1257L is the standard UK tax code for 2025/26. It means you receive the full £12,570 personal allowance and pay 20% tax above that threshold.
£12,570 -- that is the exact amount of income you can earn tax-free in 2025/26 if your tax code is 1257L. It is the most common tax code in the United Kingdom, used by over 30 million employees and pension recipients, and it means HMRC considers you entitled to the full standard Personal Allowance with no adjustments.
Your tax code is made up of two parts: the number and the letter. Each carries specific meaning.
The number: 1257
HMRC drops the last digit of your Personal Allowance to create the number in your code. Take £12,570, remove the final zero, and you get 1257. To reverse-engineer any tax code number, multiply it by 10. So 1257 multiplied by 10 equals £12,570. That is the amount you can earn before income tax applies.
The Personal Allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since the 2021/22 tax year and will remain at that level until at least April 2028. This freeze is sometimes called a "stealth tax" because as wages rise with inflation, more income falls above the threshold and into taxable bands, even though the allowance itself has not changed.
The letter: L
The letter L is the simplest suffix in the UK tax code system. It means you are entitled to the standard Personal Allowance with no modifications. No marriage allowance adjustments. No benefits in kind being collected. No underpaid tax from a previous year being recovered. No income above £100,000 triggering allowance tapering. Just the straightforward default.
If your letter is not L but your circumstances have not changed, that is a signal to check your code. Common alternative letters include T (HMRC is reviewing your situation), M or N (Marriage Allowance is active), and K (your deductions exceed your allowance).
The table below shows exactly how much income tax a 1257L employee pays at three different salary levels in 2025/26. These figures cover income tax only and do not include National Insurance contributions.
| Annual salary | Tax-free (Personal Allowance) | Taxable income | Income tax due | Monthly take-home (after tax only) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £12,570 | £7,430 | £1,486 (20%) | £1,543 |
| £35,000 | £12,570 | £22,430 | £4,486 (20%) | £2,543 |
| £50,000 | £12,570 | £37,430 | £7,486 (20%) | £3,543 |
How the calculation works for a £35,000 salary:
If your salary exceeds £50,270, the portion above that threshold is taxed at 40% (the higher rate). Above £125,140, the additional rate of 45% applies and your Personal Allowance has been fully tapered to zero.
You should have 1257L if all five of the following apply to you:
1. You have one main job or pension. HMRC assigns your full Personal Allowance to a single employer. If you have two jobs, only one will typically show 1257L. The second usually receives BR (basic rate) or D0 (higher rate).
2. You earn under £100,000 per year. Above £100,000, HMRC tapers your Personal Allowance by £1 for every £2 of income above the threshold. Your code number decreases as your allowance shrinks, and the letter may change to T.
3. You have no benefits in kind. Company cars, private medical insurance, interest-free loans, and other employer-provided benefits reduce your allowance. HMRC adjusts your code to collect the tax on these benefits through your pay.
4. You have no underpaid tax being collected. If you owe HMRC from a previous year (perhaps from a wrong code or unreported income), they may reduce your allowance to recover the debt, lowering the number in your code.
5. You are not claiming or receiving Marriage Allowance. The Marriage Allowance transfers 10% of one partner's allowance (£1,260) to the other. Recipients get the M suffix. Transferors get the N suffix.
If you have 1257L but one of the scenarios below applies to you, your code may be wrong:
It might be wrong if:
It is almost certainly correct if:
Check your code in three places:
To change it:
If your code should be 1257L but is not, or if it is 1257L but should be different, update your details through your Personal Tax Account. You can report changes to your employment, benefits, or income. HMRC will calculate the correct code and send it directly to your employer.
Alternatively, call the HMRC Income Tax helpline on 0300 200 3300 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm). Have your National Insurance number, current tax code, and payroll details ready.
If your code is changed mid-year and you have overpaid tax, the correction is applied cumulatively. Your next pay packet will include a refund of the overpayment, which can make one month's take-home significantly higher than usual.
Using the same code across two jobs. If both employers apply the full 1257L allowance, you receive £25,140 of tax-free income instead of £12,570. HMRC will catch this (usually through Real Time Information reporting) and send a bill for the underpaid tax, plus interest. For a second job paying £15,000, the unexpected bill would be around £2,514.
Not updating after a salary increase above £100,000. Once your income crosses £100,000, your allowance should start tapering. If it does not, you are underpaying tax and will receive a P800 demand at year end. The shortfall can easily run into thousands of pounds for higher earners.
Ignoring your P2 coding notice. When HMRC sends a new P2, it means your code has changed. If you do not review it, you will not catch errors. An incorrect adjustment can cost hundreds of pounds over a full tax year, and the longer it runs, the bigger the over- or underpayment becomes.
Assuming your code is always correct. HMRC processes millions of codes and mistakes happen. Benefits in kind reported late by your employer, estimated income figures that differ from reality, or outdated records can all produce wrong codes. Check yours at least once a year, ideally in April when new codes are issued.
Not checking after receiving benefits in kind. A company car worth £30,000 with a Benefit in Kind rate of 28% adds £8,400 to your taxable income. HMRC collects this by reducing your code number, and if the adjustment is missing, you will owe the tax at year end.
Related tax codes: BR tax code | L tax code | 0T tax code | W1 tax code | M1 tax code
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