Starting or leaving a job

Starting a new job

When you start a new job, you should give parts 2 and 3 of the Employers Leaving Certificate T21 that was provided to you by your previous employer to your new employer.

Your new employer should then send a Commencement Form T20 to the Income Tax Division to inform us that you have started working for them within 14 days from your commencement date. You and your new employer will then be issued with a tax code notice informing your new employer of your tax code.

Your new employer may ask you for the following:

Tax Reference Number. If you are registered for income tax in the Isle of Man you have already been allocated a tax reference number by the Income Tax Division and it is unlikely to have changed. If you are moving to the Island, you will need to register for income tax first in order to receive a tax reference number. To register for income tax, please complete and return the form R25 to the Division.

National Insurance Number. This number is allocated to you by the Income Tax Division. If you have a UK National Insurance number then this will still be valid and should also be given to your new employer.

More information on where you can find your tax reference number and National Insurance number is here or you can contact the Division for assistance.

Tax Code. If you are changing employer on the Island, you will have an existing tax code. This tax code will be noted on your T21 form that was provided to you by your previous employer, which you will pass onto your new employer. The new employer should then continue to use the existing tax code. If you already have employment and are starting secondary employment, please see the section below on Starting a second job for further details.

If you are starting work for the first time, your new employer will need to apply for a tax code for you. Your employer should ask you to complete a form T10 and an emergency tax code will be operated for you. An emergency code is based on the personal allowance only if you have no other employment. Your tax code, based on your particular circumstances, will usually be issued within a few weeks. This means that you may have an emergency code operated until your tax code is received.

Starting a second job

If you are starting a second job, your new employer may ask you for the following:

Tax Reference Number.
National Insurance Number.
Tax Code.

In order to have your tax code recalculated to take into account your second job, you should contact the Income Tax Division as soon as possible after taking up the employment. Meanwhile, until the new code is issued, the Income Tax Division will issue an HR (higher rate) code, which means that all your pay from that employment will be taxed 20%.

If you do not contact the Income Tax Division, your tax code may be amended on receipt of a Commencement Form T20 from your employer. You and your employers will be issued with new tax code notices if required.

Income tax is calculated annually and is based on a person’s total income. If a person earns the same amount of income from one job as another person earns from multiple jobs, both will pay the same amount of tax overall. Where the amount of income tax deducted has been too high, a refund will be issued when your assessment is raised at the end of the tax year.

Leaving a job

When you leave a job, it is important to get an Employers Leaving Certificate T21 from your employer.

This is a Leaving Certificate which has three parts:

Part 1 is sent to the Income Tax Division to inform us that you have stopped working for that employer; and
Parts 2 and 3 are given to you to hand to your new employer to inform them of your current tax code.

Your new employer should keep part 2 and complete and return part 3 to the Income Tax Division. This informs us that you have started a new job so that we can update your records.

If you are also leaving the Island your employer will need to return part 1 to inform the Division that the reason you have ceased employment is due to leaving the Island. A R26 Leaving the Isle of Man form will be issued which you will need to complete and return before you leave.