Salary Calculator
See what lands in your bank account. Enter your pay for 2026/27 and this works out Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan deductions, then shows your take-home pay yearly, monthly and weekly.
Using 2026/27 UK tax rates
Before any deductions.
Scotland has its own Income Tax bands.
Advanced options
Taxed along with the rest of the year's pay.
Repaid at 6% above £21,000.00.
Take-home pay a year (2026/27)
£28,719.60
- Gross pay
- £35,000.00
- Personal Allowance
- £12,570.00
- Income Tax
- £4,486.00
- National Insurance
- £1,794.40
- Take-home a year
- £28,719.60
- Take-home a month
- £2,393.30
- Take-home a week
- £552.30
- Total deductions
- £6,280.40 (17.94%)
- Marginal Income Tax rate
- 20%
You keep about £720.00 of the next £1,000 of gross pay at this level.
Why is my payslip slightly different?
PAYE works one pay period at a time and reacts to your tax code, so a mid-year start, a bonus month or a code change will move an individual payslip even when the annual totals agree. Check your code against your latest HMRC notice if the gap is large.
What this means
The headline figure is your take-home pay: what remains once every deduction has been taken. The monthly figure assumes twelve equal payments and the weekly figure assumes 52 weeks, so a real payslip can vary by a few pounds because payroll works period by period rather than over the whole year.
Your effective tax rate is the tax you pay across all your earnings. Your marginal rate is the rate on your next pound. The two are rarely the same, which is why a pay rise never feels as large as the percentage suggests.
Quick answers
- How much of my salary do I actually take home?
On a £30,000.00 salary in England you keep £25,119.60 a year, about £2,093.30 a month, after £3,486.00 Income Tax and £1,394.40 National Insurance.
- What is deducted from my pay?
Income Tax, employee National Insurance, and where they apply a workplace pension contribution and student or postgraduate loan repayments. Employer National Insurance is paid by your employer on top and does not come out of your pay.
- What is the tax-free Personal Allowance for 2026/27?
£12,570.00. It falls by £1 for every £2 you earn above £100,000.00 and reaches zero at £125,140.00.
- Is take-home pay different in Scotland?
Yes for Income Tax, no for National Insurance. The same £50,000.00 salary leaves £39,519.60 in England and £38,023.55 in Scotland.
- Does a pension contribution reduce my tax?
Yes. Salary sacrifice cuts both Income Tax and National Insurance because your gross pay is reduced. A net pay arrangement cuts Income Tax only. Relief at source leaves your pay untouched and the provider adds basic-rate relief to the pot.
Check the deductions on your payslip against this
Payslip differences usually come down to the tax code, a mid-year start or a bonus taxed in a single period rather than spread across the year.
If your code looks wrong, HMRC issues the code and your employer applies it, so corrections start with your personal tax account.
You may also find useful
- Income Tax CalculatorIncome Tax on your total income, band by band, including the allowance taper.
- Employee Cost & Employer NI CalculatorThe full annual cost of hiring, including employer National Insurance and pension.
- Day Rate to Salary CalculatorTurn a contract day rate into an approximate annual salary equivalent.
- Salary vs Dividend CalculatorCompare how much you keep from different salary and dividend combinations.
How we calculated it
For 2026/27 the calculation runs in this order:
- Pay is converted to an annual figure, adding any bonus.
- Any pension contribution is applied using the method you chose, which decides whether it reduces pay for Income Tax, for National Insurance, or for neither.
- The Personal Allowance of £12,570.00 is applied and tapered above £100,000.00.
- Income Tax is charged across the bands for your part of the UK, using Scottish rates where you selected Scotland.
- Employee National Insurance is charged at 8% between £12,570.00 and £50,270.00, then 2% above that.
- Student and postgraduate loan repayments are taken on earnings above the relevant threshold and rounded down to whole pounds.
Assumptions
- One full tax year on a cumulative PAYE basis, 2026/27.
- A standard tax code with no adjustments, underpayments or benefits in kind.
- Category A National Insurance, so no reduced or deferred rates.
- No savings, dividend, rental or self-employed income.
- No Blind Person's Allowance, Marriage Allowance or Child Benefit charge.
