In Brief: Payroll year-end for 2026/27 falls on Monday 5 April 2027. You’ll need to send your final Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before your last payday of the tax year, your final Employer Payment Summary (EPS) by 19 April, P60s to employees by 31 May, and P11Ds and your P11D(b) by 6 July. From 6 April 2027, payrolling company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel and employer-provided medical benefits also becomes mandatory.
Last updated: October 2026 to reflect HMRC’s October 2026 employer bulletin.
For plenty of payroll teams, April creeps up faster than expected. The tax year closes, the deadlines stack up, and suddenly there’s a lot to do in a short window. But payroll year-end doesn’t have to feel like that when you have payroll best practices in place. With the right groundwork, what was once a last-minute scramble becomes a manageable routine you’ll carry out year after year.
This guide walks you through everything involved in closing the 2026/27 tax year—what to check, what to submit, and how to make sure the new year starts on solid footing.
What changed in October 2026
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) published its October 2026 employer bulletin with two updates on the mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind. (For those not in the know, this means processing benefits through payroll instead of reporting them on P11Ds.) Mandatory payrolling starts in phases from 6 April 2027, so both updates affect how you plan the year ahead.
An exception for globally mobile employees
You can choose to leave globally mobile employees out of mandatory payrolling. To do this, you’ll submit an online G-Form to HMRC, which will be available from November 2026. For those employees, the process stays the same, and their benefits remain on the existing P11D and P11D(b) process.
This works well if your organisation has people who regularly work across borders, where payrolling their benefits would get complicated. Be aware, though, that it’s an opt-out, not an automatic exemption. If you don’t submit the G-Form, those employees are payrolled like everyone else.
Class 1A moves into real time for payrolled benefits
From 6 April 2027, if you voluntarily payroll a benefit, you’ll also need to report and pay its Class 1A National Insurance contributions (NICs) through payroll in real time. So you can’t payroll the tax and then report Class 1A at year-end. The two now go together.
A few dates to keep in mind:
- November 2026, registration opens: this is when you can register to voluntarily payroll benefits for 2027/28.
- Existing registrations roll over: if you already payroll benefits, your registration continues automatically.
- 5 April 2027, withdrawal deadline: if you’d rather go back to P11D and P11D(b), you’ll need to withdraw by this date.
A lot of organisations don’t realise this change affects cash flow as well as reporting. Class 1A on payrolled benefits will be paid as you go instead of in one payment after year-end, so it’s worth telling your finance team early.
Which benefits are in phase one?
The benefits in phase one are:
- company cars
- car fuel
- vans
- van fuel
- employer-provided medical benefits
Step 1: Prepare
The most effective payroll year-end prep happens in February and March, not April. The more you can tidy up before the year closes, the less you’ll be firefighting once it does.
Reconcile your payroll records
Start by making sure your payroll software and HMRC are telling the same story. Pull your year-to-date figures for tax, National Insurance, and statutory payments, and check them against the Real Time Information (RTI) submissions you’ve made across the year. A mismatch is far easier to sort before the year closes than after.
Cross-reference your P32 (Employer Payment Record) with your HMRC account to confirm what’s been paid and flag anything that looks outstanding.
Review employee records
Before April arrives, work through your employee list with a critical eye. You’re looking for anything that could cause problems if it carries into the new year unchecked.
- Leavers: confirm all departures have been fully processed and P45s issued.
- Tax codes: scan for anyone still sitting on an emergency code, or a code that doesn’t look right. HMRC issues updated P9 notices before the new tax year begins, but it’s better to catch issues now rather than wait.
- Statutory leave: check that anyone on maternity, paternity, or shared parental leave has been handled correctly throughout the year, including any SMP or SPP reclaimed via the EPS.
- Student loans: make sure the right plan is recorded for each employee and that deductions have been applied consistently from the start.
- Directors: National Insurance for directors is calculated annually, so review the cumulative figures for each one before you close the year.
