Is it possible to ask HMRC for tax codes to be changed?

bucklb

Hi

TL;DR : The tax codes HMRC are using for my wife seem sub-optimal. Is there any point suggesting that others would make more sense?

Details

My wife has a couple of pensions and takes money from a SIPP once a year. Altogether they are just over her annual tax allowance. She also occasionally invigilates for a few hours a month (and to make things even more complex that could be either of two different instititutions).

To me it would be more sensible that her tax allowance is broken down across her pensions, which are eminently predictable, and the rest assigned to her SIPP withdrawal. Any invigilation income, which is entirely ad-hoc, could then be taxed as BR (Basic Rate).

Currently one of her pensions has a tax code of BR and she has a 365L tax code on one of her invigilation roles (the other role she has just been paid for & was taxed using an emergency code). As it stands some of her tax allowance is against an income stream she may not use for months.

Is it possible to get the tax codes amended and what would be the best method to do so? Writing/phoning seem obvious options but is there a way to use the "estimated income" on the HMRC app to steer the tax codes closer to what we'd like?

Cheers

Bob

molerat

Amending the estimated incomes would be the first option.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6664231/is-it-possible-to-ask-hmrc-for-tax-codes-to-be-changed

You might it easier to get some help if you made it a bit clearer how many sources of PAYE income she has (in this tax year) and heat tax code is allocated to each one.

sheenas

Yes, phone them up and discuss, they are very helpful.

always_learning22

Yes, you can ask HMRC to change your tax code. I’d just log into my Personal Tax Account or call them and explain why it needs updating, like a job change or incorrect estimate. They’ll review it and adjust if needed.

Intoodeep

I updated my estimated earnings details for 2026/27 on Friday, Email received Monday morning informed me of alteration to Tax Code, had a look on my Account and sure enough there it was.

bucklb

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963720#Comment_81963720

The tax codes for the 5 income streams in this financial year (2 pensions, 2 invigilation jobs & a SIPP that is drawn on once a year) are below

• tax codes for the two pensions are 734T & BR
• tax codes for the two invigilation revenue streams are 365L & (I assume) emergency tax the one payment to date had 40% tax deducted, so I assume she'll get a "proper" tax code shortly
• tax code for the SIPP is 156T

What I'm hoping for is to get

• the two pensions with appropriate tax codes that mean they fall within the tax allowance,
• the SIPP on a tax code that means about £2,500 of it is within her tax allowance
• the invigilation revenue streams on BR tax codes

penners324

Paye is designed for monthly or weekly pay. Drawing down everything in 1 go means she pays far too much tax.

Maybe change the way she's drawing down the pension?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963897#Comment_81963897

The emergency tax code is 1257L, far more generous than any of the codes you currently have.

But what you want cannot be achieved online, you will need to call HMRC and ask for one of he pensions to be made your "main" source of income for tax code purposes. This will be the one that gets the L suffix code.

You need to provide estimates of what taxable income you expect to get from each of the five sources and will need to specify that want £2,500 allowances included in the code for the SIPP (which will result in tax code 250T).

If you insisted the codes are issued on a cumulative basis that should make life easier as well in the long term, even if there is a little pay shock the first time the codes are used.