1257L is the standard code and means a £12,570 tax-free allowance. Multiply the number by ten to get your allowance.
Reference notes for the UK tax year 2026/27, computed from HMRC's published rates rather than copied from another site.
| Code | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1257L | standard £12,570 allowance |
| BR | all income at basic rate, no allowance, typical second job |
| D0 / D1 | all at higher / additional rate |
| K | negative allowance, you owe more than you are allowed |
| S / C prefix | Scottish / Welsh rates |
| M1, W1, X suffix | emergency, non-cumulative |
| M / N suffix | Marriage Allowance received / given |
A K code is the one worth understanding. It means a taxable benefit or an underpayment exceeds your allowance, so an amount is added to your taxable pay rather than subtracted. There is a 50% limit: no more than half your pay can be taken as tax.
An emergency code corrects itself automatically once HMRC issues a proper one. You do not have to claim it back.
A code that looks odd is usually correct and reflects something HMRC knows about your income. Check your Personal Tax Account before challenging it.
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Full deduction breakdowns, computed on 2026/27 rates:
| Salary | Take-home a year | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|
| £25,000 after tax | £21,519.60 | £1,793.30 |
| £40,000 after tax | £32,319.60 | £2,693.30 |
| £60,000 after tax | £45,357.40 | £3,779.78 |
| £100,000 after tax | £68,557.40 | £5,713.12 |
- Payslip checker — check every other line on the payslip while you are there
- Tax rebate calculator — work out what a wrong code has already cost you
- Income tax calculator — see the tax the correct code should produce
- UK tax rates and thresholds 2026/27 — every band and threshold on one page
- Take-home pay statistics — effective and marginal rates from £20,000 to £200,000, free to cite
- How the calculator works — the order of calculation and the source for every rate
- rates.json — the same figures as machine-readable JSON, no key required
- Payslip Checker UK
- Tax Rebate Calculator UK
- UK Salary Percentile Calculator
- NHS Pay Calculator by Band
Full index: UK Tax & Take-Home Pay Guide — twelve guides, twelve worked salary examples and a reference table covering the whole UK system.
Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, which runs 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, and were checked against gov.uk on 28 August 2026.
Rates change every April, and often at a Budget. Check the tax year a figure belongs to before relying on it.
Found a wrong number? Open an issue with the figure and a gov.uk link. Tax errors are worth fixing quickly.
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