Pension tax calculator for the UK
Enter what you want to take from your pension pot and see the Income Tax, the 25% tax-free slice and what actually reaches your bank, for 2026/27.
Nothing here models how long a pot lasts. This answers one question, which is what HMRC takes from a payment.
Tax on a pension withdrawal, size by size
Every row takes 25% tax-free first, exactly as the calculator does by default. So a figure you read here is the figure you get if you type the same amount above.
The salary column stacks the withdrawal on a stated £30,000 salary, to show what band-stacking costs.
| Taken from the pot | Taxable part | Tax, no other income | Effective | Tax on top of £30,000 | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £3,750 | £0 | 0.0% | £750 | 15.0% |
| £10,000 | £7,500 | £0 | 0.0% | £1,500 | 15.0% |
| £20,000 | £15,000 | £486 | 2.4% | £3,000 | 15.0% |
| £30,000 | £22,500 | £1,986 | 6.6% | £4,946 | 16.5% |
| £40,000 | £30,000 | £3,486 | 8.7% | £7,946 | 19.9% |
| £55,000 | £41,250 | £5,736 | 10.4% | £12,446 | 22.6% |
| £67,000 | £50,250 | £7,536 | 11.2% | £16,046 | 23.9% |
| £80,000 | £60,000 | £11,432 | 14.3% | £19,946 | 24.9% |
| £100,000 | £75,000 | £17,432 | 17.4% | £26,946 | 26.9% |
| £133,000 | £99,750 | £27,332 | 20.6% | £41,105 | 30.9% |
Bands and the Personal Allowance from gov.uk income tax rates. The 25% tax-free share and its £268,275 cap from gov.uk tax-free lump sum.
What the same withdrawal costs a Scottish taxpayer
Income Tax on pension income is devolved, so a Scottish taxpayer gets a different bill on the identical withdrawal. The number below is signed. A minus means Scotland pays less than the rest of the UK, a plus means Scotland pays more.
| Taken from the pot | Gap, no other income | Gap on top of £30,000 |
|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £0 | +£37 |
| £10,000 | £0 | +£75 |
| £20,000 | −£24 | +£431 |
| £30,000 | −£40 | +£1,635 |
| £40,000 | −£35 | +£1,785 |
| £55,000 | +£78 | +£2,010 |
| £67,000 | +£1,551 | +£2,347 |
| £80,000 | +£1,750 | +£2,835 |
| £100,000 | +£2,050 | +£3,710 |
| £133,000 | +£3,288 | +£5,359 |
The gap changes sign between £40,000 and £55,000 taken from the pot. Below that, the 19% starter rate leaves a Scottish taxpayer paying £35 less. Above it, the 21% and 42% bands take over and the same withdrawal costs £78 more.
Scottish rates and bands from gov.uk Scottish income tax. The same page states that Scottish taxpayers pay the rest-of-UK rates on dividends and savings interest, so this gap applies to the pension payment itself. Welsh rates are set by the Welsh Government and for 2026/27 match the England and Northern Ireland bands exactly, per gov.uk Welsh income tax.
The first payment is usually taxed far too heavily
Where a payment is the first and only one from the pension, gov.uk guidance for pension payers tells them to use the emergency tax code on a week 1 or month 1 basis.
That code hands out one twelfth of the Personal Allowance and one twelfth of every band, as though the same amount were going to arrive every month for a year. It won't, so the deduction comes out far too big.
HMRC publishes the pro rata split in its Taxable Pay Tables for 2026 to 2027. The weekly table runs the basic rate limit from £725 at week 1 up to £37,700 at week 52.
| Taken from the pot | Month one deduction | True annual tax | Left to reclaim |
|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £541 | £0 | £541 |
| £10,000 | £1,953 | £0 | £1,953 |
| £20,000 | £5,129 | £486 | £4,643 |
| £30,000 | £8,504 | £1,986 | £6,518 |
| £40,000 | £11,879 | £3,486 | £8,393 |
| £55,000 | £16,941 | £5,736 | £11,205 |
| £67,000 | £20,991 | £7,536 | £13,455 |
| £80,000 | £25,379 | £11,432 | £13,947 |
| £100,000 | £32,129 | £17,432 | £14,697 |
| £133,000 | £43,266 | £27,332 | £15,934 |
You get the difference back. If you've emptied only part of the pot and taken no regular income, the form is P55. Where the pot is fully withdrawn the route is P53Z or P50Z instead.
