Free UK Tax Guides — 2026/27

Understand your tax, clearly

Plain-English guides to the UK tax rules that affect you most — updated for 2026/27.

💰 VAT Do I Need to Register for VAT? The VAT threshold, voluntary registration, and what changes once you're registered. Read guide → 🎓 Student Loans How Much Is My Student Loan Repayment Each Month? Repayment plans, thresholds and rates, with a worked example. Read guide → 👶 Maternity Pay Is Maternity Pay Taxed? How Statutory Maternity Pay works and how it's taxed. Read guide → 👶 Child Benefit Will I Have to Pay Back Child Benefit? The High Income Child Benefit Charge, thresholds, and your options. Read guide → 💰 Dividend Tax How Much Dividend Tax Will I Pay? The dividend allowance and dividend tax rates for 2026/27, with a worked example. Read guide → 💍 Marriage Allowance Should I Claim Marriage Allowance? Who's eligible, how much you can save, and how to backdate your claim. Read guide → 📝 Registration Do I Need to Register for Self Assessment? Who needs to register, the 5 October deadline, and what happens if you're late. Read guide → 🏢 Pension Tax How Much Tax Will I Pay on My Pension? The 25% tax-free lump sum and how the rest of your pension is taxed. Read guide → 🔑 Tax Codes What Tax Code Should I Be On? What the letters and numbers mean, and what to do if your code looks wrong. Read guide → 📈 Pay Rise How Much Tax Will I Pay on a Pay Rise? What happens to your take-home pay when your salary goes up, and key thresholds to watch. Read guide → 🤝 Employment Status Am I Employed or Self-Employed? How HMRC decides your status, why it matters, and how IR35 fits in. Read guide → 💼 Redundancy Is Redundancy Pay Taxed? The £30,000 tax-free exemption explained, and what else counts as taxable. Read guide → 💰 Bonus Tax How Much of My Bonus Will I Keep? How bonuses are actually taxed, a keep-rate table, and worked examples. Read guide → 🧩 Expenses Can I Claim This Expense? Self-Employed Guide The wholly and exclusively test, common allowed and disallowed expenses, and grey areas. Read guide → 📈 Benefits Will a Second Job Affect My Benefits? Universal Credit, Child Benefit and student loan repayments explained. Read guide → ⏳ Deadlines What Happens If I Miss the Self Assessment Deadline? Late filing and payment penalties, interest, and what to do if you've already missed it. Read guide → 💰 Self-Employed How Much Tax Should I Save? Self-Employed Guide A simple percentage method, worked examples and Payments on Account guidance for sole traders. Read guide → 📅 Payments on Account Will I Need to Make Payments on Account? Who has to pay, how it's calculated, payment dates, and how to reduce your payments. Read guide → 🔍 Payslips Is My Payslip Correct? A Checklist Check your tax code, NI category and deductions — plus the most common payroll errors. Read guide → 📈 Salary Planning What Salary Do I Need for £3,000/Month Take-Home? Reverse-calculate the gross salary you need to hit a take-home pay target. Read guide → 🔍 Tax Codes UK Tax Codes Explained: 1257L, BR, D0, K & Emergency Codes Decode your HMRC tax code. Covers 1257L, BR, D0, K codes, W1/M1 emergency codes and how to get yours corrected. Read guide → 📋 Making Tax Digital MTD for Income Tax Explained Thresholds, quarterly deadlines, penalties and how to prepare for Making Tax Digital. Read guide → 💼 Limited Company Director's Loan Account & Section 455 Overdrawn loans, the Section 455 tax charge, repayment deadlines and how to avoid the traps. Read guide → 👥 Payroll Employer National Insurance Explained The 15% rate, £10,500 Employment Allowance, and reliefs for under-21s, apprentices and veterans. Read guide → 📝 Payroll PAYE Registration Guide Who needs to register as an employer, when, and how long HMRC takes. Read guide → ⚙️ Payroll Payroll Setup Guide Software, starter checklists, auto-enrolment and running your first payroll. Read guide → 🏢 Limited Company Starting a Limited Company The full 8-step journey from incorporation to Corporation Tax, with a calculator at every stage. Read guide → 💷 PAYE PAYE Explained: How UK Pay As You Earn Tax Works What PAYE means, how it is calculated, and what gets deducted from your pay each payday. Read guide → 🎓 Student Loans Student Loan Repayment: The Complete UK Guide Plans 1, 2, 4 and 5 — repayment thresholds, interest rates, whether to overpay, and what happens when it's written off. Read guide → 💼 Second Job Second Job Tax Explained: How Much Will You Pay? How BR and D0 codes work, why your second job is taxed from pound one, and how to split your Personal Allowance. Read guide → 🏗️ CIS CIS Tax Refund Guide: How Much Can You Claim Back? How the Construction Industry Scheme works, what expenses to claim, and how to file your Self Assessment. Read guide → 🏠 Stamp Duty Stamp Duty for First-Time Buyers: Relief & Rates 2026 First-time buyer relief, 3% second home surcharge, and how SDLT is calculated across price brackets. Read guide → 🏆 Pension Pension Tax Relief Explained: How It Works Basic and higher-rate relief, Annual Allowance, salary sacrifice, and how to claim extra relief via Self Assessment. Read guide → 🛡️ Inheritance Tax Inheritance Tax Thresholds: NRB, RNRB and Gifts Nil-rate band, residence nil-rate band, 7-year gift rule, and how to reduce your IHT bill. Read guide → 🏡 Equity Release Equity Release Explained: Lifetime Mortgages & Costs How lifetime mortgages work, compound interest, the no-negative-equity guarantee, and alternatives. Read guide →