P85 form: how to fill it in and claim your tax refund
What the P85 actually does
When you leave UK employment, PAYE doesn’t automatically know you’ve gone. HMRC’s system assumes you’ll keep earning at the same rate for the rest of the tax year and calculates your tax accordingly. If you stop working mid-year, you’ve almost certainly overpaid.
The P85, “Leaving the UK: getting your tax right”, is the form that corrects this. It notifies HMRC that you’ve stopped working in the UK, triggers a recalculation of what you actually owed for the year, and releases any refund due. It also closes your PAYE record.
Once you have left, you can file it online through your HMRC sign-in; before you leave, you post the paper form. You’ll need your P45 from your last UK employer. If you don’t have a P45, the form asks you to say why.
The P85 form: who it’s for, when and how to send it
The P85 is HMRC’s form for telling them you have left, or are about to leave, the UK, and for claiming back tax from your UK employment. It is aimed at people who lived and worked in the UK and have left and may not return, or who will work abroad full time for at least one full tax year. If you are sending a Self Assessment return for the tax year you leave, you don’t need a separate P85.
When: GOV.UK doesn’t set a deadline for the P85, so the sensible time is shortly after you stop working in the UK, while your P45 is to hand.
Online or paper: you can do it either way. The online claim needs you to sign in and gives you a reference number to track progress. The postal form is for people who haven’t left yet or don’t want to use the online service, and goes to Pay As You Earn, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1AS. The online version of the postal form can’t be saved part-way through, so gather your details first.
What you’ll need: the “details of employee leaving work” part of your P45 (if you don’t have one, say why), and answers on whether you have a UK home, whether you will work full time abroad, whether you still receive UK salary, and how much time you expect to spend in the UK over the next three years.
If a repayment is due, HMRC posts a payable order to you or your nominee, to be paid into a bank account in your or your nominee’s name. HMRC doesn’t cover currency conversion or overseas transfer fees, so keeping your UK account open until the money lands can save you charges. Source: GOV.UK: Leaving the UK, getting your tax right (P85).
How to fill in the P85, step by step
- Gather your details first. National Insurance number, the date you left (or will leave) the UK, your new overseas address, and the “details of employee leaving work” part of your P45. The online form cannot be saved part-way through.
- Choose online or paper. Online, you sign in to your HMRC account and get a reference number to track the claim. On paper, you print the form from GOV.UK and post it to Pay As You Earn, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1AS.
- Answer the residence questions. Whether you will work full time abroad, whether you keep a home in the UK, and how many days you expect to spend in the UK over the next three years. Answer them consistently with your Statutory Residence Test plan; HMRC reads them together.
- List any UK income that continues. UK salary, pensions, rent or savings interest.
- Give refund details. Your address, or a nominee’s, for the payable order. Keep a UK bank account open to pay it into.
- Submit and keep the reference. Check HMRC’s published reply times and chase if yours has passed.
Worked example: the leaving-year refund
PAYE spreads your personal allowance and tax bands across the year, so if you leave mid-year it has taxed you as if you would keep earning. Take someone on £60,000 a year who stops UK work at the end of September, having earned £30,000. This uses 2026-27 income tax as at October 2026: personal allowance £12,570, 20% to £50,270, 40% above (GOV.UK).
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| PAYE deducted by September (half the allowance and half the bands used) | £5,716 |
| Income tax actually due on £30,000 for the year, with the full allowance | £3,486 |
| Refund the P85 claims back | £2,230 |
The exact figure depends on your tax code and any other UK income in the year, and National Insurance is not refunded. A Dubai salary earned after you leave is outside UK tax if split-year treatment applies.
The bigger picture: the P85 is not your tax exit
This is the point most people miss. Filing a P85 is an administrative step. It does not make you non-resident. It does not end your UK tax liability on investment income, rental income, or capital gains.
Your tax residence status is determined by the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). The SRT looks at how many days you spend in the UK each tax year, how many UK ties you have (family, property, employment, past residence), and in which direction you’re travelling (arriving or leaving). It’s a structured test with a specific outcome: resident or not resident.
If the SRT says you’re still UK resident for a given year, because you came back too many times, or because you kept a UK home, then UK tax follows, regardless of what’s in your P85.
Self Assessment: the final return
If you were in Self Assessment before you left (rental income, self-employment, dividends, a directorship, higher-rate employment), a P85 alone isn’t enough.
