Working as an employee

As a student employee, you are taxed in the same way as other workers – so long as you work both term time and vacations. If you only work in the vacations and expect to earn less than your tax free personal allowance then you can complete a form P38   (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/p38s.pdf) and give it to your employer. You will then be paid without deduction of income tax. National Insurance will still be payable.

If you work during term time (or term time and vacations), you may have income tax deducted from your earnings under PAYE. You will be due a refund of income tax if your earnings, plus any other taxable income for the year, are less that the tax free personal allowance. If you leave work before the end of the tax year you are likely to be due a refund of income tax. You can check if a refund is due by using the HMRC student tax checker here.

Students pay National Insurance in the same way as other employees. Special rules apply to some students who study abroad but are working in the UK (see here for example). In these complex circumstances you should take advice from the HMRC National Insurance Contributions Office (tel 0845 302 1479).

For more information, see the sections on income tax and National Insurance for employees. link to Employee NIC and income tax sections