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Guidance

Employment intermediaries reporting requirements

Find guidance about the reports that intermediaries need to send to HMRC where they do not operate Pay As You Earn.

Updates to this page

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published:
4 September 2014
Last updated:
30 July 2026
Show all updates

  1. Guidance on 'How to sign in' has been updated in the ‘What this means for an agent' attachment.

  2. We have updated section 4.3 the HTML attachment 'What this means for an intermediary' with a link to new content for appealing penalties.

  3. Contact telephone number removed from 'What this means for an intermediary'.

  4. 'What this means for an intermediary' guidance has been updated to include para 4.3.

  5. Updated guidance on the How to send reports to HMRC section within the What this means for an intermediary attachment.

  6. Updated guidance on what this means for an intermediary attachment for re-using a template and failure to send nil report/advice or complete.

  7. Updated guidance on the Penalties section within the What this means for an intermediary attachment.

  8. Further guidance has been published and changes made to the existing guidance about employment intermediaries and employment intermediaries' reports.

  9. Additions and changes have been made to the guidance for employment intermediary reporting from 6 April 2016.

  10. New guide for agents to provide links to guidance and information about how to access the service for their clients

  11. Contact telephone number added.

  12. Updated content based on user’s feedback to make things clearer, and added a link to the summary of responses from the draft regulation consultation.

  13. After 6 April 2015, employment intermediaries must use the template to send information about workers where they don't operate Pay As You Earn. The reporting template is now available and you can use it to provide your workers' details.

  14. The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations have now been published and will give HMRC information that will enable it to decrease false self-employment and abuse of offshore working.

  15. New guidance on reports intermediaries may have to send to HMRC for agency workers where they didn't operate PAYE has been published.

  16. Update to guidance following publication of draft regulations on 1 October 2014.

  17. First published.

Documents

Why the new legislation was introduced

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What this means for an intermediary

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What this means for an agent

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What this means for a client

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What this means for a worker

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Details

An intermediary is any person who makes arrangements for an individual to work for a third party or pay for work done for a third party. An employment intermediary is also known as an agency.

Intermediaries must:

  • report details of all workers they place with clients where the intermediary does not operate Pay As You Earn (PAYE) on the workers’ payments
  • send the reports to HMRC at least once every 3 months

You can decide how often you upload and send your reports. For example, this could be weekly, monthly, once for each period.

The intermediary that has the contract with the client is responsible for sending the reports.

  1. Create reports using HMRC’s report template.

  2. Upload and send your reports using HMRC’s online service.

You do not have to send HMRC reports if all the following statements are true. You:

  • are a UK employer
  • supply workers to provide their services to end clients and nobody else is involved
  • operate PAYE when you pay those workers

HMRC has consulted with intermediary representatives and has listened and responded to many of the concerns raised around the information to be included in the report. Where possible, HMRC has changed the final reporting requirements to reduce the regulatory burden.

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