Introduction
This HMRC tax calculator works out what you actually take home after tax. Enter your pay and it calculates your Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan. You get totals for the year, month, week and day.
It covers the 2026/27, 2025/26, and 2024/25 tax years. Pick England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, or Scotland, since Scotland has its own tax bands. You can add up to five jobs, each with its own pay, tax code, and pension.
The tool handles tax codes like 1257L, BR, D0, D1, 0T, NT, and K codes. It also covers Marriage Allowance, Blind Person's Allowance, and all student loan plans, including Plan 1, 2, 4, 5, and Postgraduate.
The results go past a single figure. Charts show where your money goes, a band table shows the tax on each slice of your income, and a step-by-step section shows the full sum. You also get your effective tax rate and your marginal tax rate, so you know what your next pound of pay is worth.
These are estimates to help you plan your budget or check your payslip. For advice on a tricky tax code or an unusual case, speak to HMRC.
How to use our HMRC Tax Calculator
Enter your pay, tax year, region, tax code, pension and student loan details. The calculator shows your take-home pay each year, month, week and day, plus your Income Tax, National Insurance, student loan repayments, tax bands and a full step-by-step working.
Tax year: Pick the tax year you want to check. 2026/27 is the current year.
Region: Choose England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or choose Scotland. Scotland has its own tax rates and bands.
Age group: Select your age. People under 16 or over State Pension age pay no employee National Insurance.
Number of jobs: Choose how many jobs you have, up to five. Each job gets its own input panel.
Marriage Allowance: Say if you give 10% of your Personal Allowance to your partner, get it from them, or neither.
Blind Person's Allowance: Tick this box if you claim it. It is added to your Personal Allowance.
Gross income: Type your pay before any deductions for that job.
Income frequency: Say if that pay is yearly, monthly, weekly or hourly. If you pick hourly, also enter your hours per week.
Tax code: Enter the tax code for that job, such as 1257L, BR, D0, 0T, NT or a K code. Leave it as 1257L if you are not sure.
Pension contribution: Enter how much you pay in, then choose a percent of gross pay or pounds per year, month or week.
Pension scheme type: Pick salary sacrifice, which cuts tax and National Insurance, or relief at source, which cuts tax only.
Student loan repayments: Tick each plan you repay. You can tick more than one, such as Plan 2 and a Postgraduate Loan.
Calculate: Press Calculate to see your results. Press Reset to clear the form and start again.
UK Take-Home Pay: Income Tax and National Insurance Explained
In the UK, your boss does not hand you your full pay. HMRC takes tax out first through a system called PAYE (Pay As You Earn). What is left after Income Tax, National Insurance, pension payments and student loan repayments is your take-