What does tax code 1257L mean?
1257L is the most common code. The number, times ten, is your tax-free Personal Allowance — so 1257L gives you £12,570 of pay before any Income Tax. The “L” just means you get the standard allowance. It is applied cumulatively across the year.
England, Wales & NI, 2026/27. We compare your code with the standard 1257L.
On this code
2026/27£12,570 of tax-free pay — the standard amount for 2026/27.
- Gross salary
- £35,000
- Income Tax
- −£4,486
- National Insurance
- −£1,794
Take-home a year
£2,393 a month
£28,720
Compared with the standard 1257L code.
Verified · 2026/2721 June 2026
Effective rate —
Marginal rate — on your next £1
What it's worth in real terms
Your salary has the spending power of — in 2025 money — the pound has lost — since then. A rise of — would just keep pace.
Inflation: ONS Consumer Prices Index, latest May 2026.
How this was calculated
For the 2026/27 tax year (England, Wales & Northern Ireland) we apply your tax-free Personal Allowance, the Income Tax bands, employee National Insurance, and any student-loan repayment — each traced to a dated gov.uk/HMRC source. A pension contribution comes off before Income Tax (and before National Insurance too, for salary sacrifice). Over £100,000 the Personal Allowance tapers away, which is why the marginal rate jumps to about 60%.
The full method and every source is on our methodology page.
Built & maintained by the Pay Packet team · methodology sourced from HMRC · last reviewed 21 June 2026. About our figures →
Who has the 1257L code?
Most people with one job and no taxable benefits are on 1257L for 2026/27.
Is 1257L the right code for you?
If you have one job, no company benefits and no tax owed from earlier years, 1257L is almost certainly right. A different code is not automatically wrong, but it is worth understanding why.
Not your code? Decode any code on the tax code checker, or browse all tax codes. If you think yours is wrong, contact HMRC — you can reclaim overpaid tax for the last four years.