You need to file a final Self Assessment return for the tax year you left. On that return, you claim split-year treatment under the SRT rules. This divides the year into two parts: a UK-resident period (taxed on worldwide income) and an overseas period (taxed only on UK-source income). Getting this right matters, because applying it incorrectly can leave you over-paying or, worse, under-declaring.
There are several different “cases” of split-year treatment in the legislation, and which one applies to you depends on your specific circumstances. This is not a form-filling exercise; it’s a tax analysis.
What to do about your National Insurance record
Leaving the UK breaks your NI contribution record. That can affect your UK State Pension entitlement, which requires 35 qualifying years for the full amount.
Many people who move to the UAE pay voluntary Class 3 NI contributions to keep the record going. From 6 April 2026 the rules for paying voluntary National Insurance from abroad changed. You can no longer pay voluntary Class 2 contributions for time spent abroad, and Class 3 is open only if you have lived in the UK for 10 years in a row or paid 10 years of qualifying contributions (it used to be 3). If you applied for Class 2 or Class 3 for 2024 to 2025 or 2025 to 2026 on or before 5 April 2026, the old three-year rules can still apply, provided you pay those contributions by 5 April 2027 and apply to pay Class 3 for 2026 to 2027 by the same date (GOV.UK). Check your State Pension forecast on GOV.UK before you go so you know exactly where you stand, and speak to us or the International Pension Centre if you are unsure which rule applies to you.
The common mistakes
A few things people get wrong, in roughly the order we see them:
- Filing the P85 and assuming that’s job done
- Not filing a final Self Assessment return when they should have
- Returning to the UK too frequently in the first tax year after leaving, without tracking their days properly
- Keeping a UK property available for their use without understanding what that does to their SRT position
- Missing the Self Assessment filing deadline for the departure year (31 January following the tax year end)
The day-count point is worth underlining. The SRT has some strict thresholds, and the difference between 15 days and 16 days in the UK can change your residence status entirely. Use a day-count tracker and keep the records.
A note on timing
The UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. If you left partway through a year, your split-year claim covers that year. If you’ve now been abroad for a full tax year without filing, HMRC may still have you on record as a UK taxpayer and may be expecting returns. It’s worth checking your Government Gateway account to see what’s showing.
Dubai Transition Consultants is UK-run and based in Dubai. We plan the UK side of a move to Dubai with a UK-registered tax adviser, P85 and final return included, as part of our UK and UAE tax planning service.
Already left the UK and not sure you did it cleanly? The Clean Break Review gives you a clear read on your UK tax position, reviewed by a UK-registered tax adviser.
Questions people ask
How do I fill in the P85 form?
Sign in to HMRC online and choose the P85 claim, or print the postal form from GOV.UK. Give your personal details and National Insurance number, the date you left, your new address, whether you will work full time abroad, whether you keep a UK home, any UK income you will still receive and the days you expect to spend in the UK. Attach or copy the leaving details from your P45, then submit.
Do I have to file a P85 if I've already left the UK?
Not strictly, HMRC won't prosecute you for skipping it. But if you were employed in the UK during the year you left, you almost certainly overpaid income tax (PAYE runs on an annual basis and doesn't know you're leaving mid-year). The P85 is how you reclaim it. Worth doing.
Does the P85 make me officially non-resident for UK tax purposes?
No. The P85 closes your PAYE record and triggers a refund calculation. Your actual tax residence status is determined by the Statutory Residence Test, a set of day-count and ties rules that apply regardless of what forms you file. Filing a P85 doesn't guarantee HMRC will accept you as non-resident.
What if I was in Self Assessment as well as PAYE?
You need to do both. The P85 covers the employment side; a final Self Assessment return covers everything else, rental income, dividends, self-employment, capital gains. On the return you claim split-year treatment if you meet one of the split-year cases. It divides the tax year into a UK part and an overseas part so you're only taxed as a UK resident for the months you were actually here.
I was self-employed in the UK, is there anything extra to do?
Yes. Close your self-employment records with HMRC (you can do this online through your Government Gateway account), file your final Self Assessment return, and make sure your National Insurance contributions are settled or deferred correctly. If you intend to keep voluntary NI contributions going to protect your State Pension, set that up as a separate step.
How long does a P85 refund take?
HMRC publishes its current processing times on its 'check when you can expect a reply' service, and they vary through the year. A refund comes as a payable order posted to you or your nominee, to be paid into a bank account in your or your nominee's name. If you have heard nothing after the published time, chase it through the HMRC helpline.