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Common 'Allowance and relief' entries

Personal Allowance

This is the amount of taxable income that you can receive tax-free in the current tax year.

• Check how much Personal Allowance you should be getting

Blind Person's Allowance

This is a flat rate tax-free allowance which you can claim if you're certified blind and are on a local authority register of blind persons, or if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland and are unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential. If you're entitled to it, it should show on your Coding Notice after the Personal Allowance.

• Check the current rate for Blind Person's Allowance

Married Couple's Allowance

Married Couple’s Allowance (where you or your spouse or civil partner were born on or before 5 April 2023) is an allowance that reduces your tax if you're a taxpayer. The note on your Coding Notice will tell you what Married Couple’s Allowance is worth to you in terms of a tax reduction. It will tell you how your tax code number has been adjusted upwards to give you the correct relief.

• Check how your Married Couple's Allowance entitlement is worked out

Maintenance Payments relief

As with Married Couple’s Allowance, Maintenance Payments relief (where you or your spouse or civil partner were born on or before 5 April 2023) is an allowance that reduces your tax if you're a taxpayer. The note on your Coding Notice will tell you what Maintenance Payments relief is worth to you in terms of a tax reduction. It will tell you how your tax code number has been adjusted upwards to give you the correct relief.

• Check how your Maintenance Payments relief is worked out

Other allowances and reliefs

Other entries on your PAYE Coding Notice might include:

• professional subscriptions
• flat rate job expenses (for work tools or specialist clothing)
• other job expenses
• payments towards a retirement annuity
• double taxation relief
• foreign pension allowance
• higher rate tax relief on gift aid payments
• higher rate tax relief on pensions you're paying into
• loss relief
• loan interest
• balance of tax allowances (from another job or pension)

Depending on the type of entry, the effect of adding these amounts to the income you can receive tax-free is one of the following:

• you're not taxed on the income you use to make those payments
• you won't pay tax on some or all of that income
• you'll get tax relief associated with a payment

Items that can reduce your tax-free amount

The negative entries showing on the PAYE Coding Notice take account of amounts of taxable income that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) believes you've already received or will be receiving this tax year without tax taken off. They may also include taxable company benefits or tax owed from a previous year.

The amounts HMRC deducts ensure you pay the right amount of tax on these items.

They might include:

Reduction to collect unpaid tax

If you owe tax from the previous year, the easiest way for HMRC to collect it is to reduce your tax-free allowances by the amount of income on which the outstanding tax is owed. This enables HMRC to collect the correct amount of owed tax through PAYE (Pay As You Earn) each week or month.

• Pay back the tax you owe through your tax code or by making a voluntary direct payment Opens new window

Outstanding debt

You will see this if you have not paid Self Assessment debts or tax credit overpayments, where the amount is less than £3,000 and you've already been asked to make a direct payment. HMRC reduces your tax-free allowances and collects the amount owed over 12 months. There will be a note added telling you which type of debt applies - Self Assessment or tax credits - and explaining how your tax code has been calculated.

HMRC will always have written to you to tell you that they intend to collect the money through your tax code from the start of the following tax year.

• Read more about what happens if you can't pay overdue tax Opens new window

'Adjustment' to 20 per cent rate band

You will see this if you have two or more jobs or company pensions at the same time and you pay tax at basic rate (20 per cent) on each - but the level of your income taken together means that you have to pay some tax at the higher rate band of 40 per cent.

To collect the additional tax (and make sure you don't end up owing tax at the end of the year) HMRC reduces your tax-free amount for your main job or pension by an amount that has the effect of collecting the additional tax you owe.

State Pension

The State Pension is taxable income, but paid to you by the Department of Work and Pensions without tax taken off. To make sure you pay tax on it, HMRC deducts its annual value from your tax-free allowances.

• Find out more about the State Pension and your tax code

Other taxable state benefits

If you're receiving taxable state benefits, HMRC deducts their annual value from your tax-free allowances to make sure you pay tax on them. For example, Incapacity Benefit paid after the first 28 weeks is taxable but you receive it without tax taken off.

• Find out more about state benefits and your tax code

Taxable company benefits (car, van, fuel, medical insurance etc)

The value of these sorts of benefits (provided by your employer) is taxable so they need to be deducted from your allowances and reliefs.

• Find out more about tax codes and taxable company benefits

Gift Aid adjustment

You may see this if you made Gift Aid donations but hadn't paid enough tax to cover the amount the charity will reclaim. The deduction from your tax-free income will make up the difference.

• Find out more about how to give to charity through Gift Aid

Income from annuity

If you're receiving taxable annuity payments without tax taken off, HMRC deducts the annual value from your tax-free allowances to make sure you pay tax on this income.

Property income

Any rental income (less allowable expenses) not covered by the Rent a Room scheme is taxable, but you receive it without tax taken off so it needs to appear here.

Interest without tax taken off

An estimate of untaxed interest HMRC expects you to receive will show here to make sure you pay tax on this income.

Savings income taxable at 40 per cent

Savings income is taxed at 20 per cent before you get it and dividends (income from shares) at 10 per cent. If you're a higher rate taxpayer you will owe the difference between 20 per cent and 40 per cent on savings income, and between 10 per cent and 32.5 per cent on dividend income. The amount shown on your Coding Notice has the effect of collecting the difference.

Other pensions/earnings/commission not taxed when you receive them

HMRC's estimate of other untaxed pension/earnings you receive will appear on your Coding Notice. By deducting the value of these from your allowances HMRC will collect the estimated tax due on that pension or other income. If at the end of the tax year it turns out that the amount you received is greater than estimated HMRC will ask you to pay tax on the difference.

• Find out more about other income and your tax code

Other deductions

The above list isn't exhaustive, but covers some of the most common items that reduce your tax-free amount entries. However, the principle applied is the same for all - the amount shown is deducted from your tax allowances and this has the effect of collecting the right amount of tax owed for that item.

Further information

To find out how the above amounts are used to work out the tax you pay read the related article ‘Understanding your PAYE Coding Notice’.

• Understanding your PAYE Coding Notice

Useful contacts

• Money, tax and benefits contacts

• National Insurance Contributions Office