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Real Time Information: Guidance for 2026/27
Your complete guide to RTI compliance: what it is, what you must report, key deadlines, and how to avoid costly mistakes
Real Time Information (RTI) is one of the most misunderstood parts of payroll compliance.
Many employers assume it’s simply about sending payroll data to HMRC and taking the pressure off end-of-year reporting. That is, until there’s a late submission, incorrect payment date, or Universal Credit issue, that creates penalties, employee queries, or compliance risk. All which is your responsibility to fix.
Since its introduction in 2013, RTI has required employers to submit PAYE data to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) every time they pay their employees, so that data is used immediately to update tax records and calculate entitlements.
This guide explains how RTI works, what employers must report, key deadlines, and common mistakes—giving you a clear, practical understanding of how to stay compliant, whatever payroll setup you use.
What is Real Time Information (RTI)?
Real Time Information is the system used by HMRC for reporting payroll information. Under RTI, employers must submit details of employees’ pay, deductions (including National Insurance contributions and student loan repayments), and taxes as they are processed, rather than at the end of the year as it was previously.
Every business, no matter your size, must use RTI if you run a payroll and pay at least one employee. Your obligation to report begins as soon as you pay your first employee so it’s important to have a PAYE scheme in place beforehand to make sure the necessary account references are in place.
There are two different submissions under RTI, including:
Submitted every time you pay employees, containing details of pay and deductions
Used to reclaim statutory payments or report no payments made in a tax month
Full Payment Submission
Each time you process payroll, you must provide HMRC with comprehensive details about your employees via your FPS submission, including:
- Personal information: names, addresses, tax codes, and National Insurance numbers
- Pay details: gross pay and year-to-date values for each employee
- Deductions: the amount of income tax and NICs that need to be deducted
- Employment status: whether an employee is a new starter or leaver
This information must be submitted in real-time through the PAYE RTI system on or before your employees’ payday—even if you pay HMRC quarterly instead of monthly. Using this, HMRC calculates the total amount your organisation needs to pay for each employee.
How can you view your FPS submissions?
You can check your FPS reports through your HMRC online account.
If you submitted your FPS on time—in the same tax month that you paid your employees—you’ll be able to view the report from the 10th of the next tax month.
However, the timing changes if you were late with your FPS submission:
- Submitted between the 6th and 11th: your HMRC online account updates by the 14th.
- Submitted between the 12th and 19th: your account updates within two days.
- Submitted on or after the 20th, with no FPS sent the previous tax month: your account updates within two days.
- Submitted on or after the 20th, but you did send an FPS the previous tax month: your account updates by the 10th of the next tax month.
Employer Payment Summary
An Employer Payment Submission (EPS) reports on the payments and adjustments that aren’t included in the regular FPS. These values are the deciding factor on what payments you’ll have to make to HMRC.
You’ll submit this after your FPS and on a much less frequent basis—usually once a month or even a year in some cases, depending on when you have something to report. The deadline for submission is the 19th of the following tax month (which is the 6th of each month) for HMRC to apply any reduction on what you’ll owe from your FPS.
Here are some reasons why you might send an EPS:
- If you’re making a yearly Employment Allowance claim
- If you want to reclaim any statutory entitlements (like maternity, paternity, adoption, neonatal care, paternal bereavement or shared parental payments)
- If you need to make a payment for the Apprenticeship Levy
- If you have a combined annual pay bill of more than £3 million
- If you’re owed a refund from HMRC
- If you have not paid any employees for at least one tax month
- If you no longer need your PAYE scheme
- If you want to reclaim Construction Industry Scheme deductions as a limited company
If you’re closing a PAYE scheme or reaching the end of the tax year, remember to mark your final FPS or EPS as the final submission and that all employees have been correctly marked as leavers where applicable. If you fail to submit a final submission it can result in ongoing filing expectations and penalties that can easily be avoided!
Are any employers exempt from RTI?
RTI applies to almost all employers with a PAYE scheme. In practice, very few employers are fully exempt.
An FPS is not required only when:
- No employees are paid in a tax month—an EPS must be submitted instead
- The PAYE scheme has been marked inactive with HMRC
- HMRC has approved an annual PAYE scheme (one FPS per year)
Using a payroll agent, having a small workforce, or paying only one employee does not remove RTI obligations.
