Some tax codes, called "suffix codes", end in a letter. This letter is used to indicate the tax allowances to which you are entitled and on which your tax code is based. There are five suffixes in current use.

"L" indicates that you are entitled to the personal tax allowance, i.e. £5,035 for the 2006/07 tax year.

"P" means that you are entitled to the higher personal tax allowance that is available to persons over age 65. This allowance is £7,280 for the 2006/07 tax year.

"Y" means that you are entitled to the higher personal tax allowance that is available to persons over age 75. This allowance is £7,420 for the 2006/07 tax year.

"V" means that, in addition to the higher personal tax allowance for persons over age 65, you are entitled to the age-related married couple's allowance for couples where one of them was born before April 1935. This allowance is £6,065 for the 2006/07 tax year.

"T" is used in a number of different situations:

• It is generally used to indicate that the number is "temporary", perhaps because your tax office is not yet certain of your tax affairs.
  
  
• It can also mean that, in addition to the higher personal tax allowance for persons over age 75, you are entitled to the age-related married couple's allowance for persons over age 75. This allowance is £6,135 for the 2006/07 tax year.

(If you entitled to one or more of the age-related allowances, you should understand that there are a number of statutory restrictions that could mean that you do not receive the full allowance.)

Other suffix letters have been used in the past but are not used now.

"H" was used, up to the end of the 1999/2000 tax year, to indicate entitlement to the married couple's allowance when it was available to persons under age 65. Since April 2000, this allowance has only been available to couples if one of them was born before April 1935.

"H" was also used, for the 2001/02 and 2002/03 tax years only, to indicate entitlement to the Children's Tax Credit, a tax allowance for families with children. This allowance has now been incorporated into the Child Tax Credit and is paid direct by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to qualifying families.

"A" was also used, for the 2001/02 and 2002/03 tax years only, to indicate entitlement to the Children's Tax Credit, but in circumstances where the parents opted to take half of the allowance each.

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