What does the K497 tax code mean?
K497 means: Roughly £4,970.00 of extra income is being taxed through your pay. In short: a K code, untaxed income exceeds your allowance. Use the checker below as a K tax code calculator with your own K number. A UK tax code is the instruction HMRC sends your employer for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027): it sets how much of your pay is tax-free before income tax is deducted through PAYE, so the code on your payslip directly decides your take-home. The standard code for most employees with one job is 1257L, worth £12,570 of tax-free income a year, any other code should have a reason behind it (a company benefit, a second job, an HMRC adjustment), and a code that's wrong for your situation means paying the wrong tax every single payday until it's fixed. Decoded below against HMRC's rules as checked on 2026-08-28, with what K497costs or saves against the standard code.
Decoded
- K: instead of a tax-free allowance, £4,970.00 is ADDED to your taxable pay. This happens when untaxed income (a company car, state pension, tax owed from earlier years) is worth more than your allowance.
On a £32,000 salary, K497 deducts roughly £994.00 more income tax per year than the standard 1257L code, £82.83 a month. If this is your only job and nothing explains the code, that is money to reclaim.
Check your own code
Type any code, this page's and every other format HMRC issues:
Tax-free allowance of about £12,570.00 a year.
- L: you get the standard personal allowance.
Other codes people look up
2026/27 rules, checked 2026-08-28. If your code looks wrong, correct it via your personal tax account on gov.uk, refunds for the current year arrive through your pay automatically.