Take-Home Pay Calculator
Enter your gross salary to see take-home pay after income tax, National Insurance, pension and student loans, for England, Wales, NI or Scotland.
Common questions
How is take-home pay calculated?
Start with your gross salary, take off any salary-sacrifice pension, then the Personal Allowance of £12,570 is tax-free. Income above that is taxed in bands (20%, 40%, 45%). NI is 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above.
What is the 60% tax trap?
Between £100,000 and £125,140 your Personal Allowance is withdrawn by £1 for every £2 earned, an effective marginal rate near 60%. Salary sacrifice into a pension is the usual way to dodge it.
Does this include Scottish rates?
Yes. Pick Scotland to use the six Scottish income tax bands, 19% Starter through 48% Top rate. NI rates are the same across the UK.
How UK take-home pay is worked out
On a £35,000 UK salary you keep about £28,720 a year after income tax and National Insurance, at 2026/27 HMRC rates.
By Mike, the developer behind ukmoneycalc. Every figure here is recomputed in code from the 2026/27 HMRC bands, not typed by hand, and re-checked each week against gov.uk. The take-home calculation runs the real progressive bands and the Personal Allowance taper, so the £100,000 trap and the 60% effective band show up instead of a flat headline rate.
Your gross salary drops first by any salary-sacrifice pension. Then the Personal Allowance of £12,570 comes off tax-free. Income above that is taxed in bands, 20%, 40% and 45% for England, Wales and NI. National Insurance is 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above. Student loans take 9% (6% postgraduate) of income over your plan threshold.
Because the Personal Allowance and the National Insurance primary threshold are fixed slabs rather than proportions, they do not shrink when your hours do, so part-time pay keeps a larger share of its gross than the same salary does full time. The pro rata salary calculator works that out for a given number of days a week, and gives the point below which no income tax or National Insurance is due at all.
The £100,000 trap
Between £100,000 and £125,140 your Personal Allowance is withdrawn, £1 for every £2 earned, creating an effective marginal rate near 60%. Salary sacrifice, pension contributions or Gift Aid that cut your adjusted net income below £100,000 win the allowance back.
2026/27 income tax bands
| Band | England / Wales / NI | Scotland |
|---|---|---|
| First slice over allowance | 20% | 19% (Starter) |
| Basic | 20% | 20% |
| Intermediate | n/a | 21% |
| Higher | 40% | 42% |
| Advanced | n/a | 45% |
| Above £125,140 | 45% | 48% (Top) |