Your P60 Explained

What it is: Identifies you and links the certificate to your National Insurance record.

Why it matters: Your National Insurance number is how HMRC tracks your contributions toward your State Pension. See National Insurance Explained.

What to check: Make sure your name and NI number are spelled/entered correctly. Errors here can cause mismatches with your HMRC record.

What it is: If you changed jobs during the tax year and gave your new employer a P45 from your old one, this box shows the pay and tax from that earlier job, carried forward.

Why it matters: Your Income Tax is calculated cumulatively across the whole tax year, not per job, so this figure, combined with box 3, gives HMRC (and you) the full annual picture. See Income Tax Explained for how the cumulative calculation works.

What to check: If you changed jobs and didn't hand over a P45, this box may be blank or incomplete, which can sometimes lead to being taxed incorrectly. If it's blank and shouldn't be, that's worth investigating.

What it is: Your total taxable pay from this employer for the tax year, and the total Income Tax deducted from it through PAYE.

Why it matters: This is the headline figure: what you actually earned (before tax) and what you actually paid, from this job specifically.

What to check: Compare it roughly against your own records or payslips. If it looks obviously wrong (e.g. missing several months), flag it with your employer's payroll team.

What it is: The combined total of current and any previous employment. Your full taxable income and full Income Tax paid for the entire tax year, across all employers.

Why it matters: This is the number that matters most if you're checking whether you've paid the right amount of tax overall, or reporting income elsewhere (e.g. a mortgage application).

What to check: This should equal box 2 plus box 3.

What it is: The PAYE tax code your employer was using for you as of 5 April, for example 1257L.

Why it matters: Your tax code determines how much of your income was treated as tax-free. If it was wrong, you may have overpaid or underpaid tax during the year without knowing.

What to check: See Understanding Your Tax Code to check whether this code looks right for your situation.

What it is: A breakdown of how much of your pay fell into each National Insurance earnings band over the year.

Why it matters: This is what determines whether you got a "qualifying year" toward your State Pension, and how much NI you were due to pay. See National Insurance Explained.

What to check: Mostly informational, so you don't need to act on this unless your NI contributions (box 7) look unexpectedly low or high.

What it is: The total Class 1 National Insurance actually deducted from your pay by this employer over the tax year.

Why it matters: Alongside Income Tax, this is the other major deduction from your gross pay, and it's what builds your NI record for State Pension purposes.

What to check: Roughly cross-check against the NI worked examples on the National Insurance Explained page for your income level.

What it is: Any Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental, or Parental Bereavement Pay you received during the year, shown separately.

Why it matters: These are recorded distinctly because they're calculated and taxed slightly differently from ordinary pay.

What to check: If you received one of these payments during the year and don't see it reflected, raise it with your employer's payroll team.

What it is: The total student loan repayment taken from your pay through PAYE during the tax year, if you have an outstanding student loan.

Why it matters: This confirms what's gone toward your loan balance. Useful for checking against your loan provider's own records, and worth cross-checking if your employer had incorrect details about which repayment plan you're on. See Student Loan Repayments Explained for how each plan works.

What to check: If you don't have a student loan but this box shows a deduction, or the amount looks wrong, contact your payroll team promptly. This is a common payroll error that's better to catch early.

What it is: The total Postgraduate Loan repayment taken from your pay through PAYE during the tax year, if you have an outstanding Postgraduate Loan, a separate loan from the undergraduate Student Loan plans, with its own repayment threshold and rate.

Why it matters: If you have both a Student Loan and a Postgraduate Loan, they're repaid at the same time but shown separately here, since each has its own threshold and rate, you can be repaying both simultaneously. See Student Loan Repayments Explained for how that works.

What to check: If you don't have a Postgraduate Loan but this box shows a deduction, or the amount looks wrong, contact your payroll team, the same way you'd check the Student Loan deductions box.

What it is: A blank space some employers use to add extra information for you. It isn't a required box, so it's often left empty, but when it is used, it most commonly shows your own home address, since HMRC's own guidance for employers specifically lists this as one of the recognised optional extras that can go here.

Why it matters: If your employer includes your address here, it's just for your own reference on the certificate. It doesn't feed into any tax calculation. Some employers also use this space for other notes, like confirming pension contributions taken under a 'net pay' scheme.

What to check: If your address is shown here, it's worth checking it's up to date, since HMRC and your employer may use it for correspondence. If this box is blank, that's completely normal, it's optional.

What it is: The name and registered address of the employer who issued this P60, the company or organisation you worked for.

Why it matters: Confirms which employer this certificate relates to, which matters if you've had more than one job, or if you need to provide this P60 as evidence to a third party, like a mortgage lender.

What to check: Make sure this is the employer you actually expect it from, especially if you've changed jobs or your employer has changed its trading name.

What it is: A unique reference number HMRC uses to identify your employer's PAYE scheme, not personal to you, the same for every employee at that employer.

Why it matters: If you ever need to contact HMRC about pay or tax from this employment, having this reference to hand can speed things up, since it identifies exactly which employer record they need to look at.

What to check: Nothing to check for accuracy here. It's just useful to know it's there and what it's for if you ever need to quote it.