How this calculator works
Pay is taxed in slices. The first slice is covered by the Personal Allowance and taxed at nothing. Each slice after that is taxed at its own rate, so only the pay inside a band is taxed at that band's rate. National Insurance works the same way but with different thresholds and its own rates.
If you are weighing up a contract instead of a job, the day rate to salary calculator converts a daily rate to a salary equivalent. Employers costing a role should use the employee cost calculator, which adds employer National Insurance and pension on top of the salary.
Worked examples
£30,000.00 salary in England
Income Tax of £3,486.00 and National Insurance of £1,394.40 leave £25,119.60 a year, or £2,093.30 a month. That is 83.73% of gross pay.
£50,000.00 salary, England compared with Scotland
In England the take-home is £39,519.60. In Scotland the same salary leaves £38,023.55, a difference of £1,496.05 a year, because Scottish Income Tax uses extra bands and different thresholds.
£120,000.00 salary and the allowance taper
Above £100,000.00 the Personal Allowance shrinks. Here it is down to £2,570.00, Income Tax is £39,675.00 and take-home pay is £75,914.40. Inside that band each extra £100 of pay is taxed at an effective 60%, which is why pension contributions are often used in this range.
Key terms explained
- Take-home pay
Gross pay minus Income Tax, National Insurance and any pension or loan deductions. Sometimes called net pay, and the figure that actually reaches your bank account.
- Salary sacrifice
You give up part of your contractual pay and your employer pays it into your pension instead. Because the pay never exists, it escapes both Income Tax and National Insurance, which makes it the most efficient of the three pension methods here.
- Marginal rate
The tax rate on your next pound of pay rather than the average across everything you earn. Useful when deciding whether overtime, a bonus or a pay rise is worth taking in cash.
Common mistakes
Assuming the whole salary is taxed at your top rate
Moving into the higher-rate band does not retax your earlier pay. Only the pay above the threshold is taxed at 40%, which is why the effective rate stays well below the band rate.
Expecting the monthly figure to match a payslip exactly
Payroll calculates each pay period as it happens. Irregular bonuses, mid-year starts and tax code changes all move the monthly number even when the annual total is right.
Counting employer National Insurance as a deduction
Employer National Insurance is an employer cost paid alongside your salary. It never appears as a deduction from your pay.
Forgetting student loan repayments start on gross earnings
Repayments are 9% of earnings above your plan threshold, not 9% of your whole salary, and they are taken whatever your Income Tax position is.
Common questions
How much take-home pay is a £30,000 salary in 2026/27?
About £25,119.60 a year, roughly £2,093.30 a month in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, after £3,486.00 Income Tax and £1,394.40 National Insurance.
How much take-home pay is a £50,000 salary?
About £39,519.60 a year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and about £38,023.55 in Scotland, before any pension or student loan deductions.
How do I work out the salary I need for a certain take-home?
Switch the calculator to the target take-home mode and enter the annual amount you want to keep. It searches for the gross salary that produces that net figure using the same rules as the forward calculation.
At what salary do student loan repayments start?
Plan 1 at £26,900.00, Plan 2 at £29,385.00, Plan 4 (Scotland) at £33,795.00, Plan 5 at £25,000.00. Repayments are 9% of earnings above the threshold, and a Postgraduate Loan adds 6% above £21,000.00.
Which pension method leaves me with the most pay?
Salary sacrifice, because the sacrificed pay avoids both Income Tax and National Insurance. A net pay arrangement saves Income Tax only, and relief at source takes 80% of the contribution from your pay with the provider reclaiming the rest.
How is a bonus taxed?
A bonus is ordinary earnings, so it is taxed at your marginal rate once added to your salary. Payroll may over-deduct in the bonus month and correct it later, but the annual position is what this calculator shows.
Why does pay between £100,000 and £125,140 feel so heavily taxed?
The Personal Allowance falls by £1 for every £2 earned in that range, so each extra £1 is taxed at 40% and also removes 50p of tax-free allowance, giving an effective 60% rate.
Does this calculator store my salary?
No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing you enter is sent to a server or saved.
Sources
Last reviewed: 8 September 2026 · Statutory rates: 2026/27. This calculator is information only and is not tax, accounting or financial advice.