Editing or Unfiling Prior Tax Year Payroll Records

Under Real Time Information (RTI) rules, any adjustments made to prior tax year records must maintain strict sequence integrity to ensure Year-to-Date (YTD) totals, tax code calculations, and National Insurance (NI) thresholds remain accurate.

Key Rules Before Rolling Back Payroll

• RTI Filing Distinction:

  If payroll has already been transmitted to HMRC via an FPS, deleting internal software records does not remove the data from HMRC's servers. HMRC corrections must be handled by submitting an updated Year-to-Date FPS or prior-year correction submission.

  
  

• Sequential Unfiling (Reverse Order):

  You cannot edit an earlier pay period (e.g., Month 6) while later pay periods (e.g., Months 7 through 12, or the current tax year) remain locked and active. You must roll back pay periods in reverse chronological order.

  
  

• Account Locks & Financial Periods:

  Ensure that no accounting locks or closed financial year-ends prevent edits to historical journals before unfiling prior periods.

Step-by-Step Guidance: Unfiling Prior Periods

1. Roll Back Current Tax Year Periods (If Applicable):

Unlock active periods before rolling back.

If you are attempting to edit a prior tax year while the current tax year already has active payroll runs, unfile or delete the current year's pay periods in reverse chronological order (from the latest month back to Month 1).

2. Remove Current Year Payroll Profiles:

Clear active current-year profiles.

Remove current-year payroll profile settings if necessary so the system can access the historical profiles from the target prior tax year.

3. Unfile Prior Year Pay Periods in Reverse Order:

Access Month 12 of the target year.

Navigate to the target tax year. Starting at Month 12, mark the period as unfiled and roll back period-by-period until you reach the specific month requiring correction.

4. Apply Payslip Corrections:

Adjust gross pay, tax, or NI figures.

Edit the payslips for the target pay period. Save all changes and allow the software to recalculate tax and National Insurance thresholds.

5. Re-file and Transmit RTI Updates:

Re-lock records and transmit RTI updates.

Re-file the corrected month and proceed forward chronologically, re-filing each subsequent month to update cumulative Year-to-Date totals. Transmit an updated YTD FPS to HMRC to align official tax records.