If you get this error message when either submitting a payroll or retrieving RPNs, it means that the Revenue digital certificate you are using has expired.

You may get the 'Cert is not active' message if you renew your digital certificate on ROS but are still using the old (un-renewed) certificate in Payback. You should ensure that you

  1. Save the renewed certificate on their computer by:
    1. Following the certificate renewal process as explained here
    2. If the certificate has already been renewed and cannot be located, follow the instructions in this document to save a new copy of the certificate.
  2. Follow these instructions (or these instructions for agents) to import the renewed certificate, replacing the old (un-renewed) version. The password will also have changed and this may need to be saved in Payback

If you have any problems with this you should contact the National Employer's Helpline is Phone: 01 738 3638 or 1890 254 565 who will be able to offer guidance.

If your version is higher than the instructions, this is fine. For example, 2019.03 is a later version than 2019.02, and contains all the changes of 2019.02. Every time we release a new version, we increase the version number. At the beginning of the year we often release multiple new versions, often with minor changes. 

You will have to upgrade to the 2025 version before you can process 2025 wages or submit 2025 payments to Revenue

We recommend running the update as soon as possible. You can still process 2024 wages using the 2025 version by selecting '2024' in the 'Year' drop down at the top left of the Payroll screen. However, if you do not have time to run the upgrade, or wish to defer it, then there is no problem finishing processing 2024 payments using the 2024 version