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Submit an FPS to HMRC in QuickBooks Online Core Payroll

by Intuit23 Updated 6 days ago

Whenever you pay your employees, you must submit a Full Payment Submission (FPS) to HMRC. This report includes details of payments made to employees, such as salary, overtime, bonuses, and deductions, ensuring compliance with PAYE (Pay As You Earn) regulations.

🛈 This article is for customers who are using QuickBooks Online Core Payroll.

Submission requirements and dates

As a PAYE employer, you are required to report Real Time Information (RTI) to HMRC. This includes employee payments and deductions such as tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs).

  • Deadline: The FPS must be submitted on or before the pay date of employees.
  • Recommendation: Submit the FPS immediately after running payroll to avoid delays.
  • HMRC Calculations: HMRC uses FPS data to determine PAYE and NIC liabilities due from your business.

Each FPS submission includes:

  • Your employer details (PAYE reference, Accounts Office reference)
  • Employee details (name, address, National Insurance number, date of birth, gender)
  • Employment details (starter or leaver status, director status)
  • Year-to-date totals (NICs, statutory pay, student loans, pensions)
  • Pay period details (pay date, pay period, gross/net pay, pension contributions, statutory pay)

Before submitting an FPS, ensure your payroll information is correctly set up.

  1. In your QuickBooks account select the Company Cog, followed by Payroll Settings (Take me there)
  2. Select the pencil icon next to UK tax
  3. Enter your PAYE reference
  4. Enter your Accounts Office reference
  5. Select any options appropriate for your pay runs 
  6. Enter your HMRC credentials 

Once payroll details are entered, create and run payroll before submitting an FPS.

  1. Go to Payroll, then Select Payroll tax (Take me there).
  2. Find the FPS you would like to submit
  3. Select File
  4. If you're submitting late, choose the reason for the late submission.
  5. Select Submit.

To view your FPS submission history:

  1. Go to Payroll.
  2. Select Payroll tax (Take me there).

Accepted: HMRC has successfully received the FPS.

Pending: This status briefly appears while QuickBooks awaits a response from HMRC. We’ll let you know of HMRC's acceptance or rejection on the confirmation page.

Rejected: The FPS was not accepted due to errors such as:

  • Incorrect Government Gateway credentials
  • Incorrect PAYE or Accounts Office reference.
  • Verify that your PAYE and Accounts Office reference are accurate and not using MTD or other credentials. To verify FPS details, go to Taxes > Payroll Tax.
  1. Go to Taxes, and select Payroll tax (Take me there)
  2. Open the FPS submission you want to delete
  3. Select the bin icon
  4. Select Yes, remove to confirm

To recreate a deleted FPS, you can roll back and rerun the pay run and generate a new FPS.

If HMRC requests an FPS for a previous tax year:

  1. Record all payment details from the relevant pay runs. Make sure you keep note of all the payment details, as you'll need this information to recreate them later.
  2. Roll back the pay run to the specific tax year.
  3. If multiple pay schedules exist, roll back all pay schedules to the same tax year.
  4. Adjust payroll and submit the final FPS as a correction.

If your business closes during the holiday period, you might consider paying your employees in advance, particularly if you cannot afford any disruptions. You'll need to:

  • Enter the regular pay date that you pay your employees in payroll.
  • Do not adjust the pay date in FPS submission. This ensures employee entitlements, such as Universal Credit, are not affected.

To automate FPS submissions:

  1. In your QuickBooks account select the Company Cog, followed by Payroll Settings (Take me there)
  2. Select the pencil icon next to UK tax
  3. Enter your PAYE and Accounts Office reference numbers
  4. Select any options appropriate for your pay runs if you have not done so already
  5. Enter your HMRC credentials if you have not done so already
  6. Ensure that Submit FPS automatically to HMRC has been checked
Note: AutoFPS is currently available only for customers migrating from QuickBooks Online Core Payroll. We are working to make it available for all customers.

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