How to submit an EPS in QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll

An EPS should be sent, if required, after you've finished the last pay period for the tax month–each tax month runs from the 6th to the 5th of the following month.

You need to send an EPS to HMRC by the 19th of every month. You'll need to send an EPS if:

• No payments to employees are made within the current or past pay period and no FPS has been submitted. Read how to submit and EPS for no employees paid.
• You need to claim tax credit for statutory payments made to employees (like maternity, paternity, adoption, parental bereavement or shared parental payments). This does not include sick pay.
• You need to claim Employee Allowance (if applicable).
• You need to show CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) suffered for a period, or need to claim CIS deductions as a limited company.
• You need to claim National Insurance contributions holiday previous tax years.

You can automatically submit your EPS by following these steps:

1. Go to Payroll, and select Payroll Settings.
2. Under Business Settings, select HMRC Settings.
3. Look for the EPS submission and do the following:
   • Choose the day you want to automatically submit the EPS.
     Tip: If you select Don't submit automatically, you can review and submit this form from your Reports.
   • Enter the Refund account name, this is the name of the account you want any refund deposited.
   • Enter the Refund account number you want any refunds deposited.
   • Enter the Refund sort code.
   • If applicable, enter the Building Society reference for your refunds.
4. Select Save.

That's it! Your EPS will be automatically submitted to HMRC on the specified date of every month.

If you're submitting an EPS (Employer Payment Summary) and you see an error code, don't worry–here are a few reasons for it to show and how to fix it:

• You've paid employees within the current pay period with no payment period indicated and FPS filing has been submitted. This is an easy mistake to make, but it can cause problems with your FPS submission. To fix this, simply add the relevant information in the 'Payment period' field on the EPS form.
• Another common error is failing to pay SMP (Statutory Maternity Pay) or SPP (Statutory Paternity Pay) before submitting the EPS. This is a mandatory payment, so you'll need to make sure it's included before you submit your EPS.
• If you see the error code 'Refund account name', this means that you've added the company name in the refund account name instead of the name of the account you want the refund deposited to. To fix this, simply delete the company name from the 'Refund account name' field and enter the correct account details.
• Make sure that you submit the EPS between the 6th of the current month and the 19th of the following tax month. The figure you submit should be cumulative (year-to-date). If you miss the submission window, you can submit the EPS in the following month.

Come across an error code? Here's how you can fix it.