UK Income Tax Calculator

The formula

• Personal allowance = £12,570, reduced by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000 (fully tapered to £0 at £125,140)
• Taxable income = gross income − personal allowance
• England, Wales & Northern Ireland: 20% on £12,571, £50,270, 40% on £50,271, £125,140, 45% above £125,140
• Scotland: 19% to £16,537, 20% to £29,526, 21% to £43,662, 42% to £75,000, 45% to £125,140, 48% above (applied to taxable income)
• Income tax = each slice of taxable income × its band rate, summed
• Take-home = gross income − income tax (National Insurance excluded); effective rate = income tax ÷ gross income

A worked example

A £45,000 salary in England for 2026/27: the £12,570 personal allowance leaves £32,430 taxable, all inside the 20% basic band, so income tax is £6,486 and take home pay is £38,514, an effective rate of 14.41%. (Income tax only; National Insurance is not included.)

More about the UK Income Tax Calculator

How the personal allowance (and its taper) works

The first £12,570 of your income is tax free. That is the personal allowance, and it has been frozen at this level for years. Everyone gets it, whether employed or self employed, as long as their income is under £100,000.

Above £100,000 it starts to vanish: you lose £1 of allowance for every £2 of extra income, until it is gone entirely at £125,140. This creates a brutal hidden zone, between £100,000 and £125,140 your effective marginal rate is 60%, because every extra £1 is taxed at 40% and also drags 50p of your allowance into tax at 40%. Pension contributions that pull your income back under £100,000 are the classic escape hatch.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland bands for 2026/27

The 2026/27 bands are frozen at the same thresholds as last year: 20% basic rate on income from £12,571 to £50,270, 40% higher rate from £50,271 to £125,140, and 45% additional rate above £125,140. The calculator applies the allowance first, then taxes each slice of the remainder at its own rate, so a £45,000 salary pays 20% only on the £32,430 inside the basic band, which is exactly £6,486.

Freezing thresholds while wages rise is a stealth tax rise: more of your income creeps into higher bands each year even if your real spending power barely moves. It is called fiscal drag, and it is the main reason a salary that felt comfortable three years ago can feel tighter today.

Scotland plays by different rules

If you are a Scottish taxpayer, your earnings are taxed through six bands instead of three: starter 19% to £16,537, basic 20% to £29,526, intermediate 21% to £43,662, higher 42% to £75,000, advanced 45% to £125,140 and top 48% above. The £12,570 personal allowance applies the same way, and the £100k taper works identically.

Two caveats worth knowing. First, the Scottish rates apply only to non savings income (wages, pensions, self employment); savings interest and dividends are still taxed at UK wide rates. Second, the 2026/27 Scottish figures are the Scottish Government's announced position, pick your region in the tool and the maths switches automatically.

Marginal rate vs effective rate

Your marginal rate is the tax on your last pound, 20% for our £45,000 example. Your effective rate is total tax divided by total income, just 14.41% on that same salary, because the first £12,570 paid nothing. The effective rate is always lower, and it is the one that matters for budgeting the year.

The marginal rate matters when income changes: a raise, overtime or a bonus is taxed at your marginal rate (plus National Insurance), so £5,000 more at a 40% marginal rate puts about £3,000 in your pocket, not £5,000. Run the higher salary through the tool to see the true gain before you celebrate.

What this estimate leaves out

Honesty first: this tool estimates income tax only. It leaves out National Insurance (a separate charge with its own thresholds), pension and salary sacrifice contributions (which lower your taxable income), benefits in kind like company cars, the marriage allowance, the blind person's allowance, and the different treatment of savings and dividends in Scotland.

None of that makes the estimate useless, it answers 'roughly how much income tax on this salary?', but the exact bill belongs to your payslip, your Self Assessment return or an accountant with your full picture in front of them.

Putting the numbers to work

Three uses pay for themselves. First, cross border job offers: run the same salary as England and as Scotland, the gap is your real regional pay difference before rent enters the picture. Second, raises: compare your current salary with the offered one and keep the take home difference, not the gross difference, in your head during negotiations.

Third, tax code sanity checks: if your payslip deductions look nothing like the tool's figure for your salary, your tax code may be wrong, worth a call to HMRC, because overpaid tax sits with them until you claim it back.

Second jobs and bonuses: how the UK taxes them

A second job is usually taxed at 20% basic rate from the first pound (BR tax code) because your personal allowance is already used on your main job. If the combined income pushes you into the 40% band, the slice above the threshold is taxed at 40%.

Bonuses are taxed as ordinary earnings through PAYE in the pay period you receive them. A big December bonus can temporarily push one month's pay into a higher band, though it evens out across the year unless your total income genuinely crosses a threshold.

Student loan repayments (Plan 2, Plan 5 and postgraduate) are also taken from bonuses and second job pay once you are over the repayment threshold, another reason the payslip can look lighter than expected.

How to use the UK Income Tax Calculator

1. Enter your annual gross income, salary before any tax or deductions.
2. Pick where you pay tax: England/Wales/NI or Scotland (different bands).
3. Tax year is fixed to 2026/27 with the verified rates.
4. Press Calculate, every figure is an estimate for planning, not tax advice.