HMRC have released their technical specifications for RTI for the 2016/2017 tax year. Whilst this is primarily geared to software developers, it can be a useful tool for employers to help them understand each of the RTI data fields on the Full Payment Submissions (FPS), Employer Payment Summaries (EPS) and Earlier Year Updates (EYU) in particular.
The guide to use is the “Guidance on RTI Data Items from April 2016” which can be found here.
In addition, HMRC have issued a software specification for the 2017/2018 tax year. Whilst this is a highly technical document which is of limited use for most payroll professionals, it does contain (on page 179) a list of valid NI prefix letters which can be very helpful in determining whether an NI number is valid or not. The document in question can be found here.
Comment
I recently ran an RTI course in London and delegates found it very useful to go through the data grids to better understand their responsibilities.
