Completing form P11D
Form P11D is one two forms you must use at the end of the tax year to report to us any expenses and benefits you have provided to your employees. The other is form P9D, which is covered in another of our guides.
This guide explains which employees you should complete and file a P11D for. It sets out the information you need to include on the form, and it points to sources of further information that tell you how to report specific categories of expense and benefit on the form. Finally, this guide explains the different ways you can submit form P11D to us.
On this page:
- Which employees to complete a form P11D for
- What information to include on form P11D
- What the information on form P11D is used for
- When and how to submit the form to us
- Avoiding common errors when completing the form
Which employees to complete a form P11D for
If you provide expenses or benefits to an employee (or to members of their family or household), you must complete a form P11D if the employee earns at a rate of £8,500 per year or more. For employees earning less than that, form P9D is used instead.
Note that the £8,500 threshold doesn’t only cover regular payments such as salary or wages. It also includes the value of the expenses and benefits that you’ve provided to the employee (or members of their family or household) during the tax year.
Company directors
You should use form P11D to record the expenses and benefits you provide to almost all company directors.
However, use form P9D instead for a company director who earns at a rate of less than £8,500 per year, has no material interest in the company, and who falls into either of the following two categories:
- full-time working directors
- directors of charities or non-profit organisations
In broad terms, a director has a material interest in a company if they own or (together with associates) can control more than five per cent of its ordinary share capital.
What information to include on the form
You must use form P11D to report the value of any expenses and benefits you have provided to an employee during the tax year. You must also tell us whether any amounts have been made good by the employee, and whether tax has already been deducted on any of them through your payroll.
Note that you do not need to include on form P11D any items that are covered either by a dispensation or a PAYE Settlement Agreement (PSA).
In general, the value of an expense or benefit to report on form P11D is the cost to you (including VAT) of providing it to the employee. But there are exceptions and with some items – such as car benefits and beneficial loans – there are a number of steps involved in working out the cash equivalent to report to us.
Sources of further help when completing form P11D
For more information about how to calculate the values to report, see our eight other guides on the reporting and tax/NICs requirements for a range of common expenses and benefits, as well as our publication ‘P11D Guide’ – use the links at the end of this guide.
For details of which section of form P11D you should use for a wider range of expense and benefits, you can use our A-Z guide to expenses and benefits reporting. If the A-Z says ‘No’ beside ‘Enter on P11D’ for an item, it means that you’re not required to report it on form P11D.
More about reducing reporting requirements with a dispensation
More about reducing reporting requirements with a PSA
Our A-Z guide to the reporting requirements for different expenses and benefits
What the information on form P11D is used for
The information you provide on form P11D serves two main purposes.
It identifies the value of the expenses and benefits you’ve provided to an employee that attract a liability to Class 1A NICs. These are the amounts that you have to total up for all of your P11D employees when completing form P11D(b), the form that tells us your total Class 1A NICs liability for the year.
We also use the figures on an employee’s form P11D to review their tax position and to adjust their tax code for the current year – so that any tax they owe on the expenses and benefits you’ve provided to them is deducted from them through the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) system.
An overview of how the expenses and benefits system works
When and how to submit the form to us
You must send your completed form P11Ds to reach us by 6 July following the end of the tax year. You must also provide a copy of the information on the form by the same date to the employee the form relates to.
Because calculations are required to determine the value of a number of the items reported on form P11D, it is easier to use electronic (online or software based) versions of the form rather than a traditional paper based form. Rather than requiring you to do the calculations yourself, the electronic versions of the form will complete these for you automatically once you enter the basic information about the expense or benefit you have provided to your employee.
In most cases, electronic versions of form P11D will also seamlessly transfer the relevant data from the form through to a form P11D(b) reporting your overall Class 1A NICs liability for the year.
Completing and filing an electronic version of form P11D
There are three main electronic options for completing and filing the form:
- Use the free ‘Online Return and Forms – PAYE’ service on our website, which allows you to complete and file the form online
- Use the ‘Fill in forms (with save option)’ service on our Employer CD-Rom. This allows you to complete form P11D on your computer, but not to file online – you’ll need to print out the completed form and post or deliver it to us.
- If you use commercial payroll software, check if it allows you to complete form P11Ds for your employees. Many software packages also enable you to file online to us.
Completing and filing a paper version of form P11D
You can either download and print a paper version of form P11D – use the link below - or you can order one from our Employer Orderline on Tel 08457 646 646. The Orderline is open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm Monday to Friday and 10.00 am to 1.00 pm on Saturdays.
Find out how to start filing your PAYE forms online
More about completing and filing form P11D(b)
Avoiding common errors when completing form P11D
The errors in the list below commonly hold up our processing of form P11D. However, note that most will be avoided if you complete the form electronically rather than on paper, because you’ll be prompted to correct any mistakes before saving or filing the form:
- Using a paper form that relates to the wrong tax year. Check the top right hand corner of the first page
- Entering an incorrect PAYE reference or leaving it out completely. (References should be in the format 123/A456)
- Forgetting to include some or all of the employee details we require: name, date of birth, gender and National Insurance number
- Not ticking the ‘director’ box if the employee is a director
- Not including descriptions if amounts are included in sections A, B, L, M or N of the form
- Leaving the ‘cash equivalent’ box empty if you’ve entered a figure in the corresponding ‘cost’ box of a section
- Sending P11Ds when you’ve also ticked the box in Part 5 of form P35 (in your Employer Annual Return) to indicate that P11Ds are not due
If you realise that you have made a mistake on an employee’s form P11D,
let us know as soon as possible so that we can help you put things right.
More about correcting errors in
your expenses and benefits reports
More useful links
Our A-Z of expenses and benefits reporting
More about completing and filing form P11D(b)
Common expenses and benefits: tax, NICs and reporting requirements
