P60
What it really means
A yearly summary from your employer showing your total pay and tax for the tax year (which runs April to April). You get one after 5 April if you are still employed. It is useful for tax refunds, loans and visa applications.
Context, tips & common mistakes
Employers must issue your P60 by 31 May following the end of the tax year, and only to people still employed on 5 April — if you left before then, your P45 covers that period instead, which surprises people who expect a P60 from every job. Store them permanently and digitally: mortgage lenders, letting agents, visa and citizenship applications and tax-refund claims all routinely ask for P60s going back several years, and reconstructing figures afterwards means chasing old employers or HMRC.
If the P60 shows less pay than you actually received, or tax that looks wrong against your payslips, query it with payroll quickly — the same figures have gone to HMRC and feed any end-of-year calculation. Many employers now issue P60s only through an online portal that closes when you leave the company, so download copies while you still have access.