more tax on two part time jobs rather than one?

Hi,

I have a job that I work from home, and pay varies as its paid per unit!It is around 5-6 pounds an hour.
I am starting another job that pays 6 pound an hour.

I am hoping to do between 24 and 32 hours in total between the two jobs.
Does anyone know if this will mean that I will have to pay more tax than if I just worked the same hours at one of these?

People keep telling me its not worth doing because I will be taxed way more! HELP! I need the money but both employers don't have enough work for a full time position!

Thanks! Midgy!

Comments

  • HappyMJ
    HappyMJ Posts: 21,115
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    The tax overall will be the same as 1 full time job with the same combined hours. It'll be cheaper for the employers in question as each employer does not have to pay any employers national insurance contribution for part time employees on minimum wage but would have to if they employed someone on full time wages.

    If your average hours is 28 hours times £6 = £168 then the tax will be about £4.85 and the employee NI will be about £3.48. http://listentotaxman.com/index.php
    :footie:
    :p Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) :p Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. :p
  • Mikeyorks
    Mikeyorks Posts: 10,369
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    The tax will be exactly the same. You pay 20% over your personal allowance (£7475 this year) regardless of how your income splits.

    But - you do need to get the personal allowance split between the 2 jobs if neither of them pays over the £7475 (£8105 from April). That will hopefully save you overpaying tax on one job and then reclaiming it after the year end.
    If you want to test the depth of the water .........don't use both feet !
  • LittleVoice
    LittleVoice Posts: 8,975
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    You have a personal tax-free allowance (£7475 this tax year) which is applied to your earnings in total no matter how many employers you have. This way you pay no more tax than if you had one job.

    By having two employers you will save a little on National Insurance.

    £7475 is about £143 a week As you probably won't earn quite this amount in a week from either employer, you can ask that your tax code is split between them. If you don't HMRC can sort it out after the year end but you would, in the meantime but not in the end, pay a little more tax than you need.
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344
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    edited 19 February 2012 at 6:49PM
    No, tax is the same whether you do the work in 1 job or 10. You will need 2 tax codes, if 1 job pays enough to use your whole personal allowance (£7475 for 2011/2, £8105 for 2012/3) then the easiest method is to apply the whole allowance to that job and have a code of BR on the other job.

    NI works differently as it is paid per employment, but you may in fact be better off as you don't pay anything until you reach the primary threshold (£139 per week) in a job, so for instance if you earn £150 a week in each job you only pay NI on £22, whereas if you earned £300 in a single job you'd pay it on £161.

    Edited to add: the downside is that if you earn below the lower earnings limit in both jobs (£102 pw) then you won't have any NI contributions recorded so your access to state benefits may be affected at a later date.
  • CKhalvashi
    CKhalvashi Posts: 12,045
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    Midg wrote: »
    Hi,

    I have a job that I work from home, and pay varies as its paid per unit!It is around 5-6 pounds an hour.
    I am starting another job that pays 6 pound an hour.

    I am hoping to do between 24 and 32 hours in total between the two jobs.
    Does anyone know if this will mean that I will have to pay more tax than if I just worked the same hours at one of these?

    People keep telling me its not worth doing because I will be taxed way more! HELP! I need the money but both employers don't have enough work for a full time position!

    Thanks! Midgy!

    Noone pointed out - £6/h is less than NMW, unless you’re under 21
    💙💛 💔
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 45,936
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    CKhalvashi wrote: »
    Noone pointed out - £6/h is less than NMW, unless you’re under 21
    I was about to, you got there first.
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • You did the right thing in coming here to check out what you've heard.

    The older I get the less and less I listen to what 'people' tell me as hard lessons have taught me most people love to make up total crap about subjects they know absolutely nothing about, and see nothing wrong in doing that. :eek:
    Cash not ash from January 2nd 2011: £2565.:j

    OU student: A103 , A215 , A316 all done. Currently A230 all leading to an English Literature degree.

    Any advice given is as an individual, not as a representative of my firm.
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