Your obligations under Real Time Information
RTI might speed up the payroll reporting process, but it can only do so if you follow your obligations as an employer. After all, it doesn’t remove your responsibility! Here’s a few key areas to bear in mind:
FPS
Full Payment Submission Deadline
On or before your employee’s payday, even if you pay HMRC quarterly
EPS
Employer Payment Summary Deadline
19th of the following tax month, unless there is nothing to report
Year-end payroll responsibilities
Under RTI, you will still need to:
- Submit P11Ds where necessary, to report on any benefits or expenses that didn’t run through payroll—or a P11D(b) if you did
- Provide P60s to your employees at the end of the tax year, summarising their total pay and deductions
- Complete year-end checks like final payroll reconciliations
Quarterly v monthly PAYE
The default for most employers is to submit any PAYE payments monthly. However, if you have a small business and your PAYE and NI liability is under a certain amount each month, you might be able to switch to quarterly payments.<
Who can pay quarterly?
- Income Tax deducted from employees’ wages
- Employee National Insurance contributions
- Employer National Insurance contributions
- Student loan deductions
This threshold is checked based on expected annual totals. If you qualify, HMRC will allow quarterly payments automatically, or you can request to switch.
Quarterly PAYE deadline
If you’re paying quarterly, your PAYE bill must be paid by the 22nd (or 19th if posting a cheque) after the end of the quarter. The quarters are:
6 April – 5 July
22 July
6 July – 5 October
22 October
6 October – 5 January
22 January
6 January – 5 April
22 April
Data retention and record keeping
Employers are legally required to keep payroll records for at least three years after the end of the relevant tax year, and in some cases longer. These records should include:
- employee details,
- pay and deductions,
- National Insurance contributions,
- statutory payments,
- benefits,
- and reproductions of the information included in FPS and EPS files.
⚠️ Important
What if you don’t meet your obligations?
You could face penalties from the Government if, for any reason:
- Your FPS is submitted late
- You fail to send the expected number of FPS submissions
- You don’t send an EPS when you haven’t paid employee taxes in a month
HMRC is less likely to charge a penalty if:
- Your FPS is late, but all payments are reported within 3 days of payday
- You’re a new employer and sent your first FPS within 30 days of paying an employee
- It’s your first late report in the tax year
Penalty amounts
How much you’ll be liable to pay will depend on how many employees that you have. It’s worth noting that if you run more than one PAYE scheme you can be charged penalties for each. The table below shows the monthly penalty per number of employees:
| Number of employees | Monthly penalty |
|---|---|
| 1 to 9 | £100 |
| 10 to 49 | £200 |
| 50 to 249 | £300 |
| 250 or more | £400 |
What happens if you get a penalty?
Every quarter, HMRC send penalty notices that include:
- what you owe,
- how to pay, and,
- what to do if you don’t agree with HMRC’s decision.
You can choose to pay your penalty within 30 days of receiving your notice to avoid being charged interest, or you can choose to appeal online. Reasons to appeal include:
- You think the penalty amount is incorrect,
- You had a reasonable excuse for sending your reports late,
- Or, if you think the penalty is not due.
- The data on the returns was incorrect,
- A death or bereavement,
- The filing expectation was incorrect,
- You filed on time,
- There was a fire, flood, or another natural disaster,
- You (or your finance team) were medically unable to submit,
- There was an IT issue,
- You no longer have any employees,
- You no longer make payments to employees,
- There was a theft or crime,
- Or other; an option that can be used if your reason for appeal does not fall under any of the categories on the online system.
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Why payroll accuracy matters for RTI
RTI data doesn’t just affect HMRC records. The information you submit is also used to calculate employee entitlements and deductions such as student loan repayments, statutory payments, Universal Credit, and State Pension records.
This is why accurate, timely payroll reporting is important—errors can affect both your compliance position and your employees’ personal finances. If HMRC discover careless or deliberate errors in your data, you’ll face penalties that reflect the amount of potential lost revenue for that return and the behaviour around that error.
Why RTI accuracy is critical for Universal Credit
Employer responsibility
UC assessments rely on RTI submissions. This means any errors in pay amounts, payment dates, or submission timing can directly impact an employee’s UC award. Responsibility for accurate reporting sits with you.
Common causes of RTI–UC issues
Problems most often arise from late FPS submissions, incorrect payment dates, duplicate or re-run payrolls, or reporting payments that were later corrected or reversed. Even small inaccuracies can affect UC calculations for that assessment period.
Impact on employees
Incorrect or late RTI data can result in UC underpayments or overpayments, often causing financial strain. Where this happens, employees may need to challenge their UC award—but these disputes usually can’t be resolved until the employer corrects the RTI submission.
