A P45 is one of the most important tax documents you will deal with as an employee. It is the form your employer must give you every time you leave a job, and it is how your tax record follows you from one employer to the next. Without it, your new employer may not have your earlier pay and tax details, which can mean you are paid on an emergency tax code until HMRC sends the correct one.
This guide explains exactly what a P45 contains, what the four parts are for, what you should do with it, and what happens if you do not receive one.
What a P45 Is
Your P45 is officially titled “Details of employee leaving work.” It is produced by your employer through their PAYE payroll software when you leave, and it summarises your earnings and tax in the current tax year up to your leaving date.
The information on your P45 is what allows your new employer, or Jobcentre Plus (part of the Department for Work and Pensions) if you are claiming taxable benefits, to continue calculating your tax correctly. PAYE is usually cumulative: your employer tracks how much you have earned and how much tax you have paid since 6 April, and calculates each month’s deduction accordingly. Your P45 is how that running total transfers when you move jobs.
Without this information, your new employer has to start from scratch, which can mean emergency tax.
What Your P45 Contains
Your P45 carries several pieces of key information:
- Your personal details — name and National Insurance number
- Your employer’s PAYE reference — the unique reference HMRC uses to identify your employer
- Your leaving date — your last day of employment
- Your tax code at the date of leaving — for example, 1257L
- Total pay to date in the tax year: total pay from 6 April to your leaving date
- Total tax deducted to date in the tax year — the tax collected by your employer on HMRC’s behalf
- Week 1/Month 1 indicator — if ticked, it means your employer was applying a non-cumulative (emergency) tax code
The pay and tax figures are the most important. They let your new employer work out your tax from your total pay and tax so far in the tax year, rather than starting again from zero.
Always check these figures against your payslips before handing your P45 to a new employer. If the pay figure does not match your cumulative pay on your last payslip, or the tax figure looks wrong, contact your former employer to have it corrected before passing it on.
The Four Parts of a P45
A P45 is issued in four parts, each serving a different purpose:
| Part | Goes to | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | HMRC (sent only by some employers; most report leavers through payroll) | HMRC’s official record that your employment has ended |
| Part 1A | You | Your personal copy: keep it safe, you may need it for a tax return |
| Part 2 | Your new employer | Used to set up your tax code |
| Part 3 | Your new employer | Completed by your new employer with your new starter details |
Most employers tell HMRC you have left through their payroll submission rather than sending Part 1. You receive Parts 1A, 2, and 3.
When you start a new job, hand Parts 2 and 3 to your new employer as soon as possible, ideally before or on your first day. Keep Part 1A in a safe place. Copies are not available, and you might need the information in it to fill in a tax return if you are sent one.
When You Should Receive Your P45
Your employer is legally required to give you a P45 when your employment ends. There is no specific statutory deadline expressed as a number of days, but the expectation is that it should be with you on your last day of employment or very shortly after.
A delay of several weeks is hard to justify, and it is reasonable to chase formally.
If your employer is slow, send a written request (email is fine) setting a clear deadline and keeping a copy. If they still do not provide it, you can fill in a starter checklist for your new employer instead. Your employer reports your pay to HMRC, and you can view and download your pay and tax details for the last 5 tax years in your personal tax account or the HMRC app.
What to Do With Your P45
What you should do with your P45 depends on what happens next after leaving your job.
Starting a new job: Give Parts 2 and 3 to your new employer before or on your first day. The earlier the better — the sooner payroll has this information, the less likely you are to be placed on an emergency tax code. Keep Part 1A for your records.
Claiming taxable benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance: Give your P45 to Jobcentre Plus if you have one. GOV.UK says that if you are not working and are claiming taxable benefits, you give your P45 to Jobcentre Plus.
Becoming self-employed: Keep your P45 safely. Employed income goes on the employment pages (SA102) of your Self Assessment tax return, and your P45 shows your pay and tax from 6 April to the date you left. HMRC will already have the information, but having your own copy means you can cross-check the figures.
Not working and not claiming benefits: Keep Part 1A. If you have overpaid tax and claim a refund with form P50, HMRC asks about Parts 2 and 3 of your P45, so keep those too.
Starting a New Job Without a P45
If you do not have a P45 — because your employer has not yet issued one, you have lost it, or you are starting your first job — your new employer can still set you up on payroll using the Starter Checklist (formerly known as form P46).
The Starter Checklist asks you a series of questions to help your new employer determine the correct tax code to apply. The key question is which of three statements applies to you:
- Statement A: This is your first job since 6 April, and since then you have not received Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit payments, and you do not receive a State, workplace or private pension
- Statement B: This is now your only job, but since 6 April you have had another job that has ended and you do not have a P45 for it, or you have received Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit payments, and you do not currently receive a State, workplace or private pension
- Statement C: You have another job, or you receive a State, workplace or private pension
The checklist also asks a separate question about student loan and postgraduate loan repayment — this is independent of which of A, B, or C you select, and your employer uses your answer to decide whether to start deducting loan repayments from your pay.
Selecting the wrong statement can result in you paying too much or too little tax.
Your answer determines the starting tax code your employer uses. HMRC will usually update the code once it has your details from your new and previous employers, which can take up to 35 days from when you start the job.
Emergency Tax and the P45
Emergency tax is what happens when your new employer does not have enough information to set your correct tax code from the start. This typically occurs when you begin a new job without providing a P45.
