Your P11D Explained
The form your employer files for non-cash benefits like a company car or private medical insurance, plus what's changing from 2027
A P11D reports "benefits in kind", non-cash perks like a company car, private medical insurance, or an interest-free loan, that your employer provided but didn't tax through your normal payslip. Your employer files it with HMRC and, if you received any reportable benefits, must also give you a copy, both by 6 July after the tax year ends. If your employer taxes benefits through your pay in real time instead ("payrolling," covered further down), you won't get a P11D for that specific benefit at all. Most employees on a standard salary with no extras never see one.
The categories, one by one
Click a box on the form below, or open any item in the list, to see what it means.
Expenses and benefits
2026/27: Sam Taylor, Northbridge Finance Ltd
Loans
Insurance and other benefits
Illustrative example: a real P11D only shows the categories that apply to you.
Company car and fuel
What it is: The car's "cash equivalent" value: its list price × an "appropriate percentage" based on CO₂ emissions and fuel type. Sam's example: a £28,000 list price at a 25% appropriate percentage gives £7,000. Free private fuel is worked out the same way, but against a fixed multiplier (£29,200 for 2026/27) instead of the car's own list price, so £29,200 × 25% gives £7,300.
Why it matters: This is usually the single largest figure on the whole form. Free private fuel in particular is often not worth taking. The fuel benefit charge can cost more in tax than the fuel itself would have cost you to buy.
What to check: The list price and CO₂ figure drive the whole calculation, so it's worth checking both are right for your actual car. Use gov.uk's own company car tax calculator to work out your real percentage rather than estimating it.
Vans and fuel
What it is: Unlike a company car, a van's benefit is a flat figure (£4,170.00 for 2026/27) plus £798.00 more if private fuel is also provided, regardless of the van's actual value or emissions. It only applies if you have more than insignificant private use; purely business use (or a slight detour to pick something up on the way home) doesn't count.
Why it matters: A much simpler calculation than a car, since the flat rate doesn't depend on the van's value or emissions. Nothing applied to Sam this year.
What to check: Nothing to check here for Sam. This box is only relevant if you actually have a company van.
Loans
What it is: An interest-free or below-HMRC's-official-rate loan from your employer, season ticket loans and salary advances are common examples. It's only reportable if the combined outstanding balance across all such loans reaches £10,000.00 or more at any point in the year.
Why it matters: Going even briefly over £10,000.00 makes the whole loan reportable for that year, not just the amount over the threshold.
What to check: Nothing to check here for Sam, no loan this year.
Medical or dental insurance
What it is: What it cost your employer to provide the cover, not what it would have cost you to buy the same policy yourself.
Why it matters: This exact £500 benefit is the same one used in the worked example on Understanding Your Tax Code, and it's also what shows up as an adjustment on the "you owe tax" example on Your P800 Explained. This P11D is where HMRC first finds out about it. If it had been coded into Sam's tax code during the year instead, no P800 adjustment would have been needed at all.
What to check: Compare it against any renewal documents from your employer or the insurer, and check whether it's already reflected in your tax code. See Understanding Your Tax Code.
Vouchers and other benefits
What it is: A catch-all for smaller taxable perks that don't fit elsewhere on the form: cash-equivalent vouchers, gym memberships, and similar benefits that aren't specifically exempt.
Why it matters: A small gift is often exempt entirely under the "trivial benefits" rule, so most one-off small gifts from an employer never appear here at all. It has to be £50 or less, not cash or a cash voucher, not a reward for work, and not part of your contract to qualify.
What to check: Nothing to check here for Sam, none this year.
Other categories you might see
A real P11D has around 14 sections in total. The five above are the most likely ones that employees actually encounter. If you see a category that isn't covered above, it's likely one of these:
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Living accommodation | Housing provided by your employer, valued as a benefit unless a specific exemption applies |
| Relocation expenses | Costs above the tax-free relocation allowance when your employer helps you move for a new job |
| Assets bought, sold, or given | Company property (a laptop, furniture) transferred to you, or made available for your personal use |
| Credit, debit, or charge cards | A company card used for anything beyond business expenses |
| Childcare | Employer-provided childcare beyond what's specifically exempt |
| Computers, mobile phones, and home phones | Equipment provided beyond what's exempt (a single mobile phone for personal and business use is usually tax-free) |
| Holidays and other one-off perks | Non-business trips or experiences provided by your employer |
Many small one-off gifts don't appear anywhere on a P11D at all. A small gift is exempt under the "trivial benefits" rule if it cost £50 or less, isn't cash or a cash voucher, isn't a reward for work or performance, and isn't part of your contract.
How it affects your tax
A P11D doesn't itself take any money from you, since it's a report, not a bill. What actually happens next is that HMRC uses it to reduce your tax-free Personal Allowance by the value of the benefit, as covered in detail on Understanding Your Tax Code, with a full worked example. If the adjustment doesn't happen in time because the P11D was only filed after the tax year ended, the shortfall usually shows up the following year as an amount you owe on a P800 instead.
If your employer payrolls benefits instead
Since 2016, employers have been able to "payroll" some benefits, adding their cash-equivalent value to your pay and taxing them through PAYE in real time, the same way your salary is taxed, rather than reporting them after the year ends. If a benefit is payrolled, it simply won't appear on your P11D at all; your employer should tell you in writing which benefits are handled this way. Class 1A National Insurance (which your employer pays on the value of your benefits, not you) still gets reported separately via a form called a P11D(b), even for payrolled benefits.
What's changing
Payrolling is becoming compulsory, not optional, on a phased timeline confirmed by HMRC in November 2025:
- From 6 April 2027 company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel, and employer-provided medical benefits must be payrolled, moving off the P11D entirely for most employers.
- From 6 April 2028 most other benefits follow.
- Loans and living accommodation are excluded from mandatory payrolling for the foreseeable future. Reporting for these two categories stays voluntary, with a P11D and P11D(b) process kept in place specifically for them.
For the 2026/27 tax year this page covers, none of that has taken effect yet. A P11D remains the standard way most benefits are reported, exactly as described above.
This page explains what a P11D shows and is not personalised advice; see the disclaimer. Always refer to your own form as the source of truth for your figures.