Your situation
Job expenses and your tax code
Independent site, not HMRC. Only HMRC can change your code: use your HMRC online account or app.
Relief on work costs you pay yourself is added to your tax-free pay, so the code goes up rather than down.
Your situation points to
1317L
Your current code takes about £118.00 too much this year.
| Tax due for the year | £3,366.00 |
| Taken with 1257L | £3,484.00 |
| Taken with the expected code | £3,364.00 |
| Personal Allowance | £12,570 |
Estimate on employment and pension income only. HMRC sets your code from its own records; savings, property and other income can change it.
When you spend your own money on things your job requires and your employer does not pay you back, HMRC can give tax relief, and for the current tax year it usually does so by raising your tax code (GOV.UK, claiming tax relief on job expenses). The relief is not the expense itself but the tax on it, at the rate you pay: a basic rate taxpayer saves 20p for each pound claimed, a higher rate taxpayer 40p. Claim £600 of eligible costs on a salary of £30,000 and the expected code moves from 1257L to 1317L, saving £120.00 over 2026 to 2027, about £10.00 a month. Typical claims cover cleaning or replacing a uniform or specialist clothing, small tools, fees to approved professional bodies, and business mileage in your own vehicle. Working from home is the exception: relief for it cannot be claimed for 2026 to 2027, although earlier years remain open. For past years HMRC either adjusts your code or pays a refund.
Job expenses and your code
New code
1317L
| Tax saved over the year | £120.00 |
| Each month | £10.00 |
Rules read on HMRC’s texts by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
From a claim to a higher number
A code is your allowance plus anything that gives relief, minus anything taxed through your pay, with the last digit dropped (GOV.UK). Job expenses sit on the plus side. That is why a successful claim pushes the number above 1257, unlike benefits or untaxed income, which pull it below. The payroll then gives you more free pay each period, and the saving is spread over the remaining paydays.
The table runs five claims through the estimate for a monthly salary in England or Northern Ireland. The saving doubles when the claim is set against pay taxed at the higher rate, because the relief follows your top rate rather than a fixed percentage. Small claims still matter: the extra free pay repeats on every payslip for as long as the expense stays in your code.
| Expenses allowed | Salary | Expected code | Tax saved in the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| £200 | £30,000 | 1277L | £40.00 |
| £600 | £30,000 | 1317L | £120.00 |
| £1,500 | £30,000 | 1407L | £300.00 |
| £600 | £60,000 | 1317L | £240.00 |
| £1,500 | £60,000 | 1407L | £600.00 |
What qualifies
Two conditions come first: you paid for the item yourself because the job requires it, and you use it only for work. If your employer repays everything, or offers an alternative you turned down, there is no relief; if it repays part, only the rest counts (claiming tax relief).
- Uniforms, work clothing and tools. Washing, mending or replacing specialist clothing or a uniform, such as overalls or safety boots, and repairing or replacing small tools. Not the first purchase of clothing, everyday clothes or protective equipment. Many jobs have an agreed flat rate expense you can claim without receipts.
- Professional fees and subscriptions. Membership fees you must pay to do your job, and annual subscriptions to bodies on HMRC's approved list when membership is relevant to your work.
- Vehicles. Business journeys in your own car, van, motorcycle or bicycle at the approved mileage rate, minus any mileage allowance from your employer; fuel for business trips in a company car. Commuting does not count unless you travel to a temporary workplace.
- Travel and overnight costs. Public transport, hotels, meals, parking and tolls on work trips.
- Working from home. Not available for 2026 to 2027; earlier years only, and only when you had to work at home rather than chose to.
Two codes on the same pay
1100L against 1257L, over the year
+£314.00
| Tax with 1257L | £3,484.00 |
| Tax with 1100L | £3,798.00 |
| Each month | £26.17 |
Claiming and keeping the code right
Most employees claim online through HMRC's job expenses service, with receipts or mileage logs where asked; anyone who files a Self Assessment return claims on the return. Check afterwards in your HMRC online account that the expense appears in your code, which HMRC confirms to you and your employer within 15 working days of a change (how codes are updated). If your claim was an estimate, tell HMRC once you know the real amount: if you spent less, the relief in the code is too high and you would owe tax later. For older years, money due comes back as an adjustment to your code or a refund; other refund routes are on claim a tax refund.