P60 Box Guide — Every Section Explained

Your P60 (End of Year Certificate) summarises your pay, tax, and National Insurance for the tax year ended 5 April. This guide walks through the 9 most commonly questioned P60 sections — what each means, where it feeds on Self Assessment, and what to check against your payslips before you file.

Leaving a job? See the P45 Box Guide for the leaver's statement.

What the P60 is and when you get it

The P60 is a certificate of what actually went through PAYE for you in the tax year that ended on 5 April. Your employer must provide it by 31 May, on paper or electronically. It certifies four things: taxable pay (this employment, any previous employment in the same year, and the total), income tax deducted, National Insurance earnings and contributions, and any student loan or statutory parental payments handled through payroll.

You only receive a P60 from an employer you are still working for on 5 April. If you left mid-year, the equivalent figures live on your P45; if you changed jobs and handed your P45 over, its figures reappear in the "previous employment" box of the new employer's P60. Keep each P60 for at least 22 months after the end of the tax year — HMRC's minimum record-keeping window for PAYE taxpayers — and longer if you file Self Assessment.

The P60 sections at a glance

Every section of the certificate, grouped as they appear on the form. Each links to a full page with the meaning, the Self Assessment mapping, and the pitfalls to check.

Pay

Taxable pay for the year — current employer, any prior employer, and the total HMRC uses for income tax.

Section	What it shows	Feeds to
Pay: In this employment	Your total taxable pay in this employment for the tax year (6 April to 5 April). If you started this job mid-year, it covers only what this employer paid you.	Self Assessment SA102 Box 1 (Pay from this employment); Box 3 on the return is tax deducted.
Pay: In previous employment(s)	Your taxable pay from any earlier employer in the same tax year, as transferred to this employer via your P45 Parts 2 and 3.	Already part of your year-to-date total — no separate Self Assessment entry.
Pay: Total for year	The sum of current and previous employment pay — the headline figure HMRC uses for your annual income tax calculation.	The basis for your end-of-year income tax reconciliation via P800, or SA102 Box 1 for Self Assessment filers.

Income tax

PAYE income tax and the final tax code used by payroll.

Section	What it shows	Feeds to
Tax deducted	Total income tax withheld from you via PAYE across this employer (and any previous employer in the same tax year).	Self Assessment SA102 Box 3 (UK tax taken off pay) — offsets your computed tax liability.
Final tax code	The PAYE tax code that was applied to your pay as at the tax year end — e.g. 1257L, K475, BR, S1257L, D0, NT.	Carried forward to the new tax year unless HMRC issues a new code before 6 April.

National Insurance

Earnings at each NI threshold (LEL / PT / UEL) and the employee NI deducted.

Section	What it shows	Feeds to
Earnings at the LEL, PT and above	Your earnings split across NI thresholds — Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), Primary Threshold (PT), and above. Determines contribution credit for State Pension.	Your NI record (used for State Pension qualifying years). Not reported on Self Assessment.
Employee's contributions	Total Class 1 National Insurance your employer deducted from your pay — the main employee rate between the Primary Threshold and Upper Earnings Limit, with a lower rate above the UEL.	Your NI record. Not separately reported on Self Assessment.

Student loan & statutory pay

Student loan deductions (Plan 1, 2, 4, 5, PGL) and any statutory maternity/paternity/adoption/shared-parental/bereavement pay.

Section	What it shows	Feeds to
Student Loan deductions	Total student loan repayment deducted through PAYE across the year. Amount depends on your plan (1, 2, 4, 5, or Postgraduate) and earnings above the plan threshold.	Your Student Loans Company (SLC) record — reduces loan balance. SA102 Box 4 if you file Self Assessment.
Statutory payments (SMP / SPP / SAP / ShPP / SPBP)	Statutory payments HMRC's scheme paid via your employer: maternity (SMP), paternity (SPP), adoption (SAP), shared parental (ShPP), parental bereavement (SPBP).	Already included in "Pay: In this employment" (statutory payments are taxable pay). P60 separates them for record-keeping.

P60 vs P45 — which form does what

Both certify pay and tax through PAYE; the difference is timing and purpose.

Aspect	P60	P45
What it is	End of Year Certificate — a summary of the whole tax year.	Leaver's statement — a snapshot at the date you leave a job.
When you get it	By 31 May after the tax year ends on 5 April, on paper or electronically.	When you stop working for an employer, with or shortly after your final pay.
Who gets one	Everyone still employed on 5 April — one P60 per job held at year end.	Anyone leaving a job at any point in the year.
What you do with it	Keep it — refunds, Self Assessment, mortgage and loan applications.	Keep Part 1A; hand Parts 2 and 3 to your new employer or Jobcentre Plus.
If you lose it	Ask your employer for a replacement, or view the figures in your HMRC personal tax account or the HMRC app.	Copies are not available — complete a starter checklist at the new job instead.

