What "BR" actually means
BR stands for Basic Rate. It is a tax code that applies a flat 20% income tax rate to all of the earnings under that code, with no Personal Allowance applied at all. HMRC uses BR as a default code for income that is not your "main" employment — most often a second job, a pension paid alongside a salary, or an emergency code applied while a new starter checklist works through the system.
If your only income is the one taxed at BR, you are paying too much tax — your Personal Allowance is being wasted. If you have a second job and the BR code is on the smaller income, that is usually correct: your Personal Allowance is being applied to the larger employer's pay and the second income is taxed at the basic rate from the first pound.
Why it usually appears
- Starting a second job. HMRC defaults the second employer to BR until they receive enough information to allocate the Personal Allowance across both incomes properly.
- Receiving pension income alongside a salary. Pension provider applies BR by default while HMRC sorts the split.
- Self-employed paying yourself a salary plus dividends through a limited company, with HMRC unsure which income should hold the allowance.
- P45 paperwork delayed when starting a new job — the new employer applies BR until they receive your full tax-code history.
How to fix it
Log into your Personal Tax Account on gov.uk and check the codes against each employer/pension. You can usually re-allocate the Personal Allowance to the income source that matters most (typically the highest-paid one). HMRC will issue a corrected tax code (e.g. 1257L) to that employer and a BR or D0 code to the other.
If the BR code has been applied to your only income — for example, the system defaulted it because of a paperwork delay — you can call HMRC's individual income tax line and they will issue a correction. Any over-deduction in the current tax year usually reverses out automatically through PAYE in subsequent months. If the year ends with too much tax paid, HMRC issues a P800 refund or adjusts next year's tax code.
Related codes you may see
- D0 — flat 40% (higher rate) on all income under that code, used where higher-rate tax should apply at source (e.g. high-earning second job).
- D1 — flat 45% (additional rate).
- 0T — no Personal Allowance, but tax bands still apply normally. Often used as an emergency code when no P45 is available.
- NT — no tax. Rare; used for non-residents in specific circumstances.
Related on this site
Decode any tax code with the tax code decoder, model your second-job position with the second-job tax code calculator, and check whether you are owed an emergency tax refund using the emergency tax refund checker.
When BR is normal
BR often appears on a second job, a short extra job, or a pension where HMRC expects your main Personal Allowance to sit against your main income source instead.
When BR may be wrong
- You only have one job and no other taxable income source is using your allowance.
- You changed jobs and payroll does not yet have the right P45 or starter-checklist information.
- You expected 1257L or another cumulative code and the allowance never moved across.
Best next pages
Use Second Job and Tax Code Calculator if you really do have two incomes, or Emergency Tax and Refund Checker if the code looks temporary or new-job related.
Official source: GOV.UK what your tax code means.
Worked example: BR on a second job
Say your main job pays £30,000 and a weekend job pays £6,000, for £36,000 in total. Your whole £12,570 Personal Allowance sits against the main job, and all £36,000 stays inside the 20% basic-rate band (which runs to £50,270 in 2026/27). Here BR on the second job is exactly right:
| Income | Code | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| Main job £30,000 | 1257L | £3,486 |
| Second job £6,000 | BR (20%) | £1,200 |
| Total £36,000 | £4,686 |
That £4,686 is the same figure you would owe if the whole £36,000 came from a single employer — so BR has collected exactly the right tax. The picture only goes wrong if the second job is in fact your only job: then BR ignores a £12,570 allowance that nobody else is using, overtaxing you by £2,514 over a full year (20% of £12,570).
How to tell, in 30 seconds, if your BR code is right
One question settles it: is your Personal Allowance being used somewhere else?
- Yes — you have another job or pension that uses a code like 1257L. BR on the smaller income is correct. Leave it alone; you are not overpaying.
- No — the BR income is the only money you receive. BR is wrong and you are losing roughly £209 a month in unused allowance. Get it changed.
- Not sure. Your Personal Tax Account lists every employment HMRC thinks you have and which code each one holds. If the allowance is sitting on a job you have already left, that is the leak to plug.
A useful sense-check: BR is the right tool when your combined income still falls within the basic-rate band (up to £50,270). If adding the second income pushes your total over £50,270, BR will actually undertax the slice above that threshold — because some of it should be at 40% — and you may face an underpayment instead. In that situation HMRC may switch the second job to D0 (a flat 40%).
BR versus 0T — they are not the same
BR and 0T both withhold your Personal Allowance, so they are easy to confuse, but they behave differently once income climbs:
- BR applies a flat 20% to everything under the code, no matter how large. It assumes the income belongs entirely in the basic-rate band.
- 0T applies the normal bands in order with no allowance — 20% up to £37,700 of that income, then 40%, then 45%. It is used when HMRC has no information at all (for example a new job with no P45 and no starter checklist).
For a small second job the two often produce the same tax. For a larger one they diverge sharply: on a £60,000 second income BR would take a flat £12,000, whereas 0T would take far more because the slice above £37,700 is charged at 40%.
Reclaiming tax you have overpaid on BR
If BR has overtaxed you, how you get the money back depends on timing:
- During the tax year. Once HMRC issues the corrected cumulative code to your employer, the refund usually appears automatically in your next payslip — a cumulative code looks back over the year and hands back the excess through payroll, so no separate claim is needed.
- After the tax year ends (5 April). HMRC reconciles PAYE over the summer and, if you have overpaid, posts a P800 tax calculation. A P800 showing a refund lets you claim online and is normally paid within about five working days, or by cheque if you do nothing.
- Earlier years. You can reclaim overpaid PAYE for up to four previous tax years. Write to HMRC, or claim through your Personal Tax Account, quoting the years and the codes that were operated.
Common mistakeWaiting for a refund that will never come on its own. A non-cumulative BR run on your only job does not self-correct mid-year — the allowance you missed in April is not clawed back automatically. You must get the code changed (and, if the year has ended, check the P800) to recover it.
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