The reset — Income Tax, National Insurance and statutory-pay rates change on 6 April; the minimum wage rises a cycle earlier on 1 April.
The monthly cadence — an FPS on or before every payday, then pay HMRC by the 22nd of the next tax month (the 19th if you pay by post).
The year-end run-off — final FPS on your last payday, then P60s by 31 May, P11D & P11D(b) by 6 July, and Class 1A NIC by 22 July.
These are the same statutory dates seen through different lenses. This page is the period / year view. For the deadlines each pay run triggers — the FPS on or before payday, pension contributions — use the payday timeline. For each RTI obligation end-to-end, with channels, penalties and per-claim citations, use the RTI lodgement calendar.
The monthly cadence
Two obligations repeat every tax month. The tax month runs from the 6th to the 5th — that is the frame the deadlines hang off, not the calendar month.
You report pay, payrolled benefits and deductions in an FPS on or before their payday (unless an exception applies) — and you "must enter the usual date that you pay your employees, even if you pay them earlier or later." Send it on or before payday "even if you pay HMRC quarterly instead of monthly." This is a per-payday event; the payday timeline covers it in full.
You pay by "the 22nd of the next tax month if you pay monthly" — or "the 22nd after the end of the quarter if you pay quarterly." If you pay by cheque through the post, "it must reach HMRC by the 19th of the month." (Employers usually paying less than £1,500 per month may be able to pay quarterly.)
The tax-year arc — 6 April to 5 April
The UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. Almost everything annual clusters at two ends — the April reset and the summer run-off — with a long quiet middle where only the monthly cadence runs.
The quiet months aren't idle — the monthly cadence above (the FPS on every payday and the 22nd) keeps running through every one of them.
6 April — the master reset (and the 1 April trap)
6 April is when the numbers change. The tax year runs 6 April to 5 April, and the year-scoped figures — Income Tax bands, National Insurance thresholds and rates, and the statutory-pay rates — take effect from that date. Because those figures are re-set every year, we don't restate them here: see PAYE, NI & auto-enrolment for the current tax and NI thresholds, and leave & statutory pay for the current SSP and parental-pay rates.
The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage do not move with the tax year. They rise on 1 April — a calendar-April cycle, a full tax-month before the 6 April reset. So there is a window where a worker is on the new wage floor but the old tax and NI thresholds still apply. Treat 1 April and 6 April as two separate switch-overs, not one.
The year-end run-off
The tax year ends on 5 April, but the reporting doesn't stop there. The final FPS, then three fixed summer dates, close the year out.
Send your final FPS "on or before your employees' last payday of the tax year (which ends on 5 April)" and put "Yes" in the "Final submission for year" field. This one isn't a fixed calendar date — it tracks your own last payday, which is why it sits at the tax-year boundary rather than on a stated day.
"Give your employees a P60 — By 31 May." A fixed annual deadline: every employee on the payroll at the end of the tax year gets their end-of-year summary.
"Report employee expenses and benefits — By 6 July." You fill in an online P11D for benefits and a P11D(b) for the Class 1A National Insurance you owe, and "submit it to HMRC at the end of the tax year." Fewer than 500 employees: use HMRC's PAYE Online; more than 500: use your payroll software.
"You need to pay contributions on work benefits [Class 1A NIC] by 22 July each year for the previous tax year. You'll need to pay by 19 July if paying by post." So the P11D(b) is filed by 6 July, but the money follows on 22 July.
If a deadline is missed
HMRC operates separate late-filing and late-payment penalty regimes for RTI, and interest builds daily on unpaid PAYE. The penalty bands, the discretionary 3-day easement and the new-employer allowances aren't restated here — they live, with citations, in the RTI lodgement calendar. Start from the United Kingdom guide for the full set of UK payroll timelines.
Quick answers
When do UK payroll rates change each year?
On two different dates — the two-cycle trap. Income Tax bands, National Insurance thresholds and rates, and the statutory-pay rates all take effect from 6 April, the start of the tax year (which runs 6 April to 5 April). But the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rise on 1 April — a calendar-April cycle, a full tax-month before the 6 April reset. So for one pay period you can be on the new wage floor but the old tax and NI thresholds. Because these figures are re-set every year, we link the current-year numbers rather than restate a value that drifts.
What must I report to HMRC every month?
Two things on their own clocks. You report pay and deductions in a Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before your employees' payday — even if you pay HMRC quarterly rather than monthly — entering the usual payday even when you actually pay earlier or later. Then you pay your PAYE bill to HMRC by the 22nd of the next tax month if you pay monthly (the 22nd after the quarter if you pay quarterly). If you pay by cheque through the post it must reach HMRC by the 19th. The FPS is a per-payday event; the 22nd is the money.
What are the UK payroll year-end deadlines?
The tax year ends on 5 April, and the run-off is a fixed sequence. Send your final FPS on or before your employees' last payday of the tax year, marking 'Final submission for year' in your software. Give your employees a P60 by 31 May. Report employee expenses and benefits — the P11D and P11D(b) — by 6 July. Then pay any Class 1A National Insurance you owe by 22 July (by 19 July if paying by post). The final FPS is not a fixed calendar date — it tracks your last payday of the year — but 31 May, 6 July and 22 July are the same each year.
When are the P11D and Class 1A National Insurance due?
You fill in an online P11D for expenses and benefits and a P11D(b) for the Class 1A National Insurance you owe, and submit both to HMRC at the end of the tax year — the reporting deadline is 6 July. The Class 1A payment itself is due later: you need to pay contributions on work benefits by 22 July each year for the previous tax year, or by 19 July if you pay by post. So 6 July is the form, 22 July is the payment.
Every period, closed on time
Ledra Pay tracks the tax-year arc alongside the payday clock — arming the 6 April rate change and the 1 April wage floor, filing the FPS on or before payday, remitting by the 22nd, and driving the year-end run-off through P60s, the P11D and the Class 1A payment.
See Ledra Pay coverage →Government sources
- GOV.UK — Running payroll: reporting to HMRC (FPS) (FPS on or before payday; enter the usual payday even if you pay early or late; send even if you pay HMRC quarterly).
- GOV.UK — What payroll information to report to HMRC (the on-or-before rule; payrolled benefits and deductions).
- GOV.UK — Pay employers' PAYE (pay by the 22nd of the next tax month; the 22nd after the quarter if quarterly; 19th if by post; quarterly if usually under £1,500/month).
- GOV.UK — Payroll: annual reporting and tasks (final FPS on or before the last payday of the tax year, which ends 5 April; P60 by 31 May; report expenses and benefits by 6 July).
- GOV.UK — Expenses and benefits for employers (the P11D and P11D(b); submit at the end of the tax year; PAYE Online under 500 employees, payroll software over 500).
- GOV.UK — Pay employers' Class 1A National Insurance (pay by 22 July for the previous tax year; 19 July if paying by post).
- GOV.UK — Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (year-scoped Income Tax, NI and statutory-pay rates effective for the 6 April – 5 April tax year).
- GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage rates (NMW and NLW rates, effective from April — the calendar-April cycle).
Per-claim citations, penalty mechanics and the full RTI obligation-by-obligation calendar live in the RTI lodgement calendar.
Related
The same deadlines seen from the payday — the clocks that follow each pay run.
The same deadlines organised by obligation, with penalties and channels.
The current-year Income Tax, National Insurance and pension figures that reset on 6 April.