Updated to fiscal year 2026-27
UK Take-Home Salary / PAYE Calculator
Enter your gross salary to see your monthly and annual take-home pay after income tax and National Insurance.
- Take-home (79.8%)
- Income tax (14.4%)
- National Insurance (5.8%)
You keep about 79.8p in every pound earned after income tax and National Insurance.
| Gross annual salary | £45,000 |
|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | |
| £12,570 at 0% | |
| Basic Rate | |
| £32,430 at 20% | −£6,486 |
| Income tax | −£6,486 |
| National Insurance | −£2,593 |
| Take-home annual | £35,921 |
Information
PAYE (Pay As You Earn) is the UK's mechanism for collecting income tax and National Insurance directly from your salary before it reaches your bank account. Your employer calculates your tax and NI each pay period using your tax code and the legislative bands for the current tax year, deducts both, and pays the net amount as your take-home.
How is take-home calculated? Take-home is gross salary minus income tax minus Class-1 employee National Insurance. Income tax is computed band-by-band against the HMRC bands after subtracting the personal allowance (£12,570 in 2026/27). National Insurance applies above the primary threshold and follows its own rate schedule, with a higher main-rate band tapering down to a smaller upper-rate band above the upper earnings limit.
What is the personal allowance taper? For income above £100,000 you lose £1 of personal allowance for every £2 earned over the threshold, until the allowance reaches zero around £125,140. Because the lost allowance then gets taxed at the 40% higher rate, the effective marginal tax rate in this £25,000 window climbs to roughly 60%, the so-called "60% trap". The calculator applies this taper automatically.
Does Scotland have different income tax bands? Since 2017 Scotland sets its own income-tax bands and rates separately from the rest of the UK. There are six bands (Starter, Basic, Intermediate, Higher, Advanced, Top) instead of three, and the higher-rate threshold is lower. National Insurance rates are uniform across the UK. Tick "Resident in Scotland" above to switch the calculator between the two band sets.
What's not in this calculator? This page handles the headline gross→take-home calculation. It does not model salary sacrifice, employer pension contributions, student-loan repayments, or carried-forward tax adjustments; those interact with multi-year planning and are best simulated alongside the rest of your financial picture in the full planner, which can import your current inputs as a starting scenario.
FAQ
- Does this include pension contributions or student-loan repayments?
Not in this calculator. The take-home figure here is your gross salary minus income tax and Class-1 employee National Insurance. To model pension salary sacrifice, employer contributions, and student-loan repayments alongside this, use the full planner; the "Open full planner" button below imports your inputs as a starting scenario.
- Why are my Scottish income tax bands different?
Since 2017, Scotland sets its own income-tax bands and rates separately from the rest of the UK. Tick the Scotland option above to apply the Scottish bands (Starter, Basic, Intermediate, Higher, Advanced, Top) instead of the rUK bands (Basic, Higher, Additional). National Insurance rates are the same across the UK.
- What's the personal allowance taper above £100,000?
For income above the taper threshold (£100,000 in 2026/27), you lose £1 of personal allowance for every £2 earned over the threshold, until the allowance reaches zero (around £125,140). The calculator applies this taper automatically; the effective tax rate climbs sharply across this band, which is why earnings in the £100k to £125k bracket are sometimes called the "60% trap".
Recent changes
-
Class 1 employee National Insurance primary rate cut from 10% to 8%, the second of two cuts within twelve months (the first was 12% to 10% on 6 January 2024). Scotland added a new 'Advanced' rate band at 45% covering £75,001 to £125,140 and raised the Top rate from 47% to 48%.
-
Mid-year Class 1 employee National Insurance primary rate cut: 12% to 10%, the first of two consecutive cuts. The pre-cut 12% rate had been in place since April 2011, so the reduction was substantial in absolute terms; it sat on top of frozen income-tax thresholds, which continued to pull more of every pay packet into higher bands.
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Personal allowance frozen at £12,570 and the higher-rate threshold frozen at £50,270. Originally legislated to last until April 2026, the freeze was extended in the Autumn Budget 2024 to April 2028. With wage inflation running ahead of those thresholds, more taxpayers cross into higher bands each year: the so-called 'fiscal drag' effect.
Sources
Disclaimer
Not financial advice. Figures are computed from the legislative tables published by HMRC and do not account for personal circumstances such as marriage allowance, blind person's allowance, or non-Class-1 NI categories. Consult a qualified adviser for personal financial decisions.