What people use their P60 for

Claiming overpaid tax. Emergency or BR codes, gaps between jobs, and part-year work all cause over-deduction. The P60's tax figure is the evidence — HMRC reconciles most PAYE cases automatically via P800 (typically over the summer), or you can prompt a claim through your personal tax account. Get a first estimate with the tax refund estimator.
Self Assessment. Total pay goes in SA102 Box 1 and tax deducted in SA102 Box 3, one employment page per job. Filers with untaxed income (rental, dividends, self-employment) build the return on top of these figures.
Mortgage and loan applications. Lenders accept the P60 as proof of annual income, usually alongside payslips. Remember it shows taxable pay after salary sacrifice — heavy pension sacrificers should expect questions about the gap to contractual salary.
State Pension record checks. The NI earnings section shows whether you earned at or above the Lower Earnings Limit (£125 a week for 2025/26) — the level at which a week counts toward State Pension qualifying years even before any NI is actually deducted.
Student loan reconciliation. The deductions figure is what HMRC passes to the Student Loans Company — check it against your SLC account, especially in the year your balance clears, when the final months of deductions are often refundable.

Five checks before you rely on your P60

The pay figures sum. "In this employment" plus "in previous employment(s)" must equal "total for year". If not, the certificate is defective — ask payroll for a corrected copy.
Previous employment matches your P45. The previous-employment figure should equal Box 7 on the P45 Part 1A you kept when you changed jobs. A mismatch means one employer's records are wrong.
The final tax code is right. A year finishing on a W1/M1, BR or 0T code usually means over-deduction that a P800 should repay — decode it with the tax code checker. The standard 2025/26 code is 1257L; watch for a missing S prefix if you are a Scottish taxpayer.
Tax and NI look proportionate. Employee NI runs at 8% between the Primary Threshold (£12,570) and Upper Earnings Limit (£50,270), then 2% above — sanity-check both deductions against the take-home pay calculator for your salary.
You are not double-counting pension. Salary-sacrifice contributions are already out of the pay figure. Subtracting them again when estimating your tax position (or your distance from the £100,000 allowance taper) is the most common DIY error.

P60 FAQ

What is a P60?

A P60 (End of Year Certificate) is the annual summary your employer must give you if you are employed on 5 April, the last day of the tax year. It shows your total taxable pay, income tax deducted, National Insurance, any student loan deductions and any statutory parental pay for the year, plus the final tax code applied to your pay.

When will I get my P60?

Your employer must provide your P60 by 31 May following the end of the tax year on 5 April, on paper or electronically. Most payroll systems issue it alongside the April or May payslip.

What is the difference between a P60 and a P45?

A P60 is the year-end summary you get from an employer you are still working for on 5 April; a P45 is the leaver's statement you get when you stop working for an employer mid-year. If you changed jobs during the year, your P45 figures from the old job flow into the 'previous employment' box of the new employer's P60.

I left my job before 5 April — will I get a P60?

No. A P60 is only issued to employees still on the payroll on 5 April. Your P45 carries the equivalent pay and tax figures up to your leaving date — keep Part 1A as your record for that employment.

Can I use my P60 to claim a tax refund?

Yes — it is the primary evidence of how much tax you actually paid. If you were on an emergency or BR code, had gaps between jobs, or paid tax on a partial year of income, compare the tax deducted on your P60 with what you should have paid. HMRC reconciles most PAYE-only cases automatically via a P800 calculation, but you can prompt a claim through your personal tax account.

Can I use my P60 for a mortgage application?

Yes. Lenders routinely accept the P60 as proof of annual employment income, usually alongside recent payslips. Note the pay figure is taxable pay after salary sacrifice — if you sacrifice a large pension contribution, the P60 understates your contractual salary, and some lenders will ask for a contract or payslips to evidence the difference.

Why is my P60 pay lower than my annual salary?

The P60 shows taxable pay, not contractual salary. Salary-sacrifice pension contributions, cycle-to-work deductions and payroll giving are all subtracted before the figure is reported. Benefits in kind (company car, private medical) are not included either — they appear on your P11D instead.

What should I do if my P60 is wrong?

Ask payroll to correct it and issue a replacement. Common errors: the 'in this employment' and 'previous employment' figures not summing to the total, a previous employment figure that does not match Box 7 of the P45 you handed over, or a final tax code that never got corrected after an emergency-code start. Do not file a Self Assessment return from figures you know are wrong.

I have lost my P60 — how do I get a replacement?

Ask your employer first — unlike the P45, a P60 can be reissued. If the employer no longer exists or will not help, your HMRC personal tax account and the HMRC app show the same pay and tax information, and HMRC can confirm the figures on request.

Which P60 figures go on my Self Assessment return?

On the SA102 employment page: total pay for the year goes in Box 1 and tax deducted goes in Box 3, one SA102 per employment. Student loan deductions from the P60 feed the student loan section of the return. National Insurance figures are not entered on the return — they feed your NI record directly.

Reconciling at year end? Use the take-home pay calculator to verify PAYE and NI on your salary, and the tax code checker to decode your final tax code from Box 6. If the numbers say you overpaid, the tax refund estimator sizes the claim.

Sources

P60 structure, the 31 May deadline, and lost-P60 replacement routes per HMRC PAYE forms guidance (P60). Thresholds and rates current for 2025/26 (tax year ending 5 April 2026).

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