An employer's PAYE reference number and accounts office reference are essential legal identifiers used by HMRC. Each company registered with HMRC must have a unique PAYE reference and accounts office reference.
If you submit an RTI or FPS file and it gets rejected, the cause is an incorrect PAYE reference or accounts office reference stored in PeopleXD, which does not match the information held by HMRC.
To resolve this issue, check and update the PAYE reference and accounts office reference. To do this, follow the steps below in Portal.
PAYE reference
A PAYE reference number includes two parts:
A three-digit HMRC office number.
A unique reference number for your business, typically structured like 123/A56789 or 123/AB56789, with some exceptions.
To update the PAYE Reference, follow these steps.
Click Settings then click Organisations.
From the Code dropdown menu, select the relevant company.
In the Tax Office Number and District Number fields, enter the first three-digit part of the PAYE reference.
In the Registered No and Tax Office Ref fields, enter the second part of the PAYE reference.
🤓Tip: For example, if your PAYE reference is 123/A56789, enter 123 in the Tax Office Number and District Number fields, and enter A56789 in the Registered No and Tax Office Ref fields.
Click Save.
Accounts Office Reference
An accounts office reference consists of thirteen characters, typically in the format 123PX00123456 or 123PX0012345X. You can find this reference in letters from HMRC regarding PAYE or when you registered as an employer.
To update the accounts office reference, follow these steps.
Click Settings then click Other General Settings.
From the Company dropdown, select the relevant company.
In the Inland Revenue Paypath Reference field, enter the accounts office reference.
Click Save.