Employer's guide to P60s: Issuing, deadlines & what must be included

Published 11 March 2026

Table of contents

• What is a P60?
• Who gets a P60?
• What must be on a P60 and when is it due?
• What to do if a P60 is wrong
• Common P60 issues and how to avoid them
• Get P60s right with Xero
• FAQs on P60 issues

Key takeaways

• You need to provide P60s for all your employees at the end of the tax year, provided they’re still working with you on 5 April (the end of the UK tax year). A P60 contains a summary of your employee’s earnings, tax, National Insurance, and statutory pay.
• P60s are only for current employees. If an employee leaves your business, you need to give them a P45 instead. You must send P60s to your staff by 31 May.
• If an employee comes to you with P60 issues, including if their tax code is wrong or amounts are incorrect, it’s your responsibility as an employer to issue them a replacement P60.

What is a P60?

A P60 is a document summarising employee earnings, Income Tax, and National Insurance contributions. Employers provide it to employees at the end of the tax year, every year. As an employer, you need a solid understanding of your P60 obligations as part of employing staff. You’re responsible for creating and sharing P60s with your employees by 31 May each year.

P60s are essential for financial management. Your employees can use them to claim tax rebates if they’re entitled to them, and to secure mortgages. You issue P60s to current employees only – if someone leaves your business, you need to provide a P45 instead. Check government guidance on P60 vs P45 if you’re unsure which document applies to your staff.

P60 issues crop up when employers don’t keep accurate payroll records. This can cause problems for employees if it looks like they’ve under- or overpaid tax, for example. You should use a modern payroll system for managing employee salaries and deductions, so the P60s you give your employees are accurate.

Who gets a P60?

Employers need to provide P60s to all current employees – that is, those still employed by the business on 5 April, the final day of the UK tax year.

You should be able to produce digital P60s for your employees using your payroll software. Modern payroll software will generate the P60s for you, using data already in the system. From here, you can print out or share digital P60s with your staff.

Self-employed people don’t get a P60 because annual tax and National Insurance contributions are calculated through Self Assessment, not payroll. If you’re exempt from using payroll software, you can request P60 forms from HMRC to fill out for your employees.

Here’s more from GOV.UK about payroll software exemptions.

What must be on a P60 and when is it due?

On a P60 form, you need to include the employee’s:

• personal details: their full name, national insurance number, and payroll number
• total pay and Income Tax deducted for the year
• National Insurance contributions
• any statutory pay the employee received that year, such as statutory sick pay, maternity or paternity pay, or adoption pay
• student and postgraduate loan payments if relevant to your employee

A P60 applies to the UK tax year (6 April – 5 April). So following the end of the tax year, you should be able to generate them in your payroll system. The P60 deadline for employers to share them with employees is 31 May.

What to do if a P60 is wrong

If an employee comes to you with an incorrect P60, you need to issue them with a correct one. It’s your responsibility as an employer to fix P60 issues for your staff.

How to amend a P60 depends on the error. Start by comparing the incorrect P60 with the employee’s final payslip to work out what went wrong. If their P60 shows the wrong amount of tax, check that their paycode is correct – this affects how much tax they pay.

When you issue an updated P60, mark it as a replacement or provide a letter explaining the change.

Common P60 issues and how to avoid them

A lot of different tax and deduction information is recorded in a P60, which means there’s also room for error.

Keeping accurate payroll records throughout the year and using modern payroll software that calculates pay and deductions for you can make things easier.

Here are common P60 issues to look out for:

• Incorrect tax codes: This can sometimes happen when an employee has just switched jobs. The wrong tax code can lead to incorrect tax on P60s, so you should fix this promptly so your employee doesn’t over- or underpay tax.
• Missing information: Omitting pay or deduction figures from an employee’s P60 can mean a bigger bill for them later. Use modern payroll software to track statutory pay and deductions precisely, and make sure you keep secure records.
• Duplicate information: Pay or deductions can be mistakenly printed twice on your employee’s P60, leading to inaccurate calculations. Again, a modern payroll system that generates reports based on your existing records can help keep the numbers correct.

Get P60s right with Xero

Xero helps take care of manual payroll tasks – like P60s – quickly and accurately, so that meeting your employer obligations is less stressful.

P60 reports are created and ready to be shared in Xero from 6 April. Pass them on to employees securely through the Xero Me app, which notifies them once their P60 is available. Or paper copies to distribute to employees. And because Xero’s P60 features are built into wider payroll and accounting software, the right numbers flow into forms and HMRC submissions automatically. That means less manual admin, and more time in your schedule.

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FAQs on P60 issues

Still stuck on P60 issues? Here’s some extra guidance:

Do employers issue P60?

Yes. Employees can also access the information in a P60 through their HMRC online tax account.

Can I email a P60 to my employees?

Yes – it’s up to you how you share P60s with employees. If you use Xero payroll software, your employees can access their P60s through the Xero Me app.

Do we send P60s to HMRC?

No – you need to send P60s to your employees.

How long should we keep P60s?

Like all employment records, you should keep employee P60s for at least 3 years. Employees should also keep their P60s, because it’s helpful when they need a mortgage or loan.

Do directors get a P60?

Directors who receive a salary on company payroll get a P60. This could mean that if you’re a director, you need to produce your own P60 in the company payroll system.

Does a leaver get a P60?

No. If a person leaves your company, they get a P45 instead of a P60.