P45 Explained — What It Is, When You Get It & What to Do (UK)

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 cannot set your tax code correctly from day one, which often means you end up on emergency tax until HMRC can sort it out.

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 the Department for Work and Pensions if you are claiming benefits — to continue calculating your tax correctly. The UK income tax system is 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 almost always means 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 — all earnings 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 tell your new employer exactly where you are in the tax year — how much of your personal allowance has been used, how much tax has been paid, and whether you are likely to owe more or be due a refund by 5 April.

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:

Your employer sends Part 1 to HMRC electronically as part of their payroll submission. You receive Parts 1A, 2, and 3 — either on paper or, increasingly, as a PDF via email or through a payroll portal. All formats are equally valid.

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. You may need it as supporting evidence if there is ever a dispute about your earnings or tax for that year, and it is useful if you need to complete a Self Assessment tax return.

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. Most payroll teams process P45s as part of the leavers run at the end of the relevant pay period.

In practice, delays often occur if you leave mid-month and payroll is not processed until the end of the month, or if there is a backlog. A delay of a few working days is generally acceptable. A delay of several weeks is not, and entitles you 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 — or if the company has closed down — contact HMRC on 0300 200 3200 or through your Personal Tax Account at gov.uk. HMRC holds the employment and tax data independently and can verify your earnings even without a P45.

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 Universal Credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance: You may be asked to provide your P45 to the Jobcentre or DWP when you make a claim. Parts 2 and 3 are used to confirm your employment has ended and to assess your recent income for means-tested benefits. If you have already given Parts 2 and 3 to a new employer, tell the Jobcentre — they can access your employment data through HMRC records.

Becoming self-employed: Keep your P45 safely. You will need to declare your employed earnings from the current tax year on your Self Assessment tax return, and your P45 is your primary record of those figures. 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. You may need it for tax reconciliation at year end, particularly if you believe you have overpaid tax and want to claim a refund.

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 last 6 April and you have not been receiving taxable benefits, a student loan, or an occupational pension
• Statement B: This is now your only job, but since last 6 April you have had another job, or received taxable benefits (and you do not have one now)
• Statement C: You have another job or receive a pension

Selecting the wrong statement can result in you paying too much or too little tax. If in doubt, Statement B is usually the safest for someone who has had a previous job in the same tax year but has no current second job.

Your answer determines the starting tax code your employer uses. HMRC will then update the code once they have processed your employer’s notification of your start date.

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 1257L W1 or 1257L M1 (the W1/M1 suffix means it is applied on a week-by-week or month-by-month basis rather than 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 may result in you paying less tax than you actually owe
• If you have already used most of your allowance and have been paying the right amount, emergency tax may mean you pay approximately the right amount
• 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 normally corrects emergency tax codes automatically within four to eight weeks once they receive payroll data from your new employer. 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 as a lump sum at year end. 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 calculates your tax based on total earnings 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. At the end of the tax year, your final employer issues a P60 covering the full year’s position.

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 resolves most of these discrepancies automatically, but it is worth checking your tax code shortly after starting any new job to confirm it looks right. 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:

You only receive a P60 from the employer you are still working for at the end of the tax year. If you have changed jobs during the year, your final employer’s P60 will reflect 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 cumulative gross pay shown on your final payslip — they should match
• 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 — the error will flow through to your new tax calculations and may take months to correct. If your former employer is unresponsive, contact HMRC directly.

Lost Your P45

If you have lost your P45, you cannot get an exact replacement — employers are not legally required to issue a duplicate. 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 supply the correct code once they process the payroll notification.
• 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: The DWP and Jobcentre can access your HMRC employment record directly if you cannot provide a P45.

If you need to confirm figures from a past tax year and have no payslips, HMRC can provide an employment history via your Personal Tax Account or by calling the income tax helpline on 0300 200 3300.

Digital P45s

Most employers now issue P45s digitally — either as a PDF attached to an email, or through a payroll self-service portal. A digital P45 carries exactly the same legal weight as a paper one. If your new employer’s HR system asks you to upload your P45, a PDF or photo of the document is acceptable.

If you are printing a PDF P45 to hand over in person, there is no requirement for it to be printed in any particular format. The content is what matters.

Employer Obligations

Employers are legally required to provide a P45 to every employee when their employment ends — regardless of the reason for leaving (resignation, redundancy, dismissal, or end of contract). The employer must also send Part 1 to HMRC as part of their final payroll submission for that employee.

If an employer refuses to provide a P45, or repeatedly delays without good reason, you can report them to HMRC. HMRC can investigate the employer’s payroll compliance and, in serious cases, take enforcement action. For most people, simply asking formally in writing and then escalating to HMRC is enough to resolve the issue.

Note that employers are not required to include P11D benefit information on your P45. If you received taxable benefits in kind (such as a company car), those will be reported separately on your P11D form after the end of the tax year.

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
• Understanding Your Tax Code
• 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