Take-Home Pay Calculator UK

A take-home pay calculator shows what actually lands in your bank account after income tax, National Insurance, student loan repayments and pension contributions. Ours uses the 2026/27 rates and thresholds published by HMRC, handles both the England, Wales and Northern Ireland bands and the six Scottish bands, applies the Personal Allowance taper above £100,000, and understands common tax codes such as 1257L, BR, D0, 0T and K codes. Enter your pay as a yearly, monthly, weekly or hourly figure and see the breakdown by year, month and week as you type, along with plain-English notes on how each deduction is worked out. It is an estimate only, and it runs entirely in your browser.

How to use the Take-home pay

1. 1 Enter your payType your salary before tax and choose whether it is per year, per month, per week or per hour. For hourly pay, add your usual hours per week.
2. 2 Choose where you livePick England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or Scotland. Scottish taxpayers pay income tax at different rates, while National Insurance is the same across the UK.
3. 3 Add your pensionEnter your contribution as a percentage of pay and choose net pay, relief at source or salary sacrifice. Your payslip or scheme booklet tells you which applies.
4. 4 Add student loans and a tax codeSelect your undergraduate plan and tick postgraduate loan if you have one. Leave the tax code blank for the standard 1257L, or type the code from your payslip.
5. 5 Read the breakdownCheck the monthly headline, the yearly, monthly and weekly table, the band-by-band income tax, and the notes explaining each figure.

How income tax is worked out in 2026/27

Most people have a tax-free Personal Allowance of £12,570, shown on a payslip as the tax code 1257L. Income above that is taxable and is split into bands, with each slice taxed at its own rate. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the first £37,700 of taxable income is taxed at the basic rate of 20%, taxable income from £37,701 to £125,140 at the higher rate of 40%, and anything above that at the additional rate of 45%. In everyday terms, with the full allowance you pay 40% on earnings over £50,270.

Wales has its own Welsh rates of income tax, set by the Senedd, but for 2026/27 they produce the same overall rates as England and Northern Ireland, so the calculator treats them together. Savings and dividend income have separate allowances and rates and are not part of a PAYE take-home calculation, which is why they are left out here.

Moving into a higher band never makes you worse off overall, because only the part of your income inside that band is taxed at the higher rate. The calculator shows each slice and the tax on it, so you can see exactly where your money goes.

Scottish income tax bands

If you live in Scotland you are a Scottish taxpayer, and your income tax is worked out on six bands set by the Scottish Parliament. For 2026/27 the bands, measured on taxable income after the Personal Allowance, are:

• Before any of these bands, you still get the same £12,570 Personal Allowance as the rest of the UK, tapered in the same way above £100,000.
• Starter rate 19%: up to £3,967 of taxable income.
• Basic rate 20%: £3,968 to £16,956.
• Intermediate rate 21%: £16,957 to £31,092.
• Higher rate 42%: £31,093 to £62,430.
• Advanced rate 45%: £62,431 to £125,140.
• Top rate 48%: over £125,140.

The £100,000 Personal Allowance taper

Once your adjusted net income goes over £100,000, your Personal Allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 above that limit. At £125,140 it has gone completely. Because you lose allowance as well as paying 40% on the extra income, the effective income tax rate between £100,000 and £125,140 works out at 60%, plus 2% National Insurance. The calculator shows this in the note about how much of a £100 pay rise you keep.

A pay rise that takes you from just under to just over £100,000 is still worth having, but it is worth knowing about the taper when you plan bonuses, salary sacrifice or extra pension contributions, because money paid into a pension in this range can attract a very high rate of tax relief.

Pension contributions reduce adjusted net income. Salary sacrifice and net pay contributions do this automatically through payroll. With relief at source, the gross contribution also reduces adjusted net income, but you usually need to claim the extra relief through Self Assessment, which is why the calculator shows a separate figure you may be able to claim back.

National Insurance and student loans

Employees pay Class 1 National Insurance on earnings above the primary threshold of £12,570 a year. For 2026/27 the main employee rate is 8% on earnings between £12,570 and the upper earnings limit of £50,270, and 2% on earnings above that. National Insurance is worked out on each pay period in real payroll, so a one-off bonus can attract more NI than the annual estimate suggests. Once you reach State Pension age, employee National Insurance stops, which you can reflect by ticking the box.

Student loan repayments are taken through payroll as a percentage of pay above your plan's threshold. For 2026/27 the annual thresholds are £26,900 for Plan 1, £29,385 for Plan 2, £33,795 for Plan 4 and £25,000 for Plan 5, all repaid at 9%. Postgraduate loans are repaid at 6% above £21,000, and can be repaid at the same time as an undergraduate plan. If you earn below the threshold nothing is deducted.

Pension contributions: net pay, relief at source and salary sacrifice

How your pension is taken from pay changes your take-home figure, even when the percentage is the same. The calculator models the three common methods:

• Net pay arrangement: the contribution is taken before income tax, so you get relief at your top rate straight away. It does not reduce National Insurance or student loan repayments.
• Relief at source: the contribution comes out of your pay after tax. You pay 80% and your pension provider claims the other 20% from HMRC. Higher and additional rate taxpayers can claim extra relief from HMRC.
• Salary sacrifice: you agree to lower contractual pay and your employer pays the difference into your pension. It saves income tax, National Insurance and student loan repayments, but a lower salary can affect things such as mortgage applications and some benefits.

Tax codes the calculator understands

Leave the tax code box blank and the calculator uses the standard Personal Allowance, tapered above £100,000. If your payslip shows a different code, type it in. Codes ending in L, M, N or T give a tax-free allowance of ten times the number, so 1100L gives £11,000. K codes add an amount to your taxable pay instead, usually to collect tax on benefits or untaxed income, and the tax taken is capped at 50% of your pay. BR taxes all pay at 20%, D0 at 40% and D1 at 45%, which is normal for a second job or pension. 0T means no allowance, and NT means no tax.

An S prefix means Scottish rates apply, and C means Welsh rates, which currently match England. Scottish flat-rate codes SD0, SD1, SD2 and SD3 tax all pay at 21%, 42%, 45% and 48%. A W1, M1 or X suffix is an emergency code, where each pay period is taxed on its own; this estimate assumes steady pay all year. If you think your code is wrong, check it in your HMRC online account.

Limits of this estimate and sources

This is an estimate for an employee with the same pay all year, on National Insurance category A. It does not include bonuses, overtime that varies, benefits in kind, other income such as rent or savings interest, Marriage Allowance, Blind Person's Allowance, or the small rounding differences in real payroll software. Auto-enrolment pensions are often calculated on qualifying earnings rather than all pay, so your payslip pension figure may be lower. Rates for 2026/27, last checked in October 2026 on GOV.UK:

• Income tax rates and allowances: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-income-tax/income-tax-rates-and-allowances-current-and-past
• Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (NI, student loans, PAYE): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027
• Income over £100,000 (Personal Allowance taper): https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates/income-over-100000
• What your tax code means: https://www.gov.uk/tax-codes/what-your-tax-code-means

Examples you can copy

Gross pay                 £35,000.00
Income tax  20% x £22,430  -£4,486.00
National Insurance 8%      -£1,794.40
Take-home pay             £28,719.60
Per month                  £2,393.30

Earn £2 more over £100,000:
  40% tax on the £2               = 80p
  lose £1 of allowance, taxed 40% = 40p
  total extra tax                 = £1.20  (60%)
  plus 2% National Insurance      = 4p

Common mistakes to avoid

Frequently asked questions