PAYE60001 - Employment maintenance: in-year forms and data capture: introduction
In-year forms
In-year forms provide a means for us to track an individual’s movement between employments during a tax year.
From June 2009 you will capture the following in-year forms on the Data Capture screens of the PAYE Service
- P45 part 1 - Details of an employee leaving work
- P45 part 1 U(Man) - Termination of a benefit claim
- P45 part 1 IB - Termination of Incapacity Benefit
- P45 part 3 - New employee details
- P46 - New employee without a form P45
- P46(Pen) - Notification of pension starting
- P46(Expat) - Employee seconded to work in the UK
Note: P45(IB)(O) must not be data captured. They should be worked in accordance with PAYE77036.
Other forms
You must not capture other forms, for example forms P85 and P86 (now withdrawn) as in-year forms. All forms captured using data capture will be recorded as paper forms. Employers are now mandated to file in-year forms (P45 Parts 1 and 3, P46, P46(Pen) and P46(Expat)) online. Attempting to capture a form that is not a starter or leaver form or capturing a starter or leaver form sent in by an employee and not the employer (for example, P45 part 1 a), may result in a penalty being issued to an employer, where it is not appropriate.
If a form other than an in-year form is received and no PAYE Service record is held for the individual, you must issue
- Forms P44 and P43
to the employer to request that commencement and / or leaver in-year forms are submitted.
The requested in-year forms will result in an employment record being created or an individual’s record being created with a temporary reference number (TRN) if a record for the individual is not currently held. This will allow the other form received to be dealt with in accordance with the guidance relevant to that form.
If a form other than an in-year form is received and a PAYE Service record is held for the individual, you should
- Create employment from customer correspondence; Action Guide at PAYE61053
And then
- Follow guidance relevant to the form
On receipt of in-year forms
Visual check
Visual check failed
Visual check passed
Data Capture Exceptions
On receipt of in-year forms
- Forms should be stored in date of receipt
- Each form type, or substitute, should be held separate
- It is beneficial to store each form type with the same PAYE reference number together
- In-year forms received with a commencement or leaving date more than 30 days in the future cannot be processed until that time has been reached
Visual check
Before capturing the form you must check to make sure it is visually legible and characters cannot be confused, for example Z and 2, 5 and S. If the form is not legible you should mark the entries with a pencil ‘X’ and pass the form to exceptions.
If the form is legible, you must check to make sure that mandatory fields have been completed on the form. Mandatory fields are as follows
| P46 | P45 part 1* | P45(1)U (Man) | P45(1)IB | P45 part 3 | P46(Pen) | P46(Expat) | |
| Employer PAYE reference | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| New PAYE reference | X | X | |||||
| Surname | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| First forename | X* | X* | X* | X* | X* | X* | X* |
| Date of birth | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Gender | X | X | X* | X | X | ||
| Date (new) employment started | X | X | X | ||||
| Date pension started | X | ||||||
| Annual Pension | X | ||||||
| Tax code used | X | X | |||||
| New tax code | X | ||||||
| Leaving date | X | X* | X | X | X* | ||
| Week / month number | X* | X* | X | ||||
| Tax code at leaving date | X | X | X | X | |||
| Pay and tax this employment | X* | X* | |||||
| Pay and tax to date | X* | X* | X | ||||
| Address line 1 | X* | * | X* | X* | X* | ||
| Address line 2 | X* | * | X* | X* | X* |
Note: National insurance number is not mandatory. If it is missing or a temporary national insurance number has been entered the form should be captured leaving the national insurance field blank.
P45 part 1 / P45(1)U Man / P45(1)IB
*Only an A4 P45 part 1 should be accepted. Any A5 P45 part 1 received should be passed to Data Capture Exceptions.
*Pay and tax in this employment must be completed when a week 1 / month 1 tax code has been operated. Note: If minus figures or figures marked with an ‘R’ are shown, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*Pay and tax to date should only be completed when a cumulative code has been in operation. When a cumulative code has been in operation a week / month number must also be completed. Note: If minus figures or figures marked with an ‘R’ are shown, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*P45, all versions, can be accepted as complete when the first initial has been used in place of the individual’s first forename. If the first forename or initial has not been completed, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*P45 part 1 has a date of leaving of CY-6 or older, make a CONTACT HISTORY note of the details and discard the form.
