So it is coming up to the time when the Inland Revenue will start to issue your tax code for 2016/17. Tax codes are issued to individuals and their employers so that the employer knows how much tax to deduct and at what rate.

Standard tax code

The standard 2016/17 tax code for those with uncomplicated financial situations (only one paid employment, no tax owing, no other allowances due etc) will be 1100L. This tax code means that you are entitled to the standard UK personal allowance of £11,000 of tax free earnings in the tax year 2016/17. (Originally the personal allowance was going to be £10,800 in 2016/17 but the increase to £11,000 was brought forward by a year).

But lots of people have different tax codes that are not at the standard rate with perhaps different letters at the end of the code. It can be very confusing to try and figure out why you may have a different tax code to the standard one and getting through to the Inland Revenue on the phone might be a struggle (0300 200 3300 is the number to all for tax code queries). You may owe tax from previous years, you may have more than one job or your partner may have passed you part of their allowance are just a few examples of why you may not have a standard tax code.

Can’t figure out your tax code?

If you can’t figure it out though, you will probably need to speak to the Inland Revenue to check that you have the right tax code and will not be paying too little (or indeed too much) tax in 2016/17. Although paying too little tax may sound good, it will have to be repaid at some point!

Tax code letters

So the letters at the end of the tax code may also give you an indication of what your code is all about.

There are a couple of new tax codes that have been introduced this year which take account of the new transferable marriage allowance – those are the letter M if you have received a transfer of the marriage allowance and the letter N if you have given a up part of your allowance.

You can get a full list of the tax code letters and what they mean on the Inland Revenue website.