How to Split Your Personal Allowance Between Two Jobs or Pensions (2026/27)

When your main job pays less than the £12,570 Personal Allowance, how to get HMRC to move the unused part to your second job or pension, and what changes.

2026/27 tax year

Income Tax & Allowances
Employee
UK-wide

Summary

You get one Personal Allowance of £12,570 for 2026/27 however many jobs or pensions you have, and HMRC usually gives it to the job that pays the most. If that job pays less than the allowance, GOV.UK says to contact HMRC to check whether the allowance can be split, which can reduce the tax taken from your other job during the year.
Start in the Check your Income Tax service or the HMRC app: check which employment is using your allowance and that HMRC's estimate of each job's pay is right, because HMRC's PAYE Manual says the allocation is based on estimated pay. Then phone the Income Tax helpline on 0300 200 3300 to ask for the split.
A split changes the tax codes, not the tax you owe for the year. HMRC's PAYE Manual tells its staff to explain that the total Income Tax deducted stays the same regardless of how allowances are allocated; what changes is when it is deducted.
The split rests on estimates. GOV.UK warns that if your income varies or is irregular you might not pay the right amount of tax, and any difference is settled after the tax year by a P800 calculation.
National Insurance is not part of a tax code and a split does not change it.

This guide is general information, not advice.

This is for you if you have two jobs, a job and a pension, or two pensions, and the one that holds your Personal Allowance pays less than the allowance. Your second source may then be taxing every pound while part of your allowance sits unused. GOV.UK’s answer is to contact HMRC and ask whether the allowance can be split (per GOV.UK: how tax works if you have more than one job).

By the end you will know how to check whether a split is needed, how to ask for one, what the new codes should look like and what can still go wrong. What BR and D0 codes are, and how HMRC decides which job is “main”, is covered in Second job tax explained; it is not repeated here.

Before you start

A Government Gateway login for Check your Income Tax, or the HMRC app. The service covers 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027.
Your National Insurance number. The helpline says to have it with you.
What each job or pension will pay from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Use payslips and your contract hours; for a pension, the annual amount.
The tax code on each payslip now.
The Personal Allowance for 2026/27: £12,570 (per GOV.UK: Income Tax rates). It falls by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income over £100,000, but a split only matters where the main source is below the allowance.

Step-by-step

See where your allowance is now. Sign in to Check your Income Tax. GOV.UK says the PAYE section shows each employment, “which employment is using your Personal Allowance”, your income, tax and tax codes, and HMRC’s estimate of your total income for the year. If your second job already has an L code, HMRC may have split the allowance for you. Its PAYE Manual (PAYE13115) says the system works out the surplus at the main source and allocates it to other sources automatically, based on estimated pay, at the first code calculation of the tax year and when a new employment or pension is added.
Fix the estimates first. Because the automatic allocation is “based on the estimated pay”, a wrong estimate gives a wrong split. In the same service you can update your estimated income, add a missing employer, or tell HMRC you have stopped working somewhere.
Ask HMRC for the split. GOV.UK’s instruction is to “contact HMRC to check if your Personal Allowance can be split between your jobs”. The Income Tax helpline is 0300 200 3300, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, and lists “your tax code” among the reasons to call. It uses speech recognition and may ask security questions. Online, HMRC’s digital assistant covers PAYE tax codes and can transfer you to an adviser if one is available. Say how much each job will pay and how much of the allowance you want on each. PAYE13115 says manual reallocations “will take place at the request of the customer”.
Check the new codes. If a code needs to change, HMRC will tell you and your employer within 15 working days. Paid monthly, it should be on your next or the following payslip; paid weekly, on your third (per GOV.UK: if you think your tax code is wrong).
Tell HMRC when things change. A new job, a pay rise or cut, or leaving one job all change the right split. GOV.UK asks you to report a job you have left through your Personal Tax Account or the HMRC app: “This helps make sure any other jobs you have use the correct tax code.”

How the split shows in your codes

HMRC starts from your allowance, takes off anything that reduces it, then “replace[s] the final digit with a letter” (per GOV.UK: what your tax code means). With a split, each source gets a code built from its share. The two shares add up to one allowance, never more.

PAYE11055 says HMRC may put the L suffix on the second source that receives the transferred allowance and a T suffix on the main source, so that you still get “the benefit of any increase in the main allowances”. GOV.UK describes T as “Your tax code includes other calculations to work out your Personal Allowance”. A T code on the main job is not a mistake in itself.

