Income tax and two jobs?

[arwen110578]

I have recently started a weekend job, after being a SAHM since the end of my last maternity leave which ended last year.

I have also just been successful getting a part time job during the week back in the original industry I was working in before I gave up my job.

I want to continue both jobs because I am doing them for different reasons. The job in the week I will 'break even' after childcare costs but I am doing it to keep my skills going and to be in a good position with a long-standing job when my girls start school (eldest starts next year).

The weekend job is 'food money' which helps us as a family and my DH looks after the children so no childcare costs. All of my DH's wage goes into our joint pot and goes on bills/mortgage/food and is all used up.

So as both jobs are so new I haven't had payslips yet, but friends keep scaring me saying I will get taxed more than 20% because I have two jobs.

I assumed that HMRC look at both jobs, after I send 1st job my P45 and complete a P46 for second job, and apply 20% income tax accordingly.

Weekend job is approx £1950 per year, and weekday job is approx £8500 per year so I am expecting to pay income tax on the difference between the personal tax allowance and total combined of both jobs, so taxed on approx 1-2k? There is possibility of overtime with the weekend job so final amount will vary.

Can anyone advise? I will try to ring HMRC this week, but DH away and with my young girls I find phonecalls like that a nightmare, they seem to sense it is an important call and start playing up! I am just trying to work out my approx take home to look at our budgets etc.

Thanks in advance!

You get taxed on your total earnings,not the number of jobs you have.Your assumptions are correct.

You will need to ask HMRC to apportion your tax allowance, if that's what you want to do. They won't do it automatically.

If £8500 is the max you will get in the weekday job you can ask for the remaining £940 of the personal allowance to be applied to your weekend job, so you'd only be taxed on just over £1k of that one.

You can ask hmrc to split your tax allowance, so you could assign some/all of your personal allowance to one job and then have the other one taxed at basic rate.Might be more complicated if you want to claim tax back e.g. for professional membership. Remember if you are claiming childcare vouchers then you need to pay tax in order to get savings, better still claim from dh's pay and your tax savings are likely to be greater.

Thats great, thanks Redbindy and Tallulah

oops x-post - and thanks birthdaybunnies!

Yes the plan is see if we qualify for tax credits. If not, then DH will do the childcare vouchers. fingers crossed.