P45 in 2026: When to Issue It, What Each Part Does and Starters Without One

A P45 is the form an employer gives someone when they stop working for it. It records the leaving date, the pay and tax for the tax year so far, the tax code and whether student loan deductions should continue, so the next employer can carry on taxing them correctly. This guide is for small employers running payroll and for employees moving between jobs in the 2026-27 tax year. It covers when a P45 must be issued, what each part is for, what happens to payments made after someone leaves, and how a new employer sets up a starter who doesn't have one.

Quick answer

Give a P45 to every employee who leaves, on their last day or as soon as possible afterwards, after reporting the leaving date to HMRC on a Full Payment Submission (FPS). The employee keeps Part 1A and hands Parts 2 and 3 to their next employer. A new starter without a recent P45 completes HMRC's starter checklist instead.

• No P45 for staff who move on to your company pension, or for an employee who dies

• Pay after the P45 is issued is taxed on code 0T week 1/month 1, with no second P45

• A lost P45 can't be replaced; use the starter checklist or your personal tax account

• Statement A, B or C on the checklist sets the starter's code; with no answers, use 0T

• Keep starter and leaver information for the current tax year and the next 3

What a P45 is and what it shows

The P45 is HMRC's leaver form. It sets out the details a new employer needs to continue the tax calculation from where the old employer left off. Under Real Time Information (RTI), HMRC already gets these figures from your FPS, so the paper P45 now mainly serves the employee and their next employer.

A P45 shows the employer's PAYE reference, the employee's National Insurance number, name and address, the leaving date, the tax code in use when they left (and whether it was on a week 1 or month 1 basis), whether student loan deductions should continue, and the total pay and tax to date for the tax year. Where the person had earlier jobs in the same tax year, it also separates the pay and tax from this employment alone. HMRC's current forms are dated 08/26.

It doesn't matter why someone leaves. Resignation, dismissal, redundancy, the end of a fixed-term contract and a casual worker who simply stops turning up all lead to a P45 once you report a leaving date. What matters is the payroll record: HMRC's P45 specification says the form goes to every leaver who had earnings at or above the National Insurance lower earnings limit (£129 a week a week, or £6,708 a year, in 2026-27), had tax or National Insurance deducted, or for whom you completed a payroll record. In practice, that means almost everyone on your payroll.

When an employer must issue a P45

The rule is simple: give the P45 on the employee's last day of work, or as soon as possible afterwards. There's no fixed number of days in the guidance, but in practice the form usually goes out with the final payslip, because the figures on it depend on that final pay run. HMRC recommends that payroll software only prints the P45 once the final FPS with the leaving date has been accepted.

The steps on the employer's side are:

Processing a leaver in 2026-27

1. 1

   Enter the leaving date in the payroll

   Put the leaving date on the employee's payroll record when you pay them for the last time, and deduct tax, National Insurance and student loan as normal.

2. 2

   Report it on the FPS

   The leaving date goes to HMRC on that pay run's Full Payment Submission. This replaces the old paper Part 1 that employers used to post to HMRC.

   Tip: If the final payday falls on or after 6 April but the person left in the old tax year, report the leaving date on your first FPS of the new year with 0 in the pay and year-to-date fields.

3. 3

   Print Parts 1A, 2 and 3

   Your payroll software produces them once the FPS is accepted. HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools can do it if your software can't.

4. 4

   Give them to the employee

   Hand them over on the last day or send them with the final payslip. Keep a copy with your payroll records.

5. 5

   Pay any late items correctly

   Holiday pay, bonuses or commission paid after the P45 goes out are taxed on 0T week 1/month 1 and flagged on the FPS.

If you're exempt from filing payroll online, which mainly applies to care and support employers, you can order paper P45s from HMRC. Everyone else must produce them from their software.

When you don't issue a P45

There are three situations where the employment ends but you don't give a P45.

The employee retires and you pay their pension. The person stays on your payroll as a pensioner. You give the pension a new payroll ID, show the old one on the FPS, set the occupational pension indicator, keep using their tax code on a week 1 or month 1 basis until HMRC sends a new one, and give them a retirement statement. No National Insurance is deducted from pension payments from a registered scheme.

The employee dies. Put the date of death in the leaving date field on the FPS with the last payment. You don't issue a P45, and HMRC learns of the death from other government sources. No National Insurance is due on earnings paid after death.

