When working in the UK, your interaction with the tax system is largely defined by two specific documents: the P45 and the P60. While they look similar and both deal with your "Pay As You Earn" (PAYE) details, they serve very different purposes in your career timeline.

The P45: Your "Leaver's" Statement

A P45 is the document your employer must give you when you stop working for them. It is a record of how much you were paid and how much tax was deducted during that specific tax year up until your final day.

When do you get it? Your employer should provide this automatically on your last day of work or shortly after your final characteristically processed.

Why is it important? The P45 is essentially a "tax passport." When you start a new job, you hand this to your new employer. It tells their payroll department exactly which tax code to use, preventing you from being put on an "emergency tax code" (which often results in you paying more tax than necessary in your first month).

The structure of a P45: It is divided into four parts. Your employer sends Part 1 to HMRC. They give you the remaining three parts: you keep Part 1A for your own records and give Parts 2 and 3 to your new employer.

The P60: Your Annual Tax Summary

The P60 is a summary of your total pay and the total tax deducted across the entire tax year. In the UK, the tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year.

When do you get it? You will receive a P60 if you are still employed by a company on the final day of the tax year (5 April). Your employer is legally required to provide this to you by 31 May.

Why is it important? Think of the P60 as your "proof of earnings." Because it covers the full year, it is the primary document used for:

• Proving your income when applying for a mortgage or a personal loan.
• Claiming a tax refund if you believe you have overpaid.
• Applying for tax credits or other government support.

Identifying the Differences

The simplest way to distinguish the two is by their trigger event.

A P45 is triggered by leaving a job. It is a snapshot of your earnings at a specific company up to the moment you resigned or were made redundant. If you have three different jobs in one year, you will have three different P45s.

A P60 is triggered by the calendar. It is an annual certificate that looks at your total financial footprint for the year. Even if you have stayed with the same employer for a decade, you will receive a new P60 every May.

Digital Management in 2026

Most modern UK employers now issue these documents through digital payroll portals. It is highly recommended to download and save these as PDFs. If you ever lose a physical copy, you can usually find the same information by logging into your HMRC Personal Tax Account online, which maintains a digital history of your employment and tax contributions.