We have just taken on a new employee who has presented his form P45. But it’s an A4-sized black and white form, not the usual smaller shaded form. Is it a bad copy? If it is, what should we do?
Don’t panic. The format of the form P45 was changed last October, but there was not much publicity about it. The new form P45 is A4 sized, double its previous size, and it must be printed in black ink on to plain white paper, not onto pre-printed HMRC stationery. The new form is valid and includes all the information that was on the old form. There are also some new compulsory boxes: date of birth and gender for the employee and the address and postcode for the former employer must be shown in full. The new format P45 will be compulsory for all employers from 6 April 2009.
