A P60 is your end-of-year tax summary. It shows your total pay and tax deducted for the tax year. If you’re an umbrella contractor, your P60 comes from your umbrella company — not your agency or end client. This article explains what it shows, when you get it, and how to use it.
What is a P60?
A P60 is an official year-end summary your employer gives you after each tax year. It shows your total gross pay, total income tax deducted, and total National Insurance contributions. HMRC uses the payroll data from your umbrella to check your tax record, and you should keep your copy for your records.
Every employed worker gets a P60 from their employer after 5 April each year. The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. A P60 for the 2025-26 tax year covers 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.
Your P60 is a record of your employment for the full year with that employer. If you changed umbrella companies during the year, you get a separate P60 from each one for the period they employed you.
Who issues your P60?
Your umbrella company issues your P60 — not your agency and not your end client. Because you’re employed by the umbrella, its payroll generates the year-end summary. If you have worked with more than one umbrella in a tax year, you’ll get one P60 from each.
This is important for umbrella contractors to understand. Many contractors assume their agency is their employer, but it isn’t. Your contract of employment is with the umbrella. PAYE is processed there, and that’s where your P60 comes from.
A UK umbrella company that processes payroll properly should give you a complete P60 with all deductions shown clearly. If your umbrella is slow, unresponsive, or processes payroll incorrectly, your P60 may contain errors — and those errors affect your tax record.
When do you receive your P60?
Your umbrella must issue your P60 by 31 May after the end of the tax year. For the 2025-26 tax year (ending 5 April 2026), you should receive your P60 by 31 May 2026.
This is a legal requirement. Employers who miss the 31 May deadline can face HMRC penalties.
Most umbrellas now issue P60s electronically through a payslip portal. Check your portal around mid-May. Some umbrellas also post a paper copy — check which method yours uses.
If you don’t receive a P60 by 31 May, contact your umbrella in writing and ask for it. Keep a record of the request.
What does a P60 show?
A P60 shows your total gross pay for the year, total income tax deducted, total employee National Insurance contributions, your employer’s PAYE reference, your National Insurance number, and your tax code at year end.
For umbrella contractors, the gross pay figure on the P60 is your PAYE earnings — the gross wage after employer NIC and the umbrella margin have been taken from the assignment rate. It is not the rate you quoted to the agency.
Read understanding your umbrella payslip to see how each deduction line connects to the P60 totals at year end.
See how umbrella pay is taxed for how income tax and NIC are calculated over a full year.
What is a P60 used for?
The main uses are mortgage applications, student loan repayment checks, self-assessment tax returns, tax refund claims, and confirming employment history for new employers or contracts.
Mortgage applications: lenders want to verify your income. A P60 from the last two or three tax years is the standard evidence document for employed workers. As a contractor working through an umbrella, your P60 is in the same format as any employee’s. It shows a stable PAYE employment record.
For full detail on how lenders treat umbrella income, see the umbrella company and mortgages guide.
Self-assessment: if you file a tax return, your P60 gives you the figures for PAYE income, tax paid, and NIC contributions. HMRC cross-checks your return against employer data. Having an accurate P60 makes that reconciliation much easier.
Tax refund claims: if you’ve overpaid tax during the year, your P60 shows the total tax deducted. HMRC uses this to work out any refund through a P800 or your self-assessment return. The umbrella take-home calculator can help you check whether your annual figures look right for your rate — a significant gap between expected and actual figures may point to a tax code issue worth investigating.
What if your P60 has errors?
Contact your umbrella straight away if anything on the P60 looks wrong. Common errors include gross pay being totalled incorrectly across a split year, the wrong National Insurance number, or an incorrect tax code at year end.
Errors on your P60 flow into your HMRC records. A wrong gross pay figure can cause problems with self-assessment, tax refund calculations, or future employment checks. Don’t leave them uncorrected.
If your umbrella disputes the error, you can contact HMRC directly with your payslips as supporting evidence. HMRC can update their records.
