Withholding a P45

Siogfinsceal

Hi,

Firstly apologies if this is the wrong forum to post this in.

A friend has left a company about 2 weeks now and has started a new job. He has been on to his old job constantly but they are dragging their heels and have not sent his P45. he is now facing paying a load of emergency tax when he does get paid, as it does not look like the old company will send the P45 any time soon.

I have advised him to fill in a p46 and to ring the revenue to report the old company.

I am not an expert in this area though - is what I suggested corrrect? If not, what should he do or is there anything else he should do? Will the old company be liable for a fine for doing this?

Any advice appreciated,

L

AARRRGH

His new employer doesn't actually need to see a P45 to sort out his tax. They're just being lazy and/or incompetent.

Get him to ring revenue. They will give him his tax credits and issue a cert for the new employer. They will also ring his old employer telling them to issue a P45.

By law his old company has to issue a P45. However I have never heard of anything "bad" happening to a company who doesn't comply...

digitally-yours

They should issue a P45

I am leaving my job at the end of the month and i have been told i will have my P45 for collection on the 2nd of next month.

Thats 2 days after i leave.

OP has your friend left the company because of the argument or etc etc ?
if so may be they are using the p45 as a tool for revenge even though they know they cant do much.

eth0_

Siogfinsceal wrote: »

he is now facing paying a load of emergency tax when he does get paid, as it does not look like the old company will send the P45 any time soon.

No he's not. iirc it takes 2-3 months before you go on emergency tax.
Tell him to ring the old job and say if he doesn't receive his P45 by next Monday he'll be ringing the Revenue.

They should have submitted the P45 to Revenue anyway, so if the company aren't co-operative the Revenue can print out a P45 and post it to your friend.

calsatron

If he's provided his employer with a valid PPS number then the first four weeks of his new employment will be taxed with 1/52nd of the single person tax credit with the rates being decided at 1/52 of the single person cut-off point.

What that means is if he's a regular single bloke he'll be taxed at the normal rate for the first four weeks, it increases significantly from weeks 5 - 8 as he will no longer recieve any tax credits and from week 9 onwards he'll be taxed at higher rate on everything he earns.

Tell him to check with HR about the emergency rate their applying while he gets his P45 sorted. The one caveat is that the company has to take "reasonable steps" to ensure that the PPS is valid so he'll need some kind of form to show them its valid, a previous payslip should do.

If they company doesn't have a PPS for him, or can't verify the PPS hes given then its full higher rate deductions on everything.

As for getting it sorted, contact the Revenue and they'll politely remind the ex-employer about his obligations to issue P45's.

oilsheik

Your friend should ring up his old company and tell them that to the Revenue long delays in issuing a P45 are a nice big red flag for a Revenue PAYE audit.