Issuing a P45

When an employee leaves an employment, their employer must complete and file a form P45. The P45 is a record of an employee’s pay and any tax that has been deducted from it so far in the tax year.

The basic information required on the P45 includes:

• the Employer PAYE reference
• the leaving employee’s name, address, National Insurance number, date of birth, gender and works/payroll number (if any)
• the employee’s date of leaving and their tax code
• an indication of whether you've been making student loan deductions from the employee

If the employee is on a cumulative tax code, then the employer must provide details of:

• their overall pay and tax totals for the tax year so far, including any from previous employments during the year
• their pay and tax figures relating only to their work in their current employment during the tax year, if these differ from the employee’s overall totals for the year

If the employee is on a week 1 or month 1 code, then the employer must provide their tax and pay figures only relating to their work in their current employment within the current tax year.

A P45 has four parts - Part 1, Part 1A, Part 2 and Part 3. The employer must submit Part 1 of the form online to HMRC, then print and give parts 1A, 2 and 3 to the leaving employee.

Part 1A is kept by an employee for their own records. Parts 2 and 3 will be needed by an employee when commencing a new job or applying for Jobseeker’s Allowance.

ISSUING A P45 ON BRIGHT PAY

To issue a P45, go to ‘Employee’, select the employee’s name and click P45 icon :

1)   Leave Date – enter the employee’s date of leaving. 
         This is a compulsory field; you will not be able to issue a P45 unless this is entered.

2)   Deceased – if employee is deceased, tick the box provided to inform HMRC.

3)   Address – if not already entered, enter the employee’s address as well as a valid postcode

4)   Gender – if not already entered, indicate whether the employee is male or female.
         This is a compulsory field; you will not be able to issue a P45 unless this is entered.

5)   Date of Birth – if not already entered, enter the employee’s date of birth. 
        This is a compulsory field; you will not be able to issue a P45 unless this is entered.

6)   NI Number – If not already entered, enter the employee’s National Insurance Number.

The following information will also automatically be included on the P45:

• Student loan deductions
• Tax Code at leave date
• Last period processed (on P11)
• Total Pay to date
• Total Tax to date

7)     Click Continue to issue the P45

FILING P45 PART 1 ONLINE

To file Part 1 of the P45 form online to HMRC, simply click on:

            “File P45 Part 1 Online”

PRINTING PARTS 1A, 2 AND 3 OF FORM P45 FOR THE EMPLOYEE

To print Parts 1A, 2 and 3 of the form to give to the employee, simply click on:

            “Print P45 File Copy”

The program gives the user the option to choose which parts of the P45 they wish to print:

• Print Part 1A - this is the employee’s copy for their own records
• Print Part 2 - for the employee to give to a new employer
• Print Part 3 -  for an employee’s new employer to complete

The program also allows the user to choose whether they wish to print on blank paper or on HMRC stationery. The options available are:

• Print on blank A4 paper
• Print on pre-printed HMRC stationery

UNSETTING THE LEAVE DATE AND REVERSING THE P45

Should a P45 be issued in error or an incorrect leave date entered, the P45 can be reversed and re-issued if applicable.             

To reverse a P45, go to ‘Employee’, select the employee’s name and click P45 icon :

1)     On the Send P45 screen, click on the option ‘Unset the leave date and reverse the P45’

2)     Select ‘Yes’ to reverse the P45