HMRC explains payrolling benefit exceptions for globally mobile employees
HMRC published guidance on 5 November 2026 explaining how employers can start or end exceptions from mandatory benefits payrolling for eligible globally mobile employees. The exception changes reporting, not the amount of tax or National Insurance due.
HM Revenue & Customs published guidance on 5 November 2026 explaining how employers can request exceptions from mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind for eligible globally mobile employees. The process is relevant to preparations for 6 April 2027, when HMRC says employers must report company cars and fuel, company vans and fuel, and medical insurance through payroll.
The exception is designed around particular international working arrangements in which employers will not have sufficient information to payroll benefits when employees receive them. It is not a general exemption for everyone who travels abroad for work. Crucially, HMRC says it changes how and when benefits are reported, not the amount of Income Tax or National Insurance due or how those amounts are calculated.
What the April 2027 requirement covers
The guidance identifies three categories for mandatory payrolling from 6 April 2027: company cars and fuel, company vans and fuel, and medical insurance. These are the benefits named in this announcement. Employers should not use this particular page as support for a broader statement that every possible employment benefit becomes subject to the same requirement on that date.
For the identified benefits, the normal direction is towards reporting through payroll. An eligible exception instead allows reporting through P11D and P11D(b) forms at the end of the tax year. That distinction concerns the reporting route. It does not mean that the benefit stops being relevant for tax purposes or becomes an untaxed addition to the employee’s remuneration.