The UK personal allowance 2026/27: what it is, what you keep tax-free, and when you lose it

What is the UK personal allowance?

The personal allowance is the slice of your income you can earn each tax year without paying any income tax. For 2026/27 it is £12,570, and that is the same in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.

Once your earnings cross £12,570, every extra pound is taxed at whatever rate band you fall into next: 20% basic, 40% higher, or 45% additional. The allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since the 2021/22 tax year and is currently legislated to stay there until 5 April 2028.

How the allowance fits into the wider tax bands

For 2026/27, the income tax bands work like this:

So someone earning £30,000 pays no tax on the first £12,570 and 20% on the remaining £17,430, giving an income tax bill of £3,486. National Insurance is calculated separately. The full picture for the year is in our UK tax thresholds 2026/27 reference.

How the allowance is applied

If you are employed or on a UK pension, HMRC bakes the allowance into your tax code. The standard code 1257L tells your employer to give you £12,570 tax-free across the tax year, split evenly across pay periods (so about £1,047 a month or £242 a week).

If you file Self Assessment, the allowance is applied automatically in the return calculation. You do not need to claim it separately. You only need to take action if your tax code is wrong or you want to transfer part of your allowance to a spouse. See our 1257L tax code guide for the full mechanics.

The £100,000 taper, where the allowance disappears

The personal allowance is not granted in full to everyone. Once your adjusted net income exceeds £100,000, the allowance starts to taper away:

• £1 of allowance is lost for every £2 of income above £100,000
• By £125,140, the allowance has gone entirely
• The effect on income inside that band is an effective tax rate of around 60%

Adjusted net income is your total taxable income minus the gross value of personal pension contributions and Gift Aid donations. So a £10,000 pension contribution reduces your adjusted net income by £12,500 (the grossed-up figure) and can pull you back below £100,000 if you were just over. We cover the planning options in our 40% tax bracket guide.

Marriage Allowance: a quick £252

If one of you earns less than £12,570 and the other is a basic rate taxpayer (income £12,571 to £50,270), the lower earner can transfer 10% of their personal allowance (£1,257) to the higher earner. The higher earner saves 20% on that extra allowance, which is about £252 a year.

Apply at gov.uk/marriage-allowance. You only need to apply once; HMRC carries it forward each year unless you cancel it or your circumstances change. You can also backdate a claim by up to four tax years, so if you have been missing it since 2022/23, you could be owed around £1,000 in back-claims.

Conditions: you must be legally married or in a civil partnership (not just cohabiting), and one of you must have unused allowance. The scheme uses tax codes M (for the receiver) and N (for the giver).

Blind Person's Allowance, an extra slice

If you are registered as blind or severely sight-impaired with your local council, you qualify for an extra Blind Person's Allowance of £3,150 on top of the standard £12,570 for 2026/27. It is claimed directly through HMRC or through your Self Assessment return.

Unused Blind Person's Allowance can be transferred to a spouse or civil partner if you do not have enough income to use it yourself. This is separate from Marriage Allowance and the two can be claimed alongside each other.

What counts as taxable income against the allowance?

The £12,570 allowance applies to your total taxable income added together, not to each source separately. The most common types of income that count:

• Salary, wages and bonuses from employment
• Self-employment profits
• Rental income (after allowable expenses)
• Pension income (state, personal and workplace)
• Interest above the personal savings allowance
• Dividends above the £500 dividend allowance
• Certain taxable state benefits (State Pension, Carer's Allowance)

Income that does not count against the allowance includes returns from ISAs, Premium Bond prizes, the first £1,000 of trading income (trading allowance), and the first £7,500 of rent-a-room income.

Common allowance misconceptions

• "My personal allowance resets each pay period." It does not. Under cumulative PAYE, the allowance is spread evenly across the year. An emergency W1/M1 code applies it period-by-period without carry-over, but that is a temporary state. See our emergency tax code guide.
• "My second job has its own allowance." No. You have one allowance and it is applied to your main income source. Second jobs are typically taxed at BR (20%) or 0T (no allowance).
• "Pensioners do not get a personal allowance." They do. Pensioners receive the same £12,570 allowance. State Pension is paid gross, so PAYE on workplace or private pension income usually uses an adjusted tax code to collect tax on the State Pension across the year.
• "The allowance is more generous if you have children." It is not. Child Benefit and other family support is separate from the personal allowance. The allowance itself is the same regardless of family circumstances.