘B’ if it’s from a personal pension scheme, or ‘C’ if it’s from a workplace or public service pension scheme
Trivial commutation payment
The lump sum paid. Also fill in the ‘Taxable pay to date’ and ‘Taxable pay in this period’ fields, and put any non-taxable amount in the ‘Non-tax or National Insurance contribution payment’ field
Payment to a non-individual
Put ‘Yes’ if you make payments to a personal representative, trustee or corporate organisation etc
End-of-year or final reports
You’ll need to complete certain annual reports and tasks to prepare for the next tax year, which starts on 6 April.
Put ‘Yes’ to tell HMRC this is your final payroll report of the tax year
Ceased indicator
Put ‘Yes’ if this is the last report because you’re closing your PAYE scheme. Also enter ‘Date scheme ceased’ and the ‘Date of leaving’ for all your employees. Do not fill in ‘Final submission for year’
Date scheme ceased
—Enter the date if you have ceased as an employer and are paying your employees for the last time and this is your final submission. You also need to complete the ‘Ceased indicator’. The date must be in the same tax year as your final submission
Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for tax year 2025 to 2026. The section about claiming Employment Allowance has been updated to show the new allowance for 6 April 2025. Statutory Neonatal Care Pay has been added. Information about what to enter for the Freeport and Investment Zone special tax sites employee workplace postcode has been added.
6 April 2023
Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for tax year 2023 to 2024.
9 June 2022
Rates and allowances for National Insurance contributions have been updated and will take effect from 6 July 2022.
6 April 2022
Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for tax year 2022 to 2023.
25 February 2022
Code G, reasonable excuse has been updated in the 'late reporting reason' section.
24 February 2022
Clarification added to late reporting reason code G.
6 April 2021
Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for tax year 2021 to 2022.
29 May 2020
The section on Claiming Employment Allowance has been updated to give more detailed information about reporting.
8 April 2020
Claim Employment Allowance section has been updated.
6 April 2020
Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for tax year 2020 to 2021.
19 March 2020
Information about where you can find the Accounts Office reference has been updated.
9 August 2019
The Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) amounts have been updated within the guidance.
1 May 2019
More details about the Student Loan Plan type has been added.
31 August 2018
The employee information section has been updated to help ensure post codes are entered correctly.
6 April 2018
Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for the tax year 2018 to 2019.
12 September 2017
Information about running an employer payroll has been updated.
5 July 2017
The Payroll ID changed indicator section of the employee information table has been updated.
6 April 2017
Table under 'end-of-year or final reports' heading has been updated for the tax year 2017 to 2018.
6 February 2017
Information on reporting Apprenticeship Levy added to the page.
27 September 2016
Minor amend on when to complete the 'Employment Allowance indicator' field
26 May 2016
The National Insurance and Late reporting reason sections have been updated.
16 October 2015
Late reporting guidance updated on what payroll information to report to HM Revenue and Customs.
7 May 2015
Guide updated to to clarify the use of unique payroll ids and when to set the payroll id changed indicator.
6 April 2015
Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for the tax year 2015 to 2016.
14 October 2014
You can now tell HMRC up to 12 months in advance if you won't pay any employees and include a tax month when submitting an EPS.
28 July 2014
There is an additional situation where the 'Payment after leaving' indicator should be used.