drfinance Your rent is due at the end of the month, you want to book that holiday you’ve been planning and you’ve made plans for dinner and drinks tomorrow night with uni friends. Sound familiar? As a junior doctor it can be hard to make your salary go beyond the here and now while paying general … Read more
If becoming a doctor was your first job, the concept of pensions might be new to you. Upon starting, you may have been enrolled in the NHS pension scheme, so it’s worth learning more about it. What is the NHS pension? In its simplest form, a pension is a fund into which an employee and … Read more
You might hear the words “National Insurance” or “NI” get thrown around, or might see it on your payslip. But what exactly is it, and what does it mean? What is National Insurance? National Insurance is a form of compulsory tax paid by employees and their employers. Payment of NI is used to determine whether … Read more
No-one ever really explains how a junior doctor’s salary works. So when your first paycheck comes along, how do you know it’s the same as what you were promised? And how can you plan your income over the next couple of years? Here we’ll go through the various elements of your salary and how it’s … Read more
Most junior doctors and most of the population will have income tax deducted automatically from their pensions, savings and dividends. A small number of people will need to fill out a Self Assessment tax return to report how much tax they should pay. Please bear in mind the information provided below doesn’t represent official financial … Read more
It’s likely as a doctor that you will earn additional income outside of what the trust pays into your bank account every month. It’s important that you declare this untaxed income to HMRC and pay the appropriate taxes on it! Locum and bank payments are easy. Quite often, these are also paid into your bank … Read more
Tax relief means either paying less tax as a result of spending money on certain things or getting a tax rebate or repayment. All employees can claim relief on expenses related to employment – but most people don’t know they can, or don’t know how to. Junior doctors spend money on their jobs constantly, so … Read more
One of the most important things to know about on your payslip is your tax code. Tax codes are used to help your employer work out how much income tax should be deducted from your salary. Helpfully, each payslip you receive will have it listed (usually at the top right corner). They usually start with … Read more
Income tax is the most basic type of tax you will pay on your salary. It’s worth understanding which deductions you should expect and how much they ought to be. Income tax rates The rates of income tax for the 2019-2020 tax year, which runs from 6 April 2019 to 5 April 2020, are outlined … Read more