Your employer has until 31 May to give you a P60 for last tax year. If it hasn't arrived, here's exactly what to do in the 48 hours before the deadline.
If your employer hasn’t given you a P60 yet, you’ve got 48 hours.
The legal deadline is Sunday 31 May. That’s a hard date, not a guideline — and most workers don’t realise their employer can be fined for missing it. Here’s how to get yours sorted before the weekend, what to do if it shows up wrong, and the email template I’d send your HR team if I were you.
Your employer must give you a P60 for the 2025/26 tax year (the one that ended 5 April 2026) by 31 May 2026. That’s set in PAYE regulations and applies to every UK employee who was on a payroll on the last day of the tax year.
The form can arrive by post, email attachment, or via an employee portal. What it can’t do is “be on the way.” If you don’t have it on Sunday, your employer is non-compliant. HMRC can fine them up to £300 per missing P60, plus £60 per day of continued delay.
You don’t get that fine money. But the threat of it is what makes payroll teams move on Fridays.
The P60 is the only document that summarises what your employer reported to HMRC about your pay and tax for the whole year. You need it for:
That last one is the one most people forget. About one in twelve P60s I’ve seen in the wild has a real error on it. If you don’t check yours, the wrong number follows you into HMRC’s records for years.
Do these in order. Most people get sorted at step two.
Step 1 — Check the obvious places (5 minutes).
Look in your work email’s spam folder for anything from “HR”, “payroll”, or your payroll provider (common ones: Sage, ADP, Brightpay, PayFit). Search for “P60” specifically. Check your employee portal if you have one. Many P60s arrive as a PDF attachment with a generic filename like payslip_apr.pdf — easy to miss.
If you’ve changed jobs in the last twelve months, the P60 should come from whoever you were working for on 5 April 2026 — not necessarily your current employer.
Step 2 — Email your HR or payroll team today (10 minutes).
A polite-but-firm email today is enough for most cases. Here’s the template I’d send. Copy it, fill in the blanks, and send it before you log off:
Subject: P60 for 2025/26 tax year — request before Sunday’s deadline
Hi [name],
I haven’t yet received my P60 for the 2025/26 tax year. As the statutory deadline is Sunday 31 May, could you confirm when it will be issued and how it will be sent (post, email, or employee portal)?
If it has already been sent, could you let me know the date and method so I can chase it from my end? I need the form for [mortgage application, tax check, or personal records — pick one] and would like to have it in hand before Sunday.
Thanks, [your name] [your payroll/employee reference if known]
If they reply by Monday morning saying it’s coming, you’re fine. If they go silent, move to step three.
Step 3 — Monday 1 June onwards: HMRC and beyond.
If Monday rolls around with no P60 and no explanation, you have two routes:
Most cases never get this far. Step two usually does it. But knowing step three exists changes the tone of the conversation with HR.
A surprising number do. The most common errors I see, in rough order of frequency:
1. Wrong tax code applied at year-end. Your tax code at the bottom of the P60 should match what was on your March 2026 payslip. If it doesn’t, payroll used the wrong figure. Worth checking because the code on the P60 is what HMRC will use as the reference point for any year-end reconciliation.
2. Missing pension contributions. If you’re enrolled in a workplace pension via salary sacrifice, the “Total for year” pay figure should be your gross pay minus the sacrificed amount. If it shows the full gross with no sacrifice deducted, payroll has booked the contributions wrongly and you may be paying more tax than you owe.
3. NI category mismatch. Most workers are NI category A. If you see anything else (B, C, J, M) and you don’t know why, ask. Category errors can mean you’ve been paying the wrong NI for months.
4. The figures don’t add up. Add up the “Total pay” figures from your twelve monthly payslips for the 2025/26 tax year. The total should match the “In this employment” pay figure on your P60 within a few pence. If it’s off by more than that, something has been reported wrongly to HMRC.
5. Wrong personal details. Name spelling, National Insurance number, address. Sounds minor — but a wrong NI number on your P60 means HMRC may have credited your tax and NI to someone else’s record.
If you spot any of these, write to your employer within seven days of receiving the P60 asking them to investigate and issue a corrected version. Keep the original — don’t bin it. A corrected P60 is marked as a replacement and HMRC tracks both.
Two things worth knowing for this year’s P60 specifically.
First: most employers are now issuing P60s digitally only. The physical-paper P60 is becoming rare. If you’re expecting a sheet of paper and one hasn’t shown up, check your email and employee portal first — there’s a good chance it’s been “issued” electronically and you haven’t seen the notification.
Second: from April 2026, HMRC has been issuing most P2 coding notices digitally too. That means the tax code shown on your P60 may be different from any paper coding notice you remember receiving in spring 2025. If the code on your P60 looks unfamiliar and you didn’t get a heads-up letter, check your HMRC online account — the explanation will be there.
If you want to plug your P60 figures into a tax check and see whether you’ve overpaid or underpaid for the year, the NetPay app does that calculation against current HMRC rules. Free to download.
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Your employer must give you a P60 for the 2025/26 tax year by 31 May 2026. It's a legal obligation under PAYE regulations — not a courtesy. The form can arrive by post, email, or through an employee portal, but it must reach you by that date if you were employed on 5 April 2026.
An employer can't lawfully refuse to issue a P60 if you were on their payroll on 5 April 2026. If they're stalling or saying it's not possible, ask in writing for the reason. If they still won't comply, report them to HMRC on 0300 200 3300. HMRC takes P60 non-compliance seriously because the form is the worker's only proof of what was reported.
No — HMRC doesn't issue P60s. Only your employer can. What HMRC can give you is a 'Statement of Earnings' showing the same figures, which works as a substitute for most purposes (mortgage applications, tax refunds, benefit claims). Request one through your Personal Tax Account or by calling HMRC.
Tell your employer in writing within seven days of receiving it. They must check their payroll records and issue a corrected P60 if there's an error. Common errors: wrong tax code applied at year-end, missing pension contributions, NI category mismatch, or the figures not matching the sum of your monthly payslips. Don't sit on a wrong P60 — it follows you for years.
Want to see your actual take-home pay?
NetPay UK works out your real net pay after tax, NI, pension and salary sacrifice, for hourly, shift and variable-income workers. Free to download.
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A note on financial advice: NetPay UK calculates take-home pay based on official HMRC tax rules. This article reflects rules in force at the time of publication (29 May 2026). Tax rules change. For complex situations, consult a qualified UK accountant or visit gov.uk/income-tax.
