Online filing - payroll year end FAQs

How do I submit Construction Industry Scheme P35?

You will need to send a whole submission for your P14s. On the Revenue Details tab you can enter Deductions made from subcontractors and CIS Deductions suffered. However, EARNIE handles CIS and this is a module that can be purchased as an addition to your payroll software.

Key benefits of using EARNIE for CIS:

Sub-contractors are kept in a separate company to PAYE employees. This ensures no mistakes can be made when importing to HMRC
EARNIE stores the UTR (Unique Tax Reference) for each of the company
statuses of 'Sole Trader', 'Partnership', 'Limited Companies' and 'Trusts'
At the click of a button, EARNIE will contact HMRC's Gateway and verify that
tax status for any of the sub-contractors on the system
Material and labour costs can be split between different jobs *
Calculates VAT for VAT registered sub-contractors
Prints invoices and remittance advices
Provides electronic monthly tax returns to HMRC
Provides a journal file which can be imported into IRIS Accounts Office and
other accounts packages
Can link sub-contractor companies to PAYE company for reporting at the
PAYE year end
Withhold part of the payment until future pay periods
Caters for the CITB Training Levy

* Requires the costing module to be purchased.

HMRC have sent me a form asking how I intend to handle Electronic Filing. Which option do I choose?

You can use the Online Filing method of electronic year-end returns. EARNIE does
not support the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

When will it become compulsory to do my year end return online?

All employers will be required to file their employer's annual returns electronically by 2010. However, the deadline for doing so will depend on how many employees your company has:

Number of Employees	1st Year of Compulsory Filing	Which Return	Deadline
250 or more	2005	2004/05 End of Year	19 May 2005
Between 50 & 249	2006	2005/06 End of Year	19 May 2006
Less than 50	2010	2009/10 End of Year	19 May 2010

Why I am unable to submit a nil return via online filing?

If no payments have been made in the relevant tax year you cannot submit a nil return. HMRC do not want to receive a submission if there are no details. However, you should inform them that you are not making a submission.

I am getting 'Cannot Connect' message when attempting to file online, what should I do?

This means that something is interfering with, or blocking, your Internet connection. It is impossible for us to say exactly what but you may want to try the following:

Turn off virus checkers
Internet Explorer version should be 5.5 or higher with 128 bit encryption
Internet security programs, surf control, privacy control programs etc. should be checked to ensure they do not interfere with access. If in doubt they should be turned off
Firewalls should be checked to ensure they do not impose any restrictions to traffic on port 443 (https) for BOTH inbound and outbound traffic
If you have a proxy server which enforces authentication on a per connection basis, this should be disabled or bypassed

My year end reports don't match what I have paid to HMRC.
What should I do?

If your reports match each other but don't balance with your payments to HMRC,
you need to do the following:

1. Re-print and process the month end report for each month

2. Check the new reports against the originals

3. You may find a month that doesn't match because the payroll has been re-run
and altered in some way for an employee

In this case, you just need to adjust your final payment to HMRC for the 2007/08
tax year to match the submission.

What happens if my submission won't go through and I'm not receiving any error messages?

It is likely that HMRC Gateway is experiencing a high volume of traffic.

Before you contact HMRC, it is worth verifying that the Internet connection on your machine is still operating correctly - you can do this simply by accessing any other web page.

You can also check to see if there are any current problems with HMRC Gateway
by going to the HMRC website and looking up the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) service

Alternatively, you may wish to consider submitting during 'off-peak' times.

My submission has gone through, but I have not received any confirmation from HMRC?

HMRC will normally advise you via email that your submission has been received.

If you do not receive an email, you should first ensure that the address you entered for the submission is correct. The email address HMRC replies to is the one you entered on the Online Services configuration screen but, if there is a problem with this, they may use the address that is registered in your online services account.

Another reason for not receiving confirmation may be due to HMRC being extremely busy at this time of year. Your confirmation is likely to be in a queue, and will no doubt be processed in due course. If in doubt, contact HMRC.

How do I configure my Online Services?

In EARNIE, online filing is set up on a company-by-company basis. So for each company you will first of all need to tell EARNIE that online filing is your chosen method of performing your payroll year end return. This can be done by:

Select 'Company' 'Alter Company Details'
Choose the 'Tax' tab
In the 'Output To' box, you should select IROS.
Before you exit the Company Details screen, you should also check that the tax reference (Ref No) and tax district (District No) match the details that you used when you registered the company for online services. If they don't, HMRC Gateway will reject your submission.

