Tax Refund Calculator

Leaving the UK tax refund calculator

Move abroad part way through the tax year and you have almost certainly paid too much UK tax. Payroll hands out your tax-free allowance a month at a time, so the months you are no longer here never get theirs. This works out how much you can claim back with form P85, including when you haven't left yet.

Your year of leaving

The two money figures are on your P45. No P45 yet? Leave the tax box empty and we'll estimate it from your pay.

Fill in your details, then press Calculate refund.

Why leaving usually means a refund

Your personal allowance, £12,570, is a yearly figure. PAYE doesn't give it to you in one go: it releases a twelfth with each monthly pay packet, assuming you will be paid all year.

  • Leave after five months and PAYE has given you only five twelfths of your allowance, about £5,240.
  • But the tax for the year is worked out on the whole £12,570, as long as you are entitled to it.
  • The unused seven twelfths were taxed when they should not have been, and that tax comes back.

Someone who earned £15,000 in five months and then left would typically have had £1,951.75 deducted, when only £486 is due for the year. That is £1,465.75 to claim back.

When there is no refund

Most people leaving are owed money, but not everyone.

  • High earners. Above £100,000 your allowance shrinks for the year, and payroll never allows for that. Leave mid-year on a high salary and you can owe tax rather than be owed it. The calculator shows this rather than hiding it.
  • Emergency or basic-rate tax codes. If you were taxed on a code like BR or 0T, you may not have had your allowance at all, which makes the refund bigger. Enter the tax figure from your P45 rather than relying on the estimate.
  • You are coming back within the year. A P85 is for leaving to live or work abroad, not for a long holiday. If you return and work again in the same tax year, your new employer's payroll picks up the allowance instead.

How to claim it: form P85

If you don't normally fill in a Self Assessment return, the claim is form P85. It is free, and you do not need an agent.

  • After you have left, claim online. You will get a reference number to track it.
  • Before you leave, you have to print the form and post it. The online service only works once you have gone.
  • Include parts 2 and 3 of your P45. Your employer gives you a P45 when you finish; if you lose it, they can give you a statement of earnings instead, but not a replacement P45.

HMRC pays P85 refunds by cheque in pounds, sent to your address or to someone you name. Keep a UK bank account open until it arrives. If you never claim, HMRC may still spot the overpayment and send a P800, but only to the address it has for you.

Do you keep the personal allowance?

The whole refund depends on getting the full year's allowance, so it is worth knowing when you do.

  • In the year you leave you are usually still UK resident for the year as a whole, with the year split into a UK part and an overseas part. You keep the full allowance.
  • Even after you become non-resident, British citizens and EEA nationals keep a personal allowance against UK income. Other nationalities may get one through a double taxation agreement.

If you came to the UK and left again within the same tax year, for seasonal work for example, you may have been non-resident for the whole year. Whether you get the allowance then depends on your nationality, so check before relying on the figure.

What this estimate leaves out

  • National Insurance is not usually refundable when you leave, so it is not included.
  • Income from abroad after you leave is not taxed in the UK in the normal split-year case, so the calculator ignores it.
  • UK income that carries on, such as rent or a UK pension, changes the year's bill. Tick the box and the calculator points you to Self Assessment rather than a P85.
  • Student loan repayments are handled separately from income tax and are not part of this refund.

This is an estimate, not tax advice. See the terms page for the full disclaimer.

Other calculators

Staying in the UK but stopped working? The P50 tax refund calculator covers that. Think you paid too much through PAYE in an earlier year? Use the main tax refund calculator. Taking money out of a pension before you go? The pension lump sum tax calculator covers the emergency tax on that.