PAYE tax codes for 2019-20 confirm £12.5K personal allowance

HMRC has issued the latest PAYE tax codes for tax year 2019-20 effective 6 April highlighting the increase in the tax-free personal allowance to £12,500

The guidance P9X(2019) P9X explains which tax codes employers need to change, how to change them and which codes to carry forward for the new tax year on 6 April.

From April 2019 the basic personal Allowance will be £12,500 for the whole of the UK including Wales and Scotland where income tax is semi-devolved. The threshold (starting point) for PAYE is £240 per week (£1,042 per month).

The new emergency code is 1250L for all employees.

Note that for tax codes, Scottish taxpayers must be prefixed with S, Welsh resident taxpayers with prefix C.

As part of the payroll process, employers must ensure that each employee working for the organisation on 6 April has a payroll record with the correct tax code to use in the new tax year.

England and Northern Ireland – tax rates

Scotland – tax rates

Wales – tax rates

Employees leaving

It is not necessary to change the tax code for any employee who leaves before 6 April, even if they will continue to be paid after 6 April. In this instance the 2018-19 tax code can still be used.

This does not apply to payments made after leaving if the employee has already been given a P45. In these circumstances tax must be deducted using tax code 0T, S0T for employees who had an S prefix in their code or C0T for employees who had a C prefix in their code, on a non-cumulative basis.

New employees

If an employee starts between 6 April and 24 May, and provides a P45, follow the instructions at www.gov.uk/new-employee

For employers with an agreed exemption from online filing operating a manual payroll, follow the instructions in the RT7, ‘Guidance for employers exempt from filing Real Time Information online’.

No tax code

If an employee does not have a new tax code, carry forward the authorised tax code from the 2018-19 payroll record to the 2019-20 payroll record. Authorised codes include BR, SBR, D0, SD0, D1, SD1, SD2 and NT. Add 65 to any tax code ending in L, for example 1185L becomes 1250L. Add 71 to any tax code ending in M. Add 59 to any tax code ending in N. Do not copy or carry over any ‘week 1’ or ‘month 1’ markings.

HMRC guidance, P9X(2019) – Tax codes to use from 6 April 2019 issued 5 Mar 2019

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