Income tax calculator
Estimate your UK employee take-home pay after Income Tax, employee National Insurance, pension contributions, and student loan deductions. The calculator is designed for salary and PAYE-style income, with annual, monthly, and weekly result views.
It is a planning tool, not payroll software. Use it to compare scenarios such as salary sacrifice, pension contributions, bonus income, and student loan plan changes.
- Employee PAYE income for England, Wales, or Northern Ireland.
- Standard Category A employee National Insurance.
- Tax code is simplified into an allowance estimate.
- Advanced payroll items like benefits-in-kind and attachment orders are not included.
Your details
Enter your income, tax settings, and optional deductions to estimate take-home pay.
Results
Tax breakdown
| Gross employment income | — |
| Bonus income | — |
| Other taxable income | — |
| Salary sacrifice | — |
| Pension contributions | — |
| Taxable income after allowance | — |
| Income Tax due | — |
| National Insurance due | — |
| Student loan deductions | — |
| Pension impact on take-home | — |
| Net income | — |
Income Tax band breakdown
| Band | Taxed amount | Tax due |
|---|
- Uses simplified annual PAYE-style calculations for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
- Applies a personal allowance estimate from the tax code, with tapering above £100,000 total income.
- Models employee Category A National Insurance and one student loan plan at a time.
- Treats salary sacrifice as reducing taxable pay and NI pay before deductions are applied.
Assumptions
This tool is clearly scoped so the result stays useful rather than pretending to support every payroll edge case.
- Income Tax uses England, Wales, and Northern Ireland bands for the selected tax year.
- Employee National Insurance is modelled using standard Category A employee thresholds.
- Tax code handling is simplified to the leading numeric allowance amount, such as 1257L = £12,570.
- Salary sacrifice is treated as reducing taxable salary before Income Tax and employee NI are worked out.
- Student loan deductions are estimated annually using the selected plan threshold and rate.
- This version does not cover Scotland, benefits-in-kind, directors’ NI, company cars, childcare schemes, or combined undergraduate and postgraduate loan deductions.
Worked example
A simple scenario to sense-check how the calculator behaves.
- Gross salary: £42,000
- Tax year: 2025/26
- Tax code: 1257L
- Pension: 5% of salary
- Salary sacrifice: £0
- Student loan: Plan 2
- Result: the calculator estimates annual deductions, then shows the net figure as annual, monthly, or weekly pay.
How the Calculation Works
This model estimates annual tax first, then converts the result into the pay frequency you want to view.
The calculator starts with your gross employment income and adjusts for items such as pension contributions, salary sacrifice, bonus income, other taxable income and student loan plan. It then applies the selected tax year’s Income Tax bands and employee National Insurance thresholds to estimate deductions.
Because the model annualises the calculation, it is best used for planning and comparing scenarios rather than reproducing payroll to the penny.
Limitations
PAYE is full of payroll details that a clean annual estimate deliberately leaves out.
This tool does not attempt to model every payroll edge case. Benefits-in-kind, directors’ National Insurance, Scottish tax bands, attachment orders and complex tax code adjustments can all change the live result.
Monthly payslips can also look different from an annual estimate because payroll software works cumulatively across the tax year.
What to Do Next
Use the estimate to move from a rough tax number to an actual budgeting decision.
Read Income Tax Basics in the UK, then compare with the National Insurance Calculator and the Take Home Pay Calculator.
If you are self-employed, use the Self-Employed Tax Estimator instead of relying on PAYE-style assumptions.
FAQs
Common questions about UK Income Tax and take-home pay
Does this calculator match my payslip exactly?
No. It is a planning estimate based on annualised rules. Real payroll can differ because of pay frequency rounding, benefits, salary exchange arrangements, tax code adjustments, and employer payroll settings.
What tax code should I use?
Most employees on a standard personal allowance use 1257L. If your code is different, the tool reads the numeric part as an allowance estimate and ignores more complex HMRC adjustments.
What is the difference between pension contributions and salary sacrifice?
In this model, pension contributions reduce take-home pay, while salary sacrifice reduces salary before Income Tax and employee NI are calculated. That usually lowers deductions as well as net pay.
Can I include bonus income?
Yes. Bonus income is added to your gross taxable pay for the year, which can move more income into higher tax bands.
Why does the tool ask for other taxable income?
Other taxable income can affect your personal allowance taper and how much income falls into each tax band. It is not treated as salary for National Insurance in this version.
How are student loan deductions estimated?
The calculator applies the annual repayment threshold and rate for the selected plan. It supports one plan at a time to keep the scope clear and reliable.
Why is Scotland not included here?
Scottish Income Tax bands are different. Rather than mixing systems and risking misleading results, this calculator is scoped to England, Wales, and Northern Ireland only.