HMRC Gateway - Online Filing Error Codes

Modified on Wed, 4 Sep at 10:03 AM

Background

Below is a list of common online filing error codes and the HMRC recommended solutions. However, please note that HMRC error response codes are very vague and only give a 'general idea' of what the issue might be, so you may need to be contacting the support team:

Error Code	Error Description	Mandatory / Optional / Conditional	Solution
1000	System Failure - The submission of this document has failed due to an internal system error.		This is an issue with the Government Gateway server. To resolve this, either wait and try again later or contact HMRC. More information may be found here
1001	The submitted XML document either failed to validate against the GovTalk schema for this class of document or its body was badly formed. There are invalid characters such as spaces in the submission credentials - the telephone number or contact name.		If you receive this message edit your contact details. The telephone number cannot contain letters, such as 'ext'. The contact name cannot contain numbers or some special characters, such as '-'.
1002	Authentication Failure		Check credentials
1020	The submitted document contains an entry for CorrelationID, which is a reserved system field. This field should be left empty		Please contact your software supplier.
1035	The submitted document contains an invalid entry for CorrelationID. If the Function field contains the value delete, then the CorrelationID field must be populated.		Please contact your software supplier.
1038	The submitted document contains an invalid entry for StartDate and/or StartTime. StartDate and StartTime must precede EndDate and/or EndTime.		Please contact your software supplier.
1039	The submitted document contains an invalid entry for any one of the following fields StartDate, StartTime, EndDate or EndTime		Please contact your software supplier.
1040	The submitted document contains an inconsistent value entry for the specified method		Please contact your software supplier.
1042	The submitted document does not contain a populated Body		Please contact your software supplier.
1046	Authentication error	Mandatory	Check the Online filing settings: Username and Password are correct. PAYE Reference and Tax district number need to be checked. The tax district number may have been entered ahead of the PAYE reference, if so, it needs to be removed.
1047	MD5 is not supported		Please contact your software supplier. In the P11D Organiser ensure you are in a current year (20xx/xx or later) to ensure old MD5 hashing is not used in the check.
2000	The Transaction Engine could not locate a record for the supplied correlation ID: the submission may have been deleted or the correlation ID may be invalid. If you have not received a response you should resubmit the document		Please contact your software supplier.
2001	The document exceeds the maximum permitted size		Please contact your software supplier to discuss submission volume
2002	The document does not contain the minimum required data		Please contact your software supplier.
2005	The Transaction Engine has not received an acknowledgement of your submission from the back-end system within the permitted timescale. Either resubmit or contact the appropriate organisation directly to determine if your submission has been accepted.		Please contact your software supplier.
3000	The processing of your document submission failed. Please re-submit		Re-try submission
3001	The submission of this document has failed due to departmental specific business logic in the Body element.		Please refer to text and label referred to that failed business logic. If you are not sure where this error occurs, please raised a support request.
5012 – Invalid Format 7520 – No DOB & No NINO Entered	Date of birth	Conditional (not needed unless NINO missing)	Only use genuine dates (avoid 30 February, for example) Do not use dates in the future If NINO is present and correct then you can delete the Date of Birth entry, if you have an error here
5012 – Invalid Format	Invalid NINO – Format	Optional (should be present if known)	If the NINO is not known, do not enter anything in the NINO field and instead make an entry in the date of birth, gender and payroll number fields Format must be 2 letters, 6 numbers, followed by 1 letter or a space
5012 – Invalid Format	Employee’s Address – leading spaces and punctuation	Optional (unless other address lines present)	Employee’s address is not essential, delete if you have errors in this field.
5012	Employee’s postcode	Optional	Employee’s postcode is not essential, delete if you have errors in this field. Do not exceed 8 characters for the postcode. Try not to include unnecessary punctuation such as a full stop or hyphen in a postcode
5012 – Invalid Format 5016 – Entry Required	Forename field – incorrect characters	Mandatory	Only use A-Z upper or lower case, hyphen or apostrophe Do not enter a full stop, comma, underscore, brackets, slash, numbers (including 0), an asterisk (*) or question mark (?) Do not use character ` for an apostrophe, use ’. For 5016; employee needs a NINO or payroll number if missing.
5012 – Entry Required	Surname field - incorrect characters	Mandatory	Only use A-Z upper or lower case, numbers 0-9, comma, full stop, forward slash, ampersand (&), hyphen, space, apostrophe and brackets The first character must be a letter Do not leave leading or trailing spaces Do not enter an asterisk (*) or use ‘0’ (zero) in place of ‘O’ Do not use character ` for an apostrophe, use ’. For example, ‘O’Connor’ not ‘O`Connor’.
5012 – Entry Required	Vehicle Make or Model - incorrect characters	Mandatory	Only use A-Z upper or lower case, numbers 0-9, comma, full stop, forward slash, ampersand (&), hyphen, space, apostrophe and brackets The first character must be a letter Do not leave leading or trailing spaces Do not enter an asterisk (*) or use ‘0’ (zero) in place of ‘O’
5016	An element exists, but it has no entry within it.	Mandatory	Entry required For certain fields, a more specific error message is generated.
6010	Incorrect format	Mandatory	When a 6010 error is thrown, the error locator will be as per a 5012 error locator. (See above)
7130	Works/ Payroll No	Optional	Not essential, delete if you have errors in this field
7540	Invalid NINO – Contents	Optional (should be present if known)	If the NINO is not known, do not enter anything in the NINO field and instead make an entry in the date of birth, gender and payroll number fields Use an acceptable NINO prefix (see list below) Use a valid suffix - A, B, C, D or space. Currently known valid NINO prefixes are below (please note that HMRC no longer provide a list of 'in use' prefixes, just what could be valid).: AA, AB, AE, AH, AK, AL, AM, AP, AR, AS, AT, AW, AX, AY, AZ, BA, BB, BE, BH, BK, BL, BM, BT, CA, CB, CE, CH, CK, CL, CR, EA, EB, EE, EH, EK, EL, EM, EP, ER, ES, ET, EW, EX, EY, EZ, GY, HA, HB, HE, HH, HK, HL, HM, HP, HR, HS, HT, HW, HX, HY, HZ, JA, JB, JC, JE, JG, JH, JJ, JK, JL, JM, JN, JP, JR, JS, JT, JW, JX, JY, JZ, KA, KB, KC, KE, KH, KK, KL, KM, KP, KR, KS, KT, KW, KX, KY, KZ, LA, LB, LE, LH, LK, LL, LM, LP, LR, LS, LT, LW, LX, LY, LZ, MA, MW, MX, NA, NB, NE, NH, NL, NM, NP, NR, NS, NW, NX, NY, NZ, OA, OB, OE, OH, OK, OL, OM, OP, OR, OS, OX, PA, PB, PC, PE, PG, PH, PJ, PK, PL, PM, PN, PP, PR, PS, PT, PW, PX, PY, RA, RB, RE, RH, RK, RM, RP, RR, RS, RT, RW, RX, RY, RZ, SA, SB, SC, SE, SG, SH, SJ, SK, SL SM, SN, SP, SR, SS, ST SW SX, SY, SZ, TA, TB, TE, TH, TK, TL, TM, TP, TR, TS, TT, TW, TX, TY, TZ, WA, WB, WE, WK, WL, WM, WP, YA, YB, YE, YH, YK, YL, YM, YP, YR, YS, YT, YW, YX, YY, YZ, ZA, ZB, ZE, ZH, ZK, ZL, ZM, ZP, ZR, ZS, ZT, ZW, ZX, ZY. If you are experiencing issues for an employee with this National Insurance number, the following steps should be taken: The National Insurance number field should be left blank Complete Date of Birth and Gender fields
	Date of Starting	Optional	Only use genuine dates (avoid 30 February, for example) Do not use dates in the future.
	Date of Leaving	Optional	Only use genuine dates (avoid 30 February, for example) Do not use dates in the future.