What does the BR tax code mean?

BR stands for Basic Rate. It tells your employer or pension provider to tax every pound of your pay from that source at the 20% basic rate, with no Personal Allowance applied. HMRC uses BR most often on second jobs and second pensions, because the £12,570 PA is already being used up by your main income source. Applying the allowance twice would leave you owing tax at year-end, so BR collects 20% from the second source from pound one.

How much tax does BR take from my pay?

A flat 20% of every pound. There is no allowance, no banding, no year-to-date smoothing. £100 of gross pay becomes £80 after Income Tax (National Insurance is separate and assessed per employment with its own £12,570 threshold). On £15,000 of BR-coded income the tax is £3,000; on £25,000 it is £5,000. The figure is the same every payslip.

Is BR an emergency tax code?

BR is often called "emergency" in casual conversation, but technically it is not the official emergency code. HMRC's actual emergency code is 1257L W1/M1/X (which still gives you a slice of the PA each pay period). BR is the default when HMRC believes another income source already holds your full Personal Allowance - usually a deliberate second-job assignment, not a temporary fallback.

Why am I on BR when I only have one job?

Most often because HMRC has not yet received your P45 from a previous employer or a completed Starter Checklist - so they cannot confirm your main job is using the PA. Submit the paperwork and the code normally corrects to 1257L within one or two pay cycles. Other causes: an old employment record still open from a job you left (call HMRC to close it), or you ticked Statement B on the Starter Checklist instead of Statement A.

Can I get a refund if BR over-taxed me?

Yes. HMRC reconciles all your employments at year-end. If your total income across all jobs is below £12,570 - or BR was applied incorrectly while your main job had unused PA - HMRC sends a P800 letter in the summer with an automatic refund. To speed it up, call 0300 200 3300 mid-year and ask for the code to be corrected; the next payslip then refunds the over-paid tax through PAYE rather than waiting until the tax year closes.

What is the difference between BR and 0T?

BR applies 20% flat to everything from that source. 0T removes the PA but runs your pay through the full band structure - so the first £37,700 of pay from that source is at 20%, the next £74,870 at 40%, then 45% above. For low-paid second jobs the two codes are equivalent. For a well-paid second job, 0T collects more tax up front because it picks up the higher-rate band. HMRC uses 0T when BR would leave a known under-payment to recover at year-end.

BR Tax Code Explained (2026/27)

BR stands for "Basic Rate". It taxes every pound from that employer or pension provider at 20%, with no Personal Allowance applied. HMRC's default for second jobs and second pensions in 2026/27 - because your £12,570 PA is already being used on your main income source.

How to read the BR code

BR is a two-letter code with no number, which itself tells you the key fact: no Personal Allowance applies. Every pound of your pay from this source goes straight into the 20% basic-rate band.

B = Basic.
R = Rate.
No number = no allowance (compare with 1257L = £12,570 of allowance).
SBR = the Scottish equivalent, taxing at the Scottish basic rate (also 20% in 2026/27).
CBR = Welsh equivalent (same 20% rate as the rest of the UK).

Crucially BR is not the same as 1257L W1/M1 (the actual emergency code, which still gives you a slice of the PA each pay period). BR assumes your PA is permanently held by another source and acts accordingly - it does not flip back to a cumulative PA-bearing code on its own.

Worked example: £25,000 second job on BR

You have a main job paying £40,000 (using 1257L), plus a second job paying £25,000 coded BR. The numbers below are computed from the HMRC 2026/27 ruleset and apply to England/NI rest-of-UK:

Line	Annual	Monthly
Gross pay (second job)	£25,000	£2,083
Personal Allowance applied	£0	£0
Income Tax (20% on £25,000)	£5,000	£417
Class 1 NI (8% on £12,430)	£994	£83
Take-home from second job	£19,006	£1,584

That tax figure (£5,000) is exactly right if your total income across both jobs sits inside the basic-rate band (£12,571 to £50,270). The first £12,570 of your combined income is shielded by the PA on the main job, the next £37,700 is taxed at 20% - and BR collects exactly 20% from this second job. If your combined income tips into the higher-rate band (over £50,270), BR under-collects tax and HMRC will normally re-code the second job to D0 (40%) to fix it. If your combined income falls below £12,570 you have been over-taxed by up to £2,514 - call HMRC for a refund.

