- A P60 is your end-of-year tax certificate showing total pay, tax and National Insurance for the tax year, issued by every employer by 31 May.
- The main sections to check are your personal details, final tax code, total pay for the year, tax deducted and NI contributions.
- If you’ve lost your P60, you can retrieve the same information through your Personal Tax Account, the HMRC app, or by asking your employer for a duplicate.
What it is: An end-of-year tax certificate from your employer
Tax year covered: 6 April to 5 April
Deadline to issue: 31 May
Basic tax code: 1257L (lets you earn £12,570 tax-free)
Keep it for: At least 6 years
If you've lost it: Check your Personal Tax Account, the HMRC app, or ask your employer
To read a P60, focus on five core sections: your personal details, final tax code, total pay for the year, tax deducted, and National Insurance contributions. Your employer must issue this end-of-year certificate by 31 May, covering the full tax year from 6 April to 5 April. The standard tax code is 1257L, which lets you earn £12,570 tax-free before income tax applies.
Once you know the layout, the form goes from confusing to genuinely useful. You’ll need it to claim a tax refund, apply for a mortgage, or prove your income to a lender. Sleek’s tax accountant team can review yours alongside your payslips if anything looks off.
What is a P60 and when do you get it?
A P60 is the end-of-year tax certificate your employer must give you, summarising your total taxable pay, income tax, and National Insurance contributions for one tax year. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, and your employer has until 31 May to issue your P60 for the year that just ended.
You’ll get one P60 from every employer you were working for on 5 April. If you held multiple jobs at that point, you’ll get multiple P60s, one from each. If you left a job before 5 April, you won’t get a P60 from that employer for that tax year. You’ll have a P45 instead.
Employers can issue your P60 on paper or electronically. Whichever format you receive, keep it safe for at least six years from the end of the tax year it covers. HMRC can request tax records going back that far if there’s ever a query.
What does each section of a P60 mean?
A standard UK P60 has six labelled areas. The table below summarises what each one shows and what to check, with deeper detail in the sections that follow.
Section | What it shows | What to check |
Personal details | Your name, NI number, payroll number | Spelling and NI number accuracy |
Final tax code | The code used at year end | Standard 2025/26 code is 1257L |
Pay in this employment | Earnings and tax for your current job | Should match your final March payslip |
Pay in previous employment | Earnings carried over from a P45 | Blank if you didn’t hand in a P45 |
Total for year | Combined pay and tax across all jobs | Headline figure for mortgages and refunds |
National Insurance contributions | NI paid across the year | Includes statutory pay if relevant |
The headline number most lenders and HMRC care about is your Total for year for both pay and tax. The Final tax code reveals your tax position at year end (1257L is standard, anything different is worth investigating). Personal details should match your records exactly.
Personal details and payroll number
Your name, National Insurance number, and the works or payroll number assigned by your employer. Check these first. An incorrect NI number can cause your contributions to be allocated to the wrong record, which is fiddly to unpick later.
Final tax code
The tax code your employer used at year end. The standard 2025/26 code is 1257L, reflecting the £12,570 personal allowance you can earn before income tax applies. Codes like BR, D0, K500, or anything ending in W1 or M1 mean your tax position is non-standard and worth double-checking.
Pay in this employment
Your total taxable earnings and tax deducted for your current job, from the start of the tax year (or your start date, if later) to 5 April. This figure should match your final March payslip.
Pay in previous employment(s)
If you changed jobs during the tax year and gave your new employer a P45, this section shows the earnings and tax from your previous job. If you didn’t hand in a P45, it’ll usually be blank.
Total for year
Your combined taxable pay and tax deducted across all employments in the tax year. This is the figure used for mortgage applications and tax refund claims.
National Insurance contributions
A breakdown of NI contributions paid during the year, usually split across the Lower Earnings Limit, Primary Threshold, and Upper Earnings Limit. If you received statutory payments like maternity, paternity, adoption, or shared parental pay, those appear here too. Student loan deductions are typically listed in a separate “Other Details” box.
How do you check your P60 is correct?
Checking your P60 takes about ten minutes and can flag errors before they affect your tax refund or mortgage application. Work through these five checks:
- Personal details match your records. Your name, NI number, and payroll number should all be exactly right.
- Compare against your final March payslip. The Total for year figures for pay and tax should match your last payslip of the tax year.
- Check your final tax code. For most employees in 2025/26 this is 1257L. If yours is different, log into your HMRC Personal Tax Account to see why.
- Review statutory payments separately. Maternity, paternity, adoption, or shared parental pay should appear as separate line items, not lumped into total earnings.
- Spot the gap between taxable pay and gross salary. If your taxable pay is lower than your contractual salary, it’s usually because of pension contributions or salary sacrifice schemes, which is normal.
