The 2025/26 tax year ended on 5 April. If you run payroll — even if it's just paying yourself as a company director — there's a string of deadlines heading your way over the next few months. Miss one and HMRC won't send you a polite reminder. They'll send you a penalty.
Here's everything you need to do, in order, with the actual dates that matter.
5 April 2026 — Tax year ends
You probably already know this one. The 2025/26 tax year closed at midnight on 5 April. Every pay run, deduction, and statutory payment from the last twelve months is now locked in.
If you haven't already processed your final payroll for the year, do it now. Your last pay run of the tax year needs to be submitted before the next deadline hits.
19 April 2026 — Final FPS (or EPS) due to HMRC
This is the one that catches people. Your final Full Payment Submission for the 2025/26 tax year must reach HMRC by 19 April.
An FPS is the Real Time Information (RTI) submission you send each time you run payroll. It tells HMRC exactly who you paid, how much, and what you deducted. Your last FPS of the year needs to have the "final submission for year" indicator ticked — most payroll software handles this automatically when you run your year-end process, but check. If the indicator isn't set, HMRC may think you've got outstanding submissions and chase you for them.
What if you didn't pay anyone in the final period? Send an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) instead. An EPS tells HMRC that no payments were made. You'd also use one to reclaim statutory maternity, paternity, or sick pay. Same deadline — 19 April.
Late FPS penalties: HMRC charges £100 per month for every 50 employees (or part thereof) if your FPS is late. For a business with one to nine employees, that's £100 for each month it's overdue. It adds up fast. You do get one late FPS per tax year without a penalty, but don't rely on that — it's meant for genuine one-offs, not a free pass.
31 May 2026 — P60s issued to all employees
Every person on your payroll at 5 April 2026 must receive a P60 by 31 May. No exceptions.
A P60 is a summary of everything that employee earned during the tax year and everything that was deducted — income tax, National Insurance, student loan repayments. Your employees need it for their own tax returns, mortgage applications, and benefit claims. It's a legal requirement to provide one, and you can't charge for it.
Most payroll software generates P60s automatically once you've completed the year-end process. You can issue them on paper or electronically — either is fine. Just make sure every qualifying employee gets theirs before the end of May.
Who gets a P60? Anyone who was on your payroll on 5 April 2026. If someone left on 2 April, they get one. If they left on 6 April, they don't (they'll get a P45 instead). If you're a director paying yourself through PAYE, yes — you need to issue yourself a P60 too.
6 July 2026 — P11D and P11D(b) forms due
If you've provided employees with benefits in kind that aren't being payrolled, you need to report them on a P11D by 6 July. Think company cars, private medical insurance, interest-free loans over £10,000, gym memberships — anything of value that isn't salary.
Each employee who received a benefit needs their own P11D. You also need to give them a copy so they know what's been reported.
Alongside the individual P11Ds, you'll need to file a P11D(b). This is your declaration of the total Class 1A National Insurance Contributions due on those benefits. Even if you only have one P11D to file, the P11D(b) still needs to go in.
Already payrolling benefits? If you've registered to payroll benefits in kind (where the tax is deducted through the employee's pay each month), you don't need to submit a P11D for those specific benefits. But you'll still need the P11D(b) to declare Class 1A NICs owed. And any benefits you haven't payrolled still need reporting the old-fashioned way.
19 July 2026 (22 July if paying electronically) — Class 1A NIC payment due
The Class 1A NICs you declared on your P11D(b)? They need to be paid by 19 July if you're paying by cheque, or 22 July if you're paying electronically. Most people pay electronically — HMRC gives you three extra days for it.
The Class 1A NIC rate for 2025/26 is 15%. That's calculated on the total value of all benefits in kind you reported. Miss the payment deadline and HMRC will charge interest from day one, plus a penalty if it's significantly late.
Before your first 2026/27 pay run — Update your payroll
This isn't a filing deadline, but it's just as important. Before you run your first payroll of the new tax year, make sure your software is updated for the 2026/27 rates.
Things that change each April:
- Tax codes — HMRC will have issued new tax code notices (P9X) for your employees. Most payroll software pulls these automatically, but verify that they've been applied. Getting a tax code wrong means your employee pays the wrong amount of tax all year.
- NIC thresholds — The primary threshold, secondary threshold, and upper earnings limit may have shifted.
- Statutory pay rates — Statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, sick pay, and shared parental pay rates change annually.
- Student loan thresholds — The repayment thresholds for Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, and postgraduate loans all update in April.
Run a test payroll if your software allows it. Five minutes of checking now prevents months of corrections later.
Quick reference
| Deadline | What's due | |---|---| | 5 April 2026 | Tax year ends | | 19 April 2026 | Final FPS or EPS to HMRC | | 31 May 2026 | P60s to all employees | | 6 July 2026 | P11D and P11D(b) to HMRC | | 19/22 July 2026 | Class 1A NIC payment |
If you're a single-director company with no benefits in kind, your list is really just three things: final FPS by 19 April, P60 to yourself by 31 May, and making sure your payroll software is ready for the new year. That's a couple of hours' work at most.
If you've got employees and benefits to report, block out time for the P11D process in late June. It's the one that takes the longest, and leaving it to the first week of July is asking for trouble.
Either way, work through the list in order. Each deadline builds on the last, and staying ahead of them is far less stressful than playing catch-up with HMRC.