Real Time Information (RTI) PAYE Reporting Guide 2026/27

The Full Payment Submission (FPS)

The Full Payment Submission (FPS) is the core RTI report, sent to HMRC on or beforeeach payday, detailing every employee's pay, tax, National Insurance and other deductions for that pay period. It is what tells HMRC (and, indirectly, DWP for Universal Credit purposes) exactly what each employee was paid and when.

Payroll software generates the FPS automatically as part of running payroll, so for most employers RTI compliance is built into the normal payroll process rather than a separate task -- provided the software is used correctly and submissions are not delayed.

The Employer Payment Summary (EPS)

The Employer Payment Summary (EPS) is a separate report used to tell HMRC about amounts that adjust what the employer owes, rather than what individual employees were paid. It is submitted only when relevant, typically by the 19th of the following tax month, and covers things like:

• Recovering statutory payments such as Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Sick Pay.
• Claiming Employment Allowance.
• Reporting no employees were paid in a particular period.
• Correcting year-to-date figures at the end of the tax year.

Filing Deadlines

The FPS must normally be submitted on or before the date employees are actually paid -- not after. There are limited exceptions, such as certain irregular payments, but late FPS filing without a valid reason is the most common RTI compliance failure HMRC flags.

An EPS covering a given tax month must usually reach HMRC by the 19th of the following month to be reflected correctly in what the employer owes for that period.

Late Filing and Late Payment Penalties

HMRC applies an automated late-filing penalty regime based on the number of employees, ranging from £100 per month for small employers (1-9 employees) up to higher fixed amounts for larger payrolls, charged per PAYE scheme where FPS submissions are late. HMRC typically allows employers a small number of "unpenalised" late filings each year before penalties start, and there is a filing-only grace period of a few days for occasional lateness, but this should not be relied on routinely.

Late payment of PAYE and NIC due to HMRC is penalised separately, on a rising scale depending on how many times payments are late within the tax year, in addition to interest charged on overdue amounts.

Correcting Errors After Submission

Mistakes happen -- an employee's pay is reported wrong, or a deduction is missed. Errors discovered in the same tax year are usually corrected by submitting an additional FPS with the correct year-to-date figures for the affected employee in the next regular pay run, or an "additional FPS" outside the normal cycle if urgent.

Errors relating to a previous tax year, once the final FPS for that year has been submitted, are corrected using an Earlier Year Update (EYU) or, in current payroll software, an amended FPS marked for the earlier year, depending on HMRC's current process.