Check your HMRC or PAYE tax code online

What's a tax code? Find out about your tax code

Your tax code is a reference that is used by your employer (if you have one) to know how much tax to take off each time they pay you. This helps them help you to spread the tax you pay during the year. The system to do this is called PAYE or Pay as You Earn. You'll also be making National Insurance Contributions.

The tax code reflects something called your personal allowance, which is what you can earn before you pay tax. For most people it is £12,570 a year but it can change according to your circumstances including if you owe HMRC for other things - if you are both employed and self-employed (or if you rent out property) then HMRC can collect small amounts of tax due by amending your tax code.

How does my tax code work if I have more than one job?

If you have more than one employer, then HMRC will tell each of them (and hopefully you as well!) what tax code to use for each employment. Generally each employer will have a different code, so they deduct the right amount in total.

In this situation, it is often the case that your main employer will have the main tax code - eg 1257L, and the others will have codes that tell them how much tax to take off without taking account of the personal allowance. So you may have a BR code which is taxed at just the basic rate.

Do I have to pay more tax? What about National Insurance?

The tax code just applies to income tax, although from 2023 generally people won't pay national insurance until they're earning more than the personal allowance.

But if you're thinking about how much you'll take home, you do need to think about national insurance. See untied's take home pay calculator for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and here's the one if you're in Scotland. If you're self-employed, calculations are more complicated and you can use untied to work out what you're likely to pay.

Some people may find as well that the tax code doesn't properly reflect their circumstances, and could find tax is due at the end of the year. In this case, and if a small amount of tax is due on other income, the follow year's tax code can be adjusted to reflect this.

Understand your tax code online

Your tax code will usually be a combination of numbers and letters. The most common one is 1257L. If you are in Scotland your tax code is likely to begin with the letter S, and if you are in Wales it will begin with C.

I think the tax code is wrong

This check will tell you about your tax code / PAYE code. If you think it's wrong, then you can contact HMRC - using your personal tax account is likely to be the best way.

If this was useful or you have any questions ... let us know.

If you're thinking about your next job or want to check how much tax you might have to pay, check out our take-home pay calculators:

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Need help with your taxes?

If you are worried about how much tax you need to pay, when you need to pay it, or even how you can reduce your tax bill, untied is here to help you.

untied is the UK's personal tax app. We help people save money, time, and effort on their taxes.