Do students on minimum wage have to pay tax?
The UK tax year goes from 6th April to 5th April, and all UK citizens get a tax-free personal allowance of £6475. Therefore it is likely you will pay no tax until next April. That is not because you are a student (it is a myth that students are exempt from tax) but because you have a backlog of unused tax allowance back to last April. Once we are in the new tax year, you will pay 20% tax on earnings in excess of £6475 in the year. £55 x 20% = £11 over the year. Whereas tax is taken on earnings for year, NIC is applied to each payday in isolation, and without reference to pay for rest of year. You start paying once earnings reach £110 a week, and lose 11% of excess. You can check deductions on http://www.listentotaxman.com , but that doesn’t give you an in-year calculation.
