P60 Student Loan deductions — Student loan deducted in the tax year
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.
At a glance
- Entry
- Student loan deducted in the tax year
- Feeds to
- Your Student Loans Company (SLC) record — reduces loan balance. SA102 Box 4 if you file Self Assessment.
- Check against
- Sum of the student loan line on each payslip. SLC online account shows the repayments received after year-end reconciliation.
What this means
Your employer deducts student loan repayments via PAYE based on your plan type and income. Undergraduate plans (1, 2, 4 for Scottish borrowers, and 5 for post-Aug 2023 starters) all use a 9% rate above each plan's income threshold. The year-notes block below shows the current-year threshold for each plan.
Postgraduate loans (PGL — Master's and Doctoral) use a separate threshold at a 6% rate and are reported in a different box if applicable. If you hold both an undergraduate plan and PGL, both are deducted in parallel.
Implications for your tax
- Reduces your SLC loan balance — ask SLC directly for an up-to-date statement (HMRC posts annual totals to SLC ~9 months after year-end).
- Over-repayment happens often mid-career: if your loan clears during the year, your last few months of PAYE deductions are refundable. Claim via SLC or HMRC.
- For Self Assessment, enter the P60 figure in SA102 Box 4 (Student Loan deductions).
Common pitfalls
- If you had two jobs, each employer deducted above your plan threshold independently — you may have overpaid for the year. Claim excess via SA or SLC.
- Weekly/monthly threshold apportionment means a big bonus month triggers student loan deduction even if year-total is near the threshold — but it washes out via Self Assessment if you file.
- If your plan is wrong (e.g., you're on Plan 2 but payroll set Plan 1), the deduction will be wrong — fix via HMRC's Starter Checklist or a mid-year payroll update.
For 2025-26 (tax year 6 April to 5 April)
- Student loan thresholds
- Plan 1 £26,065 @ 9% · Plan 2 £28,470 @ 9% · Plan 4 (Scotland) £32,745 @ 9% · Plan 5 £25,000 @ 9% · Postgraduate Loan £21,000 @ 6%
- Each plan applies independently — holding both an undergraduate plan and PGL means parallel deductions.
Values sourced from central tax-year config at build time — update automatically on FY rollover.
Worked example
A Plan 2 borrower earning £35,000 across the whole of 2025-26:
- Pay for the year
- £35,000
- Plan 2 threshold
- − £28,470
- Income above the threshold, repaid at 9%
- £6,530
- P60 “Student Loan deductions” (whole pounds)
- £587
Payroll works this out per pay period and reports whole pounds only, so the P60 figure can differ by a few pounds from a flat annual calculation.
FAQ
What does the P60 Student Loan deductions mean?
Where does P60 Student Loan deductions go on my tax return?
Related P60 entries
Pay: In this employment — Pay in this employment (current job)
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.
Pay: In previous employment(s) — Pay from previous employer(s) this year
Your taxable pay from any earlier employer in the same tax year, as transferred to this employer via your P45 Parts 2 and 3.
Pay: Total for year — Total pay for the tax year
The sum of current and previous employment pay — the headline figure HMRC uses for your annual income tax calculation.
Tax deducted — Total income tax deducted in the year
Total income tax withheld from you via PAYE across this employer (and any previous employer in the same tax year).
Leaving a job instead? The equivalent leaver's figures are on your P45 — see the P45 Box Guide.
Reconciling your pay? Use the take-home pay calculator to verify PAYE and NI on any salary for 2025/26 or 2026/27, and the tax code checker to decode your final tax code.
Sources
P60 structure per HMRC PAYE forms guidance. Thresholds and rates current for 2025/26 (tax year 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026); 2026/27 figures included where published.
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UK Tax Brackets & Bands Reference
Every income tax band and rate for England/Wales/NI and Scotland, both tax years.
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50/30/20 rule or a custom income and expenditure form, with a monthly surplus/deficit figure.