PAYE104001 - Individual records: merge individual records: introduction

The MPPC3 Phase 3 project established a single record for each individual, removing the need for movement of person and employment data from one COP system to another.

There was an existing NIC&EO Merge Individual process, which merged NINO to NINO cases for National Insurance purposes only. This has not been modified and NINO to NINO merges will continue to be undertaken by Personal Tax Operations, National Insurance Contributions & Employers Office (PT NIC&EO) staff in the Accounts Investigation Section (AIS) team.

However, the need to merge two or more records on the PAYE Service in certain circumstances will remain. You will need to be able to tell if a record has already been merged and know what to do if you identify a case that needs to be merged.

From July 2011 the inhibit auto reconciliation indicator will automatically be set (for tax years which have not already been reconciled), for all temporary reference numbers (TRN) identified on creation of work item 49, at the point of creation of work items 78, 247, 248 and 249 for those newly created NINO records and on all potentially matching TRN records. A Contact History note will be created on each affected case where the indicator has been set.

From October 2013 a new work item 446 will be introduced and this will auto-close any work item 49 that may already have been created.

The merge process is broken down into 3 areas.

Automated Merge Process

When an Adult or Juvenile Registration completes, a TRN record may already exist on NPS for this individual. If this record is identified through a Secondary Tracing Framework (STF) search, the TRN will be automatically merged (dependent upon certain conditions, see PAYE104010) with the new NINO record.

With the introduction of the Scottish rate of Income Tax from 6 April 2016, the automatic Merge processing has been updated to cater for the Scottish information captured on the individuals account to include new rules to determine the STp (Scottish Taxpayer) status for Merged PAYE records.

The Scottish Main Place of Residence (SMPR) Start Date, SMPR End Date, STp Start Date and STp End Date have been added to the existing Merge process. A Merge of the SMPR Start Date, SMPR End Date, STp Start Date and STp End Date fields will not be triggered from a Manual Merge.

With the introduction of the Welsh rates of Income Tax from 6 April 2019, the automatic Merge processing has been updated to cater for the Welsh information captured on the individuals account to include new rules to determine the WTp (Welsh Taxpayer) status for Merged PAYE records.

The Welsh Main Place of Residence (WMPR) Start Date, WMPR End Date, WTp Start Date and WTp End Date have been added to the existing Merge process. A Merge of the WMPR Start Date, WMPR End Date, WTp Start Date and WTp End Date fields will not be triggered from a Manual Merge.

Manual Merge Process

It may be necessary to manually merge the PAYE side of individual records in the following circumstances

  • Following a NINO to NINO merge by NIC&EO AIS
Or
  • As a result of a failed automatic merge and notification to you by way of a work item
Or
  • Duplicate records identified during day to day work

Where, during day to day work you identify duplicate records for an individual, you may need to establish which team you need to send the case to so that they can carry out the merge action.

Manual merge can only be undertaken by the following teams

  • NIC&EO PAYE Merge
  • Special Business Area (SBA)
  • Public departments 1 (PD1)
  • PT Operations PAYE Merge

The cases you will see will usually fall to one of the following teams to deal with

  • NIC&EO PAYE Merge
  • Merge Records SBA
  • PT Operations PAYE Merge

These teams will be able to merge individual records and record the historical information from all merged records.

They will identify which records need to be retained and which records will become dormant when carrying out a manual merge.

They will be able to issue (and inhibit where necessary) forms as a result of merge.

The PAYE Browser does not permit NINO to TRN merges, so the only merges that will be done on NPS are TRN to NINO or TRN to TRN.

Customers with a verified NINO will have both NI and PAYE interests. The NI interest will be visible through the NPS / NI browser and the PAYE interest will be visible on NPS / PAYE browser. TRN records only have a PAYE interest and are only visible on NPS / PAYE browser.

For NINO to NINO merges undertaken by AIS, a CA3619 (NINO Card), as appropriate, is issued to the individual by NIC&EO to notify them of the correct NINO and advise them to notify their employer of this number.

If you attempt to access a TRN that has undergone merge activity, you will be presented with the merge-to NINO record. You will be able to see that a merge has taken place because you will be presented with the message ‘This record has been merged’.

You will be able to view the merge-from record by selecting the Merge icon from the navigation menu. This will allow you to drill down into a view only merge-from record.

You will not however be able to carry out merge activities. If in day to day work you identify a record that needs to be merged see PAYE104025.

Unmerge

You will not be able to use the unmerge functionality on the PAYE Service. Where a situation arises where unmerge is required, follow the guidance at PAYE104047.