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Two jobs tax calculator

Second Job Tax Calculator UK (2026/27)

Enter your main salary and your second job to see how much tax you pay on the second job, the tax code you'll likely be on, and the National Insurance charged on each job separately. 2026/27 rates. Free, no signup.

Free, no signup2026/27 ratesPer-job NI treatment
Your two jobs
Your main job, the one that carries your £12,570 Personal Allowance
£
Annual pay from your second job or side employment, before tax
£
You keep from the second job
£8,000
a year · 80% of the second job's pay
Second job pay£10,000
Income tax on second joblikely code BR (20%)−£2,000
National Insurance on second jobbelow this job’s NI threshold−£0
You keep a year£8,000
The second job faces a 20% effective rate
Your Personal Allowance sits on your main job, so the second job is taxed from the first pound. The whole second job stays in the basic-rate band.
Combined position
Total pay, both jobs£40,000
Total income tax−£5,486
Total National Insurance−£1,394
Combined take-home£33,120
2026/27 estimate, England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Verify at gov.uk; not tax advice.
Simon Chadwick
Simon Chadwick
Founder, Orbit Money
Method: HMRC 2026/27 income tax bands, NI thresholds, PAYE tax codesUpdated: 16 July 2026Sources: gov.uk (more than one job), gov.uk (NI rates)

How tax works on a second job

You don’t pay a special penalty for having two jobs. Income tax is worked out on your total income for the year. The catch is where your tax-free Personal Allowance goes. Your £12,570 allowance is normally attached to your main job, so your second job usually has no tax-free portion and is taxed from the very first pound. That is why the second job can look like it’s taxed harder, even though the overall bill matches earning the same amount from one employer.

Because of that, HMRC gives your second job a special tax code, usually BR, D0 or D1. Each one taxes the whole of that job’s pay at a single rate.

Second job tax codes explained

CodeWhat it doesRate
BRAll pay taxed at the basic rate20%
D0All pay taxed at the higher rate40%
D1All pay taxed at the additional rate45%

Which code you get depends on how much of each tax band your main job has already used. If your two salaries together stay under £50,270 you will usually be on BR. Scotland uses different income tax bands and code letters. Check your code on your payslip and verify at gov.uk.

National Insurance is charged on each job separately

This is the part most people miss. Income tax looks at your jobs together, but National Insurance does not. Each job is assessed on its own, and each one gets its own primary threshold of £12,570 a year (£242 a week). So a second job that pays below that threshold has no employee National Insurance at all, even though it still pays income tax. Above the threshold you pay 8% up to £50,270, then 2%. Two separate jobs can end up paying less NI than one job on the same total pay.

A worked example

Say your main job pays £30,000 and your second job pays £10,000. Your main job uses your full Personal Allowance, so the second job is taxed at 20% under a BR code: that’s £2,000 of income tax on the £10,000. The second job pays no National Insurance, because £10,000 is below its own £12,570 threshold. You keep £8,000 of the £10,000. Push the second job to £20,000 and NI kicks in: 8% on the £7,430 above the threshold, about £594.

How to use this calculator

  1. Enter your main job salary, the one that carries your Personal Allowance.
  2. Enter your second job salary, before any tax.
  3. Read what you keep from the second job, with income tax and National Insurance broken out.
  4. Check the likely tax code and the effective rate the second job faces.
  5. Switch between yearly, monthly and weekly to see each figure per period.

Frequently asked questions

Do you pay more tax on a second job?
You are not charged a higher rate just for having two jobs. Your tax is based on your total income for the year. What changes is where the tax sits: your £12,570 Personal Allowance is applied to your main job, so your second job usually has no tax-free portion and is taxed from the first pound. That is why a second job can feel like it is taxed more heavily, even though the overall bill is the same as if one employer paid you the combined amount.
What tax code will my second job be on?
Your second job usually gets a BR, D0 or D1 code. BR taxes all of that job's pay at the 20% basic rate, D0 taxes it at the 40% higher rate, and D1 at the 45% additional rate. HMRC picks the code based on how much of each band your main job has already used. If your combined income stays under £50,270 you will normally see BR. You can find your tax code on your payslip.
Is a second job taxed at 20% or 40%?
It depends on your combined income. If your two salaries added together stay within £50,270, the second job is taxed at 20% (a BR code). Once your combined income passes £50,270, the part of the second job above that threshold is taxed at 40% (a D0 code). If your main job already earns above £50,270, the whole second job is taxed at 40% from the start.
Do I pay National Insurance on a second job?
National Insurance is worked out on each job separately, and each job has its own primary threshold of £12,570 a year (£242 a week). So if your second job pays below that threshold, you pay no employee National Insurance on it, even though you pay income tax. On a job above the threshold you pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above £50,270. Because the two jobs are not added together for NI, two jobs can pay less NI than a single job on the same total.
How much can I earn in a second job before paying tax?
If your main job already uses your full £12,570 Personal Allowance, you pay tax on all of the second job's earnings. If your main job earns less than £12,570, some allowance is left over, and you can ask HMRC to split it across both jobs so part of the second job is tax-free. For self-employed side income rather than a second employment, there is a separate £1,000 trading allowance.
How do I calculate the tax on a second job?
Work out your income tax on your main job, then work out the tax on both salaries combined. The difference is the tax on your second job. Add the National Insurance charged on the second job on its own (8% on pay above £12,570), and take both off the second salary to see what you keep. This calculator does all of that for you and shows the likely tax code.

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Simon Chadwick
About the author
Simon Chadwick
Founder of Orbit Money

Simon is the founder of Orbit Money, a tool that helps people track subscriptions and recurring spend. He builds Orbit's free money calculators and writes about personal finance for UK and Australian readers.

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This tool is a guide, not tax advice.