PAYE11075 | Coding: codes: how they are used and calculated: suffix codes: the suffix

There are six suffixes that can be included in a code, they are L, M, N, P, T and Y.

Suffix P was only a valid code up to 5 April 2015 because those individuals who were born between 6 April 1938 and 5 April 1948 qualified for age-related rates of Personal Allowance. Suffix P can still appear in coding history for years before 6 April 2015 but must no longer be used.

Suffix Y was only a valid code up to 5 April 2016 because those individuals who were born before 6 April 1938 qualified for age-related rates of Personal Allowance. The Budget announcement in March 2012 advised that these allowances would remain frozen at the 2012 to 13 rates, to enable these allowances to be phased out, due to increases to the basic Personal Allowance each tax year. Suffix Y can still appear in coding history for years before 6 April 2016 but must no longer be used.

The aim of the suffix is to make recoding work easier. Any of the main personal allowances may be changed in the Budget. A change in an allowance will mean that a huge number of codes will need amending.

By including a suffix within the code we can identify, to the employer, codes which contain a specific personal allowance. We can then tell the employer to increase all codes containing that suffix by a standard amount.

For example, the L suffix is used for codes that include the Personal allowance. If in the Budget, this allowance was increased by £200, we would then tell the employer to raise all codes with the L suffix by 20.

Five of the suffixes each relate to a specific Personal allowance

• L - Personal Allowance (born after 5 April 1948), or minimum age-related Personal Allowance (born between 6 April 1938 and 5 April 1948, or before 6 April 1938 for the higher age-related Personal Allowance)

• M – Marriage Allowance recipient – individual receives additional Personal Allowance from their Spouse/Civil Partner

• N – Marriage Allowance transferor – individual has transferred 10% of their Personal Allowance to their Spouse/Civil Partner

• P - maximum Personal Allowance (born between 6 April 1938 and 5 April 1948) see above

• Y - maximum Personal Allowance (born before 6 April 1938)

The T suffix is used in cases where we do not want the employer to raise a code by the standard amount. They are codes we have to review before we tell the employer to make any changes.

The system will always allocate the suffix in line with the rules shown above. However, in some cases you may want the system to ignore these rules and allocate another suffix. PAYE11076 tells you how to set and unset an alternative suffix.