What Is a P45?
A P45 is the form you get when you leave a job. Its full name is "Details of employee leaving work", and its job is to carry your pay and tax record from your old employer to your new one so the right amount of tax keeps coming out.
Every employer that runs PAYE has to give you a P45 when you stop working for them. It sets out how much you have been paid so far in the tax year, how much tax has already been deducted, and what tax code you were on when you left. Hand that to your next employer and they can pick up exactly where the last one left off, rather than guessing and taxing you too much.
That is the whole point of the form. Without it, your new employer has no idea what you have already earned or paid, so they fall back on emergency rules that often take more tax than they should. The P45 is the piece of paper that stops that happening.
What a P45 Shows
A P45 is short, but every figure on it matters. It records:
- Your leaving date and your employer's PAYE reference.
- Your tax code at the point you left.
- Your total pay to date in the current tax year, across the job you are leaving.
- The total tax deducted from that pay so far.
- Your National Insurance number and, where relevant, your student loan status.
Notice what is not on it. A P45 does not show your National Insurance contributions in detail, and it does not summarise the whole tax year the way a P60 does. It is a snapshot taken on the day you leave, built so the next employer can continue the running total. That distinction is the source of most of the confusion between the two forms, and we untangle it further down.
The Four Parts of a P45
A P45 comes in four parts, and knowing where each one goes saves a lot of head scratching.
- Part 1 goes to HMRC. Since Real Time Information came in back in 2013, your employer sends this electronically through their payroll when they report your final pay, so you never handle it.
- Part 1A is yours to keep. This is your personal copy and your proof of pay and tax from that job. File it somewhere safe, because you may need it for a tax return or a refund claim.
- Part 2 goes to your new employer, or to Jobcentre Plus if you are claiming benefits.
- Part 3 is completed by your new employer and sent to HMRC to register you on their payroll.
In practice, most people hand Parts 2 and 3 to the new employer together and keep Part 1A. Many employers now issue the P45 as a PDF rather than on paper, but the parts and their purpose are exactly the same.
When You Get a P45 and What to Do With It
Your employer must give you a P45 when your employment ends. There is no fixed number of days set in law, but they cannot delay it without good reason, and the honest answer is that it should follow your final payslip closely. If yours has not arrived a couple of weeks after your last pay, chase it.
Once you have it, what you do next depends on where you are going:
- Starting a new job? Give Parts 2 and 3 to your new employer as soon as you can, ideally before your first payday. This lets them apply your correct tax code from the start and keeps you off emergency tax.
- Out of work? Keep the whole form safe. You may need it to claim Jobseeker's Allowance or other benefits, and to claim back tax if you stop working partway through the year using HMRC form P50.
- Retiring or drawing a pension? Your pension provider will use it to set up the right code.
The single most valuable thing a P45 does is protect your next pay packet. Hand it over promptly and the tax should be right. Sit on it and you may hand HMRC an interest free loan until it all gets sorted out.
No P45? The Starter Checklist and Emergency Tax
If you start a new job without a P45, you are not stuck, but you do need to fill a gap. Your new employer will ask you to complete HMRC's Starter Checklist, the short form that replaced the old P46 back in 2013. It asks whether this is your only job, whether you have had other income this year, and whether you have a student loan, so the employer can pick a sensible starting code.
Without the actual figures from a P45, though, the employer often has to use an emergency tax code at first. For 2026/27 these appear as 1257L W1, 1257L M1 or 1257L X. They give you the standard Personal Allowance but tax each pay period on its own, ignoring what you have already earned, which frequently means too much tax comes off early on.
The good news is that emergency codes correct themselves. Once HMRC has your full record, it issues a proper cumulative code and any overpayment comes back through your pay or after the tax year ends. Handing over a P45 simply skips that whole detour.
Lost Your P45?
This is the question we get asked most, and the answer surprises people: your old employer cannot give you a replacement P45. HMRC only allows one to be issued, so there is no duplicate to request.
That is less of a problem than it sounds. If you have lost yours and are starting a new job, you just complete the Starter Checklist instead, and your new employer works from that. You can also see your pay and tax history at any time in your Personal Tax Account on GOV.UK, which covers the same ground the P45 would have. So while a lost P45 means a short spell of emergency tax is more likely, it does not leave you out of pocket for good.
What Is a P60?
A P60 is the other PAYE form people mix up with the P45, so it is worth setting out clearly. Its full name is the End of Year Certificate, and it summarises everything you were paid and taxed in a single job across the whole tax year.
You get a P60 if you are still employed on 5 April, the last day of the tax year. Your employer must give it to you by 31 May, either on paper or electronically. It shows your total pay for the year, the total tax deducted, your National Insurance contributions, your final tax code and any student loan deductions.
A P60 is your headline proof of income. You will reach for it when you apply for a mortgage or loan, complete a Self Assessment tax return, claim a tax refund, or prove your earnings for benefits or a visa. If you hold more than one job on 5 April, you get a P60 from each one. Keep them, because unlike a P45 there is no time limit worry, but there is also no easy reprint if you bin it.
P45 vs P60 vs P11D
The three PAYE forms trip people up because they all deal with pay and tax but at different moments. Here is the plain version:
| Form | When you get it | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| P45 | When you leave a job, mid year | Pay and tax so far in the current year, plus your leaving tax code |
| P60 | After 5 April, if still employed | Total pay, tax and NI for the whole tax year in that job |
| P11D | By 6 July after the tax year | Taxable benefits in kind, such as a company car or medical cover |
The easy way to remember it: a P45 is a leaving snapshot, a P60 is an annual summary, and a P11D reports the perks you get on top of your salary. You might see all three in a single year if you change jobs, stay in the new one to 5 April, and have a company benefit along the way.
Our View
The P45 is one of those forms that feels like admin until the day it costs you money. Our honest view is that the moment you leave a job, the P45 is the one document worth chasing hard, because handing it to your next employer promptly is the difference between the right tax and a few months of emergency deductions you then have to claw back.
We also think people worry too much about a lost P45 and too little about their P60. A lost P45 is a minor inconvenience the Starter Checklist fixes in five minutes. A lost P60, on the other hand, cannot be reissued as easily and is the form a mortgage lender actually wants to see. Our rule of thumb: hand your P45 on quickly, and file every P60 somewhere you will still find it in three years.
How IAK Can Help
We run payroll for employers across North London, which means producing accurate P45s the moment someone leaves, issuing P60s to every employee by the deadline, and making sure new starters are on the right code from their first payday rather than languishing on emergency tax. For company directors, we set salary, code and PAYE up so the whole thing runs cleanly alongside your dividends.
If you are an employee who has been landed on emergency tax or thinks a form has gone astray, our personal tax team can check your record against HMRC and reclaim anything you have overpaid. To see how your code turns into take home pay, try our salary calculator, and if you want a proper review, contact us for a free consultation.
Sources
- PAYE forms: P45, P60 and P11D, GOV.UK, on what each form is, when you receive it and what it contains.
- Get a proof of employment history or income, GOV.UK, on using your Personal Tax Account when a P45 or P60 is missing.
- Tell HMRC about a new employee, GOV.UK, on the Starter Checklist that replaced the P46 and how new starters are set up.
- Tax codes, GOV.UK, on the 1257L standard code and the W1, M1 and X emergency codes for 2026/27.
- Claim back tax if you have stopped working, GOV.UK, on using form P50 and your P45 to claim a refund when you leave work.