Note: Pay and tax in this employment may also be completed if it differs from the total pay and tax to date. When they are; both the pay and tax figures must be completed for the form to pass the visual check. If they are not both completed, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*Address does not need to be completed on P45 part 1 for the form to be classed as complete for capture. However, if the employer has completed the address field the minimum required is the first two lines for the P45 part 1 to pass the visual check. If the employer has completed the first line of the address and post code, enter the post code in address line two. If the employer has only completed one line of the address and has not completed the post code, leave the address field blank.
P45 part 3
*There is not a Gender field on the old style paper A5 P45 part 3. However if the employee provides the employer with A5 P45 part 3 from a previous employment the employer can still use the form to notify HMRC of their employment. This is the only time an in-year form should not be returned because the Gender field has not been completed. The form should be passed to Data Capture Exceptions to capture. See PAYE60021 from step 5
*If P45 (3) slip from JSA office has been attached to the P45 part 3 pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*P45 part 3 can be accepted as complete when the first initial has been used in place of the individuals first forename. If the first forename or initial has not been completed, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*If the data capture of the P45 part 3 results in a TRN record being created, as the account can not be traced, the individual’s personal address will be the address captured on the form.
Therefore, before data capturing the form, you must ensure that the two lines of address shown on the P45 part 3 would not result in any correspondence being returned RLS for example City and County. If the two lines of address entered onto the P45 part 3 would result in correspondence issued to the individual being returned RLS, you should pass the form to data capture exceptions to return the P45 part 3 on OCA37 to request the full postal address.
*P45 part 3 shows previous employment with a date of leaving of CY-6 or older, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
P46
If the employee has completed ‘your present circumstances’ (statement A, B or C) but the ‘tax code used’ indicator (statement A, B or C) selected by the employer, in section two, does not match
- Reject the form and pass to Data Capture exceptions
If the employee has not completed ‘Your present circumstances’ by indicating a statement in section one and the employer has not entered 0T Week 1 / Month 1 basis in the tax code used field in section two
- Reject the form and pass to Data Capture exceptions
If the employee has not completed ‘Your present circumstances’ by indicating a statement in section one but the employer has entered BR as the tax code used in section two
- Capture the form as a statement C case
If the employee has completed ‘Your present circumstances’ by indicating a statement A, B or C in Section one but the employer has not entered a tax code in the ‘tax code used field’
- Reject the form and pass to Data Capture exceptions
If the employee has completed ‘Your present circumstances’ by indicating a (statement A, B or C) in Section one and the employer has entered the expected tax code in the ‘tax code used field’ but has not ticked the corresponding statement in section two
- Capture the form using the statement completed by the employee at ‘Your present circumstances’
*P46 can be accepted as complete when the first initial has been used in place of the individual’s first forename. If the first forename or initial has not been completed, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*If the data capture of the P46 results in a TRN record being created, as the account can not be traced, the individual’s personal address will be the address captured on the form.
Therefore, before data capturing the form, you must ensure that the two lines of address shown on the P46 would not result in any correspondence being returned RLS for example City and County. If the two lines of address entered onto the P46 would result in correspondence issued to the individual being returned RLS, you should pass the form to data capture exceptions to return the P46 on OCA37 to request the full postal address.
P46(Pen)
P46(Pen) can be accepted as complete when the first initial has been used in place of the individual’s first forename. If the first forename or initial has not been completed, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*If the data capture of the P46(Pen) results in a TRN record being created, as the account can not be traced, the individual’s personal address will be the address captured on the form.
Before data capturing the form, you must ensure that the two lines of address shown on the P46(Pen) would not result in any correspondence being returned RLS for example City and County. If the two lines of address entered onto the P46(Pen) would result in correspondence issued to the individual being returned RLS, you should pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions to return the P46(Pen) on OCA37 to request the full postal address.
P46(Expat)
P46(Expat) can be accepted as complete when the first initial has been used in place of the individual’s first forename. If the first forename or initial has not been completed, pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
*If the data capture of the P46(Expat) results in a TRN record being created, as the account can not be traced, the individual’s personal address will be the address captured on the form.