What employers should do
If RTI data affects an employee’s UC, employers should first review the relevant FPS and submit a corrected FPS where necessary. Resolving the RTI issue promptly helps the DWP reassess the UC award more quickly.
Error codes
Error codes vary by software and HMRC service—these are some of the most common and how to fix them:
1046
Authentication Error
This is likely because your username and/or password didn’t pass the Government gateway.
1000
System failure
HMRC system issue. Wait and retry submission. If it persists, contact HMRC support.
4065
Invalid content
Data format error. Review submission for incorrect values, missing fields, or invalid characters.
5012
Entry required
Mandatory field is missing. Check all required fields are completed in your payroll software.
7878
Starter declaration error
Issue with new employee starter declaration. Verify the starter information is complete and accurate.
7806
Wrong filing period
Submission is for the wrong tax period. Check your payroll dates and tax year settings.
How to rectify RTI errors
Send another FPS with the right payment date, writing “H-correction to earlier submission” in the “late reporting” box. It should be sent by the 19th of the tax month after sending your incorrect submission.
If an FPS is submitted after payday, you should always select a late reporting reason. HMRC uses this information to decide whether a late filing penalty applies. Submitting late without a reason increases your risk of penalties, even if it was unavoidable.
Make sure you rectify this on your payroll records. There’s no need to tell HMRC of this change when your next FPS is due as this could cause a duplication.
Update any corrections in the next FPS. It’s best practice to only inform HMRC of once change at a time to avoid duplicating records.
Click “flexibility” or “pension death benefit payment” then correct the “pensions drawdown taxable payment” or “pensions drawdown non-taxable payment” (or both), noting the difference between your original report and the right numbers.
To correct a mistake made in the current tax year, simply update the year-to-date figures in your next regular FPS.
If you’re correcting an FPS for a previous payment and the ‘payment after leaving (PAL)’ box is ticked, make sure not to enter the same amounts in the ‘pay in period’ and ‘pay in year-to-date’ fields as it will create a duplicate record.
The rules are different if you find a mistake in your final FPS of the year.
- If the mistake was in the tax years between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2025: Submit an amended FPS with the correct year to date figures.
- If the mistake was in the tax year between 6 April 2019 and 5 April 2020: either; submit a further FPS with the correct year to date figures or an Earlier Year Update (EYU) showing the difference between what you originally reported and the correct figure.
RTI and the end of the tax year
What changes at the end of the tax year
As the tax year ends on 5 April, you need to make sure all payroll information for that year has been reported accurately through RTI. This includes final pay runs, leavers, and any adjustments made before year-end.
⚠️ Important
While HMRC no longer requires a formal year-end return, any errors or missing submissions will still cause issues later—particularly when HMRC reconciles employee tax records or you issue P60s.
At the same time, your payroll systems will need to be updated for the new tax year. This typically includes new tax codes, National Insurance thresholds, statutory payment rates, and student loan repayment plans. If these updates are not applied correctly, RTI submissions in the new tax year may be rejected or flagged by HMRC.
The first FPS of the new tax year
The first Full Payment Submission (FPS) of the new tax year is especially important. It tells HMRC that you are continuing to employ and pay people into the new tax year, using the updated rules and thresholds.
This FPS must:
- Use the correct tax year
- Include the correct payment date
- Reflect any new tax codes or rate changes
Submitting an FPS with the wrong tax year or before payroll software has been updated is a common cause of RTI errors in April. These mistakes can lead to incorrect tax calculations, mismatched HMRC records, and follow-up queries that take time to resolve (which no one wants).
Payroll software and Real Time Information
When it comes to RTI submissions, payroll software can make what was once a daunting task an effortless (and accurate) one. That is, as long as you have a reliable, reputable vendor (like Cintra) who is RTI compliant. The Gov.uk website has a list of HMRC-recognised providers to help you choose.
No matter who you choose—or whether you choose to simply outsource this process—RTI compliance ultimately remains your responsibility. Taking an active role in keeping your payroll system up to date and ensuring FPS and EPS submissions are made in real time helps maintain compliance and reduces the risk of HMRC penalties.
Different payroll platforms will have different ways of doing RTI, but here are the basic steps when it comes to submitting your RTI:
Check your software has RTI capability and it’s fully enabled
Make sure your data contains only people you currently employ or need to be reported as a leaver
Log into HMRC Online with your organisation’s credentials and make sure you’re registered for “PAYE for Employers”
Make sure the references from HMRC Online and the Employer page on your payroll software are the same
Make sure the Accounts Office Reference is right on your Employer Page
When key details like a P45, National Insurance number, or correct starter declaration are missing, you must use HMRC’s default processes for new starters. This often means placing the employee on an emergency tax code, which can lead to the employee paying too much or too little tax until HMRC updates their record.
