Overview
- HMRC says employees starting a new job should give their P45 to the new employer, who should use it to set the correct tax code for the next pay.
- Being left on an emergency code can mean tax is taken from all earnings and the £12,570 personal allowance is missed, costing a basic-rate payer about £2,514 a year.
- HMRC advises anyone still on the wrong code to call the income tax helpline on 0300 200 3300 so an adviser can investigate and manually issue the correct code.
- The correct code is typically issued once HMRC receives the new employer’s details and the former employer’s final information, which can delay updates.
- After the code is fixed, any refund is usually included in the next pay, and the helpline runs Monday–Friday 8am–8pm and Saturday 8am–4pm.