Under Real Time Information (RTI), an employer sends HMRC a Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before each payday, showing every employee paid and the tax, National Insurance and other deductions taken. An Employer Payment Summary (EPS) is a separate monthly report, due by the 19th of the following tax month, used to claim reductions such as statutory pay and Employment Allowance, or to tell HMRC that nobody was paid.

What is Real Time Information in law?

RTI is the reporting system set out in Part 4 of the Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003. Regulation 67B requires a Real Time Information employer to deliver the information listed in Schedule A1 to HMRC on or before making a relevant payment to an employee. That return is the FPS. Regulation 67F allows the employer to send a separate notification where no relevant payments were made in a tax period, or where it has sent its final return for the year or for a scheme that has ceased. That notification, together with claims for reductions, is made through the EPS.

Tax months run from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next, so a payday of 28 June falls in the tax month that ends on 5 July. Every date in the RTI cycle is worked out from those tax months, not calendar months.

When must you send an FPS?

HMRC’s guidance is to send the FPS on or before your employees’ payday, even if you pay HMRC quarterly. Points that catch employers out:

  • The payment date field must show the usual payday, even if you pay early because the normal payday is a bank holiday.
  • Include everyone you pay, even people paid less than £96 a week.
  • You can send an FPS early, for example when payroll staff are on holiday, but if anything changes afterwards you must send a corrected FPS. You cannot send reports for a new tax year before March.
  • You can split an FPS into batches, for example one for employees and one for directors.

Once you register a new starter on their first FPS and report a leaver on their last one, HMRC uses those reports to update its records, which is also how forms such as the P45 and P60 tie back to what HMRC holds.

What does an FPS contain?

An FPS carries three layers of information. HMRC’s field guide, Payroll information to report to HMRC, lists each one.

  • Employer details: HMRC office number, employer PAYE reference and Accounts Office reference, plus the related tax year.
  • Employee details: National Insurance number (left blank if unknown, never a dummy number), full name, date of birth, gender, address for new starters or where the address has changed, and a unique payroll ID.
  • Pay and deductions: taxable pay and tax for the period, student and postgraduate loan deductions, pension contributions, statutory parental payments, payrolled benefits, and year to date totals for this employment only. It also shows the tax code operated, whether it is on a Week 1 or Month 1 basis, the normal hours band (A to E), the pay frequency and the payment date.

Extra fields apply when the FPS includes a new employee (starter information and the starter declaration from the starter checklist), a leaver, a person starting a workplace pension, or the final report of the tax year. If an employee will not be paid for three months or more, or is paid irregularly, the irregular payment pattern indicator should be set to Yes.

When do you need an EPS?

You send an EPS in addition to the FPS if you:

  • reclaim statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, neonatal care, parental bereavement or shared parental pay, at 92%, or 109% if you qualify for Small Employers’ Relief;
  • claim Employment Allowance, which must be claimed once in each tax year;
  • are a limited company reclaiming Construction Industry Scheme deductions suffered;
  • pay the Apprenticeship Levy because you, or connected employers, have an annual pay bill above £3 million.

You send an EPS instead of an FPS if you paid nobody in a tax month. It is due by the 19th after that tax month. If you know you will not pay anyone for between one and 12 months, the period of inactivity fields let you tell HMRC in advance. If you skip the nil EPS, HMRC may send a notice, estimate what you owe and charge a penalty.

EPS figures for statutory pay recovered are year to date amounts, so each EPS should show the running total for the tax year, not just the month.

How do the FPS and EPS turn into a PAYE bill?

When What happens
On or before payday FPS sent for that payment
From the 10th of the next tax month Amount owed from the FPS visible in your HMRC online account
By the 19th of the next tax month EPS sent to reduce the bill
By the 22nd (19th if paying by post) Payment must reach HMRC

Employers who usually pay less than £1,500 a month may be able to pay quarterly by contacting HMRC’s payment helpline. The FPS deadline does not change.

Illustration only. A company pays monthly on the 28th. For the June payroll it sends the FPS on or before 28 June. One employee is on maternity leave, so it sends an EPS by 19 July reclaiming the statutory maternity pay paid to date. It then pays the net balance electronically by 22 July. If it had paid nobody in that tax month, it would send only an EPS, again by 19 July.

When can an FPS be sent after payday?

An FPS sent after payday needs a late reporting reason. HMRC’s codes are:

Code Situation Deadline
A Overseas employer paying an expatriate employee, or payment through a third party By the 19th of the tax month after payment
B Shares given at less than market value Usually by the 19th of the tax month the shares are given
C Other non cash payments, such as vouchers or credit tokens By the 19th of the tax month after payment
D Expense or benefit liable to National Insurance but not tax through payroll Within 14 days of the end of the tax month
F Employee paid less than £96 a week or with you for under a week, or pay based on work on the day Within 7 days of payment
G Reasonable excuse, a payday on a non banking day, waiting for your PAYE reference, or slow foreign tax calculations As soon as possible (one month at most for foreign tax)
H Correcting an earlier report Next regular or additional FPS

If HMRC disagrees with the reason, or no FPS arrives, it may send an online penalty warning and charge a penalty. How those penalties are calculated is covered in PAYE late filing and late payment penalties.

How do you correct a mistake?

Regulation 67E says that where an employer becomes aware of an inaccuracy in an FPS, it must give the correct information in the next return for that tax year. In practice you correct current year pay and deductions by updating the year to date figures on your next regular FPS. For mistakes in tax years from 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2026, HMRC says to submit another FPS for that year with the correct year to date figures. An EPS is corrected by sending a new EPS with the right year to date figures for the year concerned. HMRC will only charge a penalty for an inaccuracy if you did not take reasonable care or the error was deliberate.

What are the common mistakes?

  • Entering the date payroll was run rather than the date employees were paid.
  • Forgetting the nil EPS in a month with no pay, which leads to estimated charges and non filing notices.
  • Reusing a payroll ID when someone is employed again, which creates a duplicate record. HMRC asks for a new ID and year to date figures restarted from £0.00.
  • Entering monthly rather than cumulative figures on the EPS.
  • Reporting too early and not resubmitting when a tax code or leaving date changes.
  • Using a made up date of birth or National Insurance number, which HMRC specifically prohibits.

If you are setting up a scheme for the first time, see registering as an employer with HMRC.

If HMRC opens a check into your return, tax investigation insurance pays your accountant’s fees. Solar Protect cover pays up to £100,000 with no excess; it never pays tax, interest or penalties. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

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Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.