Under RTI, incomplete or incorrect starter information is reported immediately to HMRC through the first Full Payment Submission (FPS). If details are missing or wrong, HMRC can:
- Delay issuing the correct tax code
- Query the submission or flag inconsistencies
- Require corrections to be submitted later
For you, this can create additional admin, employee frustration, and an increased risk of errors that need correcting in later payroll runs. And that’s without the possible complications later down the line in your end-of-year checks if starter details were never properly updated.
Having accurate details from day one helps ensure the right tax is applied, RTI submissions are correct, and payroll records stand up to HMRC scrutiny.
Paying your employees
Check your software has RTI capability and it’s fully enabled
Make sure your data contains only people you currently employ or need to be reported as a leaver
Log into HMRC Online with your organisation’s credentials and make sure you’re registered for “PAYE for Employers”
Make sure the references from HMRC Online and the Employer page on your payroll software are the same
Make sure the Accounts Office Reference is right on your Employer Page
RTI allows multiple payroll runs in the same pay period, but each payment must be reported to HMRC with its own FPS on or before the payment date. Every FPS uses cumulative year-to-date figures, not just the amount paid in that run.
Problems occur when payrolls are re-run or duplicated without correcting earlier submissions. This can make it look like employees have been paid more than they have, leading to incorrect tax codes and HMRC discrepancies.
If a mistake is made, a corrected FPS should be submitted with the right cumulative totals, and a late reporting reason included where relevant. Multiple runs are fine as long as they are handled timely and accurately to keep yourself compliant.
No matter whether your people are temporary, seasonal, or casual, you still need to include them as an employee in your payroll and submit their information to HMRC as you would a full-time employee. This applies to onboarding and offboarding too, from accepting a P45 from their previous employer to marking them as a leaver as they leave the business. All leaver information will also be included on their final FPS to inform HMRC they no longer work for your business, making sure your records are accurate and your tax calculations reflect your current team.
Yes, directors and employees paid irregularly are still subject to RTI, but their payroll setup is especially important.
Directors are often paid annually or on an ad-hoc basis and may be assessed using an annual earnings period. Even so, an FPS should still be submitted whenever a payment is made.
If you pay directors or staff irregularly, make sure your payroll software is configured correctly, as incorrect setup can lead to late filing penalties or inaccurate National Insurance calculations.
How does payroll software handle Real Time Information reporting and submissions?
- Recording employee details, including starters, leavers, and changes to personal information
- Calculating pay, tax, National Insurance, and statutory payments in line with current HMRC rules
- Working out payroll deductions and overall liabilities owed to HMRC
- Validating payroll data before submission to reduce errors and rejections
- Maintaining clear audit trails and reports to support compliance and record keeping
Outsourcing your payroll can significantly reduce the risks associated with RTI. By delegating to qualified payroll professionals, you can rest assured that no silly errors will slip through the cracks and that every complexity is covered for you, giving you the time back to focus on your core operations.
While it can significantly reduce day-to-day admin, it doesn’t change where legal responsibility sits.
When you appoint an agent, they are authorised to submit RTI information to HMRC using your PAYE scheme details. In practice, this means they will prepare and submit your FPS and, where required, EPS, based on the payroll data you provide, on your behalf.
Even though an agent may submit FPS and EPS files, HMRC holds you legally responsible for:
- The accuracy of the payroll data
- Submitting RTI on time
- Correct payment dates and late reporting reasons
- Paying the correct amounts of tax and NICs
If an RTI submission is late, incorrect, or missing, any penalties or compliance action will be directed to you—not the bureau.
Glossary
FPS
Full payment submission; you’ll send this to HMRC every time you pay an employee.
EPS
Employer payment submission; you’ll send this whenever necessary to reclaim or make a payment. It should be submitted by the 19th of the following tax month.
NVR
National insurance number verification request; this is used to verify or obtain a national insurance number for your employees.
EAS
Employer Alignment submission; this is used when aligning employee data with HMRC and is mainly used by large employers or those using certain payroll products.
CIS
Construction Industry Scheme
EYU
Earlier year update; this is used to correct PAYE information for previous tax years but has been largely replaced by FPS corrections).
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