What is an SA302, and when do you actually need one?
If you're self-employed and you've ever applied for a mortgage, someone has probably asked you for your "SA302". It sounds like a form you have to fill in. It isn't. An SA302 is a summary HMRC produces after you file your Self Assessment tax return. It's a one- or two-page tax calculation that shows how your final tax bill for a year was worked out.
The name is just the reference code HMRC uses for that calculation. On screen it's usually labelled "Tax calculation" or "View your calculation". Print it, and the document is what the world calls an SA302. It's the closest thing the self-employed have to a payslip: proof of income that a third party, usually a lender, will trust.
What an SA302 actually shows
An SA302 walks through the same steps every Self Assessment calculation follows, in this order:
- Total income received: everything you declared, including self-employment profit, employment pay, property income, dividends and savings interest.
- Allowances: mainly your Personal Allowance, reduced if your income is high enough to trigger the taper.
- Total income on which tax is due: your taxable income after allowances.
- Income Tax: split across the basic, higher and additional rate bands, with the rate and amount shown for each band.
- National Insurance: Class 2 and Class 4 if you're self-employed.
- The total: Income Tax and National Insurance added together.
Our estimator follows this exact sequence, so if you compare its output to a real SA302 the lines will line up.
Who asks for an SA302, and why
Mortgage lenders are the usual reason. When you're employed, a lender reads your payslips and P60. When you work for yourself, there's no employer to vouch for your income, so lenders ask HMRC's calculation to stand in. Most want the last two or three years' SA302s, almost always alongside the matching Tax Year Overview. You might also be asked for one when applying for a loan, renting through a strict letting agent, or sorting out a visa.
How to get your SA302 from HMRC
There are two routes, depending on how you filed.
If you filed online through HMRC: log in to your HMRC online account, go to Self Assessment, and look for "Get your SA302 tax calculation". You can view and print the calculation for each year you've filed. We cover the exact clicks in how to get your SA302 from HMRC.
If an accountant filed for you using commercial software: the SA302 often comes out of their software rather than the HMRC website. Lenders on the UK Finance list accept these accountant-produced versions, so ask your accountant for the tax calculation and the Tax Year Overview together.
SA302 vs Tax Year Overview
These two documents get confused constantly. The SA302 shows how your tax was calculated. The Tax Year Overview, pulled from your HMRC account, shows the tax that was actually charged and what you paid. Lenders ask for both because together they prove the figures are real and settled, not just declared. There's a full comparison in SA302 vs Tax Year Overview.
Understanding the numbers before you file
You can't create an SA302 before filing, but you can preview what the calculation is likely to say. That's exactly what this site is for: put in your income for the year and see the tax and National Insurance broken down band by band, so nothing on the real SA302 comes as a surprise. Just remember it's an independent estimate: helpful for planning, not a document to hand to a lender.