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2026/27 Tax Year

Second Job and Tax Code Calculator

This page is for the common two-job question: what does the code on the second job actually do, and is too much or too little tax likely to be coming off overall?

How to read it: the second-job code affects withholding, not your true annual tax bill. This tool compares the tax likely to be withheld with a simple annual estimate using the income and allowance figures you enter.

Your jobs and code

Reduce this if benefits, untaxed income or HMRC adjustments have already cut your allowance.
Estimated take-home from the second job
£0 Likely annual under or over-withholding: £0
Income Tax withheld on the second job under this code£0
Employee NI on the second job£0
Likely total annual Income Tax across both jobs£0
Student loan due on both jobs combined (annual)£0
Tax withheld across both jobs using these settings£0
Main-job tax withheld£0
Allowance used on the second job£0
Code meaningAll second-job income taxed at basic rate

What this means

A second-job code changes how tax is withheld through the year. If the code is too generous, you can get more take-home now but owe tax later. If it is too harsh, you may get a refund later.

Full take-home check

Worked examples — see the math on real numbers

How HMRC handles tax codes when you have two PAYE jobs running simultaneously.

Rachel — main job £30,000, evening job £8,000

Main job (Tax code 1257L)£30,000
Second job (Tax code BR)£8,000
Combined gross income£38,000

The math:

  1. Main job: Personal Allowance applied. Tax: (£30,000 − £12,570) × 20% = £3,486
  2. Second job: BR (basic-rate) code means 20% on all earnings, no allowance: £8,000 × 20% = £1,600
  3. Total tax: £5,086
  4. Check: combined taxable income £38,000 − £12,570 = £25,430 × 20% = £5,086 ✓

Result: Rachel is taxed correctly because BR was applied to the second job. If the second job had used 1257L too, she would have under-paid by £1,257 × 20% = £251 and HMRC would issue a P800 catch-up bill next year.

David — main job £55,000, second job £15,000

Main job (Tax code 1257L)£55,000
Second job (default Tax code BR)£15,000
Combined gross income£70,000

The math:

  1. Main job: £7,540 basic-rate + (£42,430 − £37,700) × 40% = £7,540 + £1,892 = £9,432
  2. Second job at BR: £15,000 × 20% = £3,000
  3. Total deducted: £12,432
  4. Actual tax due (combined): basic-rate £7,540 + higher-rate (£70,000 − £50,270) × 40% = £7,540 + £7,892 = £15,432
  5. Under-payment: £15,432 − £12,432 = £3,000

Result: David is under-taxed by £3,000. The second job needs a D0 code (40% from £1 of earnings) to capture all higher-rate. HMRC will recalculate at year-end via P800 and issue a balancing demand. Better: tell HMRC about both jobs so the codes get adjusted before the underpayment builds up.

Figures use 2026/27 UK tax-year rates and thresholds. Always verify against your specific payslip or tax statement before acting.

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How the common codes behave

BR taxes all pay from that job at 20%. D0 taxes it all at 40%. D1 taxes it all at 45%. 0T gives no allowance but still uses the normal bands. 1257L gives that job a full standard allowance, which is often too generous if the main job already has one.

Sources and assumptions

GOV.UK tax codes overview GOV.UK what tax codes mean HMRC income tax rates and allowances

This page uses 2026/27 England, Wales and Northern Ireland band assumptions for a simple annual comparison. It does not model Scottish codes or payroll-period emergency treatment.