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Introduction

If a digital certificate error message appears when you try to retrieve RPNs or submit a Payroll Submission, please check the following four items:

  • That you can access your payroll data using ROS.ie

ROS.ie also uses a copy of your digital certificate to access data. It can be a good test to see if the certificate is working. If you are unable to log into ROS.ie, or see your data in ROS.ie, you will need to contact Revenue for them to fix this.

  • You are using the same digital certificate in Payback that you are for ROS.ie

It is possible that the digital certificate you are using in payback is different to the digital certificate you are using in ROS.ie. This is the most common cause of digital certificate problems. To complicate matters, Revenue can also expire your digital certificate early, or change permissions. If you can access data in ROS, but not Payback, then you are using different digital certificates.

  • Make sure that you are using the correct digital certificate in Payback

Try reloading your digital certificate from ROS following our Digital Certificate Guide, or for tax agents TAIN digital certificates.

When downloading the certificate from ROS, be careful that you do not mix it up with an old digital certificate that you previously downloaded. This is a common problem. You might need to clear your browser cache and rename the certificate file to stop this from happening.

  • Check that the Employer Number and Password are both correct

The Employer No. (found in the Contact Tab of the Company screen) Must be entered and be correct for the certificate to work. It is made up of seven numbers followed by one, or two letters. An example is 5266273H. Check the Password is correct. This is the same password you use to log into ROS.ie. Note that you may have recently changed this password, especially if Revenue have recently expired your certificate. If you are a Tax Agent and have a TAIN digital certificate, ensure that the TAIN is also correct, and that you have permission to access all of your clients in ROS.ie

If you have followed the four steps above, and are still getting an error message, then you will need to contact Revenue for them to fix this for you.

Solution

If you are still getting a digital certificate error despite trying the four checks listed above, then we suggest contacting Revenue for them to fix their digital certificate problem. If you use MyEnquires in ROS, then everything will be in writing. You can even copy and paste the following (remember to type your error message)

I am having a problem with the Revenue digital certificate. I have tried:

- Logging into ROS.ie. This works and I can see my data in ROS
- Making sure that I am using the same digital certificate in my payroll software that I am using in ROS. I even cleared my browser cache before downloading it
- I've checked that my Employer Number and digital cert Password are both correct in my payroll software.

The error message I am getting from my Payroll software is [TYPE ERROR MESSAGE HERE]
Please could you fix my digital certificate or issue a working one. It is not a payroll software problem.

Thank you

 

We are unable to help with the following

Digital Certificate errors such as:

  • No active link between Agent TAIN and Employer Registration Number.
  • Agent does not have appropriate permissions.
  • Cert does not have appropriate permissions.
  • Unauthorised request: ROS Digital Certificate has expired.
  • Unauthorised request: Invalid ROS Digital Certificate provided.
  • Unauthorised request: Employer Registration Number and ROS Digital Certificate must be linked.

We would be very happy to help customers solve these errors. Unfortunately it is outside of our control. We are unable to issue new certificates, fix certificates or change permissions for certificates. Only Revenue can do that. We have no control over digital certificates and how they are issued. We frequently have customers tell us that Revenue have informed them that it is a 'Payroll Software Problem' if any of the above message appear. IT IS NOT!

Whenever one of the above messages have appeared, the solution has always come from Revenue. The Revenue agent will fix the problem and issue a new digital certificate. Sometimes the certificate will even suddenly start working once Revenue changes a setting on their server.

 

Our guide to digital certificates is here: Digital Certificates

Error 53 when Retrieving RPNs or submitting Payroll

An Error 53 can happen if there is a problem with the way Revenue's Digital certificate works with Windows, Payback and any other third party applications or processes. The certificate itself may work correctly with ROS - although we suggest checking this.


We suggest loading the digital certificate again and see if the error still happens.

If the error still appears, then the most common cause of Revenue's digital certificate errors like this is third party anti-virus software, such as Avast, AVC or Norton that deletes files necessary for Payback to run. Especially if this has only started happening and presumably Payback was working before.

The best way to solve this is to upgrade to Cloudpay. With Cloudpay, third party applications cannot delete these files.
You also have the advantage of having your data securely stored in the Cloud and you never have to worry about updates or running the most up to date version. Please let me know if you'd like to upgrade to Cloudpay and we'll transfer your remaining licence and data. Most desktop users have now already moved to our online version.

 

If you would prefer to continue using the desktop version, please check if you have Avast installed on your computer. You will need to set exclusions for both the Application and the destination folder of this text files using this guide
https://kb.support.business.avast.com/GetPublicArticle?title=Avast-Business-Antivirus-Managed-Exclusions-Guide

Applications are:
C:\Program Files (x86)\payback\paybackie.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\payback\ROSXML.exe

folders are:
C:\paybackdata
C:\paybackdata\xml_archive

 

If you have any other anti-virus software or firewalls installed on your computer, temporarily disable them and see if this solves the problem.

Please stop all other processes to ensure that nothing else is conflicting with Payback. You can do this by restarting your computer and trying again, without running any other applications.

 

If after all of that you are still getting the same error, please could you either:

  • Use a different computer - preferably one running Windows 10 or 11
  • Use ROS reporting rather than direct reporting

 

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