How to check your tax code

Your tax code is on every payslip, usually near your name and National Insurance number. You can also see it, along with the reason for it, in the HMRC app or your HMRC personal tax account on gov.uk. For most people with one job in England or Northern Ireland the code is 1257L. Scottish taxpayers have S1257L and Welsh taxpayers C1257L. If yours is different, the HMRC app shows how it has been worked out.

Three places to look

Your payslip shows the code payroll used for that pay period. That is the one actually applied, which matters if HMRC has issued a new code that has not reached your employer yet. Our guide to reading your payslip shows where it sits on typical NHS, council and school payslips.

The HMRC app and your personal tax account show the current code for each job or pension, the allowances and deductions behind it, and an estimate of the tax you will pay this year. You can also update your income estimate and report changes there. You need a Government Gateway or GOV.UK One Login to sign in. The personal tax account guide covers setting it up.

A coding notice (P2) is a letter or online message HMRC sends when your code changes. It sets out the calculation. Your P60 and P45 also show the code used at the end of the year or when you left.

What the main codes mean

Code	What it tells you
1257L	Standard code: £12,570 Personal Allowance, single job or pension
S or C in front	Scottish or Welsh rates apply
W1, M1 or X at the end	Emergency, non-cumulative: tax worked out on that period’s pay only
BR, D0, D1	All pay in this job taxed at 20%, 40% or 45%, usually a second job
0T	No Personal Allowance in this job
K at the start	Deductions exceed the allowance, so an amount is added to taxable pay
M or N at the end	Marriage Allowance received or transferred
NT	No tax taken

The number in a code such as 1257L is the tax-free amount divided by ten. A code of 1383M means a £13,830 allowance, which is the standard allowance plus £1,260 of Marriage Allowance. Our tax codes guide explains every part in detail.

Signs your code may be wrong

Check the code against your situation. Common problems include:

• an emergency code that is still there months after starting a new job
• 0T or BR on your only job, or on your main job
• your allowance in the job that pays less
• a number much lower than 1257 with no obvious reason, such as an old benefit, a job you have left, or a tax debt you did not know about
• no increase for job expenses you have claimed, such as uniform or professional fees
• an S prefix when you live in England, or the reverse

Teachers and school staff who start in September after a summer without pay, and NHS staff who move trusts, often end up on an emergency code. See our guide to emergency tax codes.

Getting a wrong code fixed

Most fixes are made online. In the HMRC app or your personal tax account you can:

• tell HMRC a job has ended
• update the estimated pay for each job
• say which job is your main one
• remove a benefit you no longer get, such as a company car or medical insurance
• check what has been taken off your allowance and why

HMRC then sends a new code to your employer. It can take a pay period or two to appear on your payslip. If the new code is cumulative, payroll will refund any overpaid tax for the year through the next payslip.

If you cannot fix it online, phone HMRC’s Income Tax helpline. Have your National Insurance number, your employer’s PAYE reference (on your payslip or P60) and your recent payslips ready.

After you check

If the code was wrong for a previous tax year, HMRC normally sorts it out after the year ends and sends a P800 calculation. Our guide to claiming a tax refund explains what to do when that shows money owed to you. If it shows you owe tax, the underpaid tax guide explains how it is usually collected through your code the following year.

Checking takes a couple of minutes, and doing it when you start a job, when your pay changes and each April is enough to catch most problems early.