Payslip, P45 and P60: the paperwork your UK employer must give you

Three documents prove how much you earned and how much tax was paid for you: a payslip every pay day, a P45 when you leave a job and a P60 once a year. Without them you cannot reclaim overpaid tax, prove income for a mortgage or check that your tax code is right.

Who gets a payslip and when must it arrive?

Your employer must give you a payslip on or before payday. The format is their choice: printed or electronic, both count equally under the rules.

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The duty does not apply to people who are not employees or workers: contractors and freelancers, the police service, merchant seamen, and the master or crew of a share fishing vessel paid by a share of the catch or gross earnings.

What must a payslip show?

GOV.UK sets three requirements: your earnings before and after deductions; the amount of each deduction that can change from one payday to the next, such as tax and National Insurance; and the number of hours worked if your pay depends on time worked.

Deductions fixed in amount — a season ticket loan repayment, for example — need not be itemised each time. Instead the employer must explain them in a separate written statement, issued before your first payslip and updated every year.

Which deductions from pay are lawful?

The list of grounds is closed. An employer may deduct only where the law requires or allows it (tax, National Insurance, student loan repayments); where you agree in writing; where your contract says so; where a statutory payment is due to a public authority; where you took part in a strike or industrial action; where there was an earlier overpayment of wages or expenses; or where a court has ordered debt payments.

A deduction cannot normally reduce your pay below the National Minimum Wage, even with your agreement. The exceptions are tax and National Insurance, liability under your contract such as a till shortfall, repayment of a loan or wage advance, repayment of an accidental overpayment, buying shares in the business, employer-provided accommodation, and deductions for your own use such as union subscriptions or pension contributions.

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In retail — shops and restaurants — no more than 10% of gross pay can be taken in any pay period to cover shortfalls. GOV.UK gives the example: a £50 till shortfall against £250 gross weekly pay means no more than £25 can be deducted that week.

What is a P45 and what if you never get one?

You get a P45 when you stop working for an employer. It shows your leaving date, total pay and tax from 6 April to the day you left, your tax code and your National Insurance number. Give Parts 2 and 3 to your new employer and keep Part 1a. If you are not working and claiming taxable benefits, the P45 goes to Jobcentre Plus.

There is no replacement P45 — not if you lose it, not if your old employer insists one was sent. Instead you fill in a starter checklist for the new employer. The same applies to a first job and to an additional job alongside your current one.

Pay and tax details for the last five tax years are in your personal tax account and the HMRC app. If the figures on a P45 are wrong, ask for an amended one; if the old employer will not provide it, tell HMRC through the check your Income Tax online service and HMRC will ask the employer for the correct details.

When does a P60 arrive and what is it for?

A P60 shows the tax paid on your salary over the tax year, 6 April to 5 April. If you were working for an employer on 5 April, they must give you a P60 by 31 May, on paper or electronically. You get a separate P60 for each job.

It matters in two situations: reclaiming overpaid tax, and proving income when you apply for a loan or a mortgage. Lost it? Ask your employer for a replacement, and if that is impossible the same information sits in your personal tax account, the HMRC app, or can be requested from HMRC directly.

What is a P11D and by what date does it come?

A P11D reports benefits in kind — a company car, an interest-free loan. If your employer payrolls benefits, no separate P11D is filed for you, and they must write to you explaining how it works.

The deadlines after the tax year ends are firm: report expenses and benefits by 6 July, give the employee a copy of the information by 6 July, pay Class 1A National Insurance by 22 July (19 July if paying by cheque). A late P11D(b) carries a penalty of £100 per 50 employees for each month or part month.

What if the paperwork never comes?

Start with a written request to the employer — it creates a date and a record. In parallel, set up a personal tax account: it shows what the company reported to HMRC, so any gap against your own figures stands out at once. A wrong tax code is fixed through the same check your Income Tax online service.

Check at every job change, not once a year: a missing P45 is the usual reason an emergency tax code kicks in and the first pay packet is taxed too heavily.