UK Salary Calculator 2026/27

Start by entering your annual gross salary — your total pay before deductions. The calculator estimates net take-home pay after income tax, National Insurance, workplace pension and student loan repayments for your selected options. Results are annual estimates: payroll rounding, your tax code, irregular earnings and pay-period rules can make an individual payslip differ. Read our calculation methodology and assumptions before comparing the estimate with your payslip.

Income tax is calculated using the UK's progressive band system. The first £12,570 of your salary is covered by the Personal Allowance and is completely tax-free. Earnings between £12,571 and £50,270 are taxed at the basic rate of 20%. Income from £50,271 to £125,140 falls into the higher rate band at 40%, and anything above £125,140 is taxed at the additional rate of 45%. If you earn more than £100,000, your Personal Allowance tapers by £1 for every £2 above the threshold until it disappears entirely at £125,140.

National Insurance is handled separately from income tax but follows a similar threshold structure. For 2026/27 the primary threshold is £12,570 — you pay nothing on earnings below that. Between the primary threshold and the upper earnings limit of £50,270 you pay 8%, and 2% on everything above. The calculator shows this split in the NI breakdown table so you can see exactly how much NI you owe at each rate.

If you contribute to a workplace pension, enter your contribution as a percentage or a fixed pound amount. Under auto-enrolment rules, most employees contribute at least 5% of qualifying earnings, with employers adding a minimum of 3%. The calculator deducts your pension contribution before calculating tax, which mirrors how salary sacrifice schemes work in practice. This reduces your taxable income and therefore your tax and NI bill — one reason salary sacrifice pensions are so popular.

Student loan repayments are the final deduction. Select your plan from the dropdown and the calculator applies the correct threshold and repayment rate. Plan 1 charges 9% on income above £26,900, Plan 2 charges 9% above £29,385, Plan 4 charges 9% above £33,795, Plan 5 charges 9% above £25,000, and Postgraduate loans charge 6% above £21,000. Once every deduction is applied, the remaining figure is your take-home pay. Toggle between yearly, monthly and weekly views to see the number that matters most to your budgeting.

Gross vs net pay. Your gross salary is the headline figure in your contract — the total amount your employer pays you before deductions. Your net pay (also called take-home pay) is what actually lands in your bank account after income tax, National Insurance, pension and any student loan repayments have been subtracted. Use our take-home pay calculator to see the difference instantly.

Tax codes explained. Your tax code tells your employer how much tax-free income you are entitled to. The standard code for 2026/27 is 1257L, which gives you the full £12,570 Personal Allowance. If HMRC adjusts your code — for example because you receive a company benefit or owe tax from a previous year — your take-home pay will change. You can check your code on your payslip or your HMRC personal tax account. For a deeper look at how income tax is calculated, try our income tax calculator.

Pension contributions and opting out. Under auto-enrolment, most employees are automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. The minimum total contribution is 8% of qualifying earnings — 5% from you and 3% from your employer. You can opt out, but you will lose the employer contribution. Many employers offer salary sacrifice pension schemes where your contribution is taken from your gross pay before tax and NI, reducing your tax bill. Our pension calculator projects how your pot could grow over time, and the salary sacrifice calculator shows exactly how much you save in tax by sacrificing salary into your pension.

Salary sacrifice benefits. Beyond pensions, salary sacrifice can be used for cycle-to-work schemes, electric car leases, childcare vouchers and more. Each scheme reduces your gross pay before tax and NI are calculated, which means your taxable income falls. The trade-off is that your contractual salary is lower, which can affect mortgage applications and statutory pay. The key benefit is the combined income tax and NI saving, which can be significant for higher rate taxpayers.

Pay periods: monthly vs weekly. Most salaried employees in the UK are paid monthly, but some roles — particularly in retail, hospitality and trades — pay weekly. Your annual tax and NI liability is the same regardless of pay frequency, but your payslip deductions are spread differently. This calculator lets you toggle between yearly, monthly and weekly views. To understand exactly what each line on your payslip means, use our payslip breakdown tool.

Overtime, bonuses and commission. Any additional pay on top of your base salary — overtime, bonuses, commission — is taxed in the same way as regular income. It is added to your earnings for that pay period and taxed at your marginal rate. This means a bonus can push you into a higher tax band for that month, although your overall annual liability is based on total yearly earnings. A large one-off bonus can result in a surprisingly high tax deduction on a single payslip. Use our bonus tax calculator to see the impact, and check your National Insurance calculator for the NI cost on extra earnings.