Full Payment Submission (FPS) - What is a Full Payment Submission?
A Full Payment Submission (FPS) is a document that employers need to submit to HMRC every time they pay their employees. It informs HMRC of the employees’ details, pay, and deductions.
Submitting your payroll for the first time? Check out the steps involved in our blog on how to record payroll with your invoicing software.
In the UK, employers need to register with HMRC and submit their payroll information online for every pay cycle. An FPS provides HMRC information about the employees, taxes and contributions, and also records how much the employer owes to HMRC.
What information is on a Full Payment Submission?
A Full Payment Submission provides details to HMRC to ensure that employers and employees are paying the correct amount of tax. The FPS will include the following information:
Information about each employee: An FPS will include personal information for each employee on your payroll including their full name, address, National Insurance Number, and tax code.
Information about the employees pay: An FPS will include the salaries of each employee and the net salary being paid out to them.
Information about tax and contributions: An FPS will include information about how much income tax, and National Insurance comes off of each employees payslip, and also what the employer owes in total to HMRC.
Any new/former employees: An FPS will also include information if a new employee has joined the company, or if a previous employee hs left.
How and when do I submit a Full Payment Submission?
You must submit the FPS on or before the date that you issue the payment to your employees. If you submit the FPS after the payment date, you may be required to pay a late fee. You can submit your FPS early if needed.
You will need to use your payroll software to send the Full Payment Submission to HMRC which will show them the pay and deductions you issued during that pay cycle.
The FPS should include information on all employees, even if they are under the threshold for tax and NI contributions.
Tax months in the UK run from the 6th of the month to the following 5th of the month. You need to log in to HMRC and submit the FPS on or before your normal pay date, and then the following month on the 12th, you can log in and see how much you as an employer owe in tax and National Insurance.
You will need to pay the balance before the 22nd of the month through the HMRC online portal, or by post (must submit before the 19th of the month).
Payroll and invoicing software
If you use invoicing software to keep track of your business finances, you can easily record payroll expenses as an expense.
If you use Debitoor invoicing software, you can choose from several categories of expenses including employee wages, employee taxes, social insurance contributions, and medical and sick leave pay.
Once you have submitted your FPS to HMRC, you can record the expense in your invoicing software by putting the total amount paid in net salaries, income tax, NI employee contributions, and NI employer contributions into the same expense with multiple categories. You can also add extras such as bonuses, commissions, and travel expenses.
With Debitoor, you can add an optional attachment(s) to the expense, such as the FPS, payslips, or bank records.
Once you have recorded your payroll expenses, you can run an accounting report to see how much you have spent on employees and taxes over the past month, quarter, or year.
