PAYE61025 - Employment maintenance: create employment: Employer responsibilities

When an employee starts in employment the employer must ask the employee for Parts 2 and 3 of form P45 given to them by any previous employer (or by the Department for Work and Pensions Office if the employee was previously unemployed and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance).

An employee may not give a form P45 to a new employer because

  • The last employer failed to give them the form
  • It has been lost
  • The employee was previously self-employed or at school or college
  • The employee does not want the new employer to know what the previous employer paid or the code operated

Or

  • For some other reason

If the employee fails to provide the P45, the employer is required to

  • Submit starter information on their Full Payment Submission (FPS)

Unless

  • The employee earns below the taxable limit and states that this is their only or main employment

In these circumstances the employer must complete a starter checklist or equivalent record of an employee’s starter declaration for three tax years for audit purposes.