Before data capturing the form, you must ensure that the two lines of address shown on the P46(Expat) would not result in any correspondence being returned RLS for example City and County. If the two lines of address entered onto the P46(Expat) would result in correspondence issued to the individual being returned RLS, you should pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions to return the P46(Expat) on OCA37 to request the full postal address.
Visual check failed
If mandatory information has not been completed mark the form(s) with a pencil ‘X’ next to the mandatory field which has not been completed and pass the form to Data Capture Exceptions.
Visual check passed
When the form has passed your visual check the form can be captured onto the system.
The DATA CAPTURE INITIAL screen will validate the PAYE reference number see PAYE60015.
When the PAYE reference has been verified you will automatically be taken to the DATA CAPTURE screen. Each Data Capture screen is tailored to the form you want to capture. For example to capture data from form P45 Part 1 you will select P45 Part 1 from the drop down list on the DATA CAPTURE INITIAL screen.
During the capture process, the in-year form may fail checks made by the PAYE Service on saving the captured form. If it is a typing error you should amend the entry but if it is not a typing error you should
- Cancel the capture of the form
- Refer the form to Data Capture exceptions
- Move on to the next form to be captured
Once captured, the in-year form will update the individual’s record overnight by TRACE AND MATCH and a CONTACT HISTORY note will be created. If the in-year form cannot be matched to one unique individual record or can be matched to more than one record, a temporary record will be created. When a temporary record is created work item 49 is created so you can manually try to trace and merge the temporary record with an existing record, see PAYE60035.
Data Capture Exceptions
When you review an exception, you should consider the following points before returning the form(s)
1 P45 part 3 must not be returned to either the previous employer or new employer for entry errors in boxes 1 to 7, in any circumstance
If the P45 part 3 has failed visual validation, as the previous employment date of leaving has not been completed or has a date of CY-6 or older, you should review the individuals EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY screen.
If a ceased employment record is held for the previous employment shown on the P45 part 3
- Use the employment leaving details shown in the record to enable the P45 part 3 to be captured
If no leaving record is held
- Use date of leaving 06/04/CCYY
Note: If a cumulative code has been operated but the previous employer has not entered pay and tax figures or negative figures have been entered, see PAYE60021 step 1, note b.
2 P45(3) slip is attached to a P45 part 3 by the Job Centre Plus office when an individual commences JSA and they have handed in a P45 part 3 from their previous employment. If a P45(3) slip is received it should be inserted onto the EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY screen and not processed through data capture, see PAYE61053
- When creating the JSA employment you should use the previous employments PAYE reference, as shown on the P45 part 3, as the JSA PAYE reference. If this produces an error message you should use (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
- Care must be taken when a period of JSA employment is being inserted from a P45(3) slip to ensure the Benefit Office code is entered into the Work No field and the JSA indicator is set
Note: On occasion Job Centre Plus may incorrectly send in a P45 part 3 without the P45(3) slip attached, which should be processed as though it was a P45(3) slip.
3 If the in-year form has not been submitted by an employer, for example P45(1)U(Man) or P45(1)IB and the PAYE reference has not been completed, you should take the following action
- P45(1)U(Man) - refer to guidance at Data Capture initial screen, see step 9 at PAYE60016
And
- P45(1)IB - (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) capture the form following the guidance at PAYE60021
Note: If the P45(1)U(Man) or P45(1)IB failed the visual check for reasons other than the PAYE reference not being completed it should be returned on OCA37.
4 If it has not been possible to deal with the exception, the form(s) should be returned to the employer or benefits agency on stock letter OCA37
Note: In-year forms must only be returned for information which is covered in the visual check table.
Before returning the form(s) you must ensure that the PAYE reference is valid for all forms submitted by an employer. To do this you must
- Go into PAYE Service
- Select EMPREF from the drop down menu in the left hand tool bar
- Enter the EMPREF
- Select [Search]
If a valid employer is not displayed you should add this to the reasons for returning this form on OCA37.
Care must be taken that in-year forms are returned to the correct address. For example P45(1)U(Man) must be returned to the Job Centre Plus office and not the employers address for the PAYE reference shown.