You only pay someone once. For a one-off payment, you use code 0T on a week 1 or month 1 basis, mark the pay frequency as 'IO' and leave out start and leaving dates. You give them a payslip or letter showing pay and deductions, but not a P45.

Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay is a special case. If the employee stops working during their leave, you keep paying the statutory pay to the end of the leave period. You either give them a P45 when they stop working and tax the rest of the statutory payments on 0T, or keep their normal code and give the P45 after the final payment, using that date as the leaving date. Agree which with the employee.

The parts of a P45 and who keeps what

The paper P45 used to have four parts, and many websites still say Part 1 goes to HMRC. Under RTI, that's no longer the case: the leaving date on your FPS tells HMRC, and the online version of the form has only Parts 1A, 2 and 3. All three go to the employee.

If a new employee hands you Part 1A by mistake, give it back to them. If someone doesn't want their new employer to see their previous pay, the P45 notes say they can send it to HMRC with a letter naming the new employer instead. HMRC can make special arrangements, but they'll probably pay too much tax for a while.

Part 2 also tells the employee where to take the form if they aren't starting a new job. Someone claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance gives it to Jobcentre Plus, which pays any tax refund when the claim ends. Someone who has stopped work and isn't claiming benefits can claim a refund on form P50, and someone leaving the UK uses form P85.

Paying an employee after the P45 has gone out

Final pay often isn't final. Overtime and commission are worked out a month later, holiday pay is calculated after a leaving date, or a bonus is approved after someone has gone. Once you've given the P45, HMRC's rules for these payments are fixed:

• tax them on code 0T on a week 1 or month 1 basis (S0T for Scottish taxpayers, C0T for Welsh taxpayers), so no personal allowance is given;
• deduct National Insurance and student loans as normal, but treat an irregular payment such as accrued holiday pay or an unexpected bonus as a weekly payment for National Insurance;
• report it on your next FPS using the original leaving date and payroll ID, and set the 'Payment after leaving' indicator;
• give the former employee a written statement showing the gross payment and deductions;
• add it to the year-to-date figures if it's in the same tax year; if it falls in the next tax year, it's the only figure in year to date;
• don't issue another P45.

The same rules apply to the taxable part of a redundancy or termination payment above the £30,000 tax-free limit, except that no National Insurance is deducted from a redundancy payment. Statutory redundancy pay itself sits within that limit; see our redundancy pay guide.

Because 0T gives no allowance, the former employee may pay more tax on that payment than on a normal payday. HMRC sorts it out through their tax code at their next job or after the tax year ends.

Starting a new employee who has a P45

When a new employee hands you Parts 2 and 3, take from them their full name, National Insurance number, leaving date, total pay and tax to date for the current tax year, tax code and student loan status. You'll also need their date of birth, sex, full address and start date, which you can get from Part 3 or from the employee directly. Put these into your payroll software and send the details on an FPS on or before their first payday.

Setting up a new starter

Step 1

Ask for P45 Parts 2 and 3

Step 2

P45 from this or last tax year?

if not, use the starter checklist

Step 3

Work out code and starter declaration

Step 4

Ask about student loans

Step 5

FPS on or before first payday

your pay and deductions only

The P45 is usable if the employee left their last job in the current tax year or the immediately previous one. If the leaving date is in the current tax year, the pay and tax to date carry over into your payroll so the tax calculation picks up where the old employer stopped. A P45 from the previous tax year gives you the tax code and leaving date, but its pay and tax figures belong to that earlier year. GOV.UK says to ask for a starter checklist when the P45 shows the employee left their last job before 6 April 2025. HMRC's "work out your employee's tax code" tool and your payroll software apply the rules for which code and starter declaration to use.

Two other situations come up:

Two P45s. Use the one with the latest leaving date and give the other back. If both have the same date, use the one with the higher tax-free allowance (or, for a K code, the smaller addition to pay).

Student loans. Even with a P45, ask whether the person has a student or postgraduate loan and which plan they're on. If they can't tell you, HMRC says to use Plan 5 until a start notice (SL1) arrives. Our student loan deductions guide covers the thresholds.

Pay and tax from the previous job never go into your FPS as your own figures. You report only what you paid and deducted since the person started with you; the year-to-date figures from the P45 are used in the calculation.

