How tax works if you have more than one job
Find out how your Personal Allowance is allocated and how Income Tax and tax codes work if you have more than one job or source of income.
Income Tax and your Personal Allowance
You may need to pay Income Tax if all your taxable income added together for the tax year (6 April to 5 April) is more than your Personal Allowance.
Your Personal Allowance is the amount of taxable income that you can earn in each tax year without paying tax on it. You only get one Personal Allowance for each tax year even if you have income from more than one job, pension, or other source.
The standard Personal Allowance is £12,570 but the amount is not always the same for everyone. It depends on your situation.
Your Personal Allowance is usually split into equal weekly or monthly amounts that are used across the year.
Find out about your Personal Allowance and other tax-free allowances.
After the end of the tax year, we check your total tax to make sure you have paid the right amount.
Tax codes when you have more than one job or pension
Your employer or pension provider uses your tax code to work out how much tax to take from your pay or pension. If you have more than one job or pension, each one will usually have a different tax code.
For example:
- one may use your Personal Allowance and have the tax code 1257L
- another may have a code like BR (basic rate) or D0 (higher rate)
For your second job or pension, you’ll usually be on one of these tax codes:
- BR — all income taxed at the basic rate (20%)
- D0 — all income taxed at the higher rate (40%)
- D1 — all income taxed at the additional rate (45%)
Your tax codes depend on what your total income is across all sources for the tax year.
If you live or work in Scotland or Wales the rates and tax codes may be different.
Find out more about what your tax code means.
Starting and leaving jobs
If you’re starting a new job and have an existing job or jobs, you’ll not get a P45 form from your employer because you still work for them. Instead, you’ll need to fill in a starter checklist and give this to your new employer.
When completing the starter checklist, make sure you include that you already have another job. This gives your new employer the details they need and helps them apply the right tax code from your first pay. If you fill in the checklist incorrectly, you may not pay the right amount of tax.
If you leave a job, use your Personal Tax Account or the HMRC app to tell us you’ve left. This helps make sure any other jobs you have use the correct tax code.
If you have more than one job working as an employee
When you have more than one job working as an employee, your Personal Allowance is usually allocated to the job that pays you the most.
You’ll only pay tax on the amount above your Personal Allowance.
Pay from your main job is more than your Personal Allowance
You’ll pay tax on:
- your main job but only for the amount of pay that is over your Personal Allowance
- all the income you earn from your other job or jobs, even if you only earn a small amount from them
Pay from your main job is less than your Personal Allowance
You’ll not usually pay tax on your pay from your main job if it is less than your Personal Allowance. Any allowance that has not been used by your main job might be allocated to your other job or jobs depending on your circumstances.
This means that you’ll only pay tax:
- if the total income from all your jobs is more than your Personal Allowance
- on the amount above your Personal Allowance
Example
Your Personal Allowance is £12,570 and you have 2 jobs:
- job 1 pays £8,000 in the tax year
- job 2 pays £7,000 in the tax year
Your total income for the tax year is £15,000 (£8,000 + £7,000).
You pay no tax for job 1 as the total income is less than your Personal Allowance.
The remainder of your Personal Allowance is £4,570 (£12,570 – £8,000).
If this is allocated to job 2, it would mean £2,430 (£7,000 – £4,570) of this income would be taxable as the total income from both jobs is more than your Personal Allowance.
You’ll pay £486 tax on £2,430 (£2,430 × 20% basic rate tax) for the tax year.
Contact HMRC to check if your Personal Allowance can be split between your jobs.
This can reduce how much tax is taken from other job or jobs, during the tax year.
If your Personal Allowance is split and your income varies or is irregular, you might not pay the right amount of tax.
Total pay from all your jobs including your main job is less than your Personal Allowance
If each of your employed jobs pays less than your Personal Allowance, you need to add them together to get your total employed income. If your total income from all your jobs at the end of the tax year is less than your Personal Allowance, you’ll not usually have to pay tax for these jobs.
Your Personal Allowance is split evenly throughout the tax year. This means you might pay tax in certain weeks or months if your income for that period is more than your weekly or monthly tax-free allowance, even if your total income for the tax year is below your Personal Allowance.
If you have different amounts of income each week or month and think you might go over your tax-free amount at times, contact HMRC to find out if your Personal Allowance can be split between all your jobs.
After the end of the tax year, we’ll check the tax you paid across all your jobs. If you paid the wrong amount, we’ll usually send you a P800 tax calculation letter showing whether you’re due a refund or you owe tax.
Temporary, casual, seasonal or short-term work as an employee
If your job working as an employee is temporary, casual, seasonal or short-term, you’ll still need to pay tax on any income above your Personal Allowance.
In most cases, your employer will deduct the tax before paying you whether you work for a few hours, days, weeks, or months.
When you start your job, your employer should ask you to fill in a starter checklist. It is important to fill this in accurately. If you do not, you may be put on an emergency tax code, which can mean you pay too much tax at first.
If you have multiple short-term jobs in the same tax year
Your Personal Allowance applies to your total income across the whole tax year, not to each job separately. If you work several short-term jobs during the tax year, we’ll look at your total income across all of them.
