BR vs 0T Tax Code: Which Should You Be On? UK 2026/27

If your payslip shows a BR or 0T tax code, you are paying tax in a way that ignores your Personal Allowance - and the difference between the two matters. BR taxes you at exactly 20% on every pound. 0T taxes you progressively (20%, then 40%, then 45%) but still without your £12,570 tax-free band. This guide compares the two and tells you which you should actually be on.

To check whether the tax-code, tax and NI lines look right on your own slip, see How do I check my payslip is correct?.

At-a-glance comparison

What BR means

BR stands for "Basic Rate". Every £ of taxable income from this employment is taxed at 20%. It's the standard code for a second job or second pension where your full Personal Allowance is already used by your main employment.

When BR is correct

You have a main job paying at least £12,570/year that uses your full Personal Allowance, and a second job (e.g. weekend bar work, freelance contract) where the BR code is applied. The arithmetic works because your main job consumes your PA and the second job correctly pays 20% on every £ from £0.

When BR is wrong

• You only have one job but the employer applied BR (you should be on 1257L).
• Your second job earnings push your total annual income above £50,270 (the higher-rate threshold). BR caps you at 20% even when you should be paying 40% on the excess. HMRC reconciles via P800 after year end - you'll owe additional tax.
• You're a Scottish or Welsh taxpayer but the BR code (rest-of-UK) was applied. Should be SBR (Scotland) or CBR (Wales).

BR worked example

You have a main job earning £30,000/year (cumulative 1257L code, all PA there) and a second job earning £8,000/year (BR code), paid weekly.

Second job, weekly £153.85 gross:
  Tax (BR @ 20%):           £30.77
  National Insurance:         £0.00
  Net:                      £123.08

The NI line is zero for a reason that is worth getting right, because it is often stated backwards. National Insurance is not switched off on a second job by your main job's earnings. Each employment works its own pay out against its own threshold: HMRC's instruction to employers is that "if your employee works for someone else, you and the other employer should do this separately for each job", and the two are only added together where the employers "carry out business in association" with each other (GOV.UK).

So this second job pays no NI because £153.85 a week is below the £242 weekly primary threshold - and it would pay NI on everything above £242 a week regardless of what the main job pays. Income tax and National Insurance answer the two-jobs question in opposite ways: tax looks at your total through the coding, NI does not look across at all.

What 0T means

0T means zero allowance - no Personal Allowance, no Marriage Allowance, no other adjustments. Tax is calculated on the standard banded rates: 20% basic, 40% higher, 45% additional.

When 0T is correct

• You started a new job and haven't given your employer a P45 or completed a starter checklist.
• Your Personal Allowance has been withdrawn because your income exceeds £100,000 (full taper to zero by £125,140).
• Your tax code was deliberately set to 0T by HMRC because of an unusual situation (fully foreign-resident with UK earnings, certain trust arrangements).

When 0T is wrong

• You have a P45 from your previous job that the new employer hasn't processed.
• You completed a starter checklist Statement A or B, but the employer didn't apply your basic rate band.
• Your earnings are well below £100,000 - 0T is over-deducting tax.

0T worked example

You earn £50,000/year, paid monthly, on a 0T code with no Personal Allowance applied:

Monthly gross:                  £4,166.67

Tax on first £3,141.67 @ 20%:     £628.33
Tax on next £1,025.00 @ 40%:      £410.00
                                  --------
Total monthly tax:              £1,038.33

(vs £623.83 on cumulative 1257L: (£4,166.67 - £1,047.50)
x 20% = £623.83. Over-deduction £414.50 a month,
£4,974 across a full year - refundable.)

How to tell which one you have

Your tax code is on every payslip, usually at the top right. Look for the literal text:

• BR - Basic Rate code (20% on all income)
• 0T - zero-allowance code (banded rates without PA)
• 0T W1 or 0T M1 or 0T X - non-cumulative variants
• BR W1 etc. - non-cumulative BR
• SBR / CBR - Scottish / Welsh BR equivalents
• S0T / C0T - Scottish / Welsh 0T equivalents

How to switch off BR or 0T

If you've decided your code is wrong:

1. Sign in to your Personal Tax Account at gov.uk/personal-tax-account.
2. Click "Check your tax code". You'll see the active code(s) for each employer.
3. For a wrong BR/0T on your only job: report your circumstances. If you have a P45 not yet submitted, send it to the employer. If you completed a wrong starter checklist, contact your employer's payroll.
4. For a missing P45: ask your previous employer to re-issue. They are legally required to provide one.
5. HMRC re-issues a corrected tax code to your employer. There is no published turnaround for this; in practice the new code reaches payroll electronically and lands on the next pay run it is received before, so whether it is this month or next depends on your payroll cut-off date.
6. Any over-deduction is auto-refunded through your next pay packet IF the new code is cumulative (no W1/M1/X suffix).

When to leave BR alone

Some BR situations are correct and should be left:

• Genuine second job with main job using full PA - BR is correct.
• A pension you're drawing while still working - pension on BR, employment cumulative.
• A casual/freelance arrangement where you've explicitly chosen BR for simplicity.

Common payslip patterns and what they mean

Refund mechanics if you've been on the wrong code

If BR or 0T over-deducted tax and you've been switched to a cumulative code:

• Over-deduction is paid back through your next payslip automatically (a "negative tax" line).
• End-of-year reconciliation via HMRC's P800 letter (issued from June onwards each year for the prior tax year) catches anything not corrected via payroll.
• For older years (back to 4 tax years), file a Self Assessment or write to HMRC for a refund.

See our tax refund guide for the full process.

Disclaimer

PayslipIQ provides automated educational guidance based on the figures you supply. It is not regulated tax or financial advice. BR and 0T are emergency or specialist codes that should usually correct themselves once your full circumstances are reported to HMRC; for unusual situations or contested year-end reconciliations, contact HMRC on 0300 200 3300 or use a CTA-qualified tax adviser.