Student loans
Repaying the loan
Most of the time, this happens automatically.
If you get a job that pays over £15,000 each
year, repayments are taken out of your wages at the same time
as your tax and National Insurance (either each month or each
week). The Student Loans Company will let you know about this
before it happens, and if you earn less than £15,000,
you won't pay anything.
Repayments don't start until the beginning of the tax year
(6 April) after your course has ended. Your employer
will take care of the paperwork, and you will only pay 9%
of any money you earn above the £15,000 threshold.
Interest rates: Like all loans, there is some interest
on a student loan. However, it's lower than the rate you would
normally pay to a bank or building society.
Voluntary Payments
There is also a way to pay your loan off even quicker, as
well as having repayments deducted by your employer. You can
make voluntary repayments of any amount of £5.00 or
more direct to the Student Loans Company yourself, at any
time, even if you do not earn above the threshold.
You can do this by sending a cheque to SLC, telling them
your name and student reference number. If you do choose to
make voluntary payments it will not stop your employer making
deductions from your pay for the balance of your loan, but
your employer will stop making deductions sooner.
You can get more information by contacting the SLC at www.slc.co.uk/
Being self-employed
If you work for yourself, you obviously won't have an employer
to do the paperwork for you. However, you will normally fill
in an annual tax return (declaring your profits and
expenses) and this means that HM Revenue & Customs can
work out how much your repayments will be.
There is plenty of help for people filling in their tax returns
on HM Revenue & Customs' website.
Working abroad
If you work abroad, HM Revenue & Customs won't be able
to take Student Loan repayments out of your wages. Instead,
you will need to make the repayments straight to the Student
Loans Company itself.
You can get more information from the Student Loans Company's
website at www.slc.co.uk
and you can read more at working abroad.
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You can visit the Student Loans Company's
website at
www.slc.co.uk
For information about other types of support available
you can use the following sites.
Holiday jobs
If you only work during the holidays, and you expect
to earn no more than the personal allowance in the tax year
ending 5 April, just ask your employer for a Form
P38(S). Fill this in and you won't have any tax taken
out of your wages.
If you already have a part-time job during term time, you
won't be able to use this form just for your holiday job.
You will already be 'on the system', so your employer will
take care of the paperwork to make sure you don't pay too
much tax.
to find out the current amount of personal allowance, please
see here.
Minimum wage
There is a national minimum wage to make sure that employees
receive fair pay for their time, even if they are students
for most of the year.
For more information on the
rates
For more information you can go to the National
Minimum Wage Website or call the Helpline on 0845
600 0678. The lines are open 8am to 6pm Monday
to Friday.
You should call the Helpline if your employer is not paying
you the National Minimum Wage. All calls to the Helpline
will be treated as confidential. You do not even have to
give your name.
When you leave a job, your employer will give you a Form
P45. You will need to keep this safe and give it to your
next employer (just to make sure you don't pay too much tax
in the future).
Paying tax on your savings
With a few exceptions (such as an ISA), savings interest
is normally taxed automatically (at 20%). However, if you
expect to earn less than your personal allowance during the
tax year ending 5 April, you can stop this happening by filling
in Form R85 and giving it to
your bank or building society.
Banks and building societies normally give you a Form R85
when you open an account.
If you have already paid too much tax on your interest,
you can get a refund from HM Revenue & Customs by filling
in Form R40.
to find out the current amount of personal allowance, please
see here.
Working Abroad
Paying your taxes
Normally, if you work abroad you are still treated as a tax
resident of the UK. This basically means you will pay
UK tax on anything you earn overseas. However, it also means
you get the same tax allowances that you would receive in
this country.
If your overseas employer taxes you as well (and you aren't
able to claim it back directly from the foreign authorities),
you will be credited for this in the UK.
Important: If you are already working in the
UK, you will need to fill in Form
P85 and send it to your Tax Office. This is to let HM
Revenue & Customs know that you are going to be out of
the country, and it may help in the future if you have any
problems with foreign tax. If you are not already working,
there is no need to fill in this form.
Student loans
If you work abroad, HM Revenue & Customs won't be able
to take Student Loan repayments out of your wages automatically.
Instead, you will need to make the repayments straight to
the Student Loans Company itself.
You can get more information from the Student Loans Company's
website at www.slc.co.uk
and you can read more about student
loans.
Foreign students working in the UK
To make sure you are able to work in the UK, simply contact:
