Submission errors
Use the steps in this guide to resolve errors that can appear when submitting RTI (Real Time Information) data to HMRC.
Each error covers:
Before you begin
You may need your login details for the HMRC portal, or to call HMRC to make changes on their systems.
Your employee's personal details may need to be checked against any manual records you have and updated in your SBC (Sage Business Cloud) data.
This is caused by:
This is caused by:
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A special character, for example ~ @ # $ [ \ ] ^ _ { } that HMRC cannot accept
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A mandatory information is missing from your Payroll data.
To resolve this error check for spaces and special characters in the employee's name, address and NI fields.
To do this:
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Select Employees then the employee name you want to check (do this for each employee included in the submission for this pay run).
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On the Employee Details tab, select Edit.
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In the Personal Details section, make sure the employee's NI number is correct, then remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
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Select the Forename and Surname fields and remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
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In the Contact Details section, select each field that contains the employees address and remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
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If there is nothing in the Street 2 field, you will need to enter the missing details (this may mean splitting the house number and street name if they are both included in the Street 1 text field).
Once you've made the changes to the employee record, select Save, then re-try the submission.
If the issue persists, check there are no special characters or spaces at the start or end of your business address. To do that:
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Select your business name from the top right corner of SBC Payroll.
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Select Manage Business Account.
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Select each field that contains details of the business address and remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
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Select Save and re-try the submission.
This occurs if you refund an amount through a pay run, but the amount is greater than the year-to-date total.
For example: if an employee’s pension year-to-date total is £20, but you refund them £30 in a pay run, HMRC won't accept a value of -£10.
To resolve this error run the p11 and check if the brought forward values are correct.
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From the Year End tab, in the Tax year to report on drop-down, select the relevant tax year.
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Select Review Employee Pay (P11), then View P11 for all employees.
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Check the opening balance information is correct, and there are no missing periods that you can’t account for.
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To correct an opening balance, select Employees and highlight the employee you need to amend.
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Select the Opening Balance tab and correct the values.
Note: Opening balances only appear if you migrated to SBC Payroll and entered opening balances during the setup process.
This means there is a special character, for example ~ @ # $ [ \ ] ^ _ { } that HMRC cannot accept.
To resolve this error check for spaces and special characters in the employee's name, address, and NI fields.
To do this:
-
Select Employees then the employee name you want to check (do this for each employee included in the submission for this pay run).
-
On the Employee Details tab, select Edit.
-
In the Personal Details section, check and if necessary, amend the employee's NI Number. If the NI number is correct, remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
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Select the Forename and Surname fields and remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
-
In the Contact Details section, select each field that contains the employee's address and remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
-
If there is nothing in the Street 2 field, enter the missing details (this may mean splitting the house number and street name if they are both included in the Street 1 text field).
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Select Save, then re-try the submission.
If the issue persists, check there are no special characters or spaces at the start or end of your business address. To do that:
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Select your business name from the top right corner of the SBC Payroll screen.
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Select Manage Business Account.
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Select each field that contains details of the business address and remove any spaces from the at the start or end of the text.
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Select Save, then re-try the submission.
If you are submitting information for a previous tax year, HMRC will not accept the submission.
HMRC can help with manual submissions of payroll information for a previous tax year. Contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200.
This occurs if the Accounts Office Ref or PAYE Reference in SBC Payroll is not correct.
To resolve this error:
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Select Settings
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Select Payroll Settings
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Check and if necessary, change the Accounts Office Ref or PAYE Reference field.
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Select Save, then re-try the submission.
This occurs when HMRC are not expecting RTI submissions for the PAYE scheme.
It can also mean that your online services account has not been activated for PAYE submissions or if you are acting as an agent, this hasn’t been authorised by your client.
Periodically, HMRC will automatically close PAYE schemes that have had no activity for some time.
To resolve this, contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline: 0300 200 3600 and ask them to activate your account.
If you are submitting as an agent, contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline: 0300 200 3600 for help checking your agent services account is set up correctly.
This means HMRC aren't expecting this employer to start filing RTI returns until a later date.
To resolve this, contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200 and ask them to set your RTI start date to the correct date.
This means HMRC have not received submissions for your company.
This error message indicates that there has been £0 RTI submissions for a period of at least three months. If this happens, HMRC can close the company’s payroll scheme.
To resolve this, contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200.
This means HMRC have not received submissions for your company.
This error message indicates that there has been £0 RTI submissions for a period of at least three months. If this happens, HMRC can close the company’s payroll scheme.
To resolve this, contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200.
This appears if you're sending an EPS (Employer Payment Summary) to HMRC to make them aware there is no payment due, but the submission is being done before the 5th of the tax month.
