Guide

Is the P11D being abolished? What survives after April 2027

Updated

The headline everywhere is that the P11D is dead. It is not. It shrinks, twice, and it keeps a job that gets more awkward as the population using it gets smaller.

Where the P11D still applies

  • Employment-related loans and living accommodation, which are excluded from both mandation phases and can only be payrolled voluntarily.
  • Benefits outside the phase 1 list, until April 2028. If you provide, say, gym membership but no cars and no medical cover, nothing about your reporting changes on 6 April 2027.
  • Employees who cannot be payrolled. HMRC's guidance carries a chapter on reporting benefits for employees whose benefits cannot be payrolled, and the penalties chapter refers to incorrect submission of a P11D or P11D(b) as a live risk after 2027.
  • Excluded employees under the current voluntary regime, where a P11D is used to declare the non-payrolled benefit.

What definitely changes

For a phase 1 benefit, the annual P11D entry disappears and is replaced by a value in every pay period on the Full Payment Submission. HMRC has said the number of fields on the FPS will increase to cover company cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel and private medical benefits, and that it needs that visibility to check the right tax is being reported and paid (gov.uk).

The deadlines you still need in the diary

Year-end expenses and benefits deadlines while the P11D survives
What you need to doDeadline after the end of the tax year
Report expenses and benefits6 July
Give employees a copy of the information6 July
Report the total Class 1A National Insurance you owe6 July
Pay Class 1A National Insurance22 July, or 19 July if paying by cheque
Pay tax and Class 1B on a PAYE Settlement Agreement22 October, or 19 October if paying by cheque

The late P11D(b) penalty is £100 per 50 employees for each month or part month the return is late, plus penalties and interest for late payment (gov.uk). Those deadlines and penalties are unchanged by mandatory payrolling for anything you still report at year end.

The awkward year

2027 to 2028 is the year employers run both systems: real-time reporting for cars and medical cover, and a P11D exercise in July 2027 for the 2026 to 2027 year. Budget for the July 2027 P11D cycle even though it feels like the old system should be gone. See what happens to Class 1A, which is where the cash flow surprise sits.

If you provide only loans or accommodation, nothing about your reporting changes at all. That is a genuinely correct answer, and most summaries do not give it.

Questions, answered directly

Is the P11D being scrapped in 2027?

No. The P11D remains for employment-related loans and living accommodation, for employees whose benefits cannot be payrolled, and until April 2028 for most benefits outside the phase 1 list of cars, car fuel, vans, van fuel and medical benefits.

Do I still need to file a P11D(b)?

Yes, wherever you still report benefits at year end. HMRC has confirmed there is no change to the penalties that apply for P11D and P11D(b) returns where an employer is required to complete them, for example where loans or accommodation are not payrolled.

Find out what actually changes for you

Three questions and you will know which phase you are in, whether you need to register, and what to ask your software provider.

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