Some basic forms you may receive from your employer

Payslip

Your employer should give you a written payslip each pay-day, showing your gross pay, tax and National Insurance deductions, and the net amount you receive. This is your ‘receipt’ for the tax your employer has deducted.  It may also provide other useful information such as your tax code and the employer’s tax reference.

Form P60

This is a summary of your payslips for the year. It shows your total pay, and the total tax and National Insurance taken from it. You should keep the form P60 – it is your record of the tax you have paid. It is worth keeping the document safe as queries about your tax can arise many years later.

The P60 must be given to you by 31 May after the end of the tax year (5 April), so that, if you need to, you can complete a tax return or claim a repayment of tax. The only circumstance where an employer is not required to issue you with a P60 is if you have left their employment during the tax year.  This is because all the necessary information would have been included on your P45. 

Form P45

When you leave an employment, your employer must give you a form P45. You are entitled by law to this record of your pay and tax deductions. This shows your name, your Tax Office and reference number, and the tax code used to work out your tax. It also shows when you were last paid, the gross pay you have received in the tax year until you stopped working for that employer, and the tax deducted from it.

It is a four-part form. The old employer sends one part of the P45 to the Tax Office and gives you three parts. If you start a new job, give two parts to your new employer, so that your new employer can work out the tax on your pay correctly right from the start. The sheet called Part 1A is your personal copy which you should keep. It is evidence of the tax you have paid and will be needed if you have to complete a tax return or claim a repayment of tax.  It will also help you if there is a mistake with your tax or tax code.

Form P46

When you start a new job and cannot provide a P45 from a previous job then you and your new employer will have to complete a Form P46.  The P46 enables your new employer to work out an appropriate tax code to use when they start paying you.  It will also be used to tell HMRC about your new job.

Form P11D

If you have received any taxable benefits in kind from your employer (for example, use of a company car or medical insurance) during the year you should receive a form P11D that summarises all these benefits.

Unless your employer has agreed otherwise with HMRC, the P11D should also include any payments you have received from your employer as reimbursement of business expenses you may have paid personally. See the ‘employees’ expenses’ section for information about how these are taxed – link.

You employer is required to give you a copy of your P11D by 6 July following the end of the tax year.  You should keep the form as you may need it to complete a tax return or to claim a repayment of tax.  Also, as employment benefits make understanding tax codes complex, you will need the form in order to review your tax codes notices.