The 1264L tax code tells your employer to let you earn £12,640 tax-free across the year before deducting any income tax. That is £70 more than the £12,570 standard Personal Allowance built into the common 1257L code, and the extra almost always comes from flat-rate job expenses HMRC has added to your record. The “L” confirms you get the standard Personal Allowance; the number is that allowance in pounds with the final digit dropped.
Reading the Number and the Letter
Every PAYE code has two parts. Multiply the number by ten to see your tax-free allowance for the year: 1264 becomes £12,640. The suffix “L” is the most common letter in the system and simply means you are entitled to the standard tax-free Personal Allowance.1GOV.UK. What Your Tax Code Means
The baseline Personal Allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since 2021 and will stay there through at least the 2027/28 tax year.2GOV.UK. Income Tax Personal Allowance and the Basic Rate Limit From 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2028 When HMRC adds a small amount of expense relief on top, the number rises above 1257 while the L stays the same. That is the whole story behind 1264L.
Why the Number Is 1264 Instead of 1257
The gap is £70 of extra tax-free allowance, and it is almost always flat-rate job expenses. HMRC adds this when they have accepted that you regularly incur work costs your employer does not reimburse. The usual triggers are maintaining a required work uniform, buying tools your job needs, or paying subscriptions to an approved professional body.
HMRC publishes flat-rate expense amounts for many industries. Where your job or industry is not listed, the default flat rate for uniform upkeep is £60 per year.3GOV.UK. Check How Much Tax Relief You Can Claim for Uniforms, Work Clothing and Tools Add a small professional subscription and the total relief can reach £70, which is the exact uplift a 1264L code reflects. Some industries have an agreed flat-rate figure of £70 or more on its own.
Professional subscriptions only qualify if the body sits on HMRC’s approved list, the membership is relevant to your job, and you pay the fee yourself.4GOV.UK. List of Approved Professional Organisations and Learned Societies If your employer covers the cost, you cannot also claim relief.
What the £70 Uplift Is Actually Worth
The saving is modest but automatic. A basic-rate taxpayer keeps £14 a year (20% of £70). A higher-rate taxpayer keeps £28. Once HMRC builds the allowance into your code, the relief carries forward each year until your circumstances change, so you do not have to reclaim it every April.
How the Allowance Reaches Your Payslip
Your employer spreads £12,640 evenly across the tax year. Paid monthly, roughly £1,053 of each payslip escapes income tax. Paid weekly, the tax-free slice is about £243. Everything above that periodic threshold is taxed at the standard bands.
For the 2026/27 tax year, the bands for taxpayers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are:5GOV.UK. Income Tax Rates and Personal Allowances
- Basic rate 20% on taxable income from £12,571 to £50,270.
- Higher rate 40% on taxable income from £50,271 to £125,140.
- Additional rate 45% on taxable income above £125,140.6House of Commons Library. Direct Taxes: Rates and Allowances for 2026/27
National Insurance sits alongside income tax on the same payslip but uses its own thresholds. For 2025/26, employee Class 1 contributions kick in once earnings pass £242 a week or £1,048 a month.7GOV.UK. Rates and Allowances: National Insurance Contributions Because the income tax and NI thresholds are close but not identical, the two deductions may start at slightly different points.
If You Spend More Than the Flat Rate
Flat-rate expenses are convenient because they require no receipts, but they do not suit everyone. If your actual, unreimbursed work costs exceed the flat rate, you can claim the real amount instead. You qualify as long as you pay out of your own pocket for something you need for the job and use only for work.8GOV.UK. Claim Tax Relief for Your Job Expenses
For the current tax year HMRC will usually adjust your code so you pay less tax going forward. For earlier years they may either adjust the code or send a refund. If you claimed an estimated amount and the actual figure turns out to be different, tell HMRC and provide evidence of what you spent. Anyone who files a Self Assessment return must claim through the return, not through a separate code change.8GOV.UK. Claim Tax Relief for Your Job Expenses
Keep the paperwork that supports your claim in either case: a letter confirming professional membership, your employer’s uniform policy, or receipts for tools. HMRC does not always ask, but a query is quicker to resolve when the evidence is already to hand.
If You Live in Scotland
A Scottish taxpayer with the same flat-rate expenses will see S1264L rather than 1264L. The Personal Allowance is set by the UK government and is the same across the UK, so the number does not change; only the prefix does. What differs is the rates applied above the allowance. Scotland uses six bands, from a 19% starter rate up to a 48% top rate on income above £125,140.9GOV.UK. Income Tax in Scotland: Current Rates
For 2026/27 the Scottish bands are:
- Starter rate 19% on £12,571 to £16,537.
- Basic rate 20% on £16,538 to £29,526.
- Intermediate rate 21% on £29,527 to £43,662.
- Higher rate 42% on £43,663 to £75,000.
- Advanced rate 45% on £75,001 to £125,140.
- Top rate 48% above £125,140.
Because the basic-rate band is narrower in Scotland, a Scottish taxpayer earning £35,000 pays slightly more income tax than someone in England on the same salary.
When the Personal Allowance Disappears
If your adjusted net income passes £100,000, the Personal Allowance starts to taper. HMRC removes £1 of allowance for every £2 earned above the threshold.5GOV.UK. Income Tax Rates and Personal Allowances By £125,140 the allowance is gone entirely,6House of Commons Library. Direct Taxes: Rates and Allowances for 2026/27 and a number-based code like 1264L will no longer appear on your payslip. Between £100,000 and £125,140 the taper produces an effective marginal rate of 60%, because you lose allowance while paying 40% tax on the same slice of income. Pension contributions through salary sacrifice are one common route back below £100,000, though the specifics depend on your arrangement with your employer.
Checking or Changing a 1264L Code
The quickest way to review your code is the “Check your Income Tax” service on GOV.UK. Sign in with your Government Gateway details to see the current code, update income information, and report changes.10GOV.UK. Check Your Income Tax for the Current Year First-time users need to verify identity, usually with photo ID such as a passport or driving licence.
By phone, the HMRC Income Tax helpline is 0300 200 3300, open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, or +44 135 535 9022 from outside the UK.11GOV.UK. Income Tax: Enquiries Have your National Insurance number and a recent payslip ready before the call.
When HMRC agrees to change your code, they issue a P2 coding notice explaining how the new code was calculated and notify your employer electronically.12GOV.UK. P2 Tax Coding Notice The change normally reaches your pay within a few weeks.