New starter without a P45: the starter checklist

The starter checklist replaced the old P46. A new employee fills it in if they don't have a P45, if their P45 is too old, if it's their first job, if they're taking a second job, or if they're starting after self-employment or a break. You can also use it alongside a P45 to collect student loan details. The checklist is for your records only; don't send it to HMRC. Your employee can complete it online or on the PDF version HMRC updated in March 2026.

The checklist asks three questions about other income since 6 April and leads the employee to one of three statements. Each statement sets a starter declaration and a tax code:

Starter checklist statements and the tax code they lead to

Statement	Applies when	Tax code you use
A	First job since 6 April, and no Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit since then	Current personal allowance code (£12,570, so 1257L) on a cumulative basis
B	This is now their only job, but since 6 April they've had another job (without a P45) or received one of those benefits	1257L on a week 1/month 1 basis
C	They have another job or receive a State, workplace or private pension	BR: all pay from this job taxed at the basic rate (20%)
No checklist	The employee doesn't complete it before payday	Starter declaration C with code 0T (HMRC employer help card)

A

Applies when

First job since 6 April, and no Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit since then

Tax code you use

Current personal allowance code (£12,570, so 1257L) on a cumulative basis

B

Applies when

This is now their only job, but since 6 April they've had another job (without a P45) or received one of those benefits

Tax code you use

1257L on a week 1/month 1 basis

C

Applies when

They have another job or receive a State, workplace or private pension

Tax code you use

BR: all pay from this job taxed at the basic rate (20%)

No checklist

Applies when

The employee doesn't complete it before payday

Tax code you use

Starter declaration C with code 0T (HMRC employer help card)

HMRC's help card for employers is firm on two points: if the checklist leads to statement C, use BR and nothing else, and if the employee can't or won't complete the checklist, record starter declaration C and use code 0T until HMRC sends a code. Statement B is effectively the emergency code (1257L (W1/M1/X)), which gives a month's worth of allowance each month but ignores what happened earlier in the year.

Keep the checklist information for the current tax year and the next three. If the employee gives you a P45 or a completed checklist after you've already sent their first FPS, use any code HMRC has sent you since. If HMRC hasn't sent one, use the late P45 to update their code and year-to-date figures, or use the late checklist to update the starter declaration while keeping your original code. Don't enter a second start date on the next FPS.

Worked example: what a missing P45 costs

Priya earns £2,800 a month and leaves her job on 31 May 2026, after two monthly pay runs in 2026-27. Her employer has deducted about £700.70 in tax on £5,600 of pay, using code 1257L cumulatively. She takes the summer off and starts a new job on £3,000 a month, first paid on 30 September (month 6).

The figures are rounded and ignore National Insurance, pension and student loans, which aren't affected by the P45. The point is the gap: with her P45, the cumulative calculation gives Priya the unused allowance from the three months she wasn't working straight away. On a month 1 basis, she doesn't get it until HMRC sends the new employer an updated code, or until any overpayment is refunded after the tax year ends. If she ticks statement C by mistake, the new employer uses BR and deducts £600 a month, which is even further out.

For employers, the lesson is to ask for the P45 before the first pay run and to make sure the employee understands the checklist. For employees, it's worth chasing a late P45; the emergency code isn't a penalty, but it can leave you short for a few months.

Lost, late or wrong P45s

Lost P45. An employer can't issue a duplicate, and HMRC says you can't get a replacement. Fill in the starter checklist for the new employer instead. If you need the information for a tax return, a mortgage or a benefit claim, your HMRC personal tax account and the HMRC app show your pay and tax for the last five tax years.

Employer hasn't given one. Ask them for it. Employers must give a P45, and HMRC has the leaver data from the FPS anyway. If it still doesn't arrive, use the starter checklist; the tax code will be corrected once HMRC links the two jobs.

Wrong pay or tax figures. Ask the old employer to correct them and send an amended P45. If they won't, tell HMRC through the Check your Income Tax online service and HMRC will contact the employer.

Wrong tax code or personal details. Give the P45 to your new employer anyway. HMRC should correct a wrong code after your first pay. For wrong personal details, fill in a starter checklist as well, so the new employer has the right information.

