Drowning in payroll paperwork? HMRC’s Real Time Information (RTI) rules make payroll mission-critical and unforgiving. For accounting firms, mistakes in RTI reporting mean penalties, frustrated clients, and wasted partner hours. The good news: modern payroll software turns RTI from risk into routine.
RTI in a Nutshell: Why ‘Real Time’ is Non-Negotiable
Since 2013, RTI requires employers to report payroll on or before each payday so HMRC has up-to-the-date visibility of PAYE, National Insurance and student loan deductions. The two submissions you rely on are:
- Full Payment Submission (FPS): The detailed report for each pay period, covering employee earnings, deductions, and tax codes.
- Employer Payment Summary (EPS): Used to report adjustments, reclaim statutory pay, claim the Employment Allowance, or crucially declare a ‘Nil’ payment if no one was paid.
Accurate RTI reporting is essential for correct PAYE and NIC collection and avoiding fines.
Common payroll pitfalls (and how automation fixes them)
- Late or Missed Submissions: Often caused by forgotten deadlines or technical issues.
Fix: Acting Office sends automated reminders and integrates directly with HMRC to guarantee FPS and EPS submissions are made on time. - Incorrect Employee Data: Mistakes in NI numbers, tax codes, or names can cause rejections.
Fix: Acting Office validates all employee details during onboarding and flags errors before submission. - Skipping ‘Nil’ EPS Returns: A month without payroll still requires an EPS submission.
Fix: Acting Office automatically generates and files EPS returns for months with no payroll activity, ensuring compliance. - Miscalculating Statutory Pay: Errors in SMP, SSP, and other statutory payments can be costly.
Fix: Acting Office automates statutory pay calculations, ensuring accuracy and compliance. - Not Updating Tax Codes: Missing HMRC updates leads to payroll discrepancies.
Fix: Acting Office syncs with HMRC in real time to apply updated tax codes automatically.
How Acting Office streamlines RTI and payroll compliance:
Our platform connects the whole payroll lifecycle from onboarding to the final nominal ledger entry so firms can scale without ballooning headcount:
- Automated FPS and EPS filing on schedule, including automatic ‘nil’ EPS submissions for months with no pay activity.
- Intelligent validation for NINOs, tax codes and missing employee data before HMRC submission.
- Accurate statutory pay calculations for SMP, SSP and related reclaims.
- Live HMRC synchronization to apply updated tax codes instantly and avoid retrospective corrections.
- Integrated auto-enrolment and pension workflows (NEST, Smart Pension).
- Auto-posting of payroll journals into accounting ledgers to eliminate duplicate entry and speed month-end.
- Secure employee self-service portal for payslips, P60s and pension details reducing admin queries and increasing transparency.
- Audit-ready records, deadline management, and automated reminders to protect clients and your firm’s reputation.
From Necessary Evil to Strategic Advantage
Your expertise is your most valuable asset. Why waste it on manual data entry and chasing deadlines? By automating RTI compliance, you do more than avoid penalties you reclaim billable hours every month.
This is the time you can reinvest in high-value strategic advisory services, business development, and deepening client relationships. That’s the difference between merely managing payroll and truly mastering it.
Book your free demo today and see how Acting Office delivers the efficiency and compliance your practice deserves.
Payroll compliance: mastered. Business growth: unstoppable.
