The short answer
The P11D is the form your company uses to tell HMRC about benefits in kind it has given you: the company car, private medical cover, a loan over £10,000. It is filed after the tax year ends, by 6 July, with the company’s Class 1A National Insurance on those benefits payable by 19 July, or 22 July electronically. Miss those dates and penalties start building on the company. From 6 April 2027 most benefits move into real-time payroll reporting instead, so the P11D as directors know it is in its final two years.
This guide covers who files a P11D, what goes on it and what stays off, the P11D(b) and the Class 1A bill that travels with it, the penalties for getting it wrong, and how to prepare for the 2027 change. The figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, and the wider director service sits with our limited company accountants.
Key takeaways
- The company files it, you pay tax on it. The P11D reports each director’s benefits; HMRC then collects the income tax from you, usually through your tax code or return.
- 6 July is the deadline. P11Ds and the P11D(b) are due by 6 July after the tax year ends, and the Class 1A NIC at 15% by 19 July, or 22 July if paid electronically.
- Exempt items stay off. Trivial benefits, one company mobile, employer pension contributions and mileage paid at HMRC rates never reach the form.
- Overdrawn loan accounts are the classic miss. A director’s loan over £10,000 at any point in the year is a reportable benefit unless interest is paid at the official rate.
- The P11D is being retired. From 6 April 2027 most benefits must be payrolled in real time, with loans and accommodation staying on the P11D for now.
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What a P11D is and who files one
A P11D is filed by the employer, one per director or employee who received taxable benefits or non-exempt expenses in the tax year. As a director of your own company you sit on both sides: the company prepares and files the form, and you pay income tax on the benefit values it reports. HMRC usually collects that tax by adjusting your tax code for the following year, or through your Self Assessment return if you file one.
Directors are under more scrutiny than employees here. Benefits provided to a director of a close company, which covers most owner-managed companies, are reportable even in situations where an employee might fall under an exemption, and HMRC expects the loan account to be reviewed as part of the exercise. So the P11D is not a form to rush on 5 July; it is the year’s benefits story told accurately.
Sitting on both sides of one form is disorientating the first time. Jamie M. came to us in November 2024 after several years of doing his own self assessment, and what stayed with him was not the return itself. “He also gave me plenty of advice on how to organise my finances moving forward.” That is the useful part here too. The P11D is one of the few places where the company’s records and your own return have to tell the same story, so it helps to understand both ends of it.
★★★★★ Jamie M. in his own words, Google review, November 2024
What goes on the P11D
Each benefit is reported at its cash equivalent, broadly what it cost the company or a value HMRC fixes. The entries directors actually use are:
Reportable on the form
- Company cars and private fuel, valued as a percentage of list price set by emissions.
- Private medical and dental insurance premiums paid by the company.
- A loan from the company over £10,000 at any point in the year, where interest is below HMRC’s official rate of 3.75%.
- Living accommodation the company provides.
- Assets given to you or made available for private use, such as equipment kept at home.
- Non-exempt expenses and vouchers.
The entry directors miss most
The beneficial loan entry deserves its own sentence, because it is the one directors miss most. An overdrawn director’s loan account above £10,000, even for a single day, makes the cheap interest a reportable benefit for the whole loan period unless you actually pay the company interest at 3.75%. The company’s year-end accounts and the P11D have to tell the same story here, and HMRC compares them.
Half the work is knowing which items never reach the form at all.
What stays off the form
Exempt benefits never reach the P11D. The ones worth knowing are trivial benefits within the £50 rule and the £300 annual cap for close-company directors, one mobile phone in the company name, employer pension contributions, workplace parking, annual staff events within £150 a head, business mileage reimbursed at HMRC’s approved rates of 45p and 25p, and business expenses covered by the general exemption, such as travel and subsistence reimbursed against receipts. From April 2026 the list also covers reimbursed eye tests, flu vaccinations and home-working equipment. If everything the company provided is exempt, there may be no P11D to file at all.
From our casework
In practice most P11D questions reach us as a message rather than a meeting, which suits everybody. Zion D. described how that works in October 2023: “Good service, they responded promptly through WhatsApp whenever I had a problem. They sent me clear videos of my accounts and what I must do.” A two-minute video showing why the company mobile stays off the form and the private medical premium goes on it saves an hour of second-guessing in July.
★★★★ Zion D. in his own words, Google review, October 2023
The P11D(b) and the Class 1A bill
Alongside the individual P11Ds, the company files one P11D(b), the employer’s declaration that totals all the benefits and calculates Class 1A National Insurance at 15% for 2026/27. That is the company’s own cost on top of your income tax. Both forms are due by 6 July following the tax year, filed online, and the Class 1A payment must reach HMRC by 19 July, or 22 July if paid electronically.
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By 6 July
The company files a P11D for each director with benefits, plus one P11D(b) totalling them.
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By 19 July, or 22 July electronically
The Class 1A National Insurance on those benefits reaches HMRC.
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After that
Penalties accrue monthly on a late P11D(b), and interest runs on late Class 1A.
One trap: if HMRC has sent the company a notice to file a P11D(b) but no benefits were provided, the company must still submit a nil declaration. Silence is treated as lateness, and the penalty clock runs anyway.
