If you are wondering do children get a personal allowance then the short answer is yes, they do. Everyone in the UK is entitled to a personal allowance, letting them earn a certain amount of their income tax free.

The amount of the personal allowance for 2015/16 is £10,600 per annum for each person and the personal allowance for 2016/17 will increase to £11,000 for the tax year.

Although it is unlikely that many children will earn as much as the personal allowance, there are obviously exceptions to the rule so the personal allowance can be useful to everyone. Only certain types of income are subject to tax so watch out for those that are not taxed anyway such as income from certain National Savings accounts and Premium Bonds and income from Junior ISAs.

Unlike with married couples it is not possible to transfer any of the child’s personal allowance to the parent though.

Another question related to this subject is – do children have to pay tax? – and the answer to this one as well is yes. If they have earnings that exceed the personal allowance then yes they have to pay tax on those earnings just like anyone else might do. They would even be subject to higher rate tax if that was appropriate to their circumstances.