Second Job Tax Codes Explained — Why You're Taxed at 20% or 40% From £1 in 2026/27
Why a second UK job is usually taxed under a BR, D0 or D1 code from the first pound, and how to check you're not overpaying in 2026/27.
Why the Second Job Feels Over-Taxed
Taking on a second job in the UK often comes as a shock at the first payslip — the whole amount seems to be taxed at 20% with nothing tax-free, even though the main job still gets the benefit of the standard Personal Allowance. This isn't a mistake: HMRC's default approach is to allocate your full Personal Allowance to what it considers your main employment (usually whichever job pays more, or was started first), and issue a BR (Basic Rate) code for the second, taxing every pound there at 20% from the first payslip. The allowance itself isn't lost — it's simply being used up entirely against the main job's income.
When It's More Than 20%
| Combined income situation | Typical second-job tax code |
|---|---|
| Combined income stays within basic-rate band | BR — 20% flat on the second job |
| Combined income crosses into higher-rate territory | D0 — 40% flat on the second job |
| Combined income crosses into additional-rate territory | D1 — 45% flat on the second job |
Higher earners with two jobs can find their second job taxed entirely at 40% or 45%, which looks alarming on a single payslip but is HMRC's way of approximating the correct overall tax across both jobs without you needing to wait until the year ends for a big reconciling bill — the alternative (taxing both jobs as if each were your only income) would systematically under-tax higher earners with more than one job.
Splitting the Allowance Properly
If your main job's salary is modest and doesn't use up the full Personal Allowance on its own, it's often worth contacting HMRC to request the allowance be split across both jobs — for example, giving each job a portion of the tax-free amount rather than concentrating it all in the main job while the second job is taxed at a flat 20% from £1. This generally produces monthly deductions closer to your true overall liability, reducing both the size of any in-year cash-flow squeeze and the size of any refund or extra bill at year end.
What Happens If the Numbers Come Out Wrong
Because HMRC reconciles the tax paid across all your PAYE employments after the tax year closes, an over-deduction from a BR-coded second job (common for those whose combined income doesn't actually reach the higher-rate threshold) is usually corrected with an automatic refund, though this can take some months to arrive. Proactively checking and adjusting your tax codes during the year — rather than waiting for this year-end catch-up — keeps your take-home pay closer to accurate throughout, which matters more the larger the gap between the BR code's flat 20% and your true marginal rate.
Checking Your Own Position
- Confirm which job HMRC has recorded as your "main" employment
- Estimate your combined annual income across both jobs against the tax bands
- Ask HMRC to split your Personal Allowance if your main job doesn't use it all
- Check your tax code on each payslip matches what you'd expect given your combined income
Use the tax code checker and take-home pay calculators below to work out what your combined pay across two jobs should look like after tax.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my second job get taxed at 20% straight away with no Personal Allowance?
Your Personal Allowance is generally allocated in full to your main job's tax code (the standard 1257L code), so a second job usually starts on a BR (Basic Rate) code, meaning every pound is taxed at 20% with none of the tax-free allowance applied there — the allowance isn't lost, it's just being used against your main job.
Could my second job be taxed at 40% or even 45% instead of 20%?
Yes — if your combined income from both jobs pushes you into higher-rate or additional-rate territory, HMRC can issue a D0 code (taxing the second job entirely at 40%) or a D1 code (taxing it entirely at 45%) for your second employment, so that your overall tax across both jobs lands closer to the correct amount rather than under-taxing a higher earner on their smaller job.
Can I ask HMRC to split my Personal Allowance across both jobs instead?
Yes — if your main job's salary doesn't fully use your Personal Allowance, you can ask HMRC to split the allowance between your two employments so that each job gets a portion of the tax-free amount, which usually results in a more accurate ongoing deduction than leaving the second job entirely on a BR code and waiting for a year-end reconciliation.
If too much tax is taken from my second job, will I get it back automatically?
Often yes — HMRC reconciles PAYE tax paid across all your employments after the tax year ends and issues a refund automatically if you've overpaid overall, though this can take time. Correcting your tax code during the year, rather than waiting for an automatic year-end reconciliation, generally gets the right amount of tax deducted from each payslip as you go.
Try the calculators
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