UK salary calculator 2026/27 — take-home pay after tax & NI

It uses HMRC-confirmed rates and thresholds for 2026/27 and produces results that match payroll for most straightforward PAYE situations — standard tax code, single employer, no in-year adjustments. Results will differ if your tax code is not 1257L, you have multiple income sources, employer benefits in kind such as a company car, or if your employer has made cumulative corrections earlier in the year. For offer comparisons, keep all settings fixed and only change the salary — the difference between two runs will be accurate even if the absolute figures differ from your payslip.

The most common reasons are: a non-standard tax code (anything other than 1257L), salary sacrifice pension treatment (which reduces NI as well as income tax, unlike a standard pension deduction), the wrong student loan plan selected, bonuses or overtime paid in that particular month, or cumulative tax adjustments made by your employer to correct earlier months. Check your most recent payslip for your actual tax code and plan number, then enter those into the advanced options to close the gap.

Yes, and the difference grows with salary. Scotland sets its own income tax bands through the Scottish Parliament — there are six rates (19% to 48%) compared with three in the rest of the UK. Above about £33,500, Scottish taxpayers pay more income tax than equivalent earners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and slightly less below it. At £50,000 the difference is about £1,496 a year in 2026/27. National Insurance is the same across the whole of the UK and does not change when you select a region.

Salary sacrifice is an arrangement where you give up part of your gross pay in exchange for a non-cash benefit — most commonly a pension contribution. Because the deduction happens before your NIable pay is calculated, you save National Insurance on the amount sacrificed as well as income tax. A standard pension deduction reduces take-home pay but does not reduce NI. At 8% NI on the main band, a 5% salary sacrifice contribution saves roughly 8p in NI for every £1 put in, on top of the income tax saving. Tick the salary sacrifice box in this calculator to model the difference for your salary.

Plan 1 covers borrowers who started their undergraduate course before September 2012 in England or Wales, or any Scottish or Northern Irish borrower who took out a loan before 2006. Plan 2 covers English and Welsh borrowers who started from September 2012 through to July 2023. Plan 4 covers Scottish borrowers who started from 2006 onwards. Plan 5 is the newest plan, covering English and Welsh borrowers who started from August 2023. The Postgraduate Loan (PGL) is a separate plan that runs alongside your undergraduate plan — if you have both, both deductions appear on your payslip. Check your Student Loans Company account or a recent payslip if you are unsure which plan applies.

When gross income passes £100,000, the Personal Allowance — worth £12,570 of tax-free income — begins to taper away at £1 for every £2 earned above that threshold. It disappears entirely at £125,140. Across that £25,140 range, every extra pound of income is taxed at the 40% higher rate plus an additional effective 20% from the lost allowance, giving a marginal rate of 60%. This is one of the reasons salary sacrifice into a pension is popular for earners in that band: reducing gross income below £100,000 restores the full allowance. This calculator shows the effective marginal rate in the assumptions box so you can see whether this applies to you.