Round up all expenses and benefits
If you’re filing P11D forms for 2026/27, now is the time to gather everything you need. Go through your records and identify every employee or director who received a benefit in kind: company cars, private medical insurance, interest-free loans above £10,000, gym memberships, accommodation, and the like.
For each benefit, check whether it was payrolled during the year, in which case it won’t need a P11D, or handled outside payroll, in which case it will. Either way, you’ll still need to submit a P11D(b) to account for Class 1A National Insurance, even where benefits were payrolled.
One thing worth flagging:
From 6 April 2027, payrolling certain benefits in kind becomes mandatory. HMRC have phased the introduction over two stages: phase 1 covers company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel and employer-provided medical benefits, with most others following in April 2028. If you haven’t yet set that up, now is the right time to speak to your software provider—don’t leave it until the deadline is looming.
Review pension contributions
Reconcile your pension contributions for the full year. Check that auto-enrolment triggered correctly for every eligible employee in every pay period, that the right rates were applied throughout, and that payments made it to the pension provider on time. If there are gaps, contact your provider before payroll year-end so you can agree how to put things right.
Review any outstanding HMRC notices or queries
Log into your PAYE Online account and look for anything that hasn’t been resolved; that includes late filing notices, outstanding queries, or anything HMRC has flagged. It’s much better to deal with these before the year closes than to carry them as unfinished business into 2027/28.
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Step 2: Submit
Once March payroll has been processed, you move into the submission phase. Here’s your end-of-year payroll checklist—what needs to happen and when:
| Deadline | What's required |
|---|---|
| On or before your last payday of the tax year | Process your final payroll and submit your final FPS, marked as 'Final submission for year'. If you realise you've made an error after submitting, you can send an additional FPS but do it before 19 April. |
| 19 April 2027 | Submit your final EPS. This is your last chance to claim Employment Allowance, recover any statutory payments (SMP, SPP, SAP), or report any adjustments for 2026–27. Make sure everything’s included. Employment Allowance can still be claimed for up to four previous tax years, but sorting it now saves work later. |
| 31 May 2027 | Issue P60 forms to all employees on payroll as of 5 April 2027 (paper or electronic). Don't forget employees on long-term leave; if they're still employed on 5 April, they must receive a P60, even if their pay was £0 for most of the year. |
| 6 July 2027 | Submit P11D forms for expenses and benefits in kind not processed through payroll. From April 2027, phase one benefits (company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel and employer-provided medical benefits) move to payroll. Use this year-end to make sure you're set up for the change. |
| 19 July 2027 | Pay Class 1A National Insurance by cheque. |
| 22 July 2027 | Pay Class 1A National Insurance electronically. |
Step 3: Set up the new tax year
Closing the tax year is only half the job. Before the first April payroll runs, there are a few things to get right.
Apply new tax codes
HMRC issues new codes before the start of the tax year via P9 notices (bulk updates) and P6 notices (individual changes), both accessible through PAYE Online. Most payroll software will pick these up automatically, but confirm they’ve landed before your April payroll goes out. Any employee still on last year’s code will be taxed incorrectly from day one.
Update statutory rates and thresholds
Several figures change on 6 April each year. Before running your first payroll of 2027/28, check that your software reflects the latest numbers across all of the following:
- National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage
- National Insurance thresholds and category rates
- Statutory payment rates (SSP, SMP, SPP, SAP)
- Pension qualifying earnings thresholds
- Student loan repayment thresholds (by plan)
Most modern payroll systems update automatically, but it’s always worth checking rather than assuming—particularly if you’re on an older platform.
Prepare for mandatory payrolling of benefits
From 6 April 2027, payrolling benefits in kind becomes a requirement for most employers. If you’ve been using P11D forms until now, you’ll need to set your payroll software up to include phase one benefits (company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel and employer-provided medical benefits) in your FPS submissions from April 2027 onwards. Your software provider will be able to walk you through the set-up.
