P11D Deadline 2026: What UK Employers Need to File by 6 July

The P11D deadline for the 2025/26 tax year is 6 July 2026. If you provided taxable benefits in kind to any employee or director between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026 and did not payroll them, you must submit a P11D for each affected person and a P11D(b) summarising the Class 1A National Insurance you owe. Class 1A NIC is then due on 19 July (cheque) or 22 July (electronic payment).

This is general information, not tax advice. Confirm your position with your accountant.

What is a P11D?

A P11D is the form employers use to report taxable expenses and benefits in kind to HMRC at the end of the tax year. You submit one for each employee or director who received a benefit you have not already reported through payroll. The employee also receives a copy, which they may need for their own tax return.

The P11D(b) is the employer's summary. It shows the total value of all benefits reported across all P11Ds and is used to calculate the Class 1A National Insurance you owe to HMRC.

Key dates for 2025/26

Three dates matter for the current filing cycle:

• 6 July 2026 - submit P11D and P11D(b) to HMRC, and give a copy of the P11D to each affected employee
• 19 July 2026 - deadline to pay Class 1A NIC if paying by cheque
• 22 July 2026 - deadline to pay Class 1A NIC if paying electronically (bank transfer or BACS)

Missing the 6 July deadline for P11D(b) triggers a penalty of £100 per 50 employees for each month or part month the filing is late. Interest runs on unpaid Class 1A NIC from the payment deadline.

What goes on a P11D?

A P11D covers taxable benefits and expenses you provided to an employee that were not already payrolled. Common items include:

• Private medical insurance - a taxable benefit at the value of the premium; our guide to health insurance as a taxable benefit explains this in more detail
• Company cars and fuel - reported using the car benefit charge (separate P46(Car) during the year for new cars)
• Beneficial loans - any loan to an employee at below the HMRC official rate where the balance exceeded £10,000 at any point in the year
• Living accommodation provided by the employer
• Non-business travel and entertainment expenses that were not reimbursed under a PAYE settlement agreement
• Subscriptions and professional fees paid by the employer where the body is not on HMRC's approved list

Not everything is reportable. Benefits that are exempt from income tax and Class 1A NIC do not go on a P11D at all. Since 6 April 2026, the exempt list expanded to include employer reimbursements for eye tests, flu vaccinations and homeworking equipment - our guide to the April 2026 exemptions has the detail.

Class 1A National Insurance

Employers pay Class 1A National Insurance at 15% (2025/26 rate) on the total cash equivalent of taxable benefits in kind. The calculation is straightforward: take the total of all benefits on your P11D forms and multiply by 0.15. You report that figure on the P11D(b) and pay it by the July deadline.

If you offer benefits through salary sacrifice, the position is different. Salary sacrifice reduces the employee's gross pay, so the employer pays lower Class 1A NIC (and lower Class 1 employee NIC). Our salary sacrifice calculator shows the employer NIC saving for pension contributions specifically.

Payrolling benefits: what changes in April 2027

At the moment, many employers report benefits in kind via P11D after the tax year ends. From 6 April 2027, reporting benefits through payroll software will be mandatory for most employers. HMRC pushed the original April 2026 start date back by 12 months to allow employers, payroll professionals and software providers more time to prepare.

Under mandatory payrolling, the taxable value of benefits in kind is added to the employee's gross pay in each payroll run, so income tax is collected in real time rather than through a year-end adjustment. The P11D form for those benefits disappears; a P11D(b) to declare Class 1A NIC still applies.

This is a meaningful change for payroll teams. If you have not already reviewed your payroll software's readiness, now is the time to start. Employers who voluntarily payroll benefits already are ahead.

P11D and salary sacrifice

Benefits delivered through a salary sacrifice arrangement are generally not reportable on a P11D, because the employee has given up the right to that element of pay in exchange for the benefit. The employer saves on Class 1A NIC and, depending on the scheme, so does the employee. Pension salary sacrifice is the most common example, but EV car schemes and cycle-to-work arrangements work the same way.

If your benefits review has flagged that you are not yet using salary sacrifice for pensions, this P11D season is a practical moment to model the saving. Our salary sacrifice calculator lets you put in real headcount and contribution rates to see the employer NIC saving.

Where PerkIQ fits

P11D season is a useful moment to look at your whole benefits stack, not just compliance. PerkIQ scores your benefits against market benchmarks so you can see what you are providing, what you are missing, and where you are paying tax unnecessarily. You can run a free benefits healthcheck in about five minutes, or browse the provider directory if you are considering adding a benefit before the next tax year starts.