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UK Tax Refund Estimator

Enter your annual income and total income tax withheld via PAYE to see whether you are due a refund or owe a balance. Uses 2026/27, 2025/26 or 2024/25 income tax rates for England/Wales/NI or Scotland.

01 —INPUTS
Estimate Your Tax Refund

Total income tax deducted by your employer via PAYE

02 —RESULTS

Estimated Refund

£514.00

You may have overpaid income tax and could be entitled to a refund from HMRC.

03 —BREAKDOWN
Tax Breakdown
Annual Income£35,000.00
Tax Owed£4,486.00
Tax Withheld£5,000.00
Refund£514.00
Effective Rate12.82%
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Leaving the UK: claiming your final-year refund with form P85

Leaving the UK part-way through a tax year is one of the most reliable ways to end up owed money. PAYE gives you your Personal Allowance in equal slices across the year and assumes you will keep earning at the same rate until 5 April. Stop working in the UK in, say, August and the tax already taken out of April to August's pay was calculated against a full year of earnings that never happened — so the tax deducted is usually more than the liability on what you actually earned.

The estimator above gives you the size of that gap: enter the income you actually received in the UK for the tax year and the total income tax withheld across your payslips or final P45. HMRC does not always pick this up automatically once you have gone, which is what form P85 is for.

Who files a P85

  • You lived and worked in the UK, and you have left and may not be coming back.
  • You are working abroad full time for at least one full tax year.
  • Not you if you are sending a Self Assessment tax return for the tax year you leave — you tell HMRC on the return and form SA109 instead.

How to file it

  • Send Parts 2 and 3 of your P45 with the claim, if you have one.
  • Once you have actually left, you can submit it online with a Government Gateway account.
  • If you have not left yet, you have to print and post the form — the online route only opens after departure.
  • A repayment is paid to you or a nominee, including by payable order posted to your address or your nominee's.

One thing the estimator cannot decide for you: whether you keep the full Personal Allowance for UK income after you go. HMRC allows it if you are a British citizen, a citizen of an EEA country, or you worked for the UK government at any point in that tax year, and it can also apply through a double-taxation agreement with the country you move to. If you are not UK resident, the allowance has to be claimed for each tax year in which you have UK income, on form R43. Assume the allowance applies while you check, and treat the figure above as an upper bound until you have.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I'm owed a tax refund?
You may be owed a refund if your employer withheld more income tax via PAYE than you actually owe for the year. This can happen if you changed jobs, had periods of unemployment, or were placed on an incorrect tax code. Compare your total PAYE deductions (from your P60 or payslips) against the actual tax due on your income.
How do I claim a tax refund from HMRC?
For PAYE employees, HMRC usually issues a P800 tax calculation after the end of the tax year. If it shows you have overpaid, you can claim online. Alternatively, you can file a Self Assessment tax return if you believe you are owed a refund that HMRC has not automatically calculated.
Do I get a tax refund if I leave the UK part-way through the tax year?
Often, yes. PAYE spreads your Personal Allowance evenly across the year and assumes you will keep earning at the same rate until 5 April. If you stop working in the UK part-way through, the tax already deducted usually exceeds what you owe for the shortened period of earnings, and the difference comes back as a refund. Use form P85 to tell HMRC you have left, unless you are filing a Self Assessment return for the year you leave.
What is form P85 and when do I use it?
P85 is the form that tells HMRC you have left, or are leaving, the UK, so it can work out whether you overpaid tax in your final part-year. Use it if you lived and worked in the UK and have left and may not be coming back, or you are working abroad full time for at least one full tax year. Send Parts 2 and 3 of your P45 with it. You do not use P85 if you are sending a Self Assessment tax return for the tax year you leave — you tell HMRC on the return and form SA109 instead. You can submit P85 online once you have actually left; before you go, you have to print and post it.
What is included in the tax refund calculation?
This estimator compares your income tax liability (calculated using standard Personal Allowance and tax bands) against the total income tax withheld by your employer. It does not include National Insurance, student loan repayments, or pension contributions — only income tax.

Sources

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