Two pensions, or a pension and a job. The same procedure applies. PAYE13115 says surplus allowance goes first to the largest occupational pension, then the next largest, then secondary employments by highest estimated pay. Tax on the State Pension is collected through another source: GOV.UK says a private pension provider usually takes it, HMRC picks one provider if you have several, and if you work your employer usually does (per GOV.UK: how your tax is paid). That uses up allowance, so expect a smaller split than the arithmetic below.

National Insurance. A code is used “to work out how much Income Tax to take from your pay or pension”; it says nothing about National Insurance. Class 1 is worked out job by job, which is why HMRC’s CA72A notes describe deferment for people paying it “with more than one employer”. The per-job rules are in Second job tax explained.

Deadlines and what happens next

There is no deadline to ask. After 5 April, HMRC checks the tax you paid across all your jobs and, if it was wrong, usually sends a P800 tax calculation. These letters go out between June and March of the following tax year (per GOV.UK: tax overpayments and underpayments). If you owe, HMRC usually collects it through your tax code in equal instalments for 12 months from the start of the following tax year, provided you owe less than £3,000 and have enough PAYE income to cover it (per GOV.UK: if you owe tax).

Common mistakes

Asking for a split when income is irregular. GOV.UK: “If your Personal Allowance is split and your income varies or is irregular, you might not pay the right amount of tax.”
Not updating the estimate. The split is fixed on the estimate. If the job given the larger share pays less, the unused part does not follow the money.
Expecting a lower tax bill. PAYE13115 tells HMRC staff to explain that total Income Tax is the same whatever the allocation.
Leaving a job and not saying so. The remaining job can be left using only its share of the allowance until HMRC updates the codes.

Worked example

This uses GOV.UK’s own example, with the 2026/27 Personal Allowance of £12,570 and 20% basic rate (per GOV.UK: how tax works if you have more than one job and Income Tax rates). Figures are annual and ignore the small rounding the code number introduces. The rates differ if you pay Scottish Income Tax.

Job 1 pays £8,000 and holds the allowance. Job 2 pays £7,000. Total income £15,000.

Without a split, job 2 on BR: job 1 deducts nothing. Job 2 deducts £7,000 × 20% = £1,400 across the year.
With a split: the unused allowance is £12,570 − £8,000 = £4,570. Job 1 gets a code built on £8,000 (such as 800L, or 800T per PAYE11055); job 2 gets one built on £4,570, such as 457L. Job 2 taxes £7,000 − £4,570 = £2,430, so deducts £2,430 × 20% = £486, the figure GOV.UK gives.
Same bill, better cash flow: the year’s tax is £486 either way. Without the split you are over-deducted £1,400 − £486 = £914 and wait for a P800.

If the estimate is wrong. Say job 1’s hours are cut and it pays £6,000, with the codes unchanged. Job 1 uses only £6,000 of its £8,000 share; job 2 still deducts £486. Your true tax is (£13,000 − £12,570) × 20% = £86, so £400 is over-deducted until a new code or a P800 puts it right. Report the change (step 5) rather than wait.

Second job tax explained - BR and D0, which job counts as main, and National Insurance on two jobs.
Two jobs calculator - tax and National Insurance on both jobs together.
How to read a PAYE coding notice - reading the P2 that confirms the new codes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I split my Personal Allowance between two jobs?

Yes, where it helps. GOV.UK says your allowance usually goes to the job that pays the most, that any part the main job does not use might be allocated to your other job, and that you should contact HMRC to check if your Personal Allowance can be split between your jobs. HMRC's PAYE Manual confirms staff reallocate allowances at the customer's request.

Will splitting my tax code mean I pay less tax?

Not over the year. HMRC's PAYE Manual says the total amount of Income Tax deducted remains the same regardless of the allocation of allowances. A split stops the second job over-deducting month by month, so you get the money through your pay rather than as a refund after the tax year ends.

How do I ask HMRC to split my Personal Allowance?

Check your jobs and HMRC's estimate of each one's pay in the Check your Income Tax service or HMRC app and correct anything wrong there. Then contact HMRC: the Income Tax helpline is 0300 200 3300, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm. Have your National Insurance number and an estimate of what each job will pay this tax year.

Does splitting the allowance change my National Insurance?

No. A tax code tells the employer how much Income Tax to take. Class 1 National Insurance is paid on each job's own pay: HMRC's form CA72A notes deal with people who pay Class 1 with more than one employer. Moving your allowance between codes does not touch it.