P60 Deadline 31 May 2026: UK Employer Guide to Issuing P60s Correctly

The P60 deadline 31 May 2026 is one of those payroll jobs that looks small until the staff questions start. If somebody was on your payroll on 5 April 2026, they need a P60 from you by 31 May 2026, even if you only have one employee or pay directors irregularly. Leave it late and May becomes a stream of chasers, mortgage-reference requests, and corrections that should have been sorted weeks earlier.

Most employers already know the deadline exists. The part that causes trouble is deciding who actually needs a P60, what figures should appear on it, and what to do if the final payroll was wrong. That is where a quick end-of-year checklist is not always enough.

Quick summary: employees who are employed by you on 5 April 2026 must receive a P60 by 31 May 2026, on paper or electronically. Leavers before 5 April usually rely on their P45 instead. Check final year-to-date payroll figures first, then issue P60s early in May rather than treating them as a last-minute admin task.

If you want us to handle the payroll close and P60 issue cleanly, we can help through our payroll services, bookkeeping service, and contact page.

P60 deadline 31 May 2026: the rule in plain English

HMRC’s rule is short. If an employee is working for you on 5 April 2026, you must give them a P60 by 31 May 2026. You can provide it on paper or electronically. If the employee left before 5 April 2026, they would usually use their P45 from that job instead of getting a P60 from you.

That sounds simple enough, though real payroll files rarely stay neat at year-end. Directors who are paid once a quarter, staff who joined at the end of March, leavers whose final payment was delayed, and rehired employees all create hesitation. A lot of May panic comes from employers second-guessing cases that can be answered calmly if you look at the payroll position on 5 April, not on the day you happen to be preparing the forms.

Here is the practical test we use:

Payroll position at year-end	P60 needed from you?	Why
Employee still employed on 5 April 2026	Yes	HMRC says employees working for you on 5 April must receive a P60 by 31 May
Employee left on or before 4 April 2026	Usually no	Their P45 is normally the year-end evidence from that employment
New starter joined on 1 April 2026 and stayed employed on 5 April 2026	Yes	They are on your payroll at the key date
Director on annual or irregular pay, still appointed and on payroll on 5 April 2026	Yes	Irregular pay pattern does not remove the P60 duty

Official references:

• P60 guide for employers and employees
• PAYE end-of-year tasks
• Fix payroll errors

If you have not finished your year-end filing yet, keep this guide next to our PAYE year-end checklist. The two jobs sit together, but they are not the same job.

What a P60 actually shows, and why employees keep asking for it

Employees chase P60s because the document matters outside tax. They use it to check the year’s pay and tax, claim refunds, complete applications, and prove income for mortgages or rentals. A P60 is not just a payroll archive item. For a lot of staff, it is the cleanest annual summary they receive from their employer.

The form shows the employee’s pay and deductions for the tax year from that employment. If somebody had two jobs, they should get a separate P60 for each one. If they changed jobs during the year, the old employer’s P45 and the new employer’s P60 together tell the story. That is why mistakes here cause such a row. People are often trying to solve a real-world deadline when they ask for the document, not simply filing it away in a drawer.

One point worth spelling out is that a P60 does not answer every payroll question on its own. If benefits are still reported through P11D, the employee may need both documents. If you operate salary sacrifice, the pay figure on the P60 can be lower than the employee’s headline salary, which leads to a lot of “my pay looks wrong” emails in June.

Worked example 1: why a P60 figure can look lower than expected

Assume Emma has a contractual salary of £36,000 for the 2025/26 tax year. She gives up £200 a month under a pension salary sacrifice arrangement.

Annual salary sacrifice:

• £200 x 12 = £2,400

Taxable pay going through payroll:

• £36,000 - £2,400 = £33,600

Emma may expect to see £36,000 on her P60 because that is the salary she thinks of as “her pay”. The P60 figure is more likely to show the lower taxable amount processed through payroll, in this example £33,600. Nothing is necessarily wrong. The payroll treatment is just doing what salary sacrifice is supposed to do.