You will then need to tell EARNIE about your online services registration details. You can do this by selecting 'File' 'Online Services' 'Configure'. For more information, please refer to 'Chapter 13 - Online Services' of the online help.

I am ready to make my submission. What do I do next?

We have outlined the basic procedure of making an online submission below, however we strongly recommend you read Chapter 13 of your Help files thoroughly before making a live submission.

To begin your submission go to the Reports menu and select ‘Year end Online Filing’. You will then see a message on screen advising you the submission is being created
(If there are discrepancies found on the data, EARNIE will advise you at this point and gives you the opportunity to print out a report detailing the problem employees. You will need to correct these problems before continuing)
If there are no problems found with the data at this point you are given the choice to print or preview a report showing the totals to be submitted. We recommend you print this report and make sure you agree with the totals before continuing
When you click OK to this report the main online filing screen appears. Again Chapter 13 explains this screen in detail
Enter the correct information into each section
When you have completed entering all the information required, choose your submission type under the ‘Revenue Details’ Tab and click ‘Submit Document’

I have found a problem with the Statutory Payments totals at year end. What do I do?

If you have found a problem with SSP, SMP, SAP or SPP you may just need to update the statutory payments table. These figures can be incorrect if you do not clear the Month End Summary every month. However, these discrepancies are normally easy to trace and to fix.

Select Company from the Menu bar then Alter Copmany Details. On the Tax tab card there is a Statutory Payments button. Here you can see a month-by-month breakdown of your statutory payments. If the figures are incorrect you can manually amend them.

My year end reports don't balance. Help!

This is usually caused by employees’ YTD figures not matching the total of their
This Period (TP) figures. This could be with the tax, NI or statutory figures. This discrepancy needs to be located and corrected before your submission can be made.

A quick way of doing this is by running the Integrity Checker utility. To run this go
to ‘Reports’ ‘Year to date Summaries’ and select the ‘Year-to-date Summary’. You
will see the utility on the main print/preview screen. If you can’t make sure you have the latest version installed and have reselected the report from the library.

This report will highlight any problem employees. The procedure for correcting the discrepancy will depend on which figures don’t balance:

How do I perform a test submission?

The test submission itself is almost identical to performing a live submission, you
just need to select the appropriate 'submission type' before you submit. From the main menu bar select 'Reports' 'Year-end Online Filing'.

Fill in the information on the various tabs as you would for a normal submission.
For more information see Chapter 13 – Online Services of the online help. On the Revenue Details tab you should select a Submission Type of Test Only as shown below. You can then click the Submit Document button to perform the test.

My online filing test submission has failed. What do I do?

If the test submission fails you should receive a message or error indicating what
the problem is. This could either be an issue with discrepancies, which you need
to correct on your data, or it could be a problem with the connection to HMRC's gateway.

Once you have corrected these problems you should try the test submission again.

Don't forget: even if you receive a message saying the test submission has been successful you still need to submit for real.

Why am I getting the message “ECON Number Required” when I try to submit online?

If you get an error when trying to submit online filing saying “Econ number required” you must have some employees on D, E or L rate NI.

If you have employees on one of the specified NI rates you will need to enter the ECON number under 'Company' 'Alter Company Details' 'Tax'

Once this has been done go to 'Reports' 'Year-end Online Filing' to create the EYRS file again.

If I perform my P14 Only Submission, how can I enter a “Part ID” so that HMRC can identify it correctly?

HMRC identify your submissions primarily through your Gateway ID, tax district and reference numbers which are included in the data you submit.

If you are submitting the P14s for a particular tax reference in parts, each part needs to be uniquely identified. To enter the unique identify or “Part ID” go to ‘Company’ ‘Alter Company Details’ ‘Tax tab’. The Unique ID will be used as the Part ID for the submission.

For more information on sending your return in parts please visit the HMRC website.

I am doing my year end return on mag-media/online filing. How do I print out my employees P60s?

You can issue plain paper P60s. Go to 'Reports' 'Library Selection' 'Miscellaneous'
and select the Plain Paper P60s. You can then print these from Year-end forms in
the Reports Menu.

If you would prefer to print them on pre-printed forms, we supply our own Data mailer and Z-fold reports. If you would like to use these forms please contact us.

HMRC’s various reports are also available in the miscellaneous library. Remember, leavers do not get P60s so the system will not print them for anyone who has received a P45.

