Question: I just started working in the UK for the first time and received my first payslip. Another colleague of mine got his second payslip here, from the same company.

We were surprised that in the detail no amount for "Tax" was deducted.

I researched a bit and found that for the tax code [1060L](http://taxaid.org.uk/guides/information/issues-for-employees/employee/form-p46), specified in our payslip, we got some tax free income for a while.

However, since I'm not an English native speaker, I still have some doubts on how it works.

As I understand it:

* I am entitled to 10600£ per year tax free and until I reach that value, I won't pay tax;
* When I do reach 10600£, taxes will be deducted as for everybody else;

Is this correct?

Answer: 
I've *never* had consistent pay for the first couple of months in a new job (UK). Typically there's no tax taken in the first month, most of the first month's tax in the second, and by the third month things have settled down. Although using up the personal allowance over the first few months is sometimes seen, I'm more used to seeing two months of unusual pay then tax taken at a rate to spread the remaining allowance evenly over the rest of the year.
Your pay may change again by more than you expect at the new tax year. In particular as the same personal allowance is spread over more months, your net pay may go down in April (assuming you didn't have a job for the first few months of this tax year)\*.

I suggest two things:

* You figure out roughly how much tax you should have paid in the first month, and make sure to not spend that as your second month's pay may be short a similar amount.
* At the end of the tax year you compare your P60 to an independent figure (actually the P60 can be a couple of months after the end of the tax year, but you can also use the year-to-date figures on your March payslip).

There are many online tax calculators to help you calculate your expected values. I won't recommend one as I haven't used any -- I tend to throw together a spreadsheet from HMRCs allowances data. 

If you've had another job in this tax year, you'll need to take into account the figures on the P45 from that job. If you haven't received a P45 yet, your final payslip should give you that information. It's also possible you'll have to take into account any benefits you've received.

\*A bit more detail of how pay can go down in April. You're on a salary of £12,000 PA and you start a job at the beginning of June (having not previously worked this tax year). You therefore earn £10,000 over the course of the tax year, which is less than the personal allowance so you pay no income tax. Next year your salary is unchanged, but you work the entire year, thus over the course of the year you'll be taxed on (£12,000-£10,600=£1400) at 20%. That's a tax bill of £280 over the year, which is likely to be deducted in the form of around £23 per month -- your monthly pay goes down by £23. 

A few caveats to this: 

* I've ignored NI and any pension contributions.
* The personal allowance normally goes up a little.
* I could easily work a different example with a higher salary (£24,000 salary, start in November, pay goes down £223pm in April as no tax is due in the starting year).
	+ Remember the personal allowance is annual. (NI works completely differently, on a weekly basis, but may be regarded as another tax).

**tl;dr** It will fluctuate at first, the year-end figures matter the most.
In the UK, you pay income tax for your income in a tax year, which is from April to March. Roughly speaking, currently there is I think £10,600 of income tax free, then you pay 20% tax on the next £31,000 or so, 40% on another £110,000 and finally 45% on the rest (I'd love to have that problem). 

Your employer should make sure that you pay the same amount of tax every month, and that over the tax year you pay the correct amount. If you started work in January and you make £2,000 a month, then your employer can see that you will make £6,000 in the tax year, which is tax free, so you don't pay tax. 

If you started work in January and you make £4,000 a month, then your employer can see that you will make £12,000 in the tax year, so you should pay 20% of £1,400 = £280 in that year, so they should deduct about £93.33 of tax every month, so at the end of the year you have paid the right amount. 

If this wasn't your first job, then they need to take into account what you made in your previous job, and how much tax was paid in your previous job; you would have a form P45 from your previous employer, which you hand to your next employer so they can do the tax calculation correctly. 

"Emergency tax" was mentioned elsewhere: If you switch jobs, and you don't hand over your P45, then the next company doesn't know how much you made in your previous job. They must make sure that you don't pay too little, so they will assume that you made tons of money and have to pay 45% on everything you earn above that, so they will actually deduct 45% tax from your salary. That's called emergency tax. (I might be wrong and it might be only 40%). Of course you can do your tax return at the beginning of the next tax year in April, and HMRC will see that you paid much too much tax, and refund every penny that you overpaid.