Q. After submitting my first FPS on BrightPay for a new employer, I noticed that the taxable payable for the month is higher on HMRC than what I expected. It seems to be showing the Year-to-Date amount instead of just the monthly figure
A. This is actually an issue with HMRC's server that they are aware of, please see below an email explanation from HMRC as to how this happens and to contact them in order to have it rectified:
"As part of our matching rules, we try to create a match based on the employee’s personal data, payroll ID/old payroll ID and a financial monetary check. We encourage employers to provide the previous payroll ID when making a change, but we realise and accept that this isn’t always possible.
Unfortunately, during the first period of a new tax year there are no figures held to perform the financial match. If the financial matching fails, another employment can be created which can often trigger incorrect tax codes - this is especially significant if the employee has more than one employment at the same employer. If the change of Payroll ID occurs during the tax year, for example in month 3, then the financial matching rules could match the payment at month 3 to the existing details held as at month 2.
The financial monetary check consists of a check against payroll data already held for an employee. We add the “this period” from the latest FPS to the “YTD” already held on the employee’s record and it will match if the sum equals the “YTD” on the latest FPS.
- YTD @ month 2: 500.00 (existing data)
- this period @ month 3: 50.00 (from latest FPS)- expected YTD @ month 3: 550.00 (from latest FPS)”
The Advice would be to contact the Employer Helpline again who should take steps to instigate the procedures to clean up the erroneous employments.
"As part of our matching rules, we try to create a match based on the employee’s personal data, payroll ID/old payroll ID and a financial monetary check. We encourage employers to provide the previous payroll ID when making a change, but we realise and accept that this isn’t always possible.
Unfortunately, during the first period of a new tax year there are no figures held to perform the financial match. If the financial matching fails, another employment can be created which can often trigger incorrect tax codes - this is especially significant if the employee has more than one employment at the same employer. If the change of Payroll ID occurs during the tax year, for example in month 3, then the financial matching rules could match the payment at month 3 to the existing details held as at month 2.
The financial monetary check consists of a check against payroll data already held for an employee. We add the “this period” from the latest FPS to the “YTD” already held on the employee’s record and it will match if the sum equals the “YTD” on the latest FPS.
- YTD @ month 2: 500.00 (existing data)
- this period @ month 3: 50.00 (from latest FPS)- expected YTD @ month 3: 550.00 (from latest FPS)”
The Advice would be to contact the Employer Helpline again who should take steps to instigate the procedures to clean up the erroneous employments.
Q. I’ve already submitted an FPS for a previous pay period but need to make a correction. What is the correct procedure in BrightPay to amend and resubmit the figures?
A. Ideally, it’s best not to reopen payroll for a previous period to change year-to-date figures, as this can impact your employee’s take-home pay. Instead, a better approach is to update the year-to-date details using the Mid Year Totals tab on the employee's record. Once you enter the correct figures there, BrightPay will automatically recalculate any underpayments or overpayments of tax in the current payroll period. This helps keep everything accurate without affecting previous payslips.
Q. Why are the amounts due for a tax month in the HMRC section on BrightPay not matching figures held at HMRC?
A. The 2 most common reasons are;
- Changes have been made on BrightPay after the FPS was submitted to HMRC and an Additional FPS - correction to earlier submission has not been sent. If this is the case, re-open the payslip(s) for the pay period where the amendments were made and finalise again. Then go to RTI section > New > Additional FPS. Select the employee(s) affected by the changes and ensure on the right hand side it says 'correction to earlier submission'. Submit to HMRC.
- Employment allowance claim has been enabled on BrightPay, but the EPS claiming the allowance has not been submitted. To submit the Employment Allowance claim, create a new EPS in the RTI section and tick the field for the Employment Allowance Indicator. Submit to HMRC.
Important: If you are making multiple period amendments via Additional FPS - ensure you send amendments for the oldest period first and work towards the newest period. By ensuring to submit the oldest period first, it will correctly update the YTD information held at HMRC as you progress forward with each periodic correction.
Q. Why are payments for an employee being recorded under a different employee's record at HMRC?
A. Payments can occasionally be recorded under the wrong employee record at HMRC even when everything appears correct in BrightPay. This most commonly happens when:
- Two employees share the same surname and live at the same address (e.g. father and son working for the same employer)
- HMRC's matching system links the records incorrectly
Before contacting HMRC, check the following in BrightPay:
- National Insurance Number (NINO) - Verify the NINO is correct for each employee and ensure there are no typos or transposed digits - Check both employees' NINOs are completely different.
- Payroll ID - Confirm each employee has a unique Payroll ID and check that an old Payroll ID is not being reused in error. Each employee should have only one active and unique payroll ID.
- Full Pay Submission (FPS) Records - Review all FPS submissions sent to HMRC for both employees; Verify each FPS contains the correct employee details and check that payments are attributed to the correct employee in each submission.
If all details in BrightPay are correct:
Contact HMRC directly with; Both employees' NINOs, employees' names and addresses and details of the payments that were misrecorded. You may require copies of your FPS submissions from BrightPay and HMRC will need to correct the records on their end - this cannot be fixed through BrightPay if the information submitted was accurate.
Please note: You cannot correct payroll on BrightPay that was processed on another software. The original payroll processor will have to use the same software to correct it, or it may be possible to use HMRC Basic Tools for this purpose if you need to correct the payroll yourself.
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