Two Jobs Tax Calculator 2026/27

How tax works when you have two jobs

You are taxed on your total income, not on each job separately. You get one personal allowance of £12,570, which HMRC normally applies to your main job through a 1257L code. Your second job is then usually taxed from the first pound — a BR code charges 20% on all of it, because the allowance is already used.

Nothing about a second job carries a penalty rate. People assume second jobs are taxed more harshly because the deduction on the second payslip looks brutal next to the first, but the total you pay across both is the same as one salary of the combined amount. What changes is where the tax is taken, and National Insurance — which genuinely does work out differently.

One personal allowance, and where it sits

Your allowance is attached to one employment at a time. HMRC puts it on whichever job it believes is your main one, which is usually the first it heard about — not necessarily the one that pays most. If the allowance ends up on your smaller job, you may not use all of it there while the bigger job is taxed from the first pound, so more tax comes out during the year than you actually owe.

You can ask HMRC to move the allowance to the higher-paying job, or to split it across both. Splitting suits two steady jobs of similar size; a single allocation is simpler when one job is clearly the main one. Either way it is a phone call or a change in the HMRC app, and it takes effect through a new tax code sent to your employer.

The tax codes you will see on a second job

• BR — basic rate on everything, currently 20%. The usual code for a second job when your main job uses the whole allowance.
• 0T — no allowance, but the normal bands apply, so part of the pay can be taxed at 40% or above. Common when a new employer has no P45.
• D0 / D1 — everything at the higher rate (40%) or additional rate (45%). Correct when your main job already uses up the basic-rate band.
• 1257L on both jobs — the error to look for. You receive the allowance twice, too little tax comes out, and HMRC asks for the difference later.

National Insurance is worked out per job

Income tax looks at your total; National Insurance does not. Each employer applies the £12,570 primary threshold separately, per pay period, and charges 8% above it up to the £50,270 upper earnings limit, then 2% above that.

That cuts both ways, and which way depends on your total:

• Lower combined earnings pay less NI. Two jobs at £15,000 each give you two thresholds, so more of your pay escapes NI than it would in one £30,000 job.
• Higher combined earnings can pay more. The 2% rate only applies above £50,270 in a single job. Two jobs of £35,000 each keep both below that limit, so the whole lot is charged at the main rate rather than dropping to 2% — the opposite of what a single £70,000 salary would pay.

A worked example

Three ways of earning £42,000 in 2026/27, before pension and student loan:

The calculator above does this arithmetic for your own figures, including the tax code on each job, so you can see the gap between what is being deducted and what you actually owe.

Will I owe tax at the end of the year?

You might, if your tax codes deduct less than your combined income actually owes. The most common cause is both jobs being on a 1257L code, so you receive your personal allowance twice during the year. HMRC reconciles this afterwards and either sends a bill or adjusts a future code. The check above shows whether your current codes match your true liability for 2026/27.

What to check on your payslips

Look at the tax code on each payslip. If you see 1257L twice, or a second job with no code at all, contact HMRC before the year end — it is far easier than paying a lump sum afterwards. If you have already been over-deducted, HMRC repays it, either through a refreshed code or a refund after the tax year closes.

Also check that the job carrying your allowance is the one paying most. A second job taxed at BR while the allowance sits on a small role is the most common reason people feel they are paying too much on two jobs, and it is corrected by moving the code.

Scottish taxpayers

Income tax bands differ in Scotland — there are 6 of them, starting at 19% and rising to 48% — and Scottish codes carry an S prefix (S1257L, SBR). National Insurance is the same across the whole UK, so only the tax half of the calculation changes. Select Scotland above for the right figures.

Student loan repayments with two jobs

Repayments are also assessed per employment, per pay period. Each employer compares that job's pay against your plan threshold — £29,385 a year on Plan 2, for example — and deducts 9% of anything above it. If neither job individually clears the threshold, neither deducts, even when your combined income is well above it.

Bank shifts, overtime and irregular second jobs

If your second job is bank or shift work, the pay varies each period and so does the deduction, because PAYE works period by period rather than annually. A big month can look over-taxed and then settle. To see what an individual shift or overtime run is worth, the hourly rate calculator handles enhanced rates, and the bonus tax calculator covers one-off payments stacked on top of a salary.