Real Time Information Submission errors

Summary

How to resolve errors when submitting or receiving data to or from HMRC in Sage Payroll.

Description

Errors can appear when submitting or retrieving Real Time Information (RTI) data to and from HMRC.

This includes:

Full Payment Submission (FPS)
Employer Payment Summary (EPS)
Additional FPS
Supplementary FPS
Year end EPS
Small Employers Relief (SER) claim
HMRC notifications

Select your error below to see an explanation of the HMRC terminology and detailed steps to resolve the error.

Resolution

Before you begin

Be aware that you may need:

Your login details for the HMRC portal
To contact HMRC to make changes on their systems
Compare employee's personal details with the records in your payroll system

▼Error 1046 - Authentication Failure. The supplied user credentials failed validation for the requested service

This happens due to:

Incorrect e-submission settings
The HMRC gateway is busy at the time you made the submission

To resolve this error:

Read our article Failed FPS submission error (1046).

▼Error 4065 - Invalid content found at element

This happens due to:

A special character, for example ~ @ # $ [ \ ] ^ _ { } that HMRC can’t accept
A piece of mandatory information is missing from your Payroll data

To resolve this error check for spaces and special characters in the employee's name, address, and NI fields.

To do this:

Select Employees then the employee name you want to check. Do this for each employee included in the submission for this pay run.
On the Employee Details tab, identify the Personal Details section.
Ensure the employee's NI Number is correct. Remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
Check the Forename and Surname fields are correct. Remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
In the Contact Details section, select each field that contains the employee's address. Remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
If there's nothing in the Street 2 field, you'll need to enter the missing details. This may mean splitting the house number and street name if they're both included in the Street 1 text field. For example: Street 1 = 10. Street 2 = Holly Avenue.
Check the Postcode. An odd character such as the letter O instead of a zero will cause this issue. Check for double spaces between the numbers.

Once you've made the changes to the employee record, select Save. Re-try the submission.

If the issue continues:

Check that there's no special characters or spaces at the start or end of your business address.

To do this:

In Sage Payroll, select your name in the navigation bar.
Select Manage account.
Select Manage business information, to check the business address.
If the address has any special characters or spaces at the start or end, select Edit business details.
Select Save.

Once you've checked the address, re-try the submission.

▼Error 4084 - Negative National Insurance error

This occurs if you refund an amount through a pay run, but the amount is greater than the year-to-date total.

For example: An employee’s pension year-to-date total is £20. You refund them £30 in a pay run. HMRC won't accept a value of -£10.

Run the p11 and check if the brought forward values are correct:

From the Year End tab, in the Tax year to report on drop-down, select the relevant tax year.
Select Review Employee Pay (P11), then View P11 for all employees.
Check that the opening balance information is correct. Check there are no missing periods that you can’t account for.
To correct an opening balance, select Employees. Highlight the employee you need to amend.
Select the Opening Balance tab and correct the values.

NOTE: Opening balances only display if you entered them during the setup process.

▼Error 4085 - Value doesn’t have the correct format

This means there’s a special character in the submission HMRC won't accept. For example, ~ @ # $ [ \ ] ^ _ { }

Check for spaces and special characters in the employee's name, address, and NI fields.

To do this:

Select Employees then the employee name you want to check. Do this for each employee included in the submission for this pay run.
On the Employee Details tab, select Edit.
In the Personal Details section, check the employee's NI Number is correct. If the NI number is correct, remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
Select the Forename and Surname fields and remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
In the Contact Details section, select each field that contains the employee's address. Remove any spaces from the start or end of the text.
If there’s nothing in the Street 2 field, enter the missing details. This may mean splitting the house number and street name currently in the Street 1 text field.
For example: Street 2 = 10. Street 2 = Holly Avenue.
Select Save. Re-try the submission.

If the issue persists:

Check there are no special characters or spaces at the start or end of your business address.

To do this:

Select your business name from the top right corner of the SBC Payroll screen.
Select Manage Business Account.
Select each field that contains details of the business address. Remove any spaces at the start or end of the text.
Select Save. Re-try the submission.

▼Error 5001 - Submission contains an unrecognised Name Space in Location: EIR Envelope

HMRC won’t accept certain submissions from a previous tax year.

HMRC can help with manual submissions of payroll information for a previous tax year. Contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200.

▼Error 7801 - Accounts Office Ref or PAYE Ref is incorrect

This occurs if the Accounts Office Ref or PAYE Reference in SBC Payroll isn’t correct.

To resolve this error:

Select Settings.
Select Payroll Settings.
Check the Accounts Office Ref or PAYE Reference field.
Select Save. Re-try the submission.

▼Error 7802 / 7082 - You haven’t been invited to submit this submission type

This occurs when HMRC aren't expecting RTI submissions for the PAYE scheme.

It can mean that your online services account need activating for PAYE submissions. If you’re acting as an agent, this needs authorising by your client.

Sometimes HMRC will close PAYE schemes that have had no activity for some time.

To resolve this:

Contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline: 0300 200 3600 and ask them to activate your account.

If you’re submitting as an agent, contact HMRC’s Employer Helpline: 0300 200 3600. Check you have set up your agent services account.

▼Error 7806 / 7086 - This submission can’t be accepted as it doesn’t fall within the eligible filing period

This means HMRC aren't expecting this employer to start filing RTI returns until a later date.

To resolve this:

Contact the HMRC’s Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200. Ask them to set your RTI start date to the correct date.

▼Error 7818 - submission can’t be accepted as this employer scheme has been cancelled

This means HMRC haven’t received submissions for your company.

This error message indicates that there have been £0 RTI submissions for a period of at least three months. If this happens, HMRC can close the company’s payroll scheme.

To resolve this:

Contact the HMRC’s Employer Helpline on 0300 200 3200.

▼Error 7882 / Error 7953- Invalid COTAX Reference

This means that the Corporation Tax Reference is incorrect in your program.

To update the Corporation Tax reference:

From Settings, choose Payroll settings.
Enter the correct Corporation Tax Reference in the relevant field.
Select Save. Attempt your submission again.

If you aren’t sure of your COTAX Reference, contact HMRC on 0300 200 3200.

▼Error 7911 - NIL EPS

You submitted an EPS (Employer Payment Summary) to HMRC to make them aware there’s no payment due. The submission is happening before the 5th of the tax month.

To resolve this:

Wait until after the 5th of the tax month before you submit the return.

For more information, see Nil payment employer payment summary (EPS) guide.

Solution Properties

Solution ID: 222001000101788
Last Modified Date: Thu Jun 18 10:12:52 UTC 2026
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