PAYE Online for employers

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1. Using PAYE Online

As an employer, you need to use HM Revenue and Customs鈥� (HMRC) PAYE Online service to:

  • check what you owe HMRC
  • pay your bill
  • see your payment history
  • access tax codes and notices about your employees
  • appeal a penalty
  • get alerts from HMRC when you report or pay late, or do not send the expected number of reports in a month
  • send expenses and benefits returns such as P46 (car), P11D and P11D(b)

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

Before you start

To use PAYE Online, you need to:聽

  • register as an employer聽
  • enrol for PAYE 翱苍濒颈苍别听
  • activate the service聽

If you registered as an employer online聽

You are automatically enrolled for PAYE Online when you聽register as an employer听辞苍濒颈苍别.听

After you鈥檝e registered, HMRC will send you an activation code within 10 days by post. You must within 28 days of the date on the letter.听聽

If you do not activate your account in time, you will have to enrol for PAYE Online 补驳补颈苍.听听

If you registered as an employer over the phone or by post聽

You鈥檒l need to enrol for PAYE Online聽before you can use the service.

Sign in to PAYE Online

Online services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.

Tax codes and notices

HMRC sends you information about your employees through PAYE Online. You can log in to view:

  • tax code notices (P6 and P9)
  • student loan notices (SL1 and SL2)
  • National Insurance verification notices (NVR and NOT)
  • late reporting and late payment alerts (HMRC call these 鈥榞eneric notifications鈥�)

You can also access these through some payroll software, or by using the PAYE Desktop Viewer.

2. Enrol if you did not register online

To use PAYE Online you need to:聽聽

  • enrol for the service (you鈥檒l need your PAYE reference and Accounts Office reference from your registration letter)聽
  • activate the service聽

How you enrol depends on whether you already have an online account for other business taxes, for example Corporation Tax.听

Enrol if you already have an account聽

  1. .听

  2. Select 鈥楨mployers or intermediaries, for example PAYE聽for employers or CIS鈥櫬爁rom the list.听

  3. Select 鈥�PAYE for employers鈥�.

Enrol if you do not have an account聽

  1. .听

  2. Select 鈥楨mployers or intermediaries, for example PAYE聽for employers or CIS鈥� from the list.听

  3. Select 鈥�PAYE for employers鈥�. 聽

After you enrol聽

After you enrol you need to before you can use PAYE Online.听

HMRC will send you an activation code within 10 days by post. You must activate your account within 28 days of the date on the letter.听聽

If you do not activate your account in time, you will have to enrol for PAYE Online again.

3. PAYE Desktop Viewer

PAYE Desktop Viewer is an application from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that allows you to view, search and sort large numbers of employee tax codes and notices.

You can also use it to download notices and view them offline instead of accessing them through HMRC鈥檚 PAYE Online service, or your payroll software if it includes this feature.

Download PAYE Desktop Viewer