What does the tax code
1246L mean?
1246L means £110 off your allowance. Before assuming HMRC has added something, check whether it has instead removed something you used to have.
Check if 1246L is right for you
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Get the detailed breakdown + free reclaim guideA tax code can fall for two quite different reasons, and telling them apart determines what you should do about it.
Something was added to the deduction side. A benefit, an income estimate, a debt being collected.
Something was taken away from the addition side. A relief you used to have, withdrawn.
Both make the number go down. Only one of them means HMRC now thinks you owe more tax on something. The other means it thinks you are entitled to less relief, which is a different argument with different evidence.
- 1246L Tax Code
- An ordinary L-suffix code giving £12,460 of tax-free pay for 2026/27, £110 below the standard allowance. The L means normal allowance rules apply. The gap can represent a deduction HMRC has added, or the net effect of a relief that was withdrawn alongside a smaller deduction remaining.
The arithmetic that distinguishes them
Withdrawal alone cannot take you below the standard allowance. This is the test.
If you were on 1263L because of a £60 flat rate expense and HMRC removes it, your code becomes 1257L. Removing an addition returns you to the baseline, it does not push you underneath it. So a code below 1257L always involves a deduction somewhere, even if a withdrawal happened at the same time.
| What happened | Resulting code |
|---|---|
| £60 expense relief, no deductions | 1263L |
| Relief withdrawn, no deductions | 1257L |
| Relief kept, £170 deduction added | 1246L |
| Relief withdrawn AND £110 deduction added | 1246L |
The last two rows produce an identical code from completely different events. Only the coding notice separates them, and the response you need differs: one is about proving an entitlement, the other about disputing a charge.
Reliefs that lapse without anyone deciding
Withdrawals are not always deliberate acts of HMRC. Several reliefs simply stop qualifying.
Working from home. Relief is for employees required to work from home, not those who may. A great many arrangements that qualified during a period of enforced homeworking became a matter of choice afterwards, and choice does not qualify however settled it has become.
A subscription your employer took over. Once the employer pays it, you no longer bear the cost, so there is nothing to relieve.
A flat rate expense after a job change. The relief attaches to doing a particular kind of work. Moving into a role with no uniform, tools or unreimbursed costs ends the entitlement.
Mileage relief when a policy changed. Relief covers the shortfall between what your employer pays and the approved rates. If your employer raises its rate to the approved level, the shortfall disappears.
A claim that was only ever made for one year. Some claims are made for a specific year rather than being built into a code indefinitely.
Worked example: 1246L on a £28,000 salary
- Gross salary: £28,000
- Subtract the 1246L allowance: £28,000 minus £12,460 = £15,540 of taxable income
- All within the basic rate band, taxed at 20%
- Income tax for the year: £3,108
- Monthly tax-free pay: £12,460 divided by 12 = £1,038.33
On the standard 1257L code the same salary produces £15,430 taxable and £3,086 of tax. The gap costs £22 across the year, or £1.83 a month. Income tax only, National Insurance excluded, and an estimate to confirm with HMRC.
If a relief was withdrawn as well, the total change from where you were could be considerably larger than £22, because you have lost the relief and gained the deduction. Comparing this year's code with last year's tells you the size of the swing.
Claiming a relief for the first time
If the gap in your code turns out to be a deduction and you also discover you have never claimed a relief you were entitled to, that second discovery is usually worth more than the first.
Reliefs are not applied automatically. HMRC does not know enough about what you do day to day to award a flat rate expense, and your employer does not claim on your behalf. Somebody has to ask, and a great many eligible people never do.
The claim is made to HMRC directly. There is no charge for making it, and no need for an intermediary. Be cautious of any service offering to handle it for a percentage of the refund, because the same claim is free and the fees are substantial: our guide to reclaiming overpaid tax sets out what those firms publish as their rates.
Two things make a first claim go smoothly.
Claim the earlier years at the same time. The general time limit is four years from the end of the tax year concerned, so as at August 2026 you can reach back to 2022/23, and that year closes on 5 April 2027. Handling all the open years in one go avoids covering the same ground twice, and the oldest year drops off every 6 April.
Be specific about the conditions. For a flat rate expense, that means confirming you bear the cost, it is required for the job, and your employer neither provides nor reimburses it. For a subscription, that the body is on HMRC's approved list and membership is relevant to your duties.
Once accepted, the relief goes into your code and carries forward each year without further action.
Challenging a withdrawal
The evidence is different from challenging a deduction, and knowing which you are doing saves a wasted call.
For a deduction, you are arguing that something HMRC believes you received is wrong: the benefit ended, the estimate is too high, the debt was already paid. The evidence is a P11D, a bank statement, a letter.
For a withdrawal, you are arguing that you remain entitled: the cost is still being borne by you, the requirement still applies, your employer still does not reimburse it. The evidence is a receipt, an employment contract, a written statement of your working arrangements.
The second is harder, because entitlement questions turn on conditions rather than amounts. It is also more valuable, because a relief restored is worth every year it applies rather than one.
A final point on timing. Where a relief was withdrawn part way through a year, the cumulative mechanism means the correction lands in one payslip rather than being spread, so the month it happened will look worse than the months either side. That is the mechanism working correctly, not the withdrawal being applied twice, and it is worth checking a payslip from two months later before concluding something has gone wrong.
What to do
Sign in to your Personal Tax Account at gov.uk/personal-tax-account and open "Check your Income Tax". Compare the current breakdown against last year's, line by line rather than by total. A line that has vanished is a withdrawal. A line that has appeared is a deduction. A line that changed value is neither, exactly, and usually means a revised estimate.
Then decide which argument you are making before contacting HMRC on 0300 200 3300, and bring the evidence that fits it.
Our 1263L page covers the flat rate expense system, 1265L covers how several reliefs stack into a single net figure, and our guide to checking your tax code covers where each figure appears.
If a relief was wrongly withdrawn for earlier years, or was never claimed at all, those years can generally be claimed within four years. Our guide to reclaiming overpaid tax covers it, and 2022/23 closes on 5 April 2027.
Our free tax code checker gives an estimate of your correct code, not advice.
People also ask
- 1246L gives £12,460 of tax-free pay, £110 below the standard allowance, costing about £22 a year
- A code can fall because a deduction was added or because a relief was withdrawn
- Withdrawing a relief can only return you to 1257L, never below it, so any lower code involves a deduction
- Identical codes can result from completely different events, and only the notice distinguishes them
- Working from home relief requires you to be obliged to work from home, not merely permitted
- Disputing a deduction is about amounts; challenging a withdrawal is about entitlement conditions
- Compare this year's notice against last year's line by line, not by total
Related tax codes: 1248L tax code | 1249L tax code | 1265L tax code | 1263L tax code | 1257L tax code
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