Payroll year-end is the process of closing off one tax year, telling HMRC your final figures are complete, and getting your employees and software ready for the next year. This article explains the 2026 to 2027 year-end for UK employers: the final submissions, the P60, P45, P11D and P11D(b), tax code uplifts, week 53 payments, opening balances and record keeping.
What are the tax year dates for 2026 to 2027?
The UK tax year always runs from 6 April in one calendar year to 5 April in the next, so 2026 to 2027 begins on 6 April 2026 and ends on 5 April 2027. Every payroll figure you report, including pay, tax, National Insurance and statutory payments, is measured against this period. The P60 for this year is headed "Tax year to 5 April 2027." All of the year-end deadlines below, such as 31 May and 6 July, fall in 2027 because they relate to the year that ended on 5 April 2027.
What does payroll year-end involve?
Year-end is a sequence of tasks rather than a single event. You process your final pay run of the year, send your last Full Payment Submission (FPS) and, if needed, a final Employer Payment Summary (EPS) flagged as the final submission for the year, give every relevant employee a P60 by 31 May, deal with expenses and benefits on P11D and P11D(b) by 6 July, update tax codes for the new year, and roll your software forward into the next year with the correct year-to-date opening balances. You also reconcile what you have paid HMRC against what your records show is due. Because Real Time Information (RTI) means you report each payday during the year, year-end no longer involves a separate annual return of every figure; it is mostly about confirming the year is complete and starting the next one cleanly.
What is the final Full Payment Submission of the year?
The Full Payment Submission is the report you send to HMRC on or before each payday containing employees' pay, tax, National Insurance and other deductions. The final FPS of the tax year is simply the one covering your last regular payday on or before 5 April 2027, and it can carry the "final submission for the year" indicator, which tells HMRC you do not expect to send any further FPS for the year. You send it on or before the date you last pay your employees in the tax year, exactly as for any normal pay run. If you realise afterwards you still have a payment to report, you can send a further FPS for the year, but you would then want the last one you send to carry the final indicator.
What is the final Employer Payment Summary, and the final submission indicator?
The Employer Payment Summary tells HMRC about amounts that reduce what you owe, such as recovered statutory payments, the Employment Allowance, the Apprenticeship Levy position and periods where you made no payments. Not every employer needs a year-end EPS, but you must send one if you have an adjustment to report for the final month, or if you need to set the final submission for the year indicator and your last FPS did not carry it. The EPS is normally submitted by the 19th of the month following the tax month it relates to, so the year-end EPS for the period ending 5 April 2027 would be sent by 19 April 2027. The final submission for the year indicator is a flag (the ForYear element) that tells HMRC this is your last submission for the tax year; it can be set on either the final FPS or a final EPS, and it helps HMRC reconcile your account. A separate flag is used only if you have stopped being an employer altogether, in which case you also report a leaving date for every employee and the date the scheme ceased.
What is a P60 and who must receive one?
A P60 is the End of Year Certificate that summarises an employee's total pay and the Income Tax deducted in the tax year, along with National Insurance details, student and postgraduate loan deductions, and any statutory payments included in their pay. You must give a P60 to every employee who was working for you on 5 April 2027, in other words anyone still employed at the end of the tax year. The 2026 to 2027 certificate is headed "Tax year to 5 April 2027" and tells the employee to keep it safe because they need it to complete a tax return and to claim Universal Credit or Pension Credit. You do not give a P60 to anyone who left during the year, because they receive a P45 instead. You must provide the P60 by 31 May 2027, on paper or, where the employee agrees, electronically; the figures should match the year-to-date totals on your final FPS for that employee.
What is a P45 and what are its four parts?
A P45 is the form you give to an employee when they stop working for you; it records their pay and tax to their leaving date so their next employer or HMRC can pick up the correct figures. It has four parts: Part 1, which you send to HMRC (in practice done by reporting the leaving date on your FPS); Part 1A, which you give to the employee for their own records; Part 2, which the employee gives to their new employer; and Part 3, which the new employer completes and sends to HMRC. Your name and address must appear on Parts 1 and 1A, and you give the completed Parts 1A, 2 and 3 to the employee when they leave. The P45 shows the employee's tax code at leaving, whether a week 1 or month 1 basis applied, and the total pay and tax to date, so accuracy matters.
How do I give a P45 to a leaver, and report it on the FPS?
When an employee leaves, you fill in the P45 in full, enter the leaving date on the Full Payment Submission, and hand the employee the completed Parts 1A, 2 and 3, normally on or around the leaving date or with the final payment; you must not give it before they have actually left. Entering the leaving date on the FPS is what transmits the equivalent of P45 Part 1 to HMRC, so you do not send anything separately. If the employee has a student loan deduction, the P45 records that deductions should continue so the new employer carries them on. If you later make a payment after someone has left, you report that payment and set the payment-after-leaving indicator, and you deduct tax using code 0T (or S0T or C0T for Scottish or Welsh prefixes) on a non-cumulative basis. If the employee has died, you do not issue a P45; instead you enter the date of death on the final FPS.
What does a new employer or employee do with a P45?
When a new employee gives you Parts 2 and 3 of their P45, you check the information is correct, transfer the details onto your payroll record, complete Part 3 and report the new starter to HMRC. The P45 gives you the previous tax code, the pay and tax to date, and any student loan position, which lets you operate the correct cumulative code from the first payday rather than an emergency code. If a new starter does not have a P45, you instead collect a starter declaration and report the starter information on your first FPS for them. An employee who is not starting a new job keeps their Part 1A and, if relevant, uses the P45 to claim a tax refund or to register as newly self-employed.
