New P45

From 6 April 2009 you must use the new versions of form P45 which were introduced by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) last year.. You should also destroy any stocks of the old A5 P45s and forms P160 still on hand at that date.

The pre-printed A4 versions of the P45 are available from HMRC’s Employer Orderline – 0845 764 6646. Order now so that you are ready to give the new form P45 to employees who leave after 5 April. Do not leave it until the last minute.

The new versions of the form include the date of birth and gender fields. This information will help HMRC to match an employee’s information to their records when the forms are processed and reduce the number of queries to employers. These fields must be completed from 6 April 2009.

If you use HMRC’s free Online Return and Forms – PAYE product you can print parts 1A, 2 and 3 of form P45 onto A4 plain paper, when you have submitted the P45 part 1 (employee leaving details) to HMRC online. This facility is also available in some payroll software packages. The form should be printed onto white A4 paper, using black ink.

Employees may not recognise the new forms. You can reassure them that the form P45 has only changed in appearance and, apart from the new fields mentioned above, the information requested and the procedures around it remain unchanged.

A P45 is the form you complete when an employee stops working for you. It is a record of the pay and the tax that has been deducted so far in the tax year. A P45 has four parts - part 1, part 1A, part 2 and part 3. You send part 1 to HMRC and usually give the employee the other three.