HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), United Kingdom · United Kingdom

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HMRC Starter Checklist: New Employee Without a P45 (PAYE)

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JustFill is an independent document-filling tool and is not affiliated with HMRC or GOV.UK. We help you complete the official PDF; we do not send anything to HMRC or your employer, and we do not provide tax advice. If you are unsure which statement or student loan plan applies to you, check GOV.UK or contact HMRC.JustFill is not affiliated with HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), United Kingdom. This is an independent third-party tool to help you complete Starter Checklist. Always download the current blank form from the official source and verify your completed copy before signing or submitting. Official Starter Checklist from HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), United Kingdom

Quick answer

The HMRC Starter Checklist (the "new starter checklist", successor to form P46) is completed by a new UK employee with no P45 so the employer can work out the PAYE tax code for the first payday. You choose employee statement A, B or C, answer the student loan questions (Plan 1, 2, 4, 5 or postgraduate) and give it to your employer, never to HMRC. GOV.UK offers an online form or a PDF (HMRC 12/25); JustFill opens that PDF in your browser and includes the first clean completed download at no charge.

Form
Starter Checklist
Issued by
HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), United Kingdom
Country
United Kingdom
Free allowance
First clean download
Official edition
Starter checklist, HMRC 12/25 (4-page PDF posted on GOV.UK 2 March 2026; the seconded-employee "Expat starter checklist" is also HMRC 12/25)
Source checked

What is Starter Checklist?

Starting a new job without a P45? The HMRC Starter Checklist (formerly known as the P46) is the form your new employer uses to work out your tax code before your first payday. JustFill turns the official GOV.UK PDF into a fillable form you complete in your browser — no printing, scanning, or Adobe needed. The checklist is short: your personal details and National Insurance number, one of three employee statements (A, B or C) about jobs, pensions and taxable benefits since 6 April, and your student loan plan type if you have one. Get it to your employer before their first payroll run: HMRC tells employers who cannot get a completed checklist to use starter declaration C with tax code 0T — no tax-free personal allowance — and you'll usually pay more tax than necessary until HMRC corrects your code. Note that the GOV.UK PDF has no fillable fields, which is why people print it; JustFill lets you type on it instead.

Download the Starter Checklist form PDF — free

HMRC publishes the Starter Checklist free at gov.uk/guidance/starter-checklist-for-paye. GOV.UK's first choice is the online form (you cannot save progress, so gather your details first); if you cannot use it, there are two PDFs, both marked HMRC 12/25 and posted on 2 March 2026: the standard 4-page starter checklist and a 3-page version for employees seconded to the UK by an overseas employer. The current edition already lists Student Loan Plan 5 (Student Finance England courses starting on or after 1 August 2023) alongside Plans 1, 2 and 4 and the postgraduate loan. There is no fee and no registration, but the PDF has no fillable fields. Instead of printing it and writing by hand, upload the same PDF to JustFill, answer questions 1 to 13 on screen and download the completed copy to email or hand to your employer; the first clean completed download is included at no charge.

Get the official Starter Checklist PDF from HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), United Kingdom

Who fills out Starter Checklist?

  • New employees in the UK starting a job without a P45 from a previous employer
  • People starting their first job ever, or their first job in the UK
  • Anyone returning to work after self-employment, a career break, or claiming benefits such as Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance
  • New starters who keep a second job or receive a State, workplace or private pension (Statement C)
  • Employees with a student or postgraduate loan — HMRC asks you to fill in the checklist even if you do have a P45, because the P45 does not show your plan type

Field-by-field breakdown

What each section of Starter Checklist asks for. JustFill’s AI will detect these fields automatically when you upload the PDF — review the breakdown below so you know what to enter.

Questions 1–2 — Name

Last name and first names in full — the form asks you not to use initials or shortened names like Jim for James or Liz for Elizabeth.

Questions 3–5 — Personal details

Sex (as shown on your birth certificate or gender recognition certificate), date of birth, and home address with postcode and country.

Question 6 — National Insurance number

Your NI number if known — it lets HMRC match the payroll record to you.

Question 7 — Employment start date

The date your new job starts, in DD MM YYYY format.

Questions 8–10 — Employee statement questions

Three routing questions: do you have another job, do you receive a State, workplace or private pension, and have you received payments since 6 April from a job that ended or from JSA, ESA or Incapacity Benefit.

Statement A, B or C

A = first job since 6 April with none of those payments (full personal allowance); B = another job ended or taxable benefits since 6 April but no P45 (personal allowance on a week 1/month 1 basis); C = you currently have another job or a pension (tax code BR).

Questions 11–13 — Student loans

Whether you have a student or postgraduate loan, whether payroll deductions should start at all (question 12: you are still studying on the course the loan relates to, you completed or left your course after 6 April of the current tax year, you have already repaid the loan in full, or you pay the Student Loans Company by Direct Debit to finish your repayments), and which plan you repay: Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5, plus the postgraduate loan box if it applies alongside.

