National Insurance Category

Hello!

I just started working a couple weeks ago. My first payday was yesterday, yay!! I only just received my national insurance number yesterday as well so it wasn’t with my employer at the time they paid me. But I’m looking at my payslip and I’ve got a couple questions.

1. I notice that it says national insurance category A on my payslip. When I looked it up I read that as a married woman I should be category B. Will this change for my next pay since my employer has my national insurance number now?

2. On my payslip under “tax”, it shows none was taken out. But I can see on my husbands payslip that he pays tax. What didn’t I? Maybe I don’t make enough?

You may be on the incorrect tax code at the moment, since you were paid before you got your NI number.

What is the tax code on your payslip?

If it’s BR, you’ll be on Basic Rate. If it ends in W1, M1 or X, you’ll be on an emergency code.

The tax code most people will have is 1150L, though I think it ends with M or N for marriage allowances.

If you’re on BR or an emergency tax code that’s probably why you have NI category A instead of B.

If this is the case, I would give your tax office a call and ask them to correct your tax code.

I’m British but I ended up on the BR tax code for about a year once because they didn’t have my details correct and I didn’t even notice. I called them and they sorted it out really quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the quick response!

My tax code is 1150L / 0

Not sure what the zero means???

Okay, it might be worth calling the tax office anyway and just checking that it’s correct.

It may just be that you haven’t earned enough to owe any tax this month, but if you think you should be on one of the married codes rather than ‘L’, they should be able to help .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Okay, it might be worth calling the tax office anyway and just checking that it’s correct.

It may just be that you haven’t earned enough to owe any tax this month, but if you think you should be on one of the married codes rather than ‘L’, they should be able to help .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To expand on what ksand has said, 1150L is a common tax code that I would expect many people to have (I work in payroll) - you can, of course, have a different one but these are issued directly by HMRC more often than not.

The "1150" means you have £11,500 of tax-free pay each year - or £958.33 tax-free pay each month - after pension contributions are deducted if you're paying into a pension.  It's more than likely you didn't pay any tax because your taxable pay didn't exceed the monthly threshold.

If this is your first employment in the UK I would expect the "0" means cumulative, but I couldn't say for certain because that's not how we denote tax codes where I work.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Also, there is not much left of this tax year.

Also, there is not much left of this tax year.

This is only relevant if the tax code is cumulative.  In this case, I would assume you are right, but it could be that the OP is on a noncumulative tax code and the current point in the tax year wouldn't necessarily matter.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

No idea, I was just throwing that out there. 

No idea, I was just throwing that out there. 

Hey, that's fair enough!  It only seems perfectly logical.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Thanks for all the responses!! I think I will phone the tax office just to make sure I’m on the right tax code.

Being that I’m new here in London, what’s the tax office? How do I find their number? 😂

Thanks for all the responses!! I think I will phone the tax office just to make sure I’m on the right tax code.

Being that I’m new here in London, what’s the tax office? How do I find their number? 😂

HMRC.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/income-tax-enquiries-for-individuals-pensioners-and-employees

The number we give out is 0300 200 3300 but I don't know if that is for a specific office.  You'll want your NI number to hand and the tax reference number for your employer if possible (should be on a payslip).

ETA: x-posted!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Hello!

I just started working a couple weeks ago. My first payday was yesterday, yay!! I only just received my national insurance number yesterday as well so it wasn’t with my employer at the time they paid me. But I’m looking at my payslip and I’ve got a couple questions.

1. I notice that it says national insurance category A on my payslip. When I looked it up I read that as a married woman I should be category B. Will this change for my next pay since my employer has my national insurance number now?

2. On my payslip under “tax”, it shows none was taken out. But I can see on my husbands payslip that he pays tax. What didn’t I? Maybe I don’t make enough?

So happy to hear that you are settling into London!