Can I send P45 photocopies to update my records?

King_Mustard

I have had to pay emergency tax in my new job, so the tax office asked me to send previous P45s to update their records to sort it out.

Can I send photocopies to update my tax records?

I don't like the idea of the originals getting lost in the post and I'm not paying for recorded delivery.

jimmo

No.

Your P45 is a security document certifying that you have paid a certain amount of tax.

HMRC should not be happy sending a different certificate (e.g. P6) to your current employer for the same tax whilst you retain the original P45 and could then use it improperly.

McKneff

The tax office should already have copies of your P45 from your previous employer.

Previous employer does 3, one for them to keep, one to the HMRC and one to you.

Just seems a bit strange.

jimmo

I thought it was 4 parts nowadays, 1, 1A, 2 and 3..

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/p45.pdf

However that doesn’t alter the fact that a P45 is a security document.

Depending on the circumstances, the OP may get away with sending in photocopies but I would suggest that if the OP is looking for a refund, posting his originals of his P45s to HMRC and keeping copies would be better than the other way around.

McKneff

I presume you are right Jimmo, I retired last year after 25 years with the same company so I'd lost track re the p45. The last time I got one before this was 1986 ish.