Testing Your Return
11.2 Testing your Return
You or your agent can test online Returns before sending them for real, as long as your software lets you. ‘Test in live’ will:
- tell you if you can connect to our systems
- send you an on-screen message telling you that you will be able to send your Return
- send you an on-screen message telling you that you that your test Return meets your end of year obligations. You must not take this to mean that we do not need a further submission. A test Return must always be followed up with a ‘live’ Return
- tell you about any errors if your test Return does not meet our Quality Standard.
When you send a test file to HMRC, we will send you a response to your own payroll software to tell you whether your file passed or failed. The message we send is:
"9001: This submission would have been successfully processed if sent under non test conditions"
Your software may interpret this message differently, so we recommend that you check with your software developer how this message will appear in your software.
You will also get an e-mail from the UK Government Gateway to confirm the submission was successfully received which says:
"The submission for reference (reference)was successfully received on (date). If this was a test transmission, remember you still need to send your actual Employer Annual Return using the live transmission in order for it to be processed."
This message reminds you that if your transmission was a ‘test’, you will still need to send your actual Employer Annual Return using the live transmission in order for your return to be processed.
We cannot accept a ‘test in live’ Return as if it was your actual online Return. So after you have done your test, do not forget to send us your actual Return online. You must take the test flag off your Return before you send it for real.
We recommend that you test some P14s as soon as you have finished them, while you work on the rest of your Return. If you use third party software you can test any batch of P14s when they are ready, but only if your software supports batch submissions. You can also test part or complete Online Return and Forms - PAYE submissions. But if you test your Return in parts you must send the final Return in parts (see ‘Sending Returns in Parts’).
If you file online using Electronic Data Interchange, talk to your account manager about how you can test your Return. If you are testing using Electronic Data Interchange, to keep your transmission costs (and our translation costs) to a minimum we suggest that, where your payroll software allows, you restrict the size of a test file to no less than 100 and no more than 1,000 P14s.
Software that has gone through HM Revenue & Customs’ recognition testing will have already undergone full testing. If you use HM Revenue & Customs recognised software, you do not need to test that you can send your Return successfully. Our Quality Standard checks that will be applied when you file online will ensure that, if there are any errors in any submissions files, those files will be rejected and sent back to you. We will list the first 8,000 business errors in any rejected files.
If your software is not HM Revenue & Customs recognised and does not let you split your payroll so you can send a test file of less than 1,000 P14s, you can consider incorporating a payroll splitting facility so you can send a test file of fewer than 1,000 P14s. Again, talk to your account manager. There are no limits to the number of times you can test, and we recommend you start testing as soon as a batch of P14s is ready. We will quickly let you know about any errors, while you carry on with the rest of your Return.
