In this section:

  • Employee gets a new tax code

Employee gets a new tax code

If an employee's tax code changes during the tax year, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will send you a form P6 to notify you. If you have registered for HMRC’s ‘PAYE Online for employers’ service, form P6 will be sent to you online.

Unless HMRC specifies otherwise, you should use the new tax code you’ve been sent for all PAYE (Pay As You Earn) tax calculations from the first payment you make after you receive form P6.

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Receiving tax codes from HMRC

HMRC will start sending new tax codes to you online rather than by post as soon as you register for the ‘PAYE Online for employers’ service. If this applies to you it’s important to check regularly to see whether any tax code notices have been sent to you online.

There are two ways of accessing tax codes that HMRC has sent to you online. You can:

  • Log on to the ‘PAYE online for employers’ service on the HMRC website and choose the ‘tax code notices’ option. If you provide the service with an email address, it will send you an email alert each time HMRC sends you a new tax code for an employee.
  • Use the PAYE Desktop Viewer (PDV). This is an application that you can download and install from the HMRC website. It is particularly suitable for employers expecting to receive a lot of tax code notices from HMRC.

If you wish, you can ask HMRC to resume sending paper versions of your tax code notices.

Using HMRC’s PAYE Desktop Viewer

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Using payroll software or HMRC’s P11 Calculator

Using commercial payroll software or HMRC's P11 Calculator makes dealing with new tax codes quick and simple:

  • If you’re using the P11 Calculator, when recording your first payment to an employee after receiving a form P6 from HMRC, make sure you answer yes when asked 'Have you received a P6 coding notice since their last pay day?'
  • If you’re using commercial software the precise steps you need to take will differ from package to package – check with your software provider if you’re unsure

Where to get HMRC's P11 Calculator

The P11 Calculator is part of the Basic PAYE Tools package which you can download straight to your computer. In addition to the P11 Calculator, the tools include:

  • an employer database on which you can record your employees’ details
  • a range of other calculators that work out, for example, statutory payments
  • interactive forms such as P11D working sheets
  • a Learning Zone - including interactive material on how to use the Basic PAYE Tools

Download Basic PAYE Tools (Opens new window) from the Business Link website

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Using a paper form P11

If you’re still using paper versions of form P11 to keep your employee payroll records, write the new tax code you’ve been sent in Box M and use it to work out your PAYE tax deductions, whether manually or using HMRC’s online PAYE tax calculator.

Tax code changes to or from a cumulative basis require extra care if you're using a paper form P11 rather than the P11 Calculator. If the code changes:

  • from a week 1/month 1 to a cumulative basis, you'll need to add up the pay and tax already paid so far in the tax year and use this as the basis for your cumulative calculations
  • from a cumulative basis to a week 1/month 1 basis, you can disregard the previous pay and tax amounts that have accumulated so far in the tax year

If your employee's tax code changes from a K code (on a cumulative basis) to a suffix code (on a cumulative basis), consult Part 8 of the HMRC Employer Helpbook E13, ‘Day-to-day payroll’ for information about how to update the paper form P11.


Download Employer Helpbook E13, 'Day to day payroll' (PDF 506K)

More about using payroll software or HMRC’s downloadable P11 Calculator

Completing a paper form P11 – find out more

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