UK tax: busting the jargon
Blind Person's Allowance (BPA): A special allowance for blind and partially sighted people. It essentially means you can earn more money before you start paying tax.
Class 2 NICs: Fixed, weekly National Insurance Contributions paid by the self-employed.
Class 4 NICs: Another NIC paid by self-employed people, this time on their profits.
Coding Notice: A letter from HMRC explaining what your tax code is and how it was calculated.
Council Tax: The local tax of England, Scotland and Wales, based on value of a property. In Northern Ireland, you pay Rates instead.
HMRC: Her Majesty's Revenue & Customers. The taxman, dealing with tax and tax reliefs, National Insurance and so on.
Income Tax: The taxman's portion of your earnings.
National Insurance Contributions (NICs): Payments to HMRC to stock up your entitlement to things like benefits and the State Pension.
National Insurance Number: The number HMRC uses to identify you for state benefits and the National Insurance system.
National Minimum Wage: The lowest hourly rate that UK employers can legally pay you, assuming you qualify for it.
P45s: A form showing how much PAYE tax you've paid in the tax year. You'll get one from your employer when you stop working for them.
P60s: An end-of-year certificate showing all the taxable income you've made and the PAYE tax and National Insurance you've paid on it. Also includes details for your student loan repayments.
Pay As You Earn: The basic system for taxing employed people in the UK. Employers deduct Income Tax and National Insurance from your pay and send it to HMRC directly.
Personal Allowance: The amount you can earn before you start paying Income Tax.
Personal Savings Allowance: The amount of interest you can earn on your savings before you start paying tax on it.
Residence: Where your main home is considered to be for tax purposes. Your tax residence can make a difference when you're working abroad for example.
Self Assessment: The tax return system for self-employed people. It's also used by other kinds of people to report any additional untaxed income they've got coming in.
Self-employed: People who set up their own business rather than working directly for an employer.
Student Loans: Money from the Student Loan company that you typically gradually pay back once you start earning a certain amount.
Tax band/bracket: Income tax is divided into bands. Once you earn enough to break through into a new band, any remaining income is taxed at a higher rate.
Tax Code: A series of numbers and letters that describes your Personal Allowance and any special circumstances that affect the tax you pay.
Tax Refund: Money you claim back from HMRC when you've paid too much tax. Usually requires keeping good records.
Tax Relief: A way of bringing down your tax bill, if you qualify for it. Certain types of business expenses can qualify you for tax relief, for example.
Tax Return: A form listing your income, expenses and various other financial circumstances. Used to work out the tax self-employed people (and some others) owe, and to claim certain refunds, reliefs and benefits.
Tax Year: The tax year runs from the 6th April to the 5th April the following year.
Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR): A number HMRC uses to identify you for anything to do with your tax situation.
Universal Credit: A single benefit that lumps together a range of older ones. Designed to be simpler than the old system, which featured a lot of individual benefits for things like childcare costs, housing and income support.
Value Added Tax: A tax on the products and services you buy, rather than income you earn.