Calculate My Wage
Enter your salary and see exactly what lands in your account — and what Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and Student Loan take on the way, with the 2026/27 rate behind every line.
£2,00334
£24,040.08 a year
19.9%
goes in tax, National Insurance and loans
28.0%
disappears — you keep 72%
Open any line to see exactly how it was worked out.
Everyone starts with the same Personal Allowance.
Only the slice inside each band is charged at that band's rate.
National Insurance is charged on each pay period on its own, so a month containing a bonus is charged differently from an ordinary month. That is why the year does not divide evenly.
Every rate on this page is published by HMRC. Tax year 2026/27 · rule set 2026.27-draft.1.
All content on this site is for general information and illustrative purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice, and should not be relied upon as such. Figures and examples shown are estimates and may not reflect your individual circumstances. You should seek advice from a suitably qualified professional before making any financial decisions.
An estimate based on the figures entered, not personal financial advice.
Reference · tax year 2026/27
Your employer runs your pay through PAYE in a fixed order. Anything you sacrifice comes off your gross pay first. What is left is measured against your Personal Allowance, then Income Tax and National Insurance are worked out on the remainder, and any Student Loan is taken last. The calculator above follows the same order, which is why its figures agree with a payslip rather than a rule of thumb.
Two numbers matter and people usually only know one of them. Your effective rate is what the whole year costs you. Your marginal rate is what your next pound costs — and between £100,000 and the point your Personal Allowance runs out, that marginal rate is far higher than any headline band, because the allowance is withdrawn at the same time as tax is charged.
Applied to taxable income, meaning what is left after the £12,570 Personal Allowance. On the full standard allowance, higher-rate tax starts at £50,270 of gross pay.
| Band | Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Basic rate | £0 to £37,700 | 20% |
| Higher rate | £37,700 to £125,140 | 40% |
| Additional rate | Over £125,140 | 45% |
Scottish taxpayers pay Scottish rates on earnings. National Insurance and Student Loan rules are the same across the UK.
| Band | Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Starter rate | £0 to £3,967 | 19% |
| Basic rate | £3,967 to £16,956 | 20% |
| Intermediate rate | £16,956 to £31,092 | 21% |
| Higher rate | £31,092 to £62,430 | 42% |
| Advanced rate | £62,430 to £125,140 | 45% |
| Top rate | Over £125,140 | 48% |
Class 1 National Insurance is charged on each pay period rather than on the year as a whole, so an uneven year can produce a different total from an even one.
| Earnings | Threshold | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Below the Primary Threshold | Up to £1,048 a month | 0% |
| Main rate | £1,048 to £4,189 a month | 8% |
| Above the Upper Earnings Limit | Over £4,189 a month | 2% |
| Employer secondary rate | Over £417 a month | 15% |
Repayments are a percentage of income above the plan threshold, not of your whole salary, and are rounded down to whole pounds each pay period.
| Plan | Threshold | Repayment |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | Over £26,900 a year | 9% of the excess |
| Plan 2 | Over £29,385 a year | 9% of the excess |
| Plan 4 | Over £33,795 a year | 9% of the excess |
| Plan 5 | Over £25,000 a year | 9% of the excess |
| Postgraduate Loan | Over £21,000 a year | 6% of the excess |
Worked out on the simplest arrangement: England, Wales or Northern Ireland, National Insurance category A, paid monthly, with no pension contribution and no Student Loan. Add any of those in the calculator above and the figures change — usually by more than people expect.
| Gross salary | Take-home monthly | Take-home a year | Deducted |
|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £1,493.34 | £17,920.12 | 10.4% |
| £25,000 | £1,793.34 | £21,520.16 | 13.9% |
| £30,000 | £2,093.34 | £25,120.08 | 16.3% |
| £35,000 | £2,393.34 | £28,720.12 | 17.9% |
| £40,000 | £2,693.34 | £32,320.16 | 19.2% |
| £45,000 | £2,993.34 | £35,920.08 | 20.2% |
| £50,000 | £3,293.34 | £39,520.12 | 20.9% |
| £60,000 | £3,779.83 | £45,358.00 | 24.4% |
| £75,000 | £4,504.83 | £54,058.00 | 27.9% |
| £100,000 | £5,713.17 | £68,558.08 | 31.4% |
On the basis in the table above, £30,000 leaves £2,093.34 a month, or £25,120.08 a year, with 16.3% going in Income Tax and National Insurance. Your own figure will differ: where you pay tax, what you put into a pension and how, whether you are repaying a Student Loan, and your National Insurance category all change it. That is why the calculator above shows every deduction separately instead of one number.
They are three ways of paying the same money into the same pension, and they do not cost the same. Under salary sacrifice your gross pay is reduced before both Income Tax and National Insurance, so you save both. Under a net pay arrangement the contribution comes out before tax but after National Insurance, so you save tax only. Under relief at source it comes out of your take-home pay and your provider adds basic-rate relief, with any higher-rate relief usually claimed back from HMRC yourself. The calculator prices all three side by side on your own figures.
Because several rules bite at once. Above £100,000 the Personal Allowance is withdrawn by £1 for every £2 of income, which stacks on top of higher-rate tax. Child Benefit is clawed back through the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Some childcare support stops entirely at a threshold rather than tapering. The calculator measures your marginal rate by running the whole calculation again with one more pound of pay, so the figure it shows is the real one for your circumstances, not a quoted band.
Yes, for Income Tax. Scotland sets its own bands and rates on earned income, shown in the table above. National Insurance, Student Loan repayments and the Personal Allowance are set UK-wide, so two people on the same salary either side of the border differ only by the Income Tax slice.
No. Every figure is calculated on request and nothing is written to a database or a log. Sharing a link puts your inputs in the URL you copy, so share it only with people you are happy to show it to.
Every rate on this page and in the statement above is taken from HMRC's published tables for the tax year you select, and each source is linked in the statement. The pension Annual Allowance modelled is £60,000 and the National Living Wage used for the minimum-wage check is £12.71 an hour. Figures are estimates for the arrangement you describe and are not personal financial advice.