What is a 1263L Tax Code? 1236L Explained

A 1263L tax code means that your tax free personal allowance is worth £12,630 in that tax year.

Tax code 1263L gives you a higher personal allowance. This means you can earn £60 more than the usual £12,570 PA and as a result pay less income tax.

The L suffix shows that HMRC has no extra special conditions to consider when calculating your tax for this employment.

The number before the L represents your personal allowance, which is the amount of income you can earn tax-free.

Typically to calculate your tax free personal allowance you need to multiply the tax code number by 10.

For example if the tax code number is 1263 the total income you can receive each year before income tax would be £12630.

The 1263L tax code is often higher than the standard 1257L tax code because you qualify for HMRC’s flat rate expenses for your work uniform costs and upkeep.

It means you’re getting tax relief, which results in lower tax payments to help cover the costs of maintaining the uniform required for your job.

Why do I have a 1263L tax code?

The most common reason for being given a 1263L tax code is that you have been awarded by HMRC a flat rate expense for washing and maintaining a works uniform.

You will normally have to apply to HMRC via a P87 form to be given the washing of uniform allowance and after a successful claim HMRC will update your tax code with the allowance.

The uniform allowance will remain in your tax code for all future tax years unless you or HMRC have a reason to take out the allowance from your code.

If the personal allowance is changed from £12,570 to something else and your tax code is 1263L the uniform allowance may not be reason why you have that tax code.

Example calculation with 1263L tax code

For someone earning £30,000 per year with the 1263L tax code:

•  Personal Allowance: £12,630 (tax-free).
•  Taxable income: £17,370 (£30,000 – £12,630).
•  Basic rate tax (20%): £3,474 (20% of £17,370).
•  Take-home pay: £26,526 or £2210.50 per month (before National Insurance).

This means approximately £289.50 is deducted in income tax each month.

Check your 1263L tax code

Checking your tax code is always a good idea if you are unsure of what it means. Having a wrong tax code will mean you won’t pay the correct amount of income tax and can mean a tax bill in the future because of it.

In contrast you can overpay income tax and if your tax code isn’t put right miss out on the overpayment being refunded.

The HMRC app or your personal tax account are great online options to find out more about your code and when checking your 1263L tax code you should consider if you applied for the uniform allowance.

HMRC will provide a breakdown explaining how your 1263L code has been generated. If it’s because of the uniform allowance look out for the term ‘flat rate expenses’ in your tax code overview.

Changing your 1263L tax code

If after your own tax code review you need to stop claiming the uniform allowance or implement any other modifications to your tax code you should tell HMRC.

You can update HMRC through their online platform or you can use one of their other contact methods which includes their income tax helpine.

After being contacted HMRC will issue a revised tax code where necessary and automatically inform your employer or pension provider of your new code.