May 2017 newsletter

Welcome to another newsletter from the Tax Guide for Students (TGFS) website. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight any topical tax issues which may affect students, apprentices and student money advisers.

In this newsletter we discuss what tax information you may have received from your employer for the previous (2016/17) tax year and also what to do if you have not received or have misplaced your National Insurance number. We also link to recent news articles from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG).

Tax information from your employer

If you are working part-time as well as studying or are an apprentice then you should receive a Form P60 from your employer by 31 May. This form is a summary of what you have earned in the 2016/17 tax year (which runs from 6 April 2016 to 5 April 2017) and what income tax and National Insurance contributions both you and your employer have made.

We recommend that you keep this form as a record of what you have earned and check it with your payslips, especially if your earnings fluctuate depending on the number of hours you work. There is more information on what PAYE (Pay As You Earn) forms your employer should give you on our First time workers page.

If you have received benefits in kind then your employer may also give you a Form P11D; you should receive this by 6 July. Benefits in kind are a part of your wages which are ‘paid’ not in cash but through a different medium such as private medical insurance or a voucher scheme. Not all benefits are taxable (for example, childcare vouchers for all eligible employees are non-taxable) and not all employers provide benefits in kind. If you do receive benefits then they may already be taxed through your payslip (this is called payrolled benefits), or if that is not the case then your employer should give you a Form P11D by 6 July after the tax year, so by 6 July 2017 for the 2016/17 tax year. The working section of our website explains about the different benefits in kind you may be provided with and how they are taxed.

National Insurance Numbers

Your National Insurance number (NINO) is a unique combination of letters and numbers and if you are aged over 16 years and you want to work in the UK then you must provide your NINO to your new employer. It is possible to start work without a NINO but you must apply for one straight away.

Never let anyone else use your NINO as it is a record of what National Insurance contributions you have made and what state benefits (including the state pension) you are entitled to.

If you are resident in the UK then you should receive your NINO in the post shortly before your 16th birthday, but sometimes this does not happen in which case you should contact HMRC to request your NINO. HMRC will never disclose this information on the phone but can send you correspondence confirming your NINO.

The contact details for HMRC to request a NINO if you have never received one and are under 20 years old are on GOV.UK. 

If you have misplaced your NINO then you should check any correspondence from HMRC, or old payslips and PAYE forms as these should state it. If you still cannot locate it then there are a number of different ways HMRC can confirm your NINO.

If you are an international student and your visa allows you to work in the UK then you will need to apply for a NINO. You may have already been allocated a NINO which is shown on the back of your biometric residence permit but if this is not the case you will need to contact HMRC to apply for one if you are living in England, Scotland or Wales. There is a different application process if you live in Northern Ireland.

The tax essentials section explains about what National Insurance is and how it is calculated; there is information for international students about what happens to their National Insurance contributions when they leave the UK.

News articles

LITRG website:

27 April – Shortened finance bill is passed by Parliament

4 May – Default ‘worker’ status is a smart move, says LITRG

10 May – New champion for taxpayers on low incomes calls for better tax guidance and support

15 May – Beware sophisticated phishing scams

(24-05-2017)