Why Is My P60 Different From My Last Payslip Total?

What a P60 Actually Shows

Your employer issues a P60 by 31 May each year, covering the tax year that ended on 5 April. It contains:

What a P60 does not show:

• Pay from other employers (covered by P45 when you left those jobs)
• Benefits in kind like company car, health insurance (shown on P11D, issued separately by July 6)
• Employer pension contributions
• Employee pension contributions (these are typically shown on your payslip but reduce your gross taxable pay)

---

The 5 Most Common Reasons for the Discrepancy

1. You Didn't Work the Full Tax Year

If you joined your employer after 6 April or left before 5 April, your P60 only covers the period you were actually employed there.

Example: Started on 1 October 2025 on a £40,000 salary. By 5 April 2026, you've worked 6 months.

The lower figure isn't an error — it's correct. If you had previous employment income before joining, that earlier income appears on your P45 from the previous employer, which your current employer uses to calculate cumulative PAYE.

---

2. Variable Pay: Bonuses, Overtime, Commission

If you received any variable pay during the year, the P60 total will differ from 12 × monthly salary:

A payslip comparison of "£3,000 × 12 = £36,000" misses the £8,000 bonus month entirely. The P60 correctly shows £44,000.

---

3. Salary Sacrifice Reduces Gross Pay on the P60

Salary sacrifice arrangements (pension, electric vehicle, cycle to work) reduce your gross contractual pay in exchange for a non-cash benefit. This means:

• Your payslip shows a reduced gross pay each month
• Your P60 shows the reduced (post-sacrifice) gross — not your original salary

Example: £50,000 salary with 10% pension via salary sacrifice = £5,000 sacrifice = £45,000 on your P60.

This is correct and expected. The pension contributions don't appear on the P60 — they went into your pension fund outside the PAYE system.

If you're using the P60 to check mortgage affordability or applying for credit, lenders typically ask for gross pre-sacrifice income — your employment contract or payslip notes can evidence this.

---

4. Pay Period Count: 53-Week Years

In years where certain weekly pay frequencies result in 53 paydays rather than 52 (or 13 four-weekly pay periods rather than 12), the annual total from payslips will be higher than you'd expect.

Whether 2025/26 produces a 53-week year depends on the day your payroll runs. If your employer pays weekly on a Friday, and 5 April 2026 falls such that there are 53 Fridays in the tax year, you'll receive 53 pays instead of 52 — and your P60 will reflect 53 × weekly pay.

This is relatively rare for monthly-paid employees (there are always 12 monthly pays) but is common in construction, hospitality, and retail with weekly payrolls.

---

5. Mid-Year Payroll Corrections

Payroll departments sometimes discover errors in previous months — wrong tax code applied, incorrect overtime calculation, missed expenses reimbursement, overpaid/underpaid salary. These corrections adjust cumulative figures in the month they're processed.

From a payslip-by-payslip perspective, the correction month looks odd — but the P60 shows the corrected total, which is the accurate figure.

Example: An error in October overpaid you by £500 gross. In February, a −£500 correction is applied. Your October payslip shows £500 extra; your February payslip shows £500 less. The P60 total is correct (net zero correction). But if you were adding up payslips selectively, you'd get a different answer.

---

Checking Your P60 Is Correct

If the P60 total still doesn't reconcile after these checks, contact your payroll department. Employers are legally required to issue an accurate P60 — they can issue a corrected version if an error is found.

---

P60 vs P45 vs P11D: Which Is Which

If you have a company car, health insurance, or any employer-provided benefit with a taxable value, check whether you've received a P11D — the value of those benefits is added to your income when calculating your tax liability, even though it doesn't appear in your P60 pay figure.