CitizenshipLife skills: running your own money30 min★★★ difficulty

Your own tax, receipts and putting things right

Employed, self-employed or selling things on the side — at some point the tax is yours to sort. This lesson covers checking a tax code, keeping records, VAT on your receipts, and what to do when money goes wrong.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand income, spending, saving and the choices involved in managing personal finances

Key learning points

• Your tax code is your job to check
• When the tax becomes yours to file
• Records and what VAT on a receipt tells you
• Putting things wrong right

This lesson at a glance

30 minutes
18 parts to scroll through
4 quick checks
Marked quiz at the end
Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

incomespendingsavingchoicesinvolved

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 18 · Discover6%

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 18

Watch first

Your own tax, receipts and putting things right

An English teaching video on this topic from Transition Abilities. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand income, spending, saving and the choices involved in managing personal finances

What you already know

Part 2 of 18

Before we start

What you already know

You can read a payslip and know how income tax, National Insurance and VAT work.

Recap: Reading a payslip: gross pay, tax and National Insurance Recap: VAT: the tax hidden in the price

Key words

Part 3 of 18

Key words

Words you'll need today

Tax code: The code telling an employer how much tax-free pay you get.
Personal allowance: Income you can earn before income tax starts.
Self assessment: The yearly tax return for self-employed and other untaxed income.
Trading allowance: A small amount of self-employed income you can earn before declaring it.
Receipt: Proof of purchase, showing VAT separately where charged.
Ombudsman: An independent service that settles complaints against firms for free.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 18

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Checking your own tax

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 18

Learn

Your tax code is your job to check

A payslip shows a tax code such as 1257L, meaning roughly £12,570 of tax-free pay spread across the year. Codes go wrong when you change job, hold two jobs or come off a student summer job — a code ending BR taxes everything at basic rate with no allowance. Overpaid tax is refunded, but usually only once someone notices, and that someone is you.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 18

Learn

When the tax becomes yours to file

Employees have tax taken at source. Sell cakes, tutor, fix bikes or resell online for profit and you are trading: there is a trading allowance for small amounts, and above it you register for self assessment, file a return after the tax year ends, and pay what you owe by the deadline. You are taxed on profit, not on turnover, so genuine costs come off first.

Quick check

Part 7 of 18

Quick check

Tax code 1257L means roughly how much tax-free pay a year?

Reset break

Part 8 of 18

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now

Quick check

Part 9 of 18

Quick check

A £48 item at the standard VAT rate contains how much VAT?

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 18

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Records, VAT and complaints

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 18

Learn

Records and what VAT on a receipt tells you

Keep every receipt and a simple log of money in and money out; a spreadsheet is enough, and a shoebox is not. A receipt shows VAT separately when it was charged, which matters twice: it proves a cost, and it reminds you that the price you paid included 20% tax on most things, 5% on some energy, and nothing on most food, children's clothes and books. A £48 tool includes £8 of VAT: 48 ÷ 6.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 18

Learn

Putting things wrong right

Faulty goods, an unwanted subscription still taking money, a bank error: the route is the same. Complain in writing to the firm first, keep dates and copies, give them their stated time to answer, then take it free to the relevant ombudsman. For money taken by direct debit in error, your bank must refund it under the direct debit guarantee. Deadlines matter, so complain early rather than perfectly.

Quick check

Part 13 of 18

Quick check

Self-employed income tax is charged on:

Quick check

Part 14 of 18

Quick check

A direct debit taken in error should first be raised with:

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 18

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Thinking tax is always someone else's job — a wrong code costs you, not your employer.
Believing self-employed tax is on everything taken in, rather than on profit.
Assuming all prices include 20% VAT; food, books and children's clothes are mostly zero-rated.

Challenge round

Part 16 of 18

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

Mastery quiz

Part 17 of 18

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Your own tax, receipts and putting things right

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

1. A tax code of BR usually means:
2. Which is zero-rated for VAT?
3. The correct order for a complaint is:

Lesson round-up

Part 18 of 18

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Should the town centre have a curfew for under-16s?

After a rise in reported vandalism, Harbrook council proposed that under-16s should not be in the town centre after 9 pm without an adult. Police recorded 62 incidents last year, most between 9 pm and midnight. Shopkeepers signed a petition supporting the plan.

A youth council objected. They pointed out that most young people in town at night were going home from sports clubs or work, that the plan punishes a whole group for the acts of a few, and that the library and the bus interchange are in the town centre. They asked instead for a late bus and a youth space.

The council voted to trial the curfew for six months and to publish the crime figures at the end.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

Give the strongest point on each side of the argument, using a fact from the case.
Whose rights and whose responsibilities are involved here? Explain both.
Write your own view on the curfew with reasons and one example.

Reading and response
Reading
Read the case in the lesson again and write what you think should happen, and why it is fair. Use one fact from the case as evidence.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
Writing
Write your answer to the lesson's big question in full: the strongest point on each side, then your own view with reasons and an example.
250–350 words
Reading log
Reading
Find one news story this week that links to this lesson. Note the headline, where you read it, and how it connects.
1 story, 4–5 sentences
Two sides of the argument
Writing
Write the strongest point for, the strongest point against, and then your own view with a reason.
3 paragraphs
Poster or leaflet plan
Diagram
Plan a leaflet that explains this right or responsibility to someone your age, then photograph it.
1 planned page

Write your answer, notes or working here

Saved as you type.

Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover

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