Estimate your PAYE tax refund if you stopped working mid-year — plus a checklist of rebates people commonly miss.
Source: GOV.UK, Claim a tax refund
By Konstantin Iakovlev · Founder, Calks.uk
Last updated: · Verified against HMRC and GOV.UK 2026/27 rates
Rates verified: 28 September 2026
Quick Answer
PAYE spreads your tax-free allowance across 12 months, assuming you work all year. Stop working mid-year. Redundancy, career break, study, retirement; and you have usually overpaid: tax deducted so far exceeds tax due on what the year will actually total. Claim with form P50 after 4 weeks out of work, or wait for HMRC's automatic P800 reconciliation after 5 April. Refunds are claimable for this year plus 4 previous tax years.
"Total pay to date" on your P45 or last payslip
"Total tax to date" on the same document
0 if you've stopped working for the rest of the tax year
Estimated Tax Refund
£1,114.00
Tax due on a full-year income of £18,000.00: £1,086.00 · deducted so far: £2,200.00
How to claim
Stopped working and not claiming benefits? Use form P50 after 4 weeks out of work. Otherwise HMRC reconciles automatically after 5 April and sends a P800 letter — claim the refund to your bank via your Personal Tax Account, or a cheque follows. Refunds can be claimed for the current year plus the previous 4 tax years.
Also commonly owed — check these:
- Uniform / work clothing flat-rate allowance — £60–£140/year depending on trade — claim 4 back years
- Business mileage paid below 55p/mile — Claim relief on the shortfall vs HMRC approved rates
- Working-from-home relief — £6/week for 2022/23 to 2025/26 if required to work from home (ended April 2026)
- Marriage Allowance not claimed — Up to £252/year, backdatable 4 years
- Professional fees & subscriptions — HMRC-approved bodies (e.g. NMC, UNISON sections)
- Emergency tax on a pension withdrawal — Month-1 code over-taxes one-off withdrawals
Disclaimer
This calculator is for guidance only. It is not financial or tax advice: check anything you rely on against the official source or a qualified adviser. Rates and figures come from HMRC and GOV.UK and are reviewed for the 2026/27 tax year. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to our servers.
How It Works
Cumulative PAYE deducts tax each payday on the assumption that your current pay rate continues to 5 April. Each month you receive 1/12 of the Personal Allowance and 1/12 of each tax band. If your income stops part-way through the year, the allowance for the remaining months never gets used against your earlier pay, so the tax already deducted is too high and HMRC is holding money that belongs to you.
Enter the total pay to date and total tax to date figures from your P45 (part 1A) or your last payslip, plus any further taxable income you expect before 5 April, whether that is a new job, taxable benefits or pension income. The calculator works out the tax due on your true annual total, using Scottish bands if you select Scotland, and compares it with what has already been deducted. Redundancy, a career break, a return to study and retirement part-way through the year all produce the same shape of overpayment, and so does a student who worked only over the summer.
How you claim depends on your situation. If you have been out of work for four weeks or more and are not claiming taxable benefits, form P50 gets the refund now. If you are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or ESA, the refund comes through the benefit office at the year end or when you stop claiming. If you have started a new job, give your new employer the P45 and the cumulative code refunds the overpayment automatically in your first payslip. Otherwise HMRC's automatic reconciliation sends a P800 letter between June and the following March, and depending on what it says you either claim online to your bank or a cheque arrives automatically.
Beyond stopped-work refunds, several reliefs are commonly left unclaimed and can be backdated four years. In 2026/27 that reaches back to 2022/23, so the oldest window closes on 5 April 2027. Flat-rate expenses for uniforms and tools are worth £60 to £140 a year depending on trade, business mileage paid below the approved 55p and 25p rates can be topped up, working-from-home relief at £6 a week can still be claimed for 2022/23 to 2025/26 where your employer required it, although it ended for employees from 2026/27, Marriage Allowance is worth up to £252 a year, and professional fees or subscriptions to HMRC-approved bodies also count. The checklist below the result links to the dedicated calculators.
Watch out for refund agencies charging 25 to 50% commission for filing these free forms. Every claim described here can be made directly through your Personal Tax Account on GOV.UK at no cost, using form P50 or form P87 depending on what you are claiming. One exception is worth knowing: if you file a Self Assessment return, the reconciliation happens through that return instead and no P800 is issued.
Example: made redundant in September after earning £18,000
- P45 shows: taxable pay to date £18,000, tax deducted £2,200
- No further work planned before 5 April → annual total stays £18,000
- Tax due on £18,000: (£18,000 − £12,570) × 20% = £1,086
- Refund: £2,200 − £1,086 = £1,114
- Out of work 4+ weeks, no benefits claimed → file P50 now instead of waiting for the P800
Source: GOV.UK, Claim a tax refund
Frequently Asked Questions
- Am I due a tax refund if I stopped working part-way through the year?
- Very likely, if you paid tax while working. PAYE assumes your pay continues to 5 April, granting 1/12 of the £12,570 Personal Allowance each month. Stop earning mid-year and the unused months of allowance never get set against your earlier pay. Earn £18,000 by September with £2,200 deducted and then nothing, and the tax actually due on £18,000 for the whole year is £1,086, so £1,114 comes back. The same logic covers students who worked only over the summer, career breaks, new parents leaving work and anyone retiring mid-year.
- How do I actually claim a PAYE refund?
- There are four routes. Out of work for four weeks or more and not claiming taxable benefits, file form P50 online now with parts 2 and 3 of your P45. Claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or income-related ESA, the benefit office repays through the benefit system at year end or when your claim ends. Starting a new job, hand over your P45 and the cumulative code refunds the overpayment in your first payslip. Do nothing and HMRC reconciles after 5 April and sends a P800, some time between June and the following March. Never pay an agency 25 to 50% commission for free forms.
- How far back can I claim overpaid tax?
- Four tax years, plus the current one. In 2026/27 you can still claim for 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, and the 2022/23 window closes on 5 April 2027. It covers overpaid PAYE and the backdatable reliefs: uniform and tool flat-rate expenses of £60 to £140 a year by trade, business mileage paid below the approved 55p and 25p rates, working-from-home relief where your employer requires it, Marriage Allowance worth up to £252 a year, and professional subscriptions to HMRC-approved bodies. A four-year uniform claim alone is commonly worth £48 to £112 at basic rate.
- What is a P800 and when does it arrive?
- A P800 is HMRC's automatic end-of-year reconciliation letter, sent when their records show you paid the wrong amount of PAYE tax, either too much or too little. They go out in batches between June and March following the 5 April year end. If you are owed money, the letter tells you either to claim online, with the money paid to your bank within 5 working days, or that a cheque will be sent automatically, in which case it arrives within 14 days of the date on the letter. Underpayments are usually collected by adjusting next year's tax code. Self Assessment filers reconcile through their return and get no P800.