What are the P11D and P11D(b) and when are they due?
The P11D reports the cash equivalent value of expenses and benefits provided to an employee or director that were not taxed through payroll, such as a company car or private medical insurance, while the P11D(b) is the employer's declaration and the return of the Class 1A National Insurance due on those benefits. These must be filed together as a single submission. For 2026 to 2027 the Class 1A National Insurance rate on the P11D(b) is 15.00%. Both forms are due by 6 July following the end of the tax year, so the deadline for 2026 to 2027 benefits is 6 July 2027, and any Class 1A National Insurance must be paid shortly afterwards. For how to value and report benefits, and the payrolling of benefits, see our dedicated benefits in kind and P11D articles.
How do I update employee tax codes for the new tax year?
Before 6 April 2026 you get each employee's record ready by identifying the correct tax code for the new year, following HMRC's P9X guidance. The P9X confirms that for 2026 to 2027 the basic Personal Allowance is £12,570, the PAYE threshold is £242 per week (£1,048 per month) and the standard emergency code is 1257L. For most employees there is no change this year, so you copy the authorised tax code from the previous year's record and carry it forward, but you do not copy or carry over any week 1 or month 1 markings. Where HMRC has issued a new code on a form P9(T) or an online coding notice, you use the notification with the most recent date, scrap any earlier one for the same employee, and copy the new code onto the record. Apply the correct prefix where relevant, for example S for Scottish taxpayers or C for Welsh taxpayers.
Why do I remove the week 1 or month 1 flag at year-end?
A week 1 or month 1 code is a non-cumulative basis that taxes each pay period on its own without reference to earlier pay in the year, usually applied temporarily where HMRC does not yet have a full picture of someone's income. The P9X is explicit that when you carry a code forward into the new tax year you must not copy or carry over any week 1 or month 1 markings. At the start of the new year everyone effectively begins on a cumulative basis again, because the year-to-date figures reset to zero, so retaining a non-cumulative flag would tax the employee incorrectly. Removing the flag is a standard year-end housekeeping step that your software usually prompts, but it is worth checking manually for anyone who was on that basis.
What is a week 53 payment?
A week 53 (and sometimes week 54 or 56) situation arises only for employees paid weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly, when an extra payday falls within the tax year because of how the calendar lands. It happens when your regular payday is 5 April, or 4 April in a leap year, so an additional pay period is squeezed in beyond the usual 52 weeks: week 53 for weekly pay, week 54 for fortnightly and week 56 for four-weekly. To stop the employee losing out, you apply the code on a week 1 or month 1 basis for that final period only, giving them a further tranche of personal allowance, which your software handles automatically when it detects the extra period. Monthly paid employees never have a week 53. The figures still flow through your final FPS as normal, and the P60 reflects the full year.
What do I do when starting a new tax year in payroll software?
When you roll your software into the new year you start each employee with their year-to-date figures reset to zero, because the new tax year is a fresh accumulation period for pay, tax, National Insurance, student loans and statutory payments. Continuing employees keep their personal details and carried-forward tax code, but their cumulative totals begin again from nil. Make sure the correct tax codes are in place with any week 1 or month 1 flags removed, the new National Insurance and PAYE thresholds are loaded, and any new statutory payment rates apply. Most software performs this roll-forward as a guided step, but confirm that nobody has been left with last year's figures or an out-of-date code before you run your first pay run. If you took on a scheme mid-year or are switching software, you enter the existing year-to-date figures so the cumulative calculations remain correct.
How do I correct errors after year-end, and issue a replacement P60?
How you correct an error depends on when you spot it. Within the same tax year, before your final submission, you simply send a corrected FPS with the right year-to-date figures. If you have already sent your final FPS but the year has not long ended, you can send an additional or amended FPS to update the figures, setting the final submission for the year indicator on the corrected report. For errors in a year that has already closed, you report the correction through an additional FPS for that year or, where your software supports it, an Earlier Year Update style correction. Whichever route applies, reissue any affected employee document, such as a corrected P60, and keep a note of why the change was made. If an employee loses their P60 or needs another copy, you can issue a replacement from your software or a copy clearly marked as a duplicate; the figures must match those originally reported, there is no charge and no special HMRC permission is needed, and it should still be headed "Tax year to 5 April 2027" for 2026 to 2027.
How long do I keep payroll records, and what is the year-end checklist?
You must keep your payroll records for at least three years from the end of the tax year they relate to, so for 2026 to 2027 (which ends on 5 April 2027) that means until at least 5 April 2030. The records include what you paid employees and the deductions you made, the reports and payments you sent to HMRC, employee leave and sickness, tax code notices, and details of taxable expenses and benefits. A typical year-end checklist runs in this order: process and check your last pay run on or before the final payday up to 5 April 2027; send your final FPS for the year, setting the final submission indicator where appropriate; send a final EPS if you have recovery, an Employment Allowance or other adjustment, or to carry the final indicator if the FPS did not; reconcile what you have reported and paid against your own records; produce and give a P60 to every employee employed on 5 April 2027, by 31 May 2027; prepare and submit any P11D and P11D(b) by 6 July 2027 and pay the Class 1A National Insurance; update tax codes following the P9X, carrying codes forward and removing week 1 or month 1 markings; roll your software into the new tax year, resetting year-to-date figures and loading the new thresholds; and file and retain your records for at least three years.