UK employers must pay HMRC the tax and National Insurance they owe by the 22nd of each month, and hand every employee still on the payroll on 5 April a P60 by 31 May [1][15]. Miss the first and interest starts accruing daily; miss the second and the employer is in breach of a statutory obligation owed to every worker.
Payroll is one of the most deadline-dense obligations a business carries. Under Real Time Information, a return is expected at the point of every payrun rather than once a year, and a separate set of year-end and expenses deadlines sits on top of the monthly cycle [13]. A single scheme can face a reporting deadline, a payment deadline, and an annual filing deadline in the same fortnight.
This article lays out every HMRC payroll deadline in the order an employer meets them through the tax year: the monthly reporting and payment cycle, the year-end sequence, and the expenses and benefits deadlines that run into the following autumn. It also sets out what happens when a deadline slips, so the calendar comes with its consequences attached.
Key takeaways
- The Full Payment Submission (FPS) must reach HMRC on or before the day employees are paid [2].
- PAYE tax and National Insurance are due by the 22nd of the month electronically, or the 19th by post [1].
- An Employer Payment Summary (EPS) claiming a reduction must be sent by the 19th of the following tax month [1].
- P60s go to employees by 31 May, and P11D expenses and benefits are reported by 6 July [15][5].
- The final FPS of the tax year is sent on or before the last payday before 5 April [4].
The PAYE tax month and why the dates fall where they do
Every payroll deadline hangs off the PAYE tax month, which runs from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next [16]. This is the unit HMRC uses for reporting and payment, and it is why the key dates cluster around the middle of the month rather than the calendar month end. An employer that thinks in calendar months will consistently misread the deadlines.
Real Time Information underpins the whole cycle. Since RTI became mandatory, employers report each payment as it is made rather than reconciling once at year end, which means HMRC knows what is due almost in real time and can act on a missed deadline immediately [13]. The monthly rhythm is therefore two obligations, not one: telling HMRC what is owed, then paying it.
Reporting: the FPS and the EPS
The Full Payment Submission is the return that reports pay, deductions and any payrolled benefits, and it must be sent on or before each payday [2]. The submission date is what HMRC measures, so a payroll run on the 25th that is only submitted on the 27th is late even though staff were paid on time [8].
The Employer Payment Summary is the second monthly return, sent when the employer needs to adjust what it owes. An EPS claiming a reduction, for statutory pay recovery or the Employment Allowance, must reach HMRC by the 19th of the following tax month for that reduction to apply to the bill [3]. An EPS is also required in a month where no employees were paid, in place of an FPS, so that HMRC does not expect a return that never comes [3].
Payment: the 22nd and the quarterly option
The payment deadline is the 22nd of the month for electronic payments, covering the tax and National Insurance reported on the previous tax month's FPS, less any reductions claimed on an EPS sent before the 19th [1]. Employers still paying by post face an earlier deadline of the 19th [1].
Smaller employers have an option that eases the monthly burden. A business that usually owes less than £1,500 a month can arrange to pay HMRC quarterly rather than monthly, by contacting the payment helpline [1]. The reporting obligation does not change: the FPS is still due on or before each payday even where payment is quarterly [2]. Modern HMRC-recognised payroll software for SMEs files the FPS at the point of each run, so the reporting deadline is met automatically while the employer manages only the payment date.
| Monthly obligation | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Send the FPS | On or before payday |
| Send an EPS claiming a reduction | By the 19th of the following tax month |
| Pay HMRC electronically | By the 22nd of the month |
| Pay HMRC by post | By the 19th of the month |
| Quarterly payment (if under £1,500 a month) | By the 22nd after each quarter |
The year-end sequence
The tax year ends on 5 April, and it triggers a fixed sequence of deadlines that runs from April into the summer. Each one has a different audience: HMRC, the employee, or both. Missing any of them carries its own consequence, and the sequence is the same every year, which makes it straightforward to plan around.
The first deadline is the final FPS. An employer sends its last Full Payment Submission of the year on or before the employees' final payday of the tax year, marking the "Final submission for year" field so HMRC knows the year is closed [4]. Where the software has no such field, or nobody was paid in the final period, the year is closed with a final EPS instead [4].
The second is the P60. Every employee still on the payroll on 5 April must receive a P60 by 31 May, summarising their pay, tax and National Insurance for the year [15]. The P60 is the document employees rely on for self-assessment, mortgage applications and benefit claims, so the deadline protects the worker as much as it satisfies HMRC [12].
| Year-end task | Deadline after the tax year ends |
|---|---|
| Final FPS marking the last submission of the year | On or before the last payday before 5 April |
| Give each employee a P60 | 31 May |
| Report expenses and benefits (P11D and P11D(b)) | 6 July |
| Pay Class 1A National Insurance on benefits | 22 July (19 July by cheque) |
Correcting a year-end mistake
A mistake found in the final FPS has its own timetable, and the fix depends on when the error is spotted [4]. A wrong payment or deduction found by 19 April is corrected with an additional FPS carrying the right year-to-date figures and a zero in the "pay in this period" field, while the same error found after 19 April is corrected with an FPS showing the correct year-to-date amounts [4].
There is also the "week 53" quirk. Employers paying weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly may hit an extra pay period in the final FPS, entered as week 53, 54 or 56 depending on the frequency, which payroll software calculates automatically [4]. It can leave some employees owing a small amount of tax, which HMRC collects separately through a P800 rather than through the employer [4]. Accountants managing year-end across many clients typically run this through a payroll bureau platform that closes every scheme against the same deadline calendar.
Expenses, benefits and the deadlines that run into autumn
Payroll deadlines do not stop at 31 May. Employers that provide expenses or benefits in kind face a separate reporting and payment sequence that reaches into July and, for some, October [5]. These are easy to overlook because they sit outside the monthly rhythm, yet they carry their own penalties.