There are two recent changes to plan for. You can leave globally mobile employees out of mandatory payrolling by submitting HMRC’s online G-Form, available from November 2026. And if you’d also like to payroll benefits that sit outside the mandatory rules (such as loans or living accommodation), their Class 1A National Insurance must be reported and paid through payroll in real time from 6 April 2027.
Registration to voluntarily payroll for 2027/28 opens in November 2026 through PAYE Online. If you’re already registered, your registration rolls over automatically, so you’ll only need to act if you want to withdraw (by 5 April 2027).
Confirm year-to-date figures
Your payroll software should reset YTD figures automatically when you open the new tax year. Check that this has happened correctly before April payroll runs—if last year’s figures carry over, your tax and NI calculations will be wrong from the first pay run of the year.
Let your employees know what to expect
Send a brief note to your people explaining when they can expect their P60 and how to access it, particularly if you issue them electronically. Make sure you have a clear process in place for responding to any queries about P60 figures, as these tend to come in quickly.
It’s also worth giving employees advance notice of any changes they’ll see on their payslips from April 2027, particularly around payrolled benefits. Unexpected deductions generate a significant volume of avoidable queries.
How does Cintra handle year-end submissions?
When year-end comes round, Cintra’s payroll software handles the submissions that matter most. It covers:
- Final submissions: prepares and submits your final Full Payment Submission (FPS) and Employer Payment Summary (EPS), correctly marked for year-end.
- P60s: generates a P60 for every employee on payroll at 5 April, including people on long-term leave, and delivers them electronically.
- P11Ds and Class 1A: produces P11D and P11D(b) forms, calculates Class 1A NICs and submits them to HMRC.
- Payrolling benefits from 2027/28: supports payrolling of phase one benefits, along with the related Class 1A, in real time.
Would you rather hand it over completely? Our payroll outsourcing team can manage all of this for you.
Payroll year-end gets easier every time
A well-prepared year-end is largely a matter of timing—most of the work happens in the weeks before April, not during it. With the right software behind you and a clear sequence to follow, it’s one of the more straightforward points in the payroll calendar. If you’d like to see how Cintra supports teams through payroll year-end and beyond, book a demo.
Frequently asked questions
Q. When is payroll year-end for 2026/27?
A. Payroll year-end falls on 5 April each year. For the 2026/27 tax year, that’s Monday 5 April 2027, and the 2027/28 tax year begins on 6 April 2027.
Q. When do I need to send my final FPS?
A. Your final FPS is due on or before your last payday of the tax year, just like any other FPS. Mark it as your final submission so HMRC knows not to expect any more.
Q. What’s the difference between an FPS and an EPS?
A. An FPS reports actual payments made to employees and is submitted every pay run. An EPS is used to report statutory payment recoveries and Employment Allowance claims, confirm no employees were paid, or mark the final submission of the year if your FPS didn’t include this.
Q. What happens if I miss the P60 deadline?
A. If you don’t give employees their P60s by 31 May, you could face penalties from HMRC. Employees need P60s for tax returns, mortgage applications, and other financial purposes, so late P60s can cause real problems for them.
Q. Do I still need P11Ds after April 2027?
A. Yes, for anything you don’t payroll. Phase one benefits move to payroll from April 2027, but you’ll still need P11Ds in 2027/28 for other benefits until they become mandatory in April 2028.
Q. Do I need to submit a G-Form?
A. Only if you want to leave globally mobile employees out of mandatory payrolling. If you don’t submit one, those employees are payrolled like the rest of your people. HMRC’s online G-Form will be available from November 2026.
Q. Does Class 1A change if I payroll benefits?
A. Yes. From April 2027, Class 1A NICs on payrolled benefits are reported and paid through payroll in real time, instead of at year-end.
Q. Which payroll providers handle P60 and P11D submissions?
A. A lot of UK payroll providers support year-end forms. Cintra prepares P60s, P11Ds and P11D(b)s and submits them to HMRC through its payroll software, or runs the whole process for you through its payroll outsourcing service.
