How many hours can you work before paying tax?

The short answer: you can earn £12,570 in a tax year before you pay any Income Tax, and the same amount before you pay National Insurance. At the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour that is about 989 hours a year, or roughly 19 hours a week. At higher pay rates it takes fewer hours, so the answer is your allowance divided by your hourly rate.

Hours by hourly rate

The table divides the £12,570 tax-free amount by your hourly rate. The last column assumes you work all 52 weeks; if you work fewer weeks, the hours per week you can work are higher.

Tax and National Insurance start at the same point

For an employee, both Income Tax and National Insurance start at £12,570 a year. That is about £1,048 a month or £242 a week, which is why many part-time or student payslips show nothing taken off. Once you earn over that, you pay 20% tax and 8% National Insurance on the part above it. Employer National Insurance is separate and does not come out of your pay.

Why you might still pay tax on a small income

• A second job. The allowance normally sits with your main job, so a second job is taxed at 20% from the first pound. If your combined income is under £12,570, you can ask HMRC to split your allowance or claim back the tax. See why your second job is taxed so much.
• The wrong tax code. An emergency code, or BR or 0T, can take tax from the first pound. See tax codes explained.
• Other income. Savings interest above your allowances, rent and benefits in kind add to your total.
• Earning more later in the year. Tax is worked out on your pay for the year to date, so a big month near the end can trigger tax even if earlier months were clear.

If you have paid too much

If you ended the year under the allowance but tax was taken, you can claim it back from HMRC, usually online. You do not lose your National Insurance record by earning under the threshold: if you earn above £6,500 a year (the lower earnings limit) you still build a qualifying year towards the State Pension, even though you pay no National Insurance.

To plan hours around a target income, use the part-time pay calculator.

Weekly and monthly: what the thresholds look like on a payslip

Payroll spreads the allowance evenly across the year. That means you can earn about £1,048 a month, or £241.73 a week, before Income Tax is taken. National Insurance uses rounded payroll thresholds of £1,048 a month and £242 a week, which is why a payslip can show no deductions one month and some the next if your hours vary.

If your hours are uneven, tax is worked out on a running total for the year to date, so a quiet month can leave you owed a small refund that payroll gives back automatically. National Insurance doesn’t work like that: it is checked pay period by pay period, so a busy week can trigger it even if your yearly total stays low.

If you work only part of the year

The allowance is for the whole tax year, not per week. A student who works the summer, or someone who starts a job in January, still has the full £12,570 available. If you earn less than that in the year, none of it is taxed. Payroll may still take tax if you start a job without a P45 and are put on an emergency code; see tax codes explained. If that happens and you stop working, you can claim the overpayment back from HMRC.

Part-time and casual work: other things that count

• Several jobs: the allowance goes against one job only, so the others are taxed at 20% from the first pound. See why a second job is taxed so much.
• Self-employed income: a separate £1,000 trading allowance covers small amounts of side income, and above that you must register for Self Assessment.
• Savings interest and dividends: these have their own allowances and can use up part of your tax-free band if your earnings are low.
• Benefits and pensions: a State Pension counts as taxable income and uses up some of your allowance.

What to do if you pay tax you shouldn’t

1. Check the tax code on your payslip. The standard code for 2026/27 is 1257L.
2. Log in to your personal tax account to see what HMRC thinks you earned.
3. If you stopped working and tax was taken, claim back using the P50 form. If you are still in work, the correction usually happens automatically through your tax code.

This is general information, not tax advice. Figures are for 2026/27 and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland has different Income Tax rates but the same £12,570 allowance.