Your situation
Tax code for a second job
Two payslips, two codes, one allowance: how HMRC divides it and what each job should take.
Your situation points to
1257L + BR
Your current code takes about the right tax for the year.
| Tax due for the year | £4,486.00 |
| Taken with 1257L + BR | £4,483.80 |
| Taken with the expected code | £4,483.80 |
| 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.
With two jobs you still have only one Personal Allowance, £12,570 in 2026 to 2027, so HMRC issues a separate code for each employer and puts the allowance where it does the most good. Normally the job that pays more keeps the allowance and shows 1257L, while the smaller job gets BR: every pound there is taxed at 20% because no tax-free amount is left. If your main pay already reaches the higher-rate band, the second job is coded D0 and taxed at 40%, and above the additional-rate threshold D1 at 45% (GOV.UK letters table). Take a main job of £28,000 and a weekend job of £7,000: the expected codes are 1257L and BR, and the tax due for the year is £4,486.00. When the main pay is below the allowance, the unused part can move across: £9,000 plus £7,000 points to 900L on the first job and 357L on the second. The BR code itself is explained on its own page.
Codes for two jobs
Expected codes
1257L + BR
| Tax due for the year | £4,486.00 |
| Second job with 1257L by mistake | £0.00 |
| Second job with its expected code | £1,399.80 |
Rules read on HMRC’s texts by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
One allowance, two payrolls
An employer only sees the pay it runs itself. It has no idea whether you earn £5,000 or £50,000 somewhere else, so it relies entirely on the code HMRC sends. That is why GOV.UK explains that you get one code per employment or pension: each one tells a single payroll how much tax-free pay it may use. Added together, the tax-free amounts across your codes should never go beyond your own allowance of £12,570.
When you start the extra job without a P45, the new employer asks you to fill in the starter checklist. Ticking statement C, the one for people who already have another job or a pension, tells payroll to use BR straight away. Tick A or B by mistake and the new job also gets an allowance, so the year's deductions fall short of the bill.
Expected codes for common pairs of jobs
The table runs the estimate used by the checker above on four pairs of salaries, with no benefits, expenses or Marriage Allowance, for England and Northern Ireland. With the standard allowance, the basic band covers gross pay up to £50,270.
| Main job | Second job | Main code | Second code | Tax due for the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £9,000 | £7,000 | 900L | 357L | £686.00 |
| £28,000 | £7,000 | 1257L | BR | £4,486.00 |
| £45,000 | £12,000 | 1257L | BR | £10,232.00 |
| £62,000 | £9,000 | 1257L | D0 | £15,832.00 |
The pattern is simple. A low main salary leaves room in the allowance, so it is shared. A middle salary keeps the whole allowance and the extra job pays 20% on everything. Once the main salary passes the basic band, the extra job is coded D0 and every pound of it costs 40p in tax. Scottish taxpayers see SBR, SD0, SD1, SD2 or SD3 instead, because Scotland has more bands (Scottish codes).
Splitting the allowance when the main pay is low
Picture £9,000 from a part-time contract and £7,000 from evening shifts. On BR, the evening job would lose £1,399.80 over the year, yet total income of £16,000 only owes £686.00. Giving the first job a code close to its own pay and moving what is left to the second job brings the deductions in line with the bill. You can ask for this by entering realistic yearly pay for each employer in your HMRC online account, which is the route GOV.UK gives for correcting the details behind a code (if your code is wrong).
Two codes on the same pay
BR against 1257L, over the year
+£1,399.80
| Tax with 1257L | £0.00 |
| Tax with BR | £1,399.80 |
| Each month | £116.65 |
Two mistakes that cost money
The allowance on both jobs. Each payroll applies £12,570 of free pay and too little tax leaves your pay all year. Nothing warns you until HMRC matches the two employers' figures. GOV.UK says the shortfall is then recovered by changing your code, over one or more tax years where possible, or set out in a letter after the year ends (paid too little tax). See how owed tax goes into a code.
BR on your only job. This can happen when one job ends but the record still shows it as live, so the remaining one is treated as secondary. With no allowance at all, £20,000 a year on BR loses £4,000.00 against £1,484.00 with 1257L. Make sure your old employer has reported your leaving date, then update the record online. When the new code reaches payroll, the excess is normally refunded through your pay.
Once HMRC changes a code it tells you and the employer within 15 working days. If you are paid monthly, expect it on the next payslip or the one after.