07 May 2026
The Government has issued guidance on the Employer Bulletin following ongoing errors occurring when employers migrate to new payroll software. Employers often create duplicate employment records by mistake on HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) online accounts when a payroll ID is changed. This typically happens when the indicator is not ticked on the payroll software, or when the old payroll ID is not provided.
Duplicate employments for the same employee will also occur if employers submit a start date on the Full Payment Submission (FPS) or complete a new starter declaration instead of using the payroll ID change indicator.
The result of creating a new employment record will mean that year to date (YTD) information will be incorrect, employers may be contacted about the discrepancies, and work will be needed to correct the records.
To avoid these issues employers should:
- tick the payroll ID change indicator, especially where payroll systems generate new payroll IDs automatically
- provide the old payroll ID
- provide the new payroll ID
- leave the start date field blank for continuing employments in the FPS submission.
A genuine new employment must include a start date on the FPS, and a unique payroll ID should be allocated to the record. Employers should never reuse payroll IDs from former employees as this can attach submission data to the wrong employee record.
Additionally, Real Time Information (RTI) submissions can also be incorrect where the taxable pay field is not completed correctly, such as when the taxable pay is entered as zero, despite the taxable pay to date field being completed.
Therefore, employers must ensure that:
- the correct taxable pay for each payment period is entered onto the FPS
- make sure YTD totals equal each of the FPSs amounts to date
- avoid submitting zero pay where a payment has been made.
If you discover you have created duplicate records for the same employee, please contact your payroll software provider who will be able to provide information on how to correct this.
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