If your P60 shows a different tax code from the one on your March payslip, your employer received an updated code from HMRC late in the year. The P60 code is the one HMRC has on file going forward.
Why do you need a P60?
Your P60 is the official record of what you earned and paid in tax for a given year, which makes it useful in four main situations:
- Mortgage and loan applications. Lenders typically ask for at least one P60, and sometimes two or three years’ worth, to verify your income.
- Claiming a tax refund. If you’ve overpaid, HMRC works from your P60 figures when processing a refund.
- Filing a Self Assessment return. If you’re employed and also have side income to declare, the figures on your P60 go straight onto your tax return.
- Proving your income. Anything from a rental application to a visa renewal may ask for proof of income, and a P60 is one of the cleanest documents to produce.
Keep your last six years’ P60s in a safe place. Scanning them and storing the files digitally as well is sensible.
What should you do if you’ve lost your P60?
You can’t get a duplicate from HMRC directly, but you have three options for retrieving the same information.
The fastest is your Personal Tax Account at GOV.UK or the HMRC app, both of which show your pay and tax figures for the relevant year. They won’t reissue a physical P60, but they’ll give you the same data.
The second option is asking your employer for a replacement. Employers must keep PAYE records, including P60s, for at least three years, so they can usually supply a copy on request.
If neither works (for example, because the employer is no longer trading), you can contact HMRC and ask for a Statement of Earnings using form L17. This is the official replacement document and is widely accepted as proof of income.
Do you get a P60 if you’re self-employed?
P60s are only issued through PAYE, so you only get one if you’re an employee for at least part of the tax year. If you’re purely self-employed, your equivalent proof of income is the SA302, which HMRC issues once you’ve submitted your Self Assessment return.
If you’re both employed and self-employed, you’ll receive a P60 from your employer for the PAYE side, and your SA302 covers the self-employed income.
How Sleek helps with reading your P60
Most P60 errors come from outdated tax codes, mismatched personal details, or salary sacrifice deductions that haven’t been recorded properly. They’re fixable, but only if you spot them.
Sleek’s tax team reviews P60s alongside your wider tax position, checks the figures against your payslips and tax code, and flags anything that needs raising with HMRC. We also handle payroll if you’re an employer issuing P60s and want them right first time.
Disclaimer: The preceding information is not legal advice. This content is aimed to provide general guidance. For more formal or legal advice, contact Sleek directly.
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FAQs on how to read a P60
What’s the difference between a P60 and a P45?
Both come from your employer, but they’re issued at different points. A P60 is your end-of-year summary, given by 31 May while you’re still employed on 5 April. A P45 is issued when you leave a job mid-year, summarising your pay and tax up to your last day. You can have both for the same year if you change jobs.
Can your employer email your P60 or does it have to be on paper?
Yes, your employer can issue your P60 electronically. HMRC has allowed digital P60s since 2010, so an emailed PDF or a copy uploaded to a payroll portal both count. The format doesn’t matter to HMRC, but you do need to be able to access and print it if a lender ever asks for a copy.
Why is the taxable pay on your P60 lower than your contracted salary?
Usually because of pension contributions or salary sacrifice arrangements. Pension contributions deducted before tax reduce your taxable pay, as does anything you’ve swapped salary for like a cycle-to-work scheme, childcare vouchers or additional holiday. The gross salary on your contract doesn’t change, but the taxable figure HMRC sees is lower as a result.
Can you claim a tax refund from a P60 for previous years?
Yes, you can claim a refund going back four tax years if you’ve overpaid. Use your P60s from those years to work out the right amounts, then submit a claim through your Personal Tax Account or by writing to HMRC. Beyond four years, the claim window closes. Our tax refund guide walks through the full process.
What if your P60 shows you owe tax instead of being due a refund?
It means your employer underdeducted income tax during the year, usually because of a wrong tax code or untaxed benefits like a company car. HMRC will normally collect what’s owed by adjusting next year’s tax code rather than asking for a lump sum. If you’d prefer to pay it off in one go, you can do that through your Personal Tax Account.
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Do you get a P60 if you’re on maternity, paternity or sick leave?
Yes, as long as you’re still officially employed on 5 April. Your P60 will show any statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental or sick pay you received as separate line items, so it’s clear which earnings came from your normal salary and which came from statutory payments. The total still feeds into the same year-end figure.
How long does it take to fix an error on your P60?
It depends on the error. Typos and personal detail mistakes are usually corrected by your employer within a few weeks. Tax code or pay figure errors take longer because they involve HMRC: expect four to eight weeks once your employer submits the correction. Raise issues as soon as you spot them so any refund or adjustment lands sooner.
