UK Tax Tools

P45 Box 8 — Total pay / tax to date — Year-to-date pay and income tax from this employment

Cumulative pay and PAYE income tax from this employer for the tax year up to your leaving date. Your new employer uses these to run cumulative PAYE.

At a glance

Entry
Year-to-date pay and income tax from this employment
Feeds to
New employer's payroll — cumulative PAYE calculation. Also enters your P60 "In previous employment" box at the new employer.
Check against
Sum of taxable pay and PAYE tax on every payslip from this employer in the current tax year.

What this means

The year-to-date money figures sit in Boxes 7 and 8 of the P45. Box 7 carries the last entries on the payroll record — total pay to date and total tax to date from 6 April up to your leaving date, including anything brought forward from an earlier job on a cumulative code. Box 8 shows pay and tax in this employment only, and is left blank when the code is cumulative and the figures would simply repeat Box 7. Together they feed the new employer's cumulative PAYE calculation so you aren't over- or under-taxed on the first pay period there.

If the tax code in Box 6 carries a Week 1/Month 1 marker, the layout inverts: Box 7 is left empty (there is no meaningful cumulative total) and only Box 8's this-employment figures are completed. The new employer then starts your PAYE fresh and HMRC reconciles the year later.

If you didn't hand over Parts 2 and 3, the new employer has no YTD figures and must run emergency PAYE. This typically means over-deduction, which self-corrects after HMRC issues an updated code — or at the P800 year-end reconciliation if it lasts all year.

Implications for your tax

  • Feeds cumulative PAYE — ensures your new employer gets your tax right from payday 1.
  • Transfers directly into the "Pay: In previous employment(s)" box on your P60 at the new employer at year-end.
  • If you file Self Assessment, this is already captured in the new employer's P60 — no separate entry needed.

Common pitfalls

  • If the total pay to date figure is higher than you expected, check for bonus, overtime, or backdated pay included in the old employer's final pay — and remember Box 7 also includes pay carried in from an earlier job on a cumulative code.
  • Zero tax deducted with substantial pay usually means you were on an NT code (e.g., foreign employment exemption) — verify with the old employer before your new one starts PAYE.

Worked example

An employee on £36,000 with the standard cumulative code leaves at the end of month 6 of the tax year (30 September):

Pay: £3,000/month for 6 months — Box 7 “Total pay to date”
£18,000
Cumulative PAYE deducted — Box 7 “Total tax to date”
£2,343.00
Week/month number at leaving
Month 6

Because the code is cumulative and there was no earlier job, Box 8 is left blank — the this-employment figures would simply repeat Box 7. The new employer carries these totals forward so payday 7 continues seamlessly.

FAQ

What is p45 box 8 — total pay / tax to date?
Cumulative pay and PAYE income tax from this employer for the tax year up to your leaving date. Your new employer uses these to run cumulative PAYE. The year-to-date money figures sit in Boxes 7 and 8 of the P45. Box 7 carries the last entries on the payroll record — total pay to date and total tax to date from 6 April up to your leaving date, including anything brought forward from an earlier job on a cumulative code. Box 8 shows pay and tax in this employment only, and is left blank when the code is cumulative and the figures would simply repeat Box 7. Together they feed the new employer's cumulative PAYE calculation so you aren't over- or under-taxed on the first pay period there.
Where does this P45 box feed?
New employer's payroll — cumulative PAYE calculation. Also enters your P60 "In previous employment" box at the new employer.

Related P45 entries

Parts 1, 1A, 2 and 3 — The four parts of a P45 — who gets what

A P45 comes in four parts. Part 1 goes to HMRC from your old employer; Part 1A is yours to keep; Parts 2 and 3 go to your new employer.

Box 5 — Student Loan deductions — Student loan deductions to continue

Ticked if you had Plan 1, 2, 4, 5 or Postgraduate loan deductions at the time of leaving. Your new employer continues deductions from day one.

Box 6 — Tax code at leaving date — Tax code, with or without Week 1/Month 1 marker

Your PAYE tax code as at your last day. If followed by W1 or M1, it's non-cumulative — the new employer should not apply earlier pay/tax to your new employment.

At year end the same pay and tax figures surface on your P60 — see the P60 Box Guide.

Reconciling your pay? Use the take-home pay calculator to verify PAYE and NI on any salary for 2025/26 or 2026/27, and the tax code checker to decode your final tax code.

Sources

P45 structure per HMRC PAYE forms guidance. Thresholds and rates current for 2025/26 (tax year 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026); 2026/27 figures included where published.

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