SA302 or P60: Which Document Do UK Lenders Want?

Depends on how you are paid. PAYE employees show the P60. Self-assessed people (sole traders, partners, directors with dividends) show the SA302 plus its matching Tax Year Overview. Mixed-income applicants bring both. The lender's choice tracks the income type, not document preference.

P60 vs SA302 at a glance

	P60	SA302
Who gets one	Anyone on PAYE payroll at midnight 5 April	Anyone with a Self Assessment obligation
Who issues it	Your employer	HMRC, after you file the SA return
Issued by	31 May each year	Same day for online filers, after return submission
What it shows	Total pay, PAYE tax, NI, statutory pay, tax code	Total taxable income by source, tax due, payments on account
Lender wants it for	PAYE income only	Self-employed, dividend, or multi-source income
Cadence	One per employer per tax year	One per Self Assessment tax year
Underpinning law	ERA 1996, s.8 and PAYE regulations	Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 and the Self Assessment rules

All figures must reconcile to HMRC's records. Lenders verify PAYE income via the [RTI feed](https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/reporting-to-hmrc); self-assessed figures are checked against HMRC's SA302 channels.

What if I'm a director paying salary plus dividends?

Bring both. The salary line is evidenced by the P60 from your company's PAYE payroll; the dividend line is evidenced by SA302s for the same tax years. Most lenders cross-check the two. The payslip-for-mortgage workflow on payslipmaker.uk covers the salaried-director PAYE case and does not replace the SA302 for the dividend layer.

What if I just switched from PAYE to self-employment?

You have a P60 from the employed year and one year of SA302s. Most lenders want two SA302s, so the application either escalates to a specialist lender or waits for the second SA302 to file. The prior employer's P60 does not bridge the gap. The other direction is easier: current payslips and the latest P60 cover PAYE income going forward, with the last self-employed year's SA302 supplied only if the income remains relevant.

What if I can't get either document?

For a missing P60, the HMRC Personal Tax Account holds Pay and Tax History for the last five tax years; most lenders accept the print-out. The replacement P60 guide walks the steps when the employer is unreachable. For a missing SA302, no document substitutes for filing the Self Assessment return. Lenders verify directly against HMRC, so fabricated figures escalate to fraud review and a CIFAS marker.