The core benefits deadline is 6 July. By that date an employer must report expenses and benefits, give employees a copy of the information, and report the total Class 1A National Insurance owed [5]. The Class 1A National Insurance itself is then paid by 22 July electronically, or 19 July by cheque [5].
PAYE Settlement Agreements
An employer that settles the tax on certain benefits centrally, through a PAYE Settlement Agreement, works to a later deadline. The application to put a PSA in place must be made by 5 July following the first tax year it covers [6]. The tax and Class 1B National Insurance due under a PSA are then paid by 22 October, or 19 October by post [6].
Late benefits reporting is penalised on a per-head basis. A P11D(b) filed late attracts a penalty of £100 per 50 employees for each month or part month it is outstanding, alongside interest and penalties on any late payment [5]. For businesses embedding payroll and benefits reporting into their own systems, an HMRC-recognised payroll API can generate and submit these returns programmatically, keeping the July and October dates inside the software rather than a person's diary. Employers moving benefits into the monthly payrun instead report and pay the tax and Class 1 National Insurance through payroll each month, which removes the separate P11D step for those items [5].
What happens when a deadline slips
Every deadline in this calendar carries a consequence, and the two monthly ones are governed by separate penalty regimes. A late FPS is a filing failure; a late payment is a payment failure; an employer can be caught by either or both [8][9].
Late filing attracts a fixed monthly penalty scaled by scheme size, from £100 for the smallest employers up to £400 for the largest, with a further charge if a return stays outstanding for three months [8]. Late payment attracts a percentage penalty that rises with the number of defaults in the year, and daily interest accrues on everything unpaid from the due date until it reaches HMRC [9][14].
Some slips are forgiven. A three-day easement means a late FPS with all payments within three days of payday is not penalised, and the first late report in a tax year does not attract a filing penalty for most schemes [8]. Employers registered as an annual scheme lose that first-failure buffer, because a single yearly payrun leaves no margin, which is one reason the annual scheme suits only businesses with a genuinely fixed payroll pattern [11].
New employers and new employees
A business new to PAYE has a softer start. HMRC will not charge a late filing penalty where a new employer sends its first FPS within 30 days of paying an employee [8]. That grace applies to the filing deadline, not to the underlying obligation to operate PAYE from the first payment.
There is also a deadline tied to each new hire rather than the calendar. An employer must tell HMRC about a new employee on or before that employee's first payday, usually through the first FPS that includes them [10]. Getting the starter details right at that point, including the correct tax code, avoids a correction later and keeps the employee's first payslip accurate [10]. Occasional employers and sole traders who run payroll rarely can meet the same obligation with an instant payslip generator that produces a compliant payslip and submission without a permanent payroll setup.
Conclusion
The HMRC payroll calendar looks crowded, but it resolves into three overlapping cycles: the monthly report-then-pay rhythm anchored on payday and the 22nd, the year-end sequence from the final FPS through the P60 to the P11D, and the benefits deadlines that trail into July and October. Read together, they describe a year in which an employer is never more than a few weeks from a live deadline.
The businesses that never miss one are rarely the ones with the biggest finance teams. They are the ones whose reporting deadlines have been absorbed by software that files on the day of each run and surfaces the year-end and benefits dates before they arrive. As payroll moves inside accounting suites, HR platforms and bureau tools, the deadline stops being something a person has to remember and becomes a property of the system, which is where compliance is quietly heading. An employer reviewing its year-end process can start from a P60 end-of-year checklist, and larger businesses with an apprenticeship pay bill can pair it with the reporting rules in an apprenticeship levy guide.
Frequently asked questions
When does an employer have to pay PAYE to HMRC each month?
PAYE tax and National Insurance are due by the 22nd of the month for electronic payments, or the 19th for payments made by post [1]. The amount is the tax, National Insurance and other deductions reported on the previous tax month's FPS, minus any reductions claimed on an EPS sent before the 19th of the current tax month. Employers who usually owe less than £1,500 a month may be able to pay quarterly instead of monthly by arranging it with HMRC [1].
What is the deadline for sending an FPS?
The Full Payment Submission must be sent on or before the day the employer pays its employees [2]. It is the submission date that matters, so filing after payday counts as late even if staff were paid on time, unless a recognised late reporting reason applies [7]. The final FPS of the tax year is sent on or before the last payday before 5 April, with the "Final submission for year" field completed [4].
When are P60s and P11Ds due?
Every employee still on the payroll on 5 April must receive a P60 by 31 May [15]. Expenses and benefits are reported to HMRC on form P11D, with the P11D(b), by 6 July, along with a copy given to each employee and the total Class 1A National Insurance reported [5]. The Class 1A National Insurance is then paid by 22 July, or 19 July by cheque [5].
What is the deadline for a PAYE Settlement Agreement?
An employer must apply to put a PAYE Settlement Agreement in place by 5 July following the first tax year it applies to [6]. The tax and Class 1B National Insurance owed under the agreement are then paid by 22 October, or 19 October if paying by post [6]. Late payment can attract interest and penalties, so the October date matters as much as the July application deadline.
Image prompt for Imagen (also in frontmatter)
Documentary still life, a UK office desk with a wall calendar showing several dates circled in red, a printed payroll report, a calculator and a mug of tea, soft daylight from a side window, weekday morning, muted palette of warm white, paper cream, oak, brushed brass, a brick office wall behind, the calendar occupies the upper-left third of the frame, shot on a Hasselblad X2D at 55mm f/4, photojournalism, soft film grain, no AI artefacts, no warped hands, no warped text, landscape orientation 16:9.