Under emergency tax, your employer applies a basic tax code, usually one ending W1 or M1, such as 1257L W1 or 1257L M1 (a code ending X is used when pay dates vary; the suffix means tax is worked out on each week’s or month’s pay only, not cumulatively). This gives you the standard personal allowance for each pay period, but ignores the cumulative picture of what you have already earned and paid tax on in the year.
The practical effect depends on your situation:
- If you have not used much of your personal allowance (for example, you left your last job early in the tax year), emergency tax can mean you pay the wrong amount of tax, and you can get a refund if you overpay
- If you were on a non-standard tax code (for example, a higher-rate code due to benefits in kind), emergency tax will not reflect that and your tax position will need correcting
HMRC will usually update your tax code once it has your details from your new and previous employers, which can take up to 35 days from when you start the job. You can also contact HMRC directly to update your code rather than waiting. If you have overpaid tax, the refund will come through payroll once the correct code is applied, or HMRC will tell you how to claim it after the tax year ends. For a full explanation of how emergency codes work and when they are applied, see our emergency tax guide and our guide to why you might be paying emergency tax.
What Happens to Your Tax Across Multiple Job Changes
The cumulative nature of PAYE means your P45 acts as the handover document each time you move jobs within a tax year. Each employer, once it has your earlier details, works out your tax from your total pay since 6 April, not just their portion.
If you change jobs twice in a year, the chain works like this: Job A issues a P45 to you. You give Parts 2 and 3 to Job B. When you leave Job B, they issue a new P45 that incorporates the totals from Job A plus Job B. That goes to Job C. After 5 April, an employer you are working for on that date gives you a P60 showing the tax you paid on your salary in the tax year.
If any link in that chain breaks (for example, you start Job B on an emergency code before Job A has issued your P45), there is a risk of either underpaying or overpaying tax during the year. HMRC will usually update your tax code once it has your details from your new and previous employers, but it is your responsibility to make sure you are paying the right amount of tax, so check your tax code shortly after starting any new job. Our guide to understanding your tax code explains what the numbers and letters mean.
P45 vs P60
These two documents are often confused. The key difference is timing and scope:
| Document | When issued | What it covers | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|---|
| P45 | When you leave a job | Earnings and tax from 6 April to your leaving date | The employer you are leaving |
| P60 | After 5 April each year | Pay and tax for the tax year (6 April to 5 April) | Your employer at 5 April |
You only receive a P60 from an employer you are still working for on 5 April, and you get a separate P60 for each job. If you have changed jobs during the year, your final employer’s P60 may show only their portion of your pay, which is why your P45 from previous employers is important for the full picture. See our P60 guide for everything you need to know about that document.
P45 Errors: What to Check and What to Do
Before you hand your P45 to a new employer, take a few minutes to check the figures. Compare:
- The total pay to date figure against the year-to-date pay shown on your final payslip
- The tax deducted to date figure against the cumulative tax on your final payslip
- Your name and NI number to confirm they are correct
- The leaving date to confirm it matches your actual last working day
- The tax code to confirm it matches your most recent payslip
If anything is wrong, contact your former employer and ask them to issue a corrected P45. Do not hand an incorrect P45 to your new employer, because the error will flow through to your new tax calculations. If your former employer is unresponsive, contact HMRC directly.
Lost Your P45
If you have lost your P45, you cannot get a replacement. However, this is rarely a serious problem:
- For a new employer: Use the Starter Checklist instead. Your new employer can set up your tax code without a P45, and HMRC will usually send the correct code once it has your details from your new and previous employers.
- For self assessment: Use your payslips to reconstruct the cumulative pay and tax figures. HMRC also holds your employment data and your Personal Tax Account (gov.uk/personal-tax-account) shows a summary of your income and tax for recent years.
- For benefits: GOV.UK says a lost P45 cannot be replaced, so check with Jobcentre Plus what it will accept instead.
If you need to confirm figures from a past tax year and have no payslips, You can view your pay and tax details for the last 5 tax years in your Personal Tax Account, or call HMRC’s PAYE and Income Tax helpline on 0300 200 3300.
Finding Your Pay and Tax Details Online
GOV.UK says you can view and download your pay and tax details for the last 5 tax years in your personal tax account or the HMRC app.
Employer Obligations
Employers must give an employee a P45 when they leave, with an exception where the employee retires and the employer pays them a pension (they stay on that payroll and get a retirement statement instead). The employer reports your leaving date to HMRC through their payroll submission (the Full Payment Submission).
If an employer does not provide a P45, GOV.UK says to ask them for one. Without it you can give your new employer a starter checklist.
A P45 shows your leaving date, total pay and tax from 6 April to that date, and your tax code. If you received benefits in kind (such as a company car), your employer might report them separately on a P11D form after the end of the tax year, or may instead take the tax through your pay, in which case no P11D is needed.
Related Guides
- Emergency Tax UK — What It Is and How to Get a Refund
- Why Am I Paying Emergency Tax?
- P60 Explained — What It Is and What to Do With It
- Tax Codes Explained — What Your Code Means
- How to Change Your Tax Code
- What Happens If You Have the Wrong Tax Code?
- Why Has My Tax Code Changed?
- P11D Benefits in Kind Guide
- UK Income Tax Brackets 2026/27
- Personal Allowance 2026/27
- Take-Home Pay Calculator
- Tax Codes Hub