As an employer running payroll, you need to report your employee’s pay, any payrolled benefits, and deductions in a FPS on or before their payday (unless an exception applies).
You will also need to send an 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) – 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 PAYE reference | The second part of your employer PAYE reference (the letters and numbers after the slash) |
| 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 or via your payment booklet P30BC if you do not |
| Related tax year | The Income Tax year that this report relates to |
Include these if they apply to your business.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Employer’s Contracted Out Number (ECON) | Get this from your contracting-out certificate or pension scheme administrator |
| SA UTR | 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 | |
| Surname or family name | |
| Forename or given name | |
| Second forename or given name | |
| Initials | Only needed if you do not know their full forename(s) |
| Date of birth | |
| Gender | |
| 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. |
| 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-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 via the payroll |
| Tax deducted or refunded | |
| Student Loan repayment recovered | |
| Postgraduate Loan repayment recovered | |
| 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 | |
| Total Student Loan repayment recovered to date | |
| Total Postgraduate Loan repayment recovered to date |
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 and shared parental pay
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) year to date | |
| Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) year to date | |
| Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) year to date | |
| Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) year to date | |
| 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 |
If you pay benefits through payroll
Enter this information if you’ve agreed with HMRC to tax benefits through payroll, instead of reporting in the normal way.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Items subject to Class 1 National Insurance only | |
| Benefits this period taxed via payroll | Also include this in ‘Taxable pay in this period’ |
| Benefits taxed via payroll year to date |
Employee pay information
Report details of each payment you make an employee in a FPS.
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Employee tax code | |
| 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 | |
| Bacs hash code | Only put this if you’re paying them through Bacs using your own Service User Number (SUN) |
| Aggregated earnings indicator | Only put ‘Yes’ if you’ve added the earnings from more than one job to work out their National Insurance |
Late reporting reason
If you send a FPS after your employee’s payday, let HMRC know why in the ‘Late reporting reason’ field.
| HMRC code | Situation | When to report |
|---|---|---|
| G | 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 |
| H | You correct an earlier payroll report | 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 £120 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 – 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 £120 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).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| National Insurance category letter | Your employee’s National Insurance category letter. You can use up to 4 for each payment |
| Gross earnings for National Insurance contributions in this period | The total pay that’s subject to National Insurance contributions this period – usually all payments £120 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 £120 a week (£520 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 £120 and £184 a week (or £520 and £797 a month) |
| Earnings above the PT, up to and including the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) year to date | The total pay between £184 and £967 a week (or £797 and £4,189 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) | Only put this if you run a contracted-out workplace pension scheme and your employee’s National Insurance category letter is D, E, I, K, L, N, O or V. You can find your SCON on your contracting-out certificate or from your pension provider |
Report this National Insurance information when you pay a director.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| 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.
Include your employer information as well as the information below.
Reclaiming statutory pay for parents and Construction Industry Scheme deductions
Fill in these fields in your EPS if you:
If you run more than one payroll under the same PAYE employer reference, include the total amount of reductions for all those payrolls.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Tax month | Put which tax month the EPS credit is for |
| SMP reclaimed this tax year | Put how much statutory maternity payment you’ve claimed |
| SMP National Insurance contribution compensation recovered this tax year | Put how much National Insurance contributions compensation you’ve recovered through Small Employers’ Relief |
| SPP reclaimed this tax year | Put how much statutory paternity payment you’ve reclaimed |
| SPP National Insurance contribution compensation recovered this tax year | Put how much compensation you’ve recovered through Small Employers’ Relief |
| SAP reclaimed this tax year | Put how much statutory adoption payment you’ve reclaimed |
| SAP National Insurance contribution compensation recovered this tax year | Put how much National Insurance contributions compensation you’ve reclaimed through Small Employers’ Relief |
| ShPP reclaimed this tax year | Put how much ShPP you’ve reclaimed this tax year |
| ShPP recovered this tax year’ | Put how much National Insurance contributions compensation you’ve recovered through Small Employers’ Relief |
| CIS deductions suffered | If you’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 |
Bank details
Include details of the bank you want HMRC to pay into if you’re overpaid or you’ve reclaimed any statutory maternity, paternity or adoption pay or CIS deductions.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name of account holder | |
| Account number | |
| Branch sort code | |
| Building society reference | If applicable |
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 employees – you can 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 £4,000 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. |
When claiming Employment Allowance you must provide your business sector on your EPS if your business is undertaking ‘economic activity’. If you’re involved in economic activity, which means you are putting goods or services on a market, de minimis state aid rules will apply to you in relation to the allowance and your business sector(s) is needed as part of your claim.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Employer is in the agriculture sector | Select this field if you’re involved in economic activity and your business is in the agriculture sector. |
| Employer is in the fisheries and aquaculture sector | Select this field if you’re involved in economic activity and your business is in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. |
| Employer is in the road transport sector | Select this field if you’re involved in economic activity and your business is in the road transport sector. |
| Employer is in the industrial/other sector | This sector should be selected if your business is undertaking economic activity and is not within the agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture or road transport sectors.
Examples of businesses choosing this option could be services, utilities, merchandising, manufacturing. Businesses such as a hairdressers or restaurant would come under this sector as they offer goods and services. Select this field if you’re involved in economic activity and your business is in the industrial/other sector. |
| State aid rules do not apply to the employer | This should only be chosen when a business does not undertake any economic activity.
For example, some charities, community amateur sports clubs or a person employing someone to provide personal care may not be engaging in economic activity and therefore fall outside of de minimis State aid rules. An example of this could be a small educational charity employing staff to teach English as a second language at no cost in the local community. These employers are still eligible for the allowance but it will not be classed as a de minimis State aid in these circumstances. |
Report Apprenticeship Levy
From April 2017, employers who have an annual pay bill greater than £3 million, or who are connected to other employers by virtue of the connected companies or connected charities rules, which in total have an annual pay bill of more than £3 million, need to tell HMRC about their Apprenticeship Levy.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Tax year | Put the tax year to which the return of the Apprenticeship Levy relates |
| Employer’s HMRC office number | |
| Employer‘s PAYE reference | Put the PAYE reference to which the return of the Apprenticeship Levy relates |
| Employer’s accounts office reference | |
| 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 |
| Student Loan indicator | Put ‘Yes’ if your employee needs you to make Student Loan deductions |
| Address | |
| UK postcode | |
| Foreign country | Only put their country of residence if they live outside the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man |
| Passport number | Include this if you reviewed your employee’s passport to check they can work in the UK |
There are special rules for what to fill in if you:
When an employee leaves
Report this information when an employee leaves or if you close your PAYE scheme.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Date of leaving | |
| 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.
Report this information in your final FPS or EPS of the tax year. You will also need to fill in the relevant fields if it’s your last report because you’re closing your PAYE scheme.
| Field | Description new |
|---|---|
| Final submission for year | 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 |