That is a good example of why issuing P60s early helps. You have time to answer questions properly rather than replying in a rush after the deadline has already passed.

Who gets a P60, who does not, and where employers go off course

The simplest way to avoid confusion is to stop thinking in terms of “worked for us during the year” and think in terms of “employed on 5 April”. That is the dividing line.

A lot of employers still trip over three situations:

• someone leaves in late March and payroll assumes they still need a P60
• someone joins in early April and gets missed because they “have only just started”
• a director or casual worker is forgotten because their pay pattern does not look like the rest of the staff list

HMRC’s own wording is tighter than most office folklore. If the employee was working for you on 5 April, they need the form. If they had already left, the P45 normally covers the employment instead.

Worked example 2: a mixed workforce at year-end

Assume your payroll has six people around year-end:

Worker	Position on 5 April 2026	P60 due?
Aisha	Employed all year, still working on 5 April	Yes
Ben	Left on 28 March 2026	No
Chloe	Started on 1 April 2026 and still employed on 5 April	Yes
Dev	Director, paid quarterly, still on payroll on 5 April	Yes
Farah	Left on 8 April 2026	Yes
Greg	Left on 31 January 2026 and received a P45	No

Total P60s due by 31 May 2026:

• 4

Ben and Greg should not be on your May P60 issue list just because they worked for you at some point during the year. Farah should be, because she was still employed on 5 April 2026 even though she left a few days later. That kind of edge case is exactly why many employers create the wrong list if they rely on memory instead of the payroll record.

If your staff turnover is high, it is worth freezing the P60 issue list from the year-end payroll itself and not editing it casually afterwards.

Common P60 mistakes small employers still make

Small payrolls usually go wrong in boring ways, not dramatic ones. The recurring problems are familiar:

• preparing P60s before the final payroll figures are genuinely settled
• forgetting directors or irregular workers
• assuming staff can pull everything they need from an app, so the formal issue can wait
• missing the chance to correct year-to-date figures before forms go out
• sending electronic P60s without checking the employee can actually access them

Another weak spot is manual “tidying”. If you export the form, spot a payroll error, then fix the software later, you can end up with a P60 that no longer matches the payroll record submitted to HMRC. That is avoidable. Finalise the payroll figures first, then generate the document.

Where employers discover an error after the year-end submission, HMRC allows payroll mistakes to be corrected through updated year-to-date figures in a later or additional FPS, depending on timing. The practical point is simple: do not leave the wrong numbers sitting there because the forms have already gone out. Correct the payroll record and give the employee updated year-end information.

Worked example 3: a missed bonus that makes the P60 wrong

Assume Liam should have received a £2,500 March bonus in the final payroll for 2025/26, but it was missed from the submitted figures.

Original year-to-date taxable pay shown in payroll:

• £29,500

Correct year-to-date taxable pay after adding the bonus:

• £29,500 + £2,500 = £32,000

If you issue Liam’s P60 before fixing the payroll, the document is wrong by £2,500 on pay alone. The tax difference could also be material. If Liam is mostly inside basic-rate tax for that slice of pay, the missing tax could be roughly £500, though the exact PAYE effect depends on his code and earlier earnings.

That is not a cosmetic mistake. Liam could be using the document for a mortgage application, a tax refund check, or his own records. Correct the payroll first, then issue a replacement year-end document or updated figures through your normal payroll process.

How to issue P60s properly, on paper or electronically

There is no prize for heroic manual handling here. Use your payroll software, generate the forms after your final checks, and get them out early in May. That gives you a buffer for bounced emails, access problems, or staff who have left but still need secure access to documents.

Paper is still fine. Electronic delivery is also acceptable. The part that matters is being able to show the document was provided securely and on time. If your process relies on a staff portal, check leavers and long-term absentees can still get in. A P60 sitting in a locked system no one can reach is not much use to anyone.

