An employer's guide to the P11D form

Most companies with employed staff pay them some expenses or benefits, such as health insurance or mileage allowance. If you do this in a way that is not taxed on the payroll, you must fill in a form P11D for each employee.

What is a P11D?

As an employer, you must pay class 1A national insurance contributions (NICs) on most expenses and benefits that you pay to employees. To ensure you pay the right amounts, you must, by law, report to HMRC any expenses and benefits you have provided. P11D is the tax form you use to submit this information, and you have to fill in one form for each employee.

You must also submit a P11D if you have arranged for a third party to provide taxable expenses or benefits.

The separate form P11D(b) tells HMRC how much you owe in NICs for expenses and benefits. If HMRC has asked you to submit a P11D(b) but you do not owe class 1A NICs, you can tell them by completing a declaration.

How to complete and submit the form

You must submit one P11D for each employee you have provided with expenses or benefits in the previous tax year ending 5 April. Do not complete one if there were no taxable expenses or benefits for that individual, and do not include any benefits that were taxed through the payroll.

You must also report any benefits provided to an employee’s family or household, and give each employee a copy of their P11D information.

There are several ways to submit the P11D.

If you have up to 500 employees, you can use HMRC's PAYE online service.

You can use the interactive form in the Revenue’s end-of-year expenses and benefits service.

If you have payroll or accounting software, you can submit the information through that. This is likely to be the most efficient method.

You should only report by post - using these downloadable P11D or P11D(b) forms - if you cannot use any of these online methods.

What is the deadline for filing a P11D?

You must submit your P11D reports for the previous tax year before 6 July. That means the return date for 2020/21 will be 6 July 2021. The deadline for paying class 1A NICs is 19 July by post, or 22 July if paying electronically.

Penalties for filing a late or inaccurate P11D

There are penalties if you file P11D or P11D(b) returns late, or if you carelessly or deliberately submit incorrect returns.

For late entry, the fine is up to £300 plus £60 a day if the failure to submit continues. For incorrect entries, the penalty is up to £3,000.

Interest is also chargeable on late payments.

What to include in a P11D

To start filling in the form, you will need your employer PAYE reference, and the employee's name, national insurance number, date of birth and gender.

You will then need to give information about any benefits or expenses, including:

• assets transferred to employees, such as cars, property or goods

• payments made on behalf of an employee

• vouchers and credit cards

• living accommodation

• mileage or fuel payments

• low or no interest loans

• private medical treatment or insurance

• relocation benefits.

Find out more about how to fill in each section of the form here.

Working sheets are available to help you calculate the cash equivalent of benefits for living accommodation; cars and car fuel; vans; low or no-interest loans; relocation expenses; and mileage allowance payments.

Should you and your staff keep P11Ds?

All employed workers should keep records of remuneration, including their P11D. As the employer, you should also keep it as you may need this information to file your tax return.

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