Can I submit information on Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) employees via online filing on EARNIE?

The way CIS in handled on EARNIE depends whether you have purchased the module for CIS or whether have been putting sub-contractors through your normal payroll run. The two options are detailed below:

CIS WITH ADDITIONAL MODULE

EARNIE now has an additional CIS module available which handles all aspects of your construction payroll. If you have this module you will not be required to manually enter figures at year end.

Key benefits of using EARNIE for CIS:

Sub-contractors are kept in a separate company to PAYE employees. This ensures no mistakes can be made when importing to HMRC
EARNIE stores the UTR (Unique Tax Reference) for each of the company statuses of 'Sole Trader', 'Partnership', 'Limited Companies' and 'Trusts'
At the click of a button EARNIE will contact HMRC's Gateway and verify that tax status for any of the sub-contractors on the system
Material and labour costs can be split between different jobs*
Calculates VAT for VAT registered sub-contractors
Prints invoices and remittance advices
Provides electronic monthly tax returns to HMRC
Provides a journal file which can be imported into IRIS Accounts Office and other accounts packages
Can link sub-contractor companies to PAYE company for reporting at the PAYE year end
Withhold part of the payment until future pay periods
Caters for the CITB Training Levy

* Requires the costing module to be purchased. Contact us or call 0844 815 5676
for more information.

CIS WITHOUT ADDITIONAL MODULE

CIS workers are not classed as employees, they are classed as sub-contractors so no P14s should be submitted for them. They must be removed from the payroll before the submission is made. They can be put in a dummy company if the user wants to keep the workers' details.

If you want to submit the totals for CIS deductions suffered it's NO LONGER NECESSARY to submit this information separately via the P35 option on the HMRC website; the information can now be entered in EARNIE in the P35 details screen.
To access this screen, select 'Company' 'Alter Company Details' then click on the
P35 Details Button.

Why am I getting the message “Submission already received for this employer” when attempting to file my year end return online?

This means that a submission for the tax district and reference you are using has already been made.

Once a full submission (P14s plus P35) has been accepted by the Gateway, you cannot re-submit. If you get this message, you should double check the tax district and reference you are using, under ‘Company’ ‘Alter Company Details’ ‘Tax' tab.
If you are performing a combined submission, you should check that ALL the companies included have the same district and reference.

If you find you have made a mistake please scroll down for advice on what to do next.

If I submit my year end online. Do I still need to file my P35 on paper?

The P35 is included in a whole submission. If you are filing part submissions online you still need to submit a separate P35 electronically, either using EARNIE or the HMRC website.

Can I submit my return before the 6 April?

In previous years, the Gateway did not open for the new submissions until 6th April. This has now changed and the Gateway is now continuously open for 2009/10 submissions. You will be able to submit as soon as you have installed the April 2010 release of your EARNIE software and have finalised your payrolls for this tax year.

Please note: Companies that have ceased trading can perform a “Cessation Return” without installing the April 2010 release).

Although there is now a larger window of opportunity to make submissions, there is still likely to be periods when the Gateway is extremely busy. It is difficult to predict exactly when these will be but early April and a week or so leading up to the deadline (19th May) are good possibilities. In these times you are likely to find that your submission will take some time to be accepted and for you to receive any confirmation, both online during the submission itself, and also for your confirmation email to be received. You are also likely to experience 'polling' messages in the software due to the very high volume of submissions being made at this time.

You may wish to avoid submitting your returns at peak times and you may want to check the HMRC website for information regarding any problems that may be being experienced by the Gateway.

I have discovered a mistake after filing online. What can I do?

Your options for correcting mistakes once a submission has been made are fairly limited. HMRC treat a whole return as your complete return for that year. Sending amended information means that your original return was not full and complete and you may be charged a penalty. This is why it is essential that you verify the submission totals and P14 count prior to making a submission. Once you have submitted a P35 for a particular Tax Reference, the Government Gateway will not accept any further submissions for that reference. Your next course of action will depend on your submission type, as detailed below:

'Full' submission (All P14s with P35)

If you have performed a full submission, there is some scope for making an amendment submission online. You CANNOT make an amendment submission through the EARNIE software. For more details contact HMRC direct.

'Part' submission (Batches of P14s, P35 sent separately)

Providing you have not filed the P35, you can re-submit any part of a multiple submission. You will need to ensure that the “Unique ID” for the part you are
re-submitting matches the original.

