Guide
Payroll year end deadlines: final FPS, P60, P11D and week 53
Updated
Year end is five deadlines in three months, and only the first one moves with your payroll. The rest are fixed dates you can put in the diary today.
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How this calculator works
- Tax months run from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next. A payday on the 1st to the 5th sits in the previous tax month, so every deadline below moves a month earlier (gov.uk: running payroll).
- The FPS must be sent on or before your employees' payday. Enter your usual payday even if you paid earlier or later, for example because payday fell on a bank holiday (gov.uk: FPS).
- PAYE is due by the 22nd of the next tax month if you pay monthly. If you pay by cheque through the post, it is the 19th (gov.uk: pay your PAYE bill). This calculator assumes a monthly scheme.
- An EPS is due by the 19th of the following tax month for HMRC to apply a reduction, such as statutory parental pay, the Employment Allowance or CIS deductions. It is also how you tell HMRC you paid nobody in a tax month (gov.uk: EPS).
- If you usually pay less than £1,500 a month, you may be able to pay quarterly instead. Payment is due the 22nd after the quarter ends, for example 22 July for the 6 April to 5 July quarter. You arrange it through HMRC's payment helpline (gov.uk).
- Dates are the statutory deadlines. Allow clearing time for your payment method: gov.uk warns that interest is charged daily and a penalty may follow if payment is late or short.
The deadline for the payroll year end submission, and the fixed dates after it
- Final FPS of the year
- On or before your employees' last payday of the tax year, with 'Yes' in the 'Final submission for year' field if your software has it. Running weekly and monthly payrolls under one PAYE reference? Put the end-of-year information in the last report.
- Corrections to the final FPS
- Wrong payments or deductions found by 19 April: send an additional FPS with corrected year-to-date figures and 0 in 'Pay in this period'. Found after 19 April: send an FPS showing the correct year-to-date amounts. A wrong payment date can be fixed by an additional FPS by 5 April.
- P60 to employees
- By 31 May. Everyone on your payroll on the last day of the tax year (5 April) gets one. If you have to change a P60, issue a replacement marked 'replacement' or a letter confirming the change.
- Expenses and benefits
- By 6 July, report them to HMRC (P11D) and give employees a copy of the information, and report the Class 1A National Insurance you owe on a P11D(b). Employers with fewer than 500 employees use HMRC's PAYE Online service; larger employers use payroll software.
- Class 1A National Insurance
- Payment must be received by 22 July, or 19 July if paying by cheque.
- PAYE Settlement Agreement
- Tax and Class 1B National Insurance under a PSA are due by 22 October, or 19 October by cheque.
Know the P11D(b) penalty before the date, not after. The gov.uk wording: You'll get a penalty of £100 per 50 employees for each month or part month your P11D(b) is late
. Paying late adds penalties and interest (gov.uk: expenses and benefits).
Week 53
If you pay weekly, fortnightly or every 4 weeks, some years contain one more pay date than the calendar allows. You may then need a week 53 payment in your final FPS. Your payroll software works it out. In the 'Tax week number' field you put:
- 53 if you pay weekly
- 54 if you pay fortnightly
- 56 if you pay every 4 weeks
The consequence lands on the employee, not you: gov.uk says HMRC will send a P800 form to any employees who owe tax following a 'week 53' payment.
Telling weekly-paid staff that in advance costs you nothing and saves a difficult conversation in the summer. Monthly payrolls never have a week 53.
Starting the new tax year
- From 6 April, prepare a payroll record for each employee working for you on that date and enter the correct tax code. HMRC sends a P9T for employees needing a new code and a P9X for general changes to codes ending L, M or N.
- Update your payroll software from 6 April, or earlier if the provider asks, so it uses the current Income Tax, National Insurance and student loan rates and thresholds.
- Include everyone you have paid in the tax year, however little, and anyone who has worked for you since 6 April even if they have already left.
- New starters: use the P45, or the starter checklist if they do not have one, to work out the tax code.
Leavers: put the leaving date on the payroll record when you last pay them, and give them a P45. If they leave on or after the next 6 April, keep the leaving date off the FPS with the final payment. Put them in the new tax year's first FPS, with 0 in the pay and year-to-date fields (gov.uk).