BR take-home at different second-job sizes

Second-job gross	Income Tax (BR)	NI	Take-home
£5,000	£1,000	£0	£4,000
£10,000	£2,000	£0	£8,000
£15,000	£3,000	£194	£11,806
£20,000	£4,000	£594	£15,406
£25,000	£5,000	£994	£19,006
£30,000	£6,000	£1,394	£22,606
£40,000	£8,000	£2,194	£29,806
£50,000	£10,000	£2,994	£37,006

How to check if BR is right for you

BR is correct when:

You have two or more jobs, and your main one is coded 1257L using the full £12,570 PA.
Your combined income across all sources sits within the basic-rate band (£12,571 to £50,270).
You are drawing a small pension alongside a main salary, and the salary holds the PA.

BR is wrong when:

Your total income is under £12,570 (you are owed a refund of all BR tax taken).
Your total income exceeds £50,270 (you owe more tax and HMRC will likely upgrade the code to D0).
You have no other employment using the PA (the second job is your only job - check your main employer's payroll).

Verify via your HMRC Personal Tax Account or the official Check your Income Tax service - both show every code in force and which employer/pension is using which.

How to fix a wrong BR code

Submit your P45 from the previous employer (or complete a Starter Checklist) to the current one.
Online via gov.uk/tax-codes/if-your-tax-code-is-wrong.
Phone HMRC PAYE on 0300 200 3300 (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm) with your National Insurance number and latest payslip.
If the second job actually pays more than the first, ask HMRC to swap the PA over so the higher-earning role uses 1257L - this minimises overall tax collected at source.

Related tax codes

Frequently asked questions about BR

What does the BR tax code mean?: BR stands for Basic Rate. It tells your employer or pension provider to tax every pound of your pay from that source at the 20% basic rate, with no Personal Allowance applied. HMRC uses BR most often on second jobs and second pensions, because the £12,570 PA is already being used up by your main income source. Applying the allowance twice would leave you owing tax at year-end, so BR collects 20% from the second source from pound one.
How much tax does BR take from my pay?: A flat 20% of every pound. There is no allowance, no banding, no year-to-date smoothing. £100 of gross pay becomes £80 after Income Tax (National Insurance is separate and assessed per employment with its own £12,570 threshold). On £15,000 of BR-coded income the tax is £3,000; on £25,000 it is £5,000. The figure is the same every payslip.
Is BR an emergency tax code?: BR is often called "emergency" in casual conversation, but technically it is not the official emergency code. HMRC's actual emergency code is 1257L W1/M1/X (which still gives you a slice of the PA each pay period). BR is the default when HMRC believes another income source already holds your full Personal Allowance - usually a deliberate second-job assignment, not a temporary fallback.
Why am I on BR when I only have one job?: Most often because HMRC has not yet received your P45 from a previous employer or a completed Starter Checklist - so they cannot confirm your main job is using the PA. Submit the paperwork and the code normally corrects to 1257L within one or two pay cycles. Other causes: an old employment record still open from a job you left (call HMRC to close it), or you ticked Statement B on the Starter Checklist instead of Statement A.
Can I get a refund if BR over-taxed me?: Yes. HMRC reconciles all your employments at year-end. If your total income across all jobs is below £12,570 - or BR was applied incorrectly while your main job had unused PA - HMRC sends a P800 letter in the summer with an automatic refund. To speed it up, call 0300 200 3300 mid-year and ask for the code to be corrected; the next payslip then refunds the over-paid tax through PAYE rather than waiting until the tax year closes.
What is the difference between BR and 0T?: BR applies 20% flat to everything from that source. 0T removes the PA but runs your pay through the full band structure - so the first £37,700 of pay from that source is at 20%, the next £74,870 at 40%, then 45% above. For low-paid second jobs the two codes are equivalent. For a well-paid second job, 0T collects more tax up front because it picks up the higher-rate band. HMRC uses 0T when BR would leave a known under-payment to recover at year-end.