Hide my previous employer - handed my P45 from employer before that

EriBo

Hello everyone,

Maybe you can help me out.
I have worked for employer X for a month. Employer X themselves told me I didn't need to mention this experience on my CV / Linkedin etc. if I didn't want to - and in fact that's what I did, as a month was such a short time to be considered as relevant experience anyways.

After that, I started a new job at Employer Y. I didn't mention Employer X to them and got a job offer from them. Eventually they asked me to provide them with a P45, which I did, not from Employer X obviously, but from the Employer J, before X.

Now, I've just checked my profile on HMRC and when I wanted to update my employment history, this message shows up:

"If you’ve stopped working for them they should tell H.M.Revenue & Customs (HMRC). To give them time to tell HMRC, you cannot send an update until 13 October 2018."

Employer X gave me a tax code which was different from Employer J, aka the one stated on the P45 I gave to Y.

My question is: could they find out there was a discrepancy? What's the worst case scenario?

I've also just asked X to send my updated details to HMRC in the meantime.

I hope all of this makes sense. Thank you in advance.

Dazed_and_confused

It would probably help if you told us which employee you were trying to update,

Now, I've just checked my profile on HMRC and when I wanted to update my employment history, this message shows up:

"If you’ve stopped working for them they should tell H.M.Revenue & Customs (HMRC). To give them time to tell HMRC, you cannot send an update until 13 October 2018."

And what different tax codes have been used at each job?

HMRC only disclose very limited information to employers, your tax code (but not the breakdown you would receive explaining how the code was calculated) and sometimes they supply details of previous (taxable) earnings and tax paid in the year (but not the names of whichever employer made those payments to you).

What happened with employers K, L, M, N, O, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W and X?

EriBo

Thank you for your reply.

So: new Employer is Employer Y
Old employer, to be ignored by Y, is Employer X
Employer before X is J.

My tax code as stated on my payslip from Employer X is 1185L, same as Employer J.

HOWEVER, I just noticed my HMRC online profile says 1090LX from Employer X.

Dazed_and_confused

Ignore the online tax code. It is only tax codes actually sent out by HMRC which matter and the online ones aren't always sent to your employer. And they wouldn't go to employer X now if you have ended that employment.

agrinnall

I'd imagine that you have confused the issue by giving your new employer a P45 with out of date figures on it, if you didn't want to hand over the P45 from the immediately prior employer you should have simply filled out a new starter checklist. I'm afraid I've no idea how you will sort this out now.

Comms69

Why did you hide employer X from your new employer?


Keeping it off the CV is fine - that's your document and you can do as you wish.

BoGoF

By doing this you might well end up with an underpayment of tax at the year end

molerat

The instructions on the P45 tell you exactly what to do if you don't want your new employer to see it. By not playing by the rules you will likely get a tax bill at the end of the year or be messed around every month as HMRC change your tax code trying to put it right.

EriBo

Thanks everyone.
In which cases tax code are identical? After changing job, I'm still in the same tax band, so I'd imagine I have the same tax code?

BoGoF

Your tax code may well be identical but your new employer needs to know your previous pay and tax details in order to deduct the correct amount going forward. You gave them a P45 that does not include all your earnings.