Declaration

Full name in capital letters, signature, and date confirming the information you've given is correct.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • 1Sending the form to HMRC — it goes to your employer only. The form itself is printed with 'Do not send this form to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)'.
  • 2Choosing Statement A when you've had another job or claimed JSA, ESA or Incapacity Benefit since 6 April — the wrong statement means the wrong tax code and over- or underpaid tax until HMRC corrects it.
  • 3Ticking more than one student loan plan in question 13 — select the single plan you are due to repay (Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5); only the postgraduate loan box can be ticked alongside a plan.
  • 4Skipping the student loan questions because you gave your employer a P45 — the P45 does not show your plan type, so deductions may start on the wrong plan or not at all.
  • 5Handing it in after your first payday — if payroll runs with neither a P45 nor the checklist, HMRC tells your employer to use starter declaration C with tax code 0T (no personal allowance) and to keep using the code from that first Full Payment Submission until HMRC sends a new one, so complete the checklist before you are first paid.

Starter Checklist example — what a filled-out form looks like

A fictional new starter, Samantha Example, begins her first job since 6 April 2026 on 14 September 2026. She has no P45, has claimed no benefits since 6 April, and repays a Plan 2 student loan plus a postgraduate loan. Every value is invented.

Questions 1–2 — Last name, first names

EXAMPLE / SAMANTHA JANE

Full first names, not initials or shortened forms (the form gives Jim for James as what not to do).

Questions 3–4 — Sex, date of birth

Female / 02 05 1998

Sex as shown on the birth certificate or gender recognition certificate; dates are DD MM YYYY.

Question 5 — Home address

1 Sample Street, Sampletown, ZZ99 9ZZ, United Kingdom

Postcode and country are separate boxes; ZZ99 9ZZ is a placeholder postcode.

Question 6 — National Insurance number

QQ 12 34 56 C

HMRC never issues the QQ prefix, so this cannot be a real number. The box says "if known"; leave it blank rather than guess.

Question 7 — Employment start date

14 09 2026

Questions 8–10 — Another job? Pension? Payments since 6 April?

No / No / No → Statement A

No other job, no pension and no other job or JSA, ESA or Incapacity Benefit since 6 April routes you to Statement A: current personal allowance.

Questions 11–12 — Student loan? Any reason not to deduct?

Yes / No

She has a loan, is not still studying, did not finish her course after 6 April, has not repaid in full and does not pay by Direct Debit, so question 13 applies.

Question 13 — Plan type

Plan 2 and Postgraduate loan

Student Finance England course started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023 = Plan 2. The postgraduate box may be ticked alongside exactly one plan.

Declaration

SAMANTHA JANE EXAMPLE — signature — 12 09 2026

Full name in capitals, signature and date. The form then goes to the employer, never to HMRC.

These values are made up. They are here to show what belongs on each line, not to be copied — every name, number, and address on your own Starter Checklist has to be your own.

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By uploading, you confirm you have the legal right to use this document.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes — the Starter Checklist replaced the old form P46. Some employers and payroll software still call it a P46, but the current form to use is the Starter Checklist published on GOV.UK.
No. You give the completed form to your employer — by hand, post or email — and they use it to fill in their first Full Payment Submission for you. The form itself says 'Do not send this form to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)'.
Statement A gets the current personal allowance, Statement B gets the personal allowance on a week 1/month 1 (non-cumulative) basis, and Statement C gets code BR — basic-rate tax on all pay from this job. HMRC reviews the code after your employer's first submission and sends a correction if needed.
HMRC tells employers who cannot get a completed checklist to use starter declaration C with tax code 0T, which gives no tax-free personal allowance, so your first payday is usually taxed more heavily than necessary. If your checklist arrives after the first Full Payment Submission, the employer keeps that code until HMRC sends a new one. Completing the checklist before payroll runs avoids this.
Question 6 asks for your NI number 'if known', so you can still hand in the checklist without it. You can find the number in the HMRC app, your personal tax account, or on payslips and official letters — pass it to your employer as soon as you have it.
Usually no: give your employer parts 2 and 3 of your P45 instead. But HMRC asks you to complete the checklist as well if you have a student or postgraduate loan, whether or not you have a P45, because the P45 does not show which plan type your employer should deduct. Your employer may also ask for it if your personal details differ from the P45, or if you left your last job before 6 April 2025 (a P45 older than the previous tax year cannot be used).
Yes. "New starter checklist", "starter checklist", "starter declaration" and the old "P46" all refer to the same HMRC form: the one a new employee without a P45 fills in so the employer can pick a tax code. The current PDF is marked HMRC 12/25 and there is also an online version on GOV.UK; both ask the same 13 questions.
The form asks for one plan only (Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5), plus the postgraduate box if that applies too. HMRC's employer guidance on page 4 says that if more than one plan is selected, payroll starts deductions on the plan with the lowest repayment threshold until HMRC sends a Start Notice — so a wrong extra tick can mean higher deductions until it is corrected. Check your plan at gov.uk/sign-in-to-manage-your-student-loan-balance before you tick.

Official source: Starter Checklist on HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), United Kingdom’s website

Edition checked: Starter checklist, HMRC 12/25 (4-page PDF posted on GOV.UK 2 March 2026; the seconded-employee "Expat starter checklist" is also HMRC 12/25). Verified against the official source on .

JustFill is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), United Kingdom or any government agency. Always verify your completed form on the official version before signing or submitting.