What lateness costs
A late P11D(b) attracts a penalty of £100 per month, or part month, for every 50 employees, so even a one-director company collects £100 for each month it slips. Late payment of the Class 1A NIC adds interest, and careless or incorrect returns can bring penalties based on the tax understated. None of it is dramatic on day one, but it compounds quietly, and it is entirely avoidable with a diary and clean records.
Payrolling now, and the mandatory change in April 2027
A company can already choose to payroll benefits: register with HMRC before the start of the tax year, then tax the benefit through each payslip in real time instead of reporting it after the year on a P11D. From 6 April 2027 that stops being a choice. Most benefits must be payrolled, with employer loans and living accommodation staying on the P11D for now. The P11D(b) and Class 1A NIC survive the change, so the company still settles its own bill after the year. For 2026/27 the old process applies in full, which makes this the right year to get the benefit records clean and decide how payrolling will run in your company. It is a payroll change at heart, and we prepare clients for it inside our payroll service.
Registration is the part with a date on it. Payrolling has to be registered with HMRC before the tax year starts, so the decision belongs in this year’s diary, not next April’s.
The service that handles this
Benefits reported correctly, and payrolling sorted before 2027 forces it
We keep the benefit records through the year, file the forms on time and set up payrolling in the tax year before it becomes compulsory.
Hand the July forms to our payroll teamTwo-minute benefits check
Does your company have a P11D to file this July?
What did the company provide this year beyond salary?
Was the director’s loan account overdrawn at any point?
Are benefits already payrolled in real time?
Has HMRC sent the company a notice to file a P11D(b)?
How are benefit records kept?
Ready for mandatory payrolling from April 2027?
Happier to have someone run an eye over the benefits list instead?
Check my benefits listYour result
Your recommendation appears here.
Getting it right as a director
The P11D rewards tidy records: a log of what the company paid for during the year, the loan account reviewed before the year end rather than after, and a check of each item against the exemption list. Done that way, the form takes an hour and the numbers agree with your personal tax return without any awkward reconciliation. Done in a rush on deadline day, it is where discrepancies are born.
Done properly the form takes an hour. Done on 5 July it takes a week.
Nobody starts out knowing which benefits are reportable. Alice L., who was fairly new to running a business when she wrote in November 2015, valued the explaining above everything else: Buhir is “always happy to take the time to discuss and patiently explain anything which I am unsure of”. The exemption list is not intuitive, and the cheap moment to ask is before 6 July, not after it.
★★★★★ Alice L. in her own words, Google review, November 2015
Cardiff, Newport and Bristol, and UK-wide through our Virtual Finance Office with secure digital onboarding.
Frequently asked questions
When is the P11D deadline?
6 July following the end of the tax year, for both the P11Ds and the employer’s P11D(b). The Class 1A National Insurance is due by 19 July, or 22 July if paid electronically. For the 2026/27 tax year that means 6 July 2027.
Do I need a P11D if I had no benefits?
Not for yourself, but check the company’s position. If HMRC has asked for a P11D(b), the company must file a nil declaration even when no benefits were provided, or penalties accrue as if it were late.
How do I pay the tax on my P11D benefits?
HMRC usually adjusts your tax code for the following year so the tax is collected through PAYE, or the benefits are taxed through your Self Assessment return if you file one. The company separately pays Class 1A National Insurance at 15% on the same values.
Does payrolling benefits remove the P11D?
For the payrolled benefits, yes: they are taxed through payslips in real time and do not go on a P11D. The P11D(b) is still filed so the company’s Class 1A NIC is declared. From 6 April 2027 payrolling becomes mandatory for most benefits.
Is a director’s loan reported on the P11D?
If the loan exceeded £10,000 at any point in the tax year and you paid interest below HMRC’s official rate of 3.75%, yes, the cheap interest is a reportable benefit. A separate corporation tax charge can also apply if the loan is still outstanding 9 months and 1 day after the company’s year end.
Keep reading
The three guides that sit behind the entries on this form.
The values
What counts as a benefit in kind, what is taxed and what is not.
Benefits in kind explained →The loan account
Section 455, the benefit charge and the repayment rules directors trip on.
Director’s loan account →The car
Why the emissions question decides whether a car belongs in the company.
Buying a car through your company →Get the P11D done properly this year
Total Books Accountants Ltd is a regulated, founder-led practice of limited company accountants, led by Buhir Rafiq with more than 30 years in accounting and finance. We are AAT licensed, an HMRC registered tax agent, a Companies House authorised agent and a Xero Certified Advisor, working from offices in Cardiff, Newport and Bristol and UK-wide through our Virtual Finance Office with secure digital onboarding.
If you want your benefits reported correctly and the 2027 payrolling change handled before it handles you, book a free 15-minute business call and we will map it out.
Two Julys left of the old process
Get the benefit records clean while the P11D still runs on your timetable
Tell us what the company paid for this year and we will tell you what is reportable, what is exempt, and whether payrolling should start before April 2027 makes it compulsory.
This guide is general information, not advice for your specific situation. Reporting rules, rates and deadlines change, and the treatment of a benefit depends on the facts. Completing your returns remains the responsibility of the taxpayer; please take professional advice before acting.
