Comparing a job offer / checking a payslip?
Work out take-home after income tax, National Insurance, student loan and pension for the 2026/27 tax year. England, Wales and Northern Ireland by default; Scotland uses its own bands.
Updated for the 2026/27 tax year · Checked
Estimated take-home, 2026/27
Where each £ of gross pay goes
| Gross used | — |
|---|---|
| Personal allowance in this run | — |
Income tax slices
Method: annual PAYE-style stack. Income tax on pay after personal allowance and any modelled pension relief. Employee Class 1 NI at 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above, modelled on the year rather than each pay period. Student loan as a percentage of earnings above the plan threshold.
Payslip different? Emergency codes, pay-period NI and loans are explained below the calculator.
How this is calculated: annual PAYE, the personal allowance taper, Scottish bands, National Insurance, student loan thresholds and salary sacrifice, with HMRC and Scottish Government sources.
Illustrative only — not a tax calculation you can file, not personalised advice, not an offer of credit. Blindness, marriage allowance, tax codes other than a standard 1257L, the High Income Child Benefit Charge, savings and dividends are omitted.
The calculator shows a whole tax year on a standard 1257L code. Real payroll works pay period by pay period. Sources: GOV.UK emergency tax codes, what your tax code means, HMRC rates and thresholds 2026 to 2027 and repaying your student loan (checked 12 November 2026).
A code ending in W1 or M1 (or X, or marked NONCUM on the payslip) is an emergency code: tax is worked out on that week’s or month’s pay alone, as if you were paid that amount all year. 0T gives no tax-free allowance at all, so on a £3,000 month you would pay about £209.50 more income tax than on 1257L. BR taxes everything from that job at the 20% basic rate and is usually used for a second job. In Scotland the same codes start with S, for example S1257L M1. This calculator always assumes a standard cumulative 1257L code. Emergency codes are usually corrected within about 35 days once HMRC has your details, and any overpaid tax comes back through payroll or as a refund.
On a normal cumulative code, each payslip looks at your pay and tax-free allowance for the whole tax year so far, so a month of overpaid or underpaid tax is corrected on the next payslip. On a week 1 or month 1 basis, each pay period is taxed on its own, with no catching up, so an error stays until your code changes or the tax year ends. Over a full year at steady pay the two usually give the same total, which is what this annual calculator shows.
Employee National Insurance is worked out on each pay period, not on the year. For monthly pay, 8% applies between £1,048 and £4,189 in that month and 2% above £4,189. On £35,000 a year with a £5,000 bonus paid in one month, NI is about £149 in a normal month and about £326 in the bonus month, because most of the bonus falls above the monthly upper limit and is charged at 2%. That is roughly £1,970 for the year, against £2,194.40 in this calculator’s annual model. See how a bonus is taxed.
Yes. Your employer compares each payslip with the weekly or monthly threshold, for example £2,448.75 a month for Plan 2, and rounds the deduction down to whole pounds. A month with a bonus or overtime can go over the threshold even if your yearly pay does not: on £24,000 a year with a £2,000 bonus in one month, that month has about £139 of Plan 2 deducted, although the annual model shows £0. You can ask the Student Loans Company for a refund if your income for the year ends up below the yearly threshold. For pay that changes week to week, see hourly pay to take-home.
EXAMPLE WORKED CASE — £35,000 IN ENGLAND
£35,000 · no pension · no student loan · rest of UK
Taxable pay after the £12,570 allowance is £22,430. Basic-rate tax is 20% of that (£4,486). Employee NI on the slice between £12,570 and £35,000 is 8% (£1,794.40). Take-home is £28,719.60 a year, £2,393.30 a month.
Published by Rodway Labs — not a tax adviserTax bands, National Insurance, student loan and how your pension is taken often move the number more than the offer letter suggests. Run the numbers before you compare two jobs.
Calculate take-homeNot a tax adviser, accountant or FCA-authorised firm. We do not file returns or recommend products.
Outputs are scenarios with stated 2026/27 assumptions. Check your P60, payslip and HMRC Personal Tax Account.
Income tax: England, Wales & NI share the main rates. Scotland uses separate bands on non-savings, non-dividend income.
Each one uses worked figures for 2026/27 from the same engine as the calculator above.
Every salary from £15,000 to £150,000, by year, month and week.
Every 2026/27 rate from 4% to 37%, with fuel benefit.
What employer-paid health cover costs you in tax.
Tax on an employer loan at the 3.75% official rate.
How much of a rise reaches your account.
Why two 5% pensions leave different take-home.
Same salary, different income tax.
What changes on every pound above it.
Where the personal allowance starts to taper.
The calculator models a whole tax year on a standard 1257L tax code. Your payslip is worked out pay period by pay period, so a different or emergency tax code, a bonus month, overtime, benefits in kind or a different pension arrangement will move the figure. National Insurance and student loan repayments are also assessed each pay period rather than across the year. If the two disagree, trust the payslip and check your tax code in your HMRC personal tax account.
The salary you give up is paid into your pension by your employer as an employer contribution, so the pension receives the whole sacrificed amount with no income tax or National Insurance taken off first. Your cash salary is lower, which can reduce things worked out from salary, such as some life cover, mortgage affordability checks and statutory pay. The salary sacrifice guide compares it with a net pay pension.
No. The calculation runs in your browser using the published js/tax.js engine. Nothing you enter is sent to Rodway Labs or stored by the site.
The 2026/27 tax year, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Rates and thresholds are checked against HMRC and Scottish Government sources, listed on the methodology page.
