NHS Tax Codes Explained: 1257L, Emergency Codes, BR and D0

Your tax code tells your employer how much of your pay is tax free and how to tax the rest. HMRC sets it, not your employer, and it changes more often than people expect, especially for NHS staff who start new posts, work for the staff bank or take on a second job. Here are the codes you are most likely to see.

1257L: the standard code

Most people have the code 1257L. The number is your personal allowance, £12,570 a year, divided by ten. The L means you are entitled to the standard personal allowance.

On 1257L, your employer lets £1,047.50 of pay each month go untaxed, then taxes the rest at the basic rate of 20%, and at 40% once your year's taxable pay passes £50,270.

Emergency codes: W1, M1 and X

If your code ends in W1, M1 or X (for example 1257L M1), you are on an emergency or non-cumulative basis. Each payslip is taxed on its own, ignoring what you earned or paid earlier in the tax year.

New NHS starters are often put on an emergency code until HMRC receives details from a previous job or a P45. The result is usually:

• too much tax if you started part way through the tax year after a gap without work, because you do not get the unused allowance from earlier months straight away
• roughly the right tax if you have worked all year at a similar salary

Once HMRC issues a normal code, your next payslip is worked out cumulatively and any overpaid tax is usually refunded through your pay.

BR: basic rate on everything

BR means all your pay from that job is taxed at 20%, with no personal allowance. It is common on:

• staff bank assignments
• a second NHS post
• any second job, because your allowance is normally used by your main job

If the bank is your only work, BR is wrong and you are overpaying. Tell HMRC which job is your main one.

D0 and D1: higher rate on everything

D0 taxes all pay from that job at 40%, and D1 at 45%. You see these on a second job when your main job already uses up your basic rate band. For example, a Band 8a whose main salary already passes the higher rate threshold might have D0 on bank shifts.

The second job tax calculator shows whether BR or D0 is right for you, and our guide to tax on bank work explains it in more detail.

0T: no allowance

0T means no personal allowance, but pay is taxed in the normal bands, so 20% up to the basic rate limit and 40% above. HMRC uses it when it does not have enough information, or when your allowance has been used up, including because of the taper for income over £100,000.

K codes: tax owed or taxable benefits

A code starting with K (for example K450) means you have income to add rather than an allowance to take away. It usually collects:

• tax owed from a previous year
• the taxable value of a benefit, such as a lease car through a salary sacrifice scheme, where the benefit is more than your allowance

K codes are legally limited so that no more than half your pay in a period is taken as tax.

S and C prefixes

A code starting with S means you are a Scottish taxpayer, and C a Welsh taxpayer. It depends on where you live, not where you work. Scottish taxpayers pay Scottish income tax rates, which differ from those in England.

Why your code might change mid-year

• you started or left a second job or bank work
• you joined a salary sacrifice car scheme
• HMRC is collecting an underpayment from a previous year
• you claimed tax relief for professional fees, such as NMC or HCPC registration, or uniform laundering

That last point is worth knowing. Many NHS staff can claim tax relief on professional registration fees and some uniform costs. Approved claims usually increase your tax code, so you pay less tax each month.

How to check and fix your tax code

1. Check it in the HMRC app or your personal tax account online. You can see the code for each job and the income HMRC expects.
2. Update the details if something is wrong, for example an old job still listed or the wrong main job.
3. Contact HMRC if you cannot fix it online. Your employer cannot change your code without HMRC's instruction.

Any tax overpaid in the current year is normally refunded through your pay once the code is corrected. For earlier years, HMRC will send a calculation at the end of the tax year.

Check your take-home

The take-home pay calculator assumes code 1257L. If your payslip is very different, your tax code is the first thing to check.