Tax if you’ve more than one job
If you work more than one job to earn money, you’re not alone. In the UK millions of people have another job alongside their main one.
Perhaps you do a weekend job or evening work to earn some extra money.
However you do it, there are a few things worth knowing that will keep the tax and National Insurance side of things running smoothly.
Your main job uses your Personal Allowance
Most people are allowed to get a certain amount of income each year, without paying any tax on it. This is called your tax-free Personal Allowance – and the standard amount is £12,570.
Usually, your £12,570 Personal Allowance goes to your main job – the one that pays you the most. This means that you will pay Income Tax on everything you earn in your other jobs.
Sometimes you might have 2 jobs that pay less than £12,570 each. If that happens, you can ask us to share your Personal Allowance between them.
You can find out more about how it works in our What is a tax-free Personal Allowance page.
Key thing to remember:
This tax-free Personal Allowance is per person, not per job. So, you only get one of these, even if you have more than one job.
More jobs doesn’t mean more tax
The amount of Income Tax you pay is based on all your income added together, not on how many jobs you have.
For example, you could earn £25,000 from one job, or split across two different ones, and you’ll still pay the same amount of income tax.
The clue is in your tax code
A tax code is a mix of numbers and letters that lets your employer know how much Income Tax to take from your wages, before you’re paid. If you’re employed, you’ll find it on your payslip.
If you have 2 jobs, you’ll have 2 tax codes – one for each job.
Your main job usually has the code 1257L. This tells your employer you get the full Personal Allowance of £12,570.
Your second job will have a different code. The most common one is BR, which stands for ‘basic rate’.
Key thing to remember:
If you see the tax code BR on your payslip, it means all your wages from that job are being taxed at the basic rate of Income Tax, which is 20%. You don’t get a Personal Allowance on this job – that’s the £12,570 you can earn tax-free. This is because your Personal Allowance has been used by your main job.
You can find out more in our Understanding your tax code page.
Helpful tip:
Checking your payslip regularly is the best way to avoid surprises. If your tax code doesn’t look right, it’s always better to sort it out sooner rather than later.
National Insurance works differently from Income Tax
National Insurance is different to Income Tax because it’s worked out separately for every job you have. Each one will have its own limit, before you need to start paying National Insurance.
You only start paying National Insurance when you earn more than £242 a week from a job. If you have 2 jobs that pay you more than £242 a week, the National Insurance you pay is normally worked out separately for each job.
If you earn less than £242 a week, but more than £125, you don’t need to pay National Insurance. You’ll get credits that go on your National Insurance record to protect your State Pension and other benefits for the future. You can find out more about National Insurance on GOV.UK.
You can check your details online
You can use the HMRC app or go to GOV.UK to check that we have the right information about all your jobs anytime. If you don’t have an account, it’s free and easy to set one up on GOV.UK.
You don’t need to understand everything about how tax works, but when you’re getting income from different places with different payslips, knowing the basics can make you feel more in control of your money.