P60

A P60 is the end-of-year certificate your employer must give you for every job you are still in on 5 April. It states your total taxable pay for the tax year, the income tax deducted, your National Insurance contributions by category letter, and any student or postgraduate loan repayments taken through payroll. The deadline is 31 May following the end of the tax year, so the certificate for 2026/27, the year running from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, is due by 31 May 2027. An electronic P60 is as valid as a printed one.

The figures are cumulative, and that is what makes the document useful. Your final payslip of the year should agree with it line for line. If the taxable pay on the P60 is lower than the gross on your payslips, the difference is usually salary sacrifice or a pension contribution taken before tax, which is correct and expected. If it is lower for a reason you cannot identify, something has been reported to HMRC that does not match what you were actually paid, and the payroll submission rather than the payslip is the document to ask about.

A P60 covers one employment. If you changed jobs during the year, your new employer's certificate includes the earlier pay and tax only where you handed over a P45 and the figures were carried forward; otherwise you need both documents to see the whole year. If you held two jobs at once on 5 April you should receive two certificates, one from each employer.

You need it to claim a refund, to complete a Self Assessment return, to evidence income for a mortgage or a benefit claim, and to check a P800 calculation. Employers cannot reissue an original, but they can provide a statement of earnings, which HMRC accepts in its place. Keep each P60 for at least 22 months after the end of the tax year it covers, and for five years and ten months if you file Self Assessment.