What is a 1263L tax code?
The 1263L tax code is higher than the standard 1257L tax code which is based on a tax free personal allowance of £12570.
A 1263L tax code means that your tax free personal allowance is £12630 in that tax year which means you can earn slightly more in comparison to the £12570 PA before needing to pay income tax.
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.
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.
When you are given a flat rate expense by HMRC it increases your personal allowance so you pay less income tax.
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.
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.
Changing your 1263L tax code
If after your tax code review you need to remove the uniform allowance from your tax code or implement any other modifications to your tax code you should tell HMRC through their online platform or you can call them.
After being contacted HMRC will issue a revised tax code where necessary and automatically inform your employer or pension provider of your new code.
