EPS vs FPS: What's the Difference?
The Full Payment Submission (FPS) is the main RTI filing: it reports what you paid each employee and must be sent on or before every payday.
The Employer Payment Summary (EPS) is a supplementary RTI filing. It doesn't report individual employee payments — it reports things at the employer level that affect how much you owe HMRC, or that explain a gap in your FPS history.
| FPS | EPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Reports | Individual employee payments | Employer-level adjustments and absences |
| Timing | On or before payday | By 19th of the month following the tax month |
| Required every period? | Yes, if employees were paid | No — only when there's something to report |
When Do You Need to Send an EPS?
1. No employees were paid in a tax month
If you didn't run payroll in a tax month and paid no employees, HMRC will notice the absence of an FPS and may issue a late filing notice. Send a nil payment EPS to tell HMRC that no payments were made. This prevents automated penalty notices and keeps HMRC's records clean.
A common mistake is assuming that if there's nothing to pay, there's nothing to file. This is wrong — the absence of an FPS without a corresponding nil EPS will trigger an alert.
2. Reclaiming statutory payments
If you paid employees statutory payments — Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP), Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), or Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) — you can reclaim a portion from HMRC by reporting the amounts on an EPS.
- Small employers (those who paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 NI in the previous tax year) can reclaim 103% of statutory payments made.
- Larger employers can reclaim 92%.
The EPS reclaim offsets what you owe HMRC in the relevant month — you pay the net amount rather than the full PAYE liability and then wait for a repayment.
3. Claiming Employment Allowance
Employment Allowance lets eligible employers reduce their annual employer Class 1 NI bill by up to £10,500 (2025/26). You claim it by submitting an EPS with the Employment Allowance indicator set to Yes at the start of the tax year (or when you first become eligible).
You don't need to resubmit the claim each year if you're already claiming — it carries over automatically. However, if your eligibility changes (for example, if your employer NI liability drops below £100,000 in the previous tax year or you become connected to another company), you should review the claim.
Note: sole director companies with no other employees are not eligible for Employment Allowance from April 2020 onwards.
4. Apprenticeship Levy
Employers with an annual pay bill over £3 million must pay the Apprenticeship Levy (0.5% of the pay bill above £3m, offset by a £15,000 annual allowance). If your levy liability differs from what HMRC expects based on your FPS data, the EPS is where you report it.
5. CIS deductions suffered
If your company operates as a subcontractor in the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) and has had CIS deductions taken from payments received, you can offset those deductions against your PAYE liability via the EPS. Report the total CIS deductions suffered in the tax year to date on each EPS until the year is complete.
6. Final submission of the tax year
At the end of each tax year (5 April), you must submit a final EPS with the Final submission for year indicator set. This tells HMRC that your last FPS or EPS for the year is complete and that no further RTI filings will follow. Without this, HMRC's systems will continue to expect further filings.
7. Employer has ceased trading
If a client company closes and ceases to employ anyone, you must notify HMRC by sending a final EPS with the Date scheme ceased field populated. This closes the PAYE scheme — failure to do so can result in ongoing penalty notices for non-filing long after the company has closed.
EPS Deadline
An EPS must be submitted by the 19th of the month following the end of the tax month to affect the amount due for that tax month. For example, an EPS for tax month 3 (6 June to 5 July) must reach HMRC by 19 July.
If you submit after the 19th, the adjustment will be applied to the following month — meaning you may overpay temporarily and wait for the reconciliation to catch up.
Common EPS Mistakes
Not sending a nil EPS when payroll is skipped
The most common error in bureau payroll. A client takes a month off payroll (seasonal business, company not yet trading) and the bureau doesn't file a nil EPS. HMRC issues a late filing notice; the bureau has to explain and appeal. File the nil EPS proactively — it takes seconds.
Forgetting Employment Allowance at the start of the year
The Employment Allowance claim doesn't auto-submit — it requires a specific EPS. Many bureaus file a perfect FPS on day one and forget to claim EA, overpaying employer NI for months before someone notices the reconciliation is off.
Submitting EPS reclaims after the 19th
Statutory payment reclaims submitted after the 19th are valid but they'll offset next month's liability rather than this month's. If a client's SMP reclaim is large relative to their monthly PAYE bill, a late EPS can leave them overpaying to HMRC for a month.