If the P35 for a multi-part submission has been filed and accepted, you have effectively made a full submission (see above). Once a whole submission has
been made, an additional part cannot be sent later.

Can you advise me how to reconcile my NI discrepancies?

Select each employee listed and click on their To-date Tab. Check the historic figures by clicking on the history button located to the right of each field.

You will then need to decide which figures are correct, the totals of the TP figures or YTD? You can then amend them by going to the 'Employee Menu' 'Overrule Figures' 'NI Adjustment', select the employee and say YES to the warning. Click on the Summary button, enter the correct figures and click OK.

Please note: If the figures in here are already correct you will just need to
click OK.

*Tip - If the Integrity Checker highlights employees but their totals balance there may be a problem with the Earnings Threshold amounts. You can check and amend these again in the NI Summary screen as above.

Can you advise me how to reconcile my tax discrepancies?

The Integrity Checker utility (available in the print / preview sceen when you print the Year-to-date summary) should highlight any employees with tax discrepancies.

If it doesn’t you will need to re-print your Payroll Summary for each period and match this against the Y-t-d Summary (by company totals), increasing the periods for each until you find the totals don’t match.

Once the problem period is found you will need to print the reports by employee to pin down the particular employee with the discrepancy.

When you find the employee with the issue you must decide which figures are correct, the totals of the TP or the YTDs. To correct go to the ‘Employee Menu’ ‘Overrule Figures’ ‘Alter-to-date Totals’, select the Employee and click OK. Go to the To-date Tab and amend the Tax figures. (If you don’t have the Alter-to-date Totals option you may need to tick this under the Menus Tab in Company Options.)

Note: If the figures in here are correct please contact support for further advice.

Can you give me advice on reconciliation?

Print off the following reports:

P35 Summary
Year-to-date Summaries
P30 Summary*

* This report is updated each time you run month end processing. If you have not been processing each period you can process again based on the tax calendar to allow you to use this report. If you have not been running the payroll on EARNIE for the full year you will only be able to use this report in conjunction with the totals from the previous system.

Please note: All these reports are available in the Summaries or Multi-period Library selection.

Compare the total figures on all of these reports. If they all agree with each other, and with the payments you have made to HMRC, you are ready to submit.

What do I select in the 'Sender Status' box?

EARNIE provides you with the facility to file your submission with either of the following identifiers:

Agent
Employer
Bureau
Government
Other

This range of options has been specified by HMRC for all payroll software providers. The information is only used by HMRC for statistical purposes, and whichever option you choose will not adversely influence the success of your submission. For further details and guidance, please contact HMRC.

Why am I getting a message saying 'Cannot open file EYRS' filing online?

If you get this message when trying to do online services you need to go to 'File' 'Online services' 'Configure' and complete all boxes. If they are already completed try removing the entries and typing them back in.

Once this has been completed go to 'Reports' 'Year-end Online Filing' to create the EYRS file again.

If you have re-entered the details in 'configure online services' and are still getting the message 'cannot open file eyrs' you will need to go into windows explorer and browse to the EARNIE program folder. In the program folder you need to locate a file called XMLInterface. If there are two, XMLInterface and XMLInterface.exe you will need to check the version numbers. To do this, right click and go into properties and then click on the version tab. The current version is 1.14.02. The file called XMLInterface is likely to be an older version i.e. 1.12.06, if you have this version you will need to right click on the file and rename it to XMLInterface.old.

Once this file has been renamed go back to EARNIE and 'Reports' 'Year-end Online Filing' and create the EYRS file again.

I am a small employer. How do I reclaim my incentive payment?

For the 2006/07 tax year the online filing incentive payment is £150. To qualify for the tax free incentive payment you need to satisfy the following conditions:

Be a small employer (have less than 50 employees)
Submit your year end online, passing the quality standard set by HMRC
Submit online by the deadline

To claim your incentive you can either reduce the total payment for the year or wait for HMRC to issue you with a cheque. We recommend you always confirm your eligibility before the self-service option.

Please Note: you need to claim the incentive payment in arrears i.e. if you receive confirmation from HMRC that you can claim your incentive payment for your submission for tax year 05/06 this would be claimed against 06/07 payments.

If you choose to reduce the total payable remember your P35 must reflect this. Go to 'Company' 'Alter Company Details' and click on the 'P35 Details' box to enter the amount in the incentive field. You must also reduce the total amount paid in here by the same amount.

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