If each job uses a tax code without knowing about your other income, you may overpay or underpay tax during the tax year.
After the end of the tax year, we’ll issue a refund if your total income for the tax year means you have paid too much tax overall.
Example
Your Personal Allowance is £12,570.
You have a permanent job that pays £22,000 in the 2025 to 2026 tax year. You take on 6 weeks of seasonal work in December 2025, which pays £1,800.
Your total income is under the higher‑rate threshold, so you pay tax at the 20% basic rate.
Your permanent job uses the full Personal Allowance. This means £9,430 (£22,000 – £12,570) of this income is taxable as it is over the Personal Allowance.
You’ll pay £1,886 tax for your permanent job (£9,430 × 20% basic rate tax) for the tax year.
Because your Personal Allowance is already used, your seasonal employer uses a BR tax code and deducts 20% (basic rate tax) from the full £1,800.
You pay £360 (£1,800 × 20% basic rate tax) in tax on this income.
In total, you pay £2,246 (£1,886 + £360) in tax for the tax year.
Casual self-employed work or side hustles and working as an employee
If you’re employed and carry out casual work on a self-employed basis (including side hustles), different rules apply. For example, if you work as an employee and are also self-employed.
Check if you need to tell HMRC about additional income that’s not from your employer.
Any tax due on self‑employed income is worked out separately from tax taken through your employed job.
Your whole Personal Allowance is usually allocated to your main employed job. This is usually the one which pays you the most. If your Personal Allowance is more than this income, the remaining amount of allowance will be allocated to your other employed job or jobs. If there is still some remaining allowance you might be able to use it for your self-employed income.
Contact HMRC to check if your Personal Allowance can be allocated to your self-employed income. This may reduce how much tax you have to pay.
If your Personal Allowance is split and your income varies or is irregular, you might not pay the right amount of tax.
Total employed income is more than your Personal Allowance
If your total employed income is more than your Personal Allowance, you may need to pay tax on your self-employed income through Self Assessment if it is more than £1,000.
Find out about:
If your total self-employed income is £1,000 or less you may not have to tell us or declare this income on a tax return.
Example
Your Personal Allowance is £12,570.
You work as an employee and your income for the tax year is £22,000. You also make an extra £3,500 during the tax year from walking dogs at the weekends and evenings.
Your total income for the tax year is £25,500 (£22,000 + £3,500). You pay 20% basic rate tax as it is under the higher-rate threshold.
Your Personal Allowance is used against your employed job first. This means £9,430 of your employment income (£22,000 – £12,570) is taxable.
You’ll pay £1,886 tax on this income (£9,430 × 20% basic rate tax) for the tax year. Your employer will deduct the tax from your wages before paying you.
You must tell us about the income from dog walking because it is more than £1,000. The first £1,000 is tax free, so £2,500 (£3,500 – £1,000) is taxable.
You’ll pay £500 tax (£2,500 × 20% basic rate tax) through Self Assessment.
In total, you’ll pay £2,386 tax (£1,886 + £500) for the tax year.
Total employed income is less than your Personal Allowance
If your total employed income is less than your Personal Allowance, you need to add together your income from:
- all your employed jobs
- all of your self-employment
This is your total income.
If your total income is less than your Personal Allowance, usually you should not have to pay any tax.
If your total income is more than your Personal Allowance, you may need to pay tax. Usually you’ll only pay tax on the amount that is more than your allowance. If your total self-employed income is £1,000 or less you may not have to tell us or declare this income on a tax return.
Example
Your Personal Allowance is £12,570. You have 2 employed jobs:
- job 1 pays £6,000 in the tax year
- job 2 pays £5,000 in the tax year
You also make an extra £950 during the tax year from creating online content as a side hustle.
Your total income for the tax year is £11,950 (£6,000 + £5,000 + £950).
You’ll pay no tax as your total income is less than your Personal Allowance.
You should keep a record of your income from creating online content. If you receive more than £1,000 from this, you may need to register for Self Assessment.
Getting a pension and working
If you get pensions and are employed or self-employed:
Checking your details
Having more than one job, or a series of short-term work, can make it harder to keep track of your income during the tax year.
You can use the PAYE section in your Personal Tax Account or the HMRC app to check:
- your employment details to make sure each job is listed correctly
- which employment is using your Personal Allowance
- your income, tax and tax codes
- our estimate of your total income for the tax year looks correct
If our records are wrong and show you have more than one job
We use information that we get from your employers and pension providers to update your tax records. If we have wrong or missing information, our records may show that you have more than one job when you do not. This can happen, for example, if an employer did not report that you left.
If this happens, your tax code may be wrong and you may not pay the right amount of tax.
You can use the PAYE section in your Personal Tax Account or the HMRC app to check and update your details.
Updating your details
If something looks wrong, you can update your details online. This reduces the risk of paying the wrong amount of tax.
Sign in to your Personal Tax Account or the HMRC app. You can use the PAYE section to add or correct your employee records including:
- telling us you’ve stopped working for an employer
- adding missing employers
- updating your estimated income