Can I Take On An Employee Without a P45?

The short answer is yes, you can take on an employee who doesn’t have a P45, but you’ll need to ask them to complete a New Starter Checklist to gather the details needed so they pay the right amount of tax on their pay. In this article we explain what to do when your new recruit doesn’t have a P45 to give you.

What is a P45?

The P45 form is issued to employees by their employer if their employment ends during a tax year to show how much pay they received and any tax paid on those earnings.

Their next employer uses this information to set the employee up on to their payroll system correctly – for instance, by using the correct tax code.

Why doesn’t my new employee have a P45?

There are lots of possible reasons, so we can’t speak on behalf of every P45-less employee you might stumble across. Usually these boil down to two main reasons:

• This is their first job, so they don’t have any tax or PAYE documentation from previous employers
• They’re taking on a second job, so they’re not leaving one employer for another

What should I do if a new member of staff doesn’t have a P45?

If you do find yourself recruiting a new member of the team who doesn’t come with a P45 then you’ll need to complete HMRC’s New Starter Checklist. The checklist replaces the old P46 forms, which are no longer in use.

In the absence of a P45, the checklist enables you to gather all of the information you’ll need to set an employee up ready for PAYE, including things like:

• Personal details
• Loan commitments (including student loans)
• National Insurance number

This checklist is available to fill in digitally or as a printable document. Employees only need to provide this information to their employer, rather than sending the form to HMRC.

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