Your P60 is the single most useful document you receive from an employer. It is the official summary of everything you earned and everything deducted in a tax year, and it is what you will be asked for when applying for a mortgage, claiming a tax refund, or completing a Self Assessment return.
Most people file it without reading it. That is a mistake — a P60 is also the easiest place to spot a year’s worth of payroll errors.
When you should get one
Your employer must give you a P60 by 31 May following the end of the tax year on 5 April. You get one from every employer you were working for on 5 April.
- Two jobs on 5 April means two P60s
- Left a job during the year? No P60 from them — you get a P45 instead
- It can be paper or electronic; both are equally valid
What each part of the P60 means
Your details
Name, National Insurance number and payroll number. Check the NI number carefully — a wrong one means your contributions may not be credited to your record, which affects your State Pension. It has the format two letters, six digits, one letter, for example QQ123456C.
Pay and Income Tax details
This is the main block, and it is split into three rows that confuse most people:
| Row | What it means |
|---|---|
| In previous employment(s) | Pay and tax from earlier jobs this tax year, carried across on your P45 |
| In this employment | Pay and tax from this employer only |
| Total for year | The two added together — the figure a lender or HMRC wants |
If you changed jobs during the year and the “previous employment” row is blank, your new employer never received your P45 details. That usually means you were taxed on an emergency code and may be owed a refund.
National Insurance contributions
Shown by table letter — the category letter, usually A. The earnings are broken into bands, which exist so HMRC can credit your State Pension record correctly:
- At the Lower Earnings Limit (£6,500 a year) — earnings here build State Pension entitlement even though you pay nothing
- Above the LEL up to the Primary Threshold (£12,570) — still no contribution due
- Above the Primary Threshold up to the Upper Earnings Limit (£50,270) — charged at 8%
- Employee contributions — the total actually deducted from you
Only the employee figure is shown. Your employer paid 15% on top of this, but that never appears on a P60 because it was not deducted from you.
Statutory payments
Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental or Parental Bereavement Pay received during the year, each shown separately. These are included in your total pay, not additional to it.
Student loan and postgraduate loan deductions
Shown to the nearest pound. Check this against the plan you are actually on — being on the wrong plan is one of the more common payroll errors, and the thresholds differ substantially between them.
Final tax code
The code in use at the end of the year. The standard code for 2026/2027 is 1257L, giving the £12,570 Personal Allowance. If yours differs, there is a reason — a benefit in kind, underpaid tax from an earlier year, or a second job. If you do not know the reason, ask HMRC.
A code ending in W1 or M1 means you were on a non-cumulative code, which frequently results in overpaid tax.
Four checks worth doing
1. Does total pay match your payslips?
Add the gross pay from all twelve payslips. It should equal the total pay on the P60. A gap usually means a missing payslip or an unreported bonus.
2. Does the tax look right?
Subtract the Personal Allowance from total pay, then apply the bands. On a 2026/2027 salary of £30,000 with code 1257L, expect roughly £3,484 of income tax. Being well outside that range is worth querying.
3. Are your NI earnings bands populated?
If you earned above the Lower Earnings Limit but the band figures are blank, your State Pension record may not be credited for the year. This is the check people most often skip and the one with the longest-lasting consequences.
4. Did you change jobs?
Confirm the “previous employment” figures match the P45 you handed over. If they are missing, you may have overpaid.
Keep it. HMRC suggests keeping records for at least 22 months after the tax year ends, but a P60 is the document mortgage lenders ask for years later. Employers are not obliged to reissue one — they can only provide a “statement of earnings” instead.
If your P60 is wrong
- Go back to your employer first — most errors are payroll mistakes they can correct and refile with HMRC
- Gather the evidence: the payslips that contradict the figure, and which box is wrong
- If they will not correct it, contact HMRC directly with your payslips
- If you overpaid, you can usually reclaim for the last four tax years
P60 or P45?
| P60 | P45 | |
|---|---|---|
| When | End of tax year, by 31 May | When you leave a job |
| Covers | The whole tax year | That job, up to your leaving date |
| Who gets one | Anyone employed on 5 April | Anyone leaving |
| Purpose | Proof of annual income | Carries your pay and tax to the next employer |
For employers
You must give a P60 to every employee still employed on 5 April, by 31 May. The figures come from your Full Payment Submissions, so they are only as accurate as your payroll was during the year — year end is a poor time to discover a problem.
Our payslip generator keeps the running totals as you go, and the reports section produces P60 and P45 exports at year end. See also our HMRC PAYE Online guide for the filing deadlines.