Overview

• HMRC is telling people to look out for letters and to review the HMRC app or payslips as many may have overpaid tax, with an average refund of £473 referenced in recent posts.
• You can find your current or past tax code on gov.uk after signing in, in the HMRC app, on your payslip or on any Tax Code Notice letter.
• If a code is wrong, HMRC will update your employer or pension provider after you get in touch, and any overpayment is typically returned in your next payslip.
• Common codes include 1257L for the standard £12,570 personal allowance, while W1/M1/X indicate temporary emergency calculations and a leading K can reflect collection of past liabilities.
• Separate research from refund firm RIFT points to a higher average recovered amount of about £3,000 based on multi‑year claims data, so outcomes vary.