Employer checklist for every leaver

0/7

• Leaving date entered in payroll on the final pay run and sent on the FPS
• Final pay includes holiday pay owed, notice pay and any redundancy pay
• Student loan and pension deductions handled on the final pay
• P45 Parts 1A, 2 and 3 printed after the FPS is accepted and given to the employee
• Later payments set up on 0T week 1/month 1 with the 'Payment after leaving' indicator
• Pensioners and deceased employees handled without a P45
• Leaver records kept for at least 3 years after the end of the tax year

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How the P45 fits with the P60 and year end

A P45 and a P60 cover the same tax year from different angles. Someone who leaves during the year gets a P45 and no P60 from you, because the P45 already shows their pay and tax with you up to the leaving date. Everyone still on your payroll on 5 April gets a P60 by 31 May instead. If an employee leaves and comes back in the same tax year, you set them up under a new payroll ID and, if they're still with you on 5 April, they get one P60 for the year.

Leavers around the end of the tax year need care. If someone's last payday is in the old tax year but their leaving date is on or after 6 April, the leaving date goes on your first FPS of the new tax year with zeros in the pay and year-to-date fields. The payroll year-end guide explains the final FPS and corrections.

FPS penalties apply to leavers in the same way as to every other payroll report: a late FPS can cost from £100 a month for a small employer, so put the leaving date on the pay run where it belongs rather than saving leavers up.

Official links

• What to do when an employee leavesLeaving dates, P45s, payments after leaving
• Tell HMRC about a new employeeUsing a P45, starter checklist, late forms
• Starter checklistOnline form and PDF
• Work out your employee's tax codeHMRC tool for code and starter declaration
• Your P45, P60 and P11D forms (employees)Lost, missing or wrong P45
• Getting P45, P60 and other forms: employer guideSoftware, Basic PAYE Tools, exempt employers

What to do next

If you're the employer, check that your payroll software prints P45s only after the FPS is accepted and that pay after leaving is set to 0T automatically. Build the starter checklist into your onboarding pack so you have it before the first payday. If you're new to running payroll, start with registering as an employer, and use the salary slip generator to check a final payslip line by line.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

When must an employer give a P45?

On the employee's last day of work or as soon as possible afterwards. HMRC's P45 specification says it goes to every leaver who earned at or above the National Insurance lower earnings limit, had tax or NI deducted, or had a payroll record. Most payroll software prints it once the FPS with the leaving date has been accepted.

Can I get a replacement P45 if I lose it?

No. Employers can't issue a duplicate and HMRC doesn't supply copies. Give your new employer a starter checklist instead. If you need the figures for another reason, such as a tax return, you can see your pay and tax for the last five years in your HMRC personal tax account or the HMRC app.

Do I get a P45 if I retire and take a pension from the same employer?

No. If your employer starts paying you a company pension through its payroll, you haven't left the payroll, so it doesn't issue a P45. It changes your payroll ID, flags the pension payments and gives you a retirement statement showing your employment details up to your retirement date.

What tax code is used for a payment after the P45 has been issued?

Code 0T on a week 1 or month 1 basis (S0T in Scotland, C0T in Wales). That means no tax-free allowance is given against the payment. National Insurance and student loan deductions are made as normal, and the employer reports the payment on an FPS with the original leaving date and the 'Payment after leaving' indicator. No second P45 is issued.

Do I need a P45 to start a second job?

No. You keep working at your first job, so there is no P45. Fill in a starter checklist for the new employer and tick statement C. The new employer uses tax code BR, taxing all your pay from that job at the basic rate, until HMRC sends a different code.

My P45 has the wrong figures. What should I do?

Ask the employer who issued it to correct the pay or tax figures and give you an amended P45. If they won't, tell HMRC through the Check your Income Tax online service. If only the tax code is wrong, give the P45 to your new employer anyway; HMRC normally corrects the code after your first pay.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 12 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.What to do when an employee leaves — HMRC / GOV.UK · accessed 12 October 2026
2. 2.Tell HMRC about a new employee (full guide) — HMRC / GOV.UK · accessed 12 October 2026
3. 3.Your P45, P60 and P11D forms — HMRC / GOV.UK · accessed 12 October 2026
4. 4.Design specification for P45(Online) — HMRC 08/26 — HMRC · accessed 12 October 2026
5. 5.P45(Manual) form — HMRC 08/26 — HMRC · accessed 12 October 2026
6. 6.Starter checklist (HMRC 12/25) — HMRC · accessed 12 October 2026
7. 7.Employer help card: understanding the starter declaration form — HMRC · accessed 12 October 2026
8. 8.2026 to 2027: Employer further guide to PAYE and NICs (CWG2) — HMRC · accessed 12 October 2026