PayAdjust is now HMRC-recognised payroll software

HMRC has granted PayAdjust PAYE recognition. That means HMRC has tested the Real Time Information (RTI) submissions PayAdjust produces against its own test scenarios and confirmed they are built correctly. From today, PayAdjust is HMRC-recognised payroll software for the 2026–27 tax year.

What recognition actually means

Any payroll product can claim to be "HMRC-compliant". Recognition is different. It is a formal process run by HMRC's Software Developer Support Team, and a product only gets it after HMRC has checked, submission by submission, that the data it sends matches what HMRC expects. The recognised products are listed on GOV.UK on the find payroll software that is recognised by HMRC page.

Two things recognition does not mean, because HMRC is clear about them and so should we be. It is not an endorsement: HMRC does not recommend one product over another, and it does not check pricing, support, or the rest of the product. And it does not mean HMRC guarantees every payroll you run will be right. Recognition says the software reports to HMRC correctly. Whether the pay going in is correct is still down to the employer, which is exactly why PayAdjust shows employees their payslips before payday rather than after.

What changes for employers using PayAdjust

If you already run payroll with PayAdjust, nothing about the product changes today. The filing you have been doing was already going to HMRC in the right format. What changes is the confidence you can have in it, and the fact that you can now point an accountant, an auditor, or a sceptical co-founder at HMRC's own list.

If you are choosing payroll software, recognition is a reasonable first filter. It is the baseline that every product in our comparison of UK payroll software meets, and PayAdjust now meets it too. From there the real differences are what employees get, how pricing scales, and how much of payday week you spend answering questions. Those are the problems PayAdjust was built to solve.

Filing directly with HMRC

PayAdjust files Full Payment Submissions (FPS) and Employer Payment Summaries (EPS) directly over the Government Gateway from inside the pay run. There are no XML files to download and no Basic PAYE Tools to open. Add your Government Gateway login once, and every submission is sent, tracked, and stored with its HMRC receipt. If you would rather file yourself, you can switch direct filing off and PayAdjust will give you the figures to enter instead.

What's next

Recognition is granted per tax year, so we will go through the same process again for 2027–28. That year brings the biggest change to payroll reporting in a while: from April 2027, most benefits in kind must be payrolled and reported through the FPS rather than on a P11D. We are building for that now, and we will write about what it means for small employers well before it lands.

If you run payroll for a UK business and want to see how it works, the trial is free for 30 days and takes minutes to set up. Full details on the pricing page.