The P2 tax code notice, explained
Last reviewed 2 September 2026 · How Tax Letters checks its facts
- What this letter is
- HMRC's notice of the tax code your employer or pension provider will use, with the working behind it.
- Who gets it
- Anyone taxed through PAYE whose code changed or is about to apply for a new year: employees and pensioners. Most people whose code is the standard one simply never receive it and nothing is wrong.
- Is the deadline legally binding?
- Where this letter gives a reply date, the letter sets it, not the law. The deadline section below explains what that means and what ignoring it can cost.
- Your options at a glance
- Check the code against your own figures · See and manage it in your personal tax account · Tell HMRC if it is wrong
A P2 coding notice has no reply deadline. The code simply applies from the date shown until HMRC issues a new one.
A wrong code is not a fine and fixing it is routine: HMRC corrects codes all year round, and overcollected tax comes back through the payroll once the code is fixed or through the year-end reconciliation.
A wrong code left alone takes the wrong tax every payday until someone corrects it, and an under-collecting code builds a real bill for later. Ten minutes against your own figures beats a year of wrong deductions.
Source: GOV.UK: Tax codes
Why you got it
Your tax code tells your employer or pension provider how much tax-free income to give you before taxing the rest. HMRC recalculates codes when allowances, benefits, untaxed interest, underpayment collection or a second income change the arithmetic, and the P2 shows the working.
Nothing, unless it is wrong. There is no reply deadline and no action for a correct code. The letter asks one thing between the lines: check that each adjustment in the working is actually yours and still current.
Holding the letter now? Paste it into the checker for a plain-English identification.
Your options, honestly
Walk the P2's working: the Personal Allowance, each addition and deduction, and any earlier-year underpayment being collected. Each line should correspond to something you recognise as yours and current.
Your HMRC online account shows your current code, what it is built from, and lets you report a change, like a benefit that ended, without phoning anyone.
Contact HMRC through the tax codes route on GOV.UK. Corrections take effect through your employer's next payroll run once the new code reaches them.
You may owe nothing
Most coding notices are correct, and the standard code with no adjustments needs no checking beyond recognising it. The ones worth ten minutes are codes with adjustments: benefits, untaxed interest, or an underpayment being collected.
If you do nothing
The code applies as issued. If it was right, nothing happens. If it was wrong, the wrong amount of tax comes out of every payday until it is corrected, and the year-end reconciliation, a P800 or Simple Assessment, eventually squares it, sometimes with a bill.
The letters themselves say it: if your health or personal circumstances make dealing with this difficult, you can tell HMRC and they can give you extra support. That is a standing HMRC service, and using it is normal.
Already past the date in your letter? Read this before anything else.
Questions worth asking an adviser
- Which adjustments in this code come from estimated figures, and do the estimates match what I actually expect this year?
- Is an earlier year's underpayment being collected through this code, and does that underpayment itself look right?
- I have more than one job or pension: are my allowances split across the codes the way that costs me least during the year?
Quick answers
The letter HMRC sends when your PAYE tax code changes or is set for a new year. It shows the working: your Personal Allowance, additions, deductions, and the resulting code your employer or pension provider will use.
The standard code for most people with one job or pension and the full Personal Allowance: tax-free income of £12,570 for the year, with the L meaning the standard allowance applies. Different letters and numbers encode different situations.
No. There is no deadline and no reply for a correct code. If a line in the working is wrong or out of date, tell HMRC through GOV.UK or your personal tax account and the code gets corrected.
Common reasons: a benefit in kind started or stopped, untaxed interest entered the arithmetic, HMRC is collecting an earlier underpayment through the code, or a second income moved your allowance around. The P2 lists the exact adjustments behind your change.
Owed a refund? Claim it while the letter is in front of you
This letter sets no reply deadline. If you plan to claim or query, pick a date and we will remind you.
Want a professional to look at it?
Some letters are worth handing to a specialist, and knowing when is half the value of a check. An adviser will treat what you say in confidence and will not judge how it got here. If we cannot point you anywhere useful, we will say so.
You can deal with HMRC directly, free, without any adviser. If money is tight: TaxAid (low incomes, older people included) and Citizens Advice help for free.
If Tax Letters ever introduces you to a firm, the firm may pay for the introduction. You never pay Tax Letters for it, and it never changes what these pages say. How Tax Letters is funded.
- GOV.UK: Tax codes (checked 2 Sept 2026)
- GOV.UK: Check your Income Tax for the current year (checked 2 Sept 2026)