Tax on 2 part time jobs - do you pay more?

MrPayless

Hi

My son has been offered a part time job which he doesnt want to turn down due to the development it brings.

He doesnt want to leave his old job as he enjoys it but they have allowed him to take the other job and cut his hours as they dont want to lose him either.

If he was to go part time at both places, what kind of tax implications would it have? In total he would still only be working no more than 25 hours combined.

I told him Im sure you get taxed more if you have 2 jobs but he doesnt seem to think so. He is also getting Working Tax Credit and his partner doesnt work.

Thanks for any replies.

System

Having 2 jobs should have no affect whatsoever on his income. When he starts the 2nd job the employer should give him a P46 on which he will indicate that this is his second job.

This new employer will send that to the Tax office which deals with them and their employees and the staff at the tax office will find out which tax office holds his main record and contact them to let them know your son now has another job. They (the office dealing with the 2nd job) will then set up what is called a sub record and set a BR code which means tax at 22% will be deducted from his second income.

If his total income at the first job is such that he will not have full use of his tax free allowances and 10% band then the tax office holding the main record will instruct the sub office to apply a different tax code to ensure he doesn't lose out.

This will take some time so it might be a good idea for your son to contact his main office and let them know what is going on and what he thinks his income will be at each job so they can get the ball rolling.

If he is still unsure at the end of the tax year if his has paid too much tax he can call his main office and tell him his total income for the year for both jobs so they can see if he is due a refund.

Andy_L

He gets (income) taxed on his total income. Whether thats all from one job or from 10 makes no difference providing the appropriate paperwork is submitted by him or his employers

Savvy_Sue

No, you wouldn't pay more tax on two jobs than you would on one paying the total of both combined.

In some circumstances you might end up paying more National Insurance, but usually you'd pay less, because NI isn't worked out over the whole year: it's deducted every time you're paid. So if you're over the limit (currently c. £90 pw I think) you pay some NI. If you're not, you don't.

So in Job A you were working 25 hours per week and paying some NI. But you reduce Job A's hours to 20 hours pw and that reduces your NI liability.

In Job B you're now working 5 hours pw, but that's less than the NI lower limit, so you end up paying less NI overall.