What's covered in this guide?:
Overview
The FPS Importer is designed to make the migration of payroll data from other systems into your current setup quick and simple. It automatically populates employee data, tax information, opening balances, and company details based on your most recent submission to HMRC.
This tool helps ensure a smooth transition by validating data accuracy, preventing duplicates, and aligning employee information with HMRC records.
Importer Purpose
The FPS Importer allows users to:
Import opening balances for employees based on their last Full Payment Submission (FPS) to HMRC.
Import employee details such as names, addresses, National Insurance (NI) numbers, tax codes, and pay details.
Import company details including PAYE reference and employer information.
You can choose to:
Import only opening balances (keeping existing employee data as-is), or
Import both opening balances and employee information (ideal for new setups or migrations).
Earnings Rate Requirement
💡Important: Before using the importer, ensure two earnings rates are set up:
Regular hours (previously known as base rate), and
Salaried rate.
These are required as the importer cannot infer pay structures directly from the FPS file.
File Validation
When you upload an FPS XML file:
The system verifies that it matches the current tax year.
It validates the XML against HMRC’s RTI schema.
Errors such as invalid dates of birth or missing required information will be displayed.
If any validation errors are present, the import confirmation will be disabled until corrected.
Review and Match
A preview screen shows all employees found in the FPS file.
New employees will be flagged as new records.
Existing employees are matched automatically using:
First name
Last name
Date of birth
If multiple potential matches are found, the system will pause import for that employee to prevent duplicates.
You can deselect any employees you don’t wish to import.
National Insurance Category
When employees have multiple NI category entries:
The system identifies the correct one by checking for earnings in the previous pay period.
Since FPS files lack precise date ranges, this step may occasionally require manual review.
Import Workflow
Step 1: Upload FPS XML
To upload your FPS XML file into the importer.:
Navigate to Payroll > Payroll Settings > Import/Export
Select FPS XML Import
Upload an XML file containing an FPS
Step 2: Validation
The importer checks:
The XML structure against HMRC RTI schema.
File compatibility with the current tax year.
Data consistency (dates, employee info, etc.).
Step 3: Review
View a list of all employees and company data found.
Choose whether to import all data or only opening balances.
Deselect any employees to exclude.
Step 4: Confirmation
The review screen will summarize all data that will be imported.
It will also clarify what is not included (e.g., data not present in FPS).
Step 5: Import
Once confirmed, the system imports the selected data.
You’ll receive a success or failure message outlining the reason for any errors.
Best Practices
Always verify earnings rates before import.
Ensure the FPS XML is from the latest HMRC submission.
Review each HMRC notification before applying changes.
For unmatched or failed imports, use manual updates and revalidate.