Doing nothing works too, because HMRC settles it after the tax year ends. But that can mean waiting months for money that's already yours.
Tax-free cash and where the cap bites
You can usually take a quarter of a pension pot tax free, and that slice does not use up your Personal Allowance. The cap is £268,275 across all your pensions, so on a large pot the tax-free share stops growing while the taxable balance keeps climbing.
| Pot taken in full | Tax-free cash | Taxable balance |
|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | £12,500 | £37,500 |
| £100,000 | £25,000 | £75,000 |
| £500,000 | £125,000 | £375,000 |
| £1,100,000 (capped) | £268,275 | £831,725 |
Source gov.uk tax-free lump sum.
Two costs that are easy to miss
Taking taxable money flexibly cuts what you can pay back in. From the day after first flexible access the money purchase annual allowance drops to £10,000 a year of defined contribution saving, per gov.uk guidance on flexibly accessed pensions.
That's down from the £60,000 annual allowance set out on gov.uk annual allowance. Treat it as a cost of the withdrawal, not a reason for or against one.
The second is the Personal Allowance taper. Once your total income for the year passes £100,000 the allowance falls by £1 for every £2, and it's gone by £125,140, per gov.uk income tax rates.
A withdrawal that pushes you through that line is taxed at roughly 60% on the slice inside it. Splitting the money across two tax years is the usual way round it.
Common questions
How much tax will I pay on a £20,000 pension withdrawal?
If it's your only income this year, £486. A quarter of the money, £5,000, comes out tax free first. The remaining £15,000 sits against your Personal Allowance of £12,570, so only the part above that gets taxed, and you keep £19,514. Add a salary and the bill rises, because the withdrawal stacks on top of what you already earn.
Why was my first pension payment taxed so heavily?
Because the pension provider had to use an emergency code on a month 1 basis, which pretends the same payment will arrive every month for a year. On that £20,000 withdrawal it takes £5,129 instead of £486. You haven't lost the difference. It's just sitting with HMRC until you claim it.
How do I get the overpaid tax back?
Use form P55 if you've taken money from the pot but not emptied it and you're taking nothing else this year. If you emptied the pot, it's P53Z or P50Z instead. You can also wait and let HMRC reconcile it after the tax year ends, though that means waiting months for £4,643 that's already yours.
Do Scottish taxpayers pay more on a pension withdrawal?
It depends on the size. Income Tax on pension income is devolved, and the 19% starter rate means a smaller withdrawal costs a Scottish taxpayer slightly less. On £20,000 the Scottish bill is £462. The picture flips once the 21% and 42% bands bite, and the table above shows where.
How this page works out the tax
Take £20,000 from a UK pension with no other income and you pay £486 in Income Tax for 2026/27, because a quarter comes out tax free first, leaving £19,514.
By Mike, the developer behind ukmoneycalc. Every figure on this page is recomputed in code from the 2026/27 HMRC bands, not typed by hand, and re-checked each week against gov.uk. The tables and the calculator run the same function, so they cannot disagree with each other.
The order matters. A quarter of the money comes out tax free first, capped at £268,275. What's left is added on top of your other income for the year, the Personal Allowance of £12,570 is applied, and the remainder runs through the real progressive bands for your country.
Because the bands are applied properly rather than as a flat headline rate, the £100,000 taper and the Scottish divergence both show up in the answer instead of being averaged away.
Figures are estimates for a single tax year and are not regulated financial advice. This page shows what a withdrawal costs in tax. It does not tell you whether to take one.