Our usual order looks like this:

1. reconcile payroll figures after the final FPS and any required EPS
2. freeze the P60 issue list based on employees employed on 5 April
3. generate the forms from payroll software, not from manual templates
4. send them in the first half of May where possible
5. log what was sent, when, and by which method
6. keep a short process note for any corrected or reissued document

That process is not glamorous. It is reliable.

If your payroll and books do not quite line up at year-end, bring the numbers together before you touch the P60 step. Our bookkeeping service and payroll services are often the quickest way to clear that kind of backlog without carrying the problem into June.

A practical April and May checklist for the P60 deadline

Treat the P60 deadline as a short project rather than a single date in the diary. Once you do that, the workload becomes manageable.

Date	Action	Why it matters
5 April 2026	Confirm who is employed on the key date	This defines your P60 list
6 April to 19 April 2026	Complete final payroll checks and year-end filing	P60 figures should match final payroll records
Late April 2026	Review leavers, starters, directors, and any corrections	Edge cases are easier to sort before forms go out
Early to mid May 2026	Generate and distribute P60s	Leaves time for questions and access issues
31 May 2026	Final deadline to provide P60s	Missing it creates avoidable employee and compliance problems
6 July 2026	Keep P11D and P11D(b) in view where relevant	The employer reporting cycle does not stop at P60s

One more practical point. If you have benefits and expenses to report, do not let the May P60 job push July off the radar. Our guide to payrolling benefits in kind is worth keeping nearby if you are deciding how benefits will be dealt with after year-end.

You can also use P60 season as a simple health check for the wider payroll process. If generating one form each year feels chaotic, the issue is often upstream. Payroll cut-off dates may be unclear, bookkeeping may be lagging, or nobody quite owns the year-end timetable. Fixing that now makes the next twelve months easier, not just the next two weeks.

Questions employees ask after P60s go out

May and June usually bring the same handful of questions.

”Why have I not received one?”

Start with the 5 April test. If the person had already left before then, the answer is usually that they should use their P45 from that employment instead.

”Why is the pay figure lower than my salary?”

Check salary sacrifice first. Pension arrangements are a regular reason for the P60 figure looking lower than the employee expects. If benefits are reported separately, explain that the P60 is not the whole story.

”Can I have another copy?”

Lost forms happen. Keep a clear record of what was issued and when, then provide the duplicate or replacement information through your normal payroll process. Staff rarely ask because they are bored. There is usually a mortgage broker, landlord, or refund claim waiting on it.

”The numbers look wrong, what now?”

Do not brush that off with “the software generated it”. Review the payroll record. If the year-to-date figures are wrong, fix the payroll position and then reissue the year-end information. HMRC gives employers a correction route for payroll mistakes, and it is better to use it promptly than let the mismatch hang around.

FAQ: P60 deadline 31 May 2026

What is the P60 deadline for the 2025/26 tax year?

The deadline is 31 May 2026 for employees who were employed by you on 5 April 2026.

Does every worker who was employed during the year get a P60?

No. The key question is whether they were employed on 5 April 2026. Leavers before that date will usually rely on their P45 instead.

Can employers issue P60s electronically?

Yes. HMRC allows P60s to be provided on paper or electronically.

What if I spot a payroll error after I have sent the P60?

Review the payroll record straight away, correct the year-to-date figures through the proper HMRC payroll process, and give the employee updated year-end information.

Does a director need a P60 if they are paid irregularly?

Yes, if the director was still on payroll on 5 April 2026.

Is a P60 the same as a P45?

No. A P45 is given when someone leaves employment. A P60 is the year-end certificate for an employment that still exists on 5 April.

Your next step before May gets busy

Pull the employee list from your year-end payroll, mark who was employed on 5 April 2026, and get the final figures checked before the end of April. That one step prevents most P60 mistakes. If you want us to run the payroll close, handle the P60 issue, and keep the July reporting in view as well, speak to our team.