Tax Refund Calculator

P50 tax refund calculator

Stop working part way through the tax year, because you retired, lost your job or went back to study, and you have probably paid too much tax. This works out how much, and tells you whether form P50 is how you get it back or whether someone else will repay it for you.

Your last job

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 stopping work usually means a refund

Your £12,570 personal allowance is for the whole year, but payroll releases it a twelfth at a time with each monthly pay packet. When the pay stops, the rest of the allowance goes unused, and the tax you paid on the months you did work was worked out as if you would carry on all year.

Someone who retires after four months on £3,000 a month would typically have had £1,561.40 deducted. £12,000 for the year is under the allowance, so no tax is due at all, and all £1,561.40 comes back.

Who can claim on form P50

Form P50 is for claiming back tax in the current tax year when nothing else is going to repay it. You can usually use it if you:

  • have been out of work for four weeks or more and are not claiming taxable benefits
  • have retired and do not get a pension from your old employer
  • do not expect to go back to work this tax year
  • have gone back to full-time study

You cannot claim yet if you are still registered with an employment agency. Ask them to send HMRC your final pay and tax details first.

When P50 is the wrong form

In these cases the refund still reaches you, just not through a P50. The calculator tells you which applies.

  • You are starting a new job within four weeks. Give your new employer your P45 and their payroll pays the tax back through your wages.
  • You claim Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance. Take your P45 to Jobcentre Plus, who pay any refund when your claim ends, or at 5 April if that comes first.
  • You get a pension from your old employer. The pension provider repays it, or HMRC does after the tax year ends.
  • You took money out of a pension flexibly. That is form P55, P53Z or P50Z, and the pension lump sum tax calculator works out which.

How to claim

  • Wait for your final pay. HMRC will not process a claim before it.
  • Claim online, or fill the form in online, print it and post it. Include parts 2 and 3 of your P45, or say why you do not have them.
  • HMRC aims to reply within about 14 days and pays by payable order. It costs nothing, and you do not need an agent.

P50 only covers the current tax year. If you stopped working in a year that has already ended, HMRC checks your record and sends a P800 if you are owed money. If one has not arrived, you can still claim for up to four years.

What this estimate leaves out

  • Redundancy pay: the first £30,000 is tax-free, so leave it out of your pay figure. Only the part above £30,000 counts.
  • Other income this tax year, such as self-employment profits or rent, changes the year's bill. P50 asks about it, and so should you before relying on the figure.
  • National Insurance and student loan repayments are not refunded this way, so they are not included.

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

Other calculators

Moving abroad rather than stopping work? The leaving the UK tax refund calculator covers form P85. Overpaid through PAYE in an earlier year? Use the main tax refund calculator.