UK Salary After Tax Calculator

How UK income tax actually works

The UK uses a progressive system. The more you earn, the higher the rate on your top pound. The bit that trips people up is that the higher rate only applies to the portion of pay that sits inside that band, not to your whole salary. Everyone gets the same allowance and the same first band before any of the higher rates kick in.

Most workers see this happen automatically through PAYE (Pay As You Earn). Your employer takes off income tax and National Insurance before your wages hit your account. If you only have one job and a standard tax code, you do not need to file anything yourself.

Three numbers do most of the work for the 2026-27 tax year. The personal allowance is £12,570, which you pay no income tax on. The basic rate of 20% kicks in above that. The higher rate of 40% starts at £50,270 of gross salary.

Worked example: a £50,000 salary in England

To make the bands less abstract, here is what a £50,000 salary actually looks like once HMRC has had a go at it. These numbers are for someone on a standard tax code in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland for the 2026-27 tax year. Scotland is a bit different and gets its own section below.

National Insurance then comes off the same pay packet. NI uses its own thresholds rather than reusing the personal allowance. On £50,000 that works out at £2,994 a year, charged at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270.

That is an effective tax rate of about 21.0% on the whole salary, even though the top slice was taxed at 20%. The gap between marginal rate and effective rate is the thing most people get wrong when they say "I'd lose half of it to tax". You wouldn't.

UK income tax bands for 2026-27

These are the bands the calculator uses for 2026-27. Each one only applies to the slice of your salary that sits inside it, not your whole income.

England, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Scotland

What happens above £100,000

Once your earnings cross £100,000, the personal allowance starts to shrink. HMRC takes £1 of allowance away for every £2 of income above the threshold. By the time you hit £125,140 the allowance is gone entirely. The effective marginal rate on income in that taper window is 60%, which is the reason a £101,000 salary sometimes leaves people worse off than a £99,000 one once pension contributions and childcare are factored in.

Why Scottish workers see different numbers

Scottish income tax is set by the Scottish Parliament, not Westminster. Scotland uses six bands instead of three and starts charging more above roughly £30,000. A Scottish taxpayer on £50,000 pays a little more than someone in England on the same salary. The personal allowance and National Insurance rules are still UK-wide.

National Insurance for 2026-27

National Insurance is a second deduction that sits on top of income tax. It funds the State Pension and most contributory benefits. Most employees pay Class 1 NI through PAYE without ever filling out a form. The tricky bit is that NI uses its own thresholds, so the band where you start paying NI is not the same as the band where you start paying income tax.

NI works as a flat rate on each chunk of earnings. You pay 8% on income between £12,570 and £50,270, then a token 2% on everything above that. There is no progressive ladder. Two people earning the same salary pay the same NI.

Enter a salary above to see exactly how much income tax and NI will come off your pay.

Pensions, student loans, and other deductions

Income tax and NI are the only deductions everyone pays. Most people have a few more.

Workplace pension. Auto-enrolment puts a minimum of 5% of qualifying earnings into your pension by default, on top of an employer contribution of at least 3%. The 5% comes off your gross salary, so you pay less income tax. Salary sacrifice schemes go one further and save you NI as well, which is why most employers offer them.

Student loans. Repayments only start once you cross the threshold for your plan, and only the bit above the threshold counts. Plan 2 currently kicks in at £29,385 at 9%. Plan 5, which covers anyone who started university in England from August 2023, starts at £25,000. Postgraduate loans are separate again at £21,000 and 6%.

Child Benefit clawback. If you or your partner earn over £60,000, HMRC starts taking the Child Benefit back through the High Income Child Benefit Charge. By £80,000 it is fully clawed back. You still get the money paid in, but you owe an equal amount through self assessment.

Common UK salary questions

Is my salary before or after tax?

The number on your contract is almost always before tax. That is the gross figure. Take-home pay, sometimes called net pay, is what lands in your bank account after income tax, NI, and any pension or student loan deductions have been taken.

Why is my first month's pay sometimes weird?

PAYE spreads your tax across the year. If you start a new job partway through the tax year, your tax code may need a few weeks to catch up. If you got a bonus, PAYE often treats it as if you earn that much every month and over-taxes the bonus payment. HMRC squares it up over the rest of the year.

Is the calculator monthly or yearly?

You can enter either. The calculator shows you yearly, monthly, weekly, and hourly breakdowns side by side. Most UK contracts state the annual figure, so we default to that.

Does this include the tax-free childcare or marriage allowance?

Not by default. Those involve eligibility checks that vary case by case. The calculator covers the deductions that affect almost everyone. For one-offs like the marriage allowance, take the result and adjust manually.

Common UK Salary Calculations

Popular salary calculations for UK workers:

• £20,000
• £25,000
• £30,000
• £35,000
• £40,000
• £45,000
• £50,000
• £55,000
• £60,000
• £65,000
• £70,000
• £75,000
• £80,000
• £85,000
• £90,000
• £95,000
• £100,000
• £125,000
• £150,000
• £175,000
• £200,000
• £250,000
• £300,000
• £500,000
• £1,000,000