The one-line distinction
- P60 — annual summary of pay and tax for one tax year, given by 31 May, for every job you held on 5 April.
- P45 — leaver's certificate of pay and tax in the current year up to your last day, given when you leave a job.
- P11D — list of taxable benefits in kind (company car, private medical, etc.) given by 6 July each year.
If a mortgage broker, accountant or HMRC asks for "your P60", they want the annual summary — not the leaver's slip and not the benefits sheet. Sending the wrong one is a surprisingly common cause of mortgage delays.
P60 in detail
The P60 is the year-end summary. You get one from each employer you were on the payroll with on 5 April. The deadline for issuance is 31 May — most employers send them in mid-May. It shows your total taxable pay, total tax deducted, total NI deducted, total student loan deductions, and the tax code in use on 5 April. The box-by-box P60 walkthrough covers exactly what each section means.
You will need it for: Self Assessment, mortgage applications, tax credit / Universal Credit claims, student finance applications, and proving income for visa or settlement applications. Keep every P60 you ever receive.
P45 in detail
The P45 is the leaver's certificate. Your employer issues it when you leave a job — same day as your last day, usually. It is split into four parts:
- Part 1 goes to HMRC.
- Part 1A is your copy.
- Parts 2 and 3 go to your new employer when you take a new job — they are the only way the new employer can apply the right tax code without resorting to an emergency code.
If you don't pass the P45 to the new employer (or you don't have one because the previous employment ended in a previous tax year), the new employer fills in a starter checklist — and almost always applies an emergency tax code for the first month or two until HMRC catches up. The emergency tax code explainer covers this exact scenario.
Two important things people miss:
- The P45 only covers the current tax year. If you leave a job in March, the P45 shows your year-to-date pay; the eventual P60 (issued by your next employer if you stay there past 5 April) covers the full year including this earlier slice.
- If you don't take another job after leaving — you're between jobs, going abroad, or retiring — keep the P45. You may need to file form P50 to claim a refund of tax over-deducted in early months.
P11D in detail
The P11D lists every benefit in kind you received in the tax year that wasn't taxed via payroll. Your employer files one with HMRC and gives you a copy by 6 July. Common items:
- Company car — taxable based on the car's list price, CO₂ emissions, and electric range. The company car BIK calculator works out the cash-equivalent figure that ends up on your P11D.
- Private medical insurance.
- Interest-free loans over £10,000 (e.g. season ticket loans).
- Living accommodation provided by employer.
- Gym memberships paid by employer.
- Mileage payments above the HMRC approved rates.
HMRC takes the cash-equivalent figure from the P11D and adjusts your tax code for the next year to collect the additional tax via PAYE — you don't usually pay tax on benefits in a separate cheque, you pay through a slightly higher tax code which collects 20% / 40% / 45% of the benefit's cash equivalent.
If you also file Self Assessment, the P11D figures go onto the employment pages and the SA calculation handles them properly. If you don't file SA, the tax code adjustment is the only mechanism — which is why an unexpectedly low tax code (like 1057L instead of 1257L) is often the result of a P11D from the year before.
The "I left in March" edge case
One scenario causes more confusion than any other. You leave a job on, say, 28 March. Your last employer gives you a P45 covering the year up to 28 March — about 51 weeks of pay. Then you start a new job on 7 April (the new tax year). The new employer:
- Does not use the P45 from the old employer to set your tax code, because the P45 relates to the previous tax year.
- Will ask you to fill in a starter checklist — your answers determine the initial code.
- Will issue you a P60 next May covering the new tax year only — the old job is not included.
So in this scenario you end up with: a P45 from the old job, a P60 from the new job, and possibly a P11D from each if either had benefits in kind. Three documents, all relevant, all needing to be kept.
Sources
HMRC: PAYE forms — P45, P60 and P11D. Methodology and editorial review process: methodology.