When you try to submit a full payment submission (FPS), sometimes the following National Insurance (NI) error appears:

'The employee's year to date NI contributions must be zero if the NI Category is 'X', 'W' or 'C'.'

This occurs when an employee on a zero rate NI category has NI year to date values above zero.

For example, an employee:

• An employee moves from category A to C in the period that you create their employee record with year to date values
• An employee's NI category changes when moving to Sage from another software provider

Follow the steps below to resolve this issue.

1. Rollback the first payment processed in the employee's new employment.
2. Select Payroll, then Change Process Date.
3. Set the process date to the tax period before the first payment in their new employment.
4. Open the employee's record, then click the Employment tab.
5. Set their NI category to A and enter the category A NI year to date values. 
6. Select Save, then Close.
7. In Enter Payments, set their gross pay to £0.00.
8. Check that their net pay is also £0.00.
   • If a tax rebate calculates, change the tax code to 0T week1/month1
9. Update records to save the NI year to date values against category A. You don't need to send an FPS at this stage.
10. Go to Change Process Date,
11. Enter the employee's first pay date for the new employment.
12. Set the employee's NI category back to the correct category.
13. Re-enter the correct tax code if necessary.
14. Select Save then Close.
15. Reprocess their first pay period. The FPS error no longer appears and you can send the submission.
    
    TIP:

    If you see a late FPS message during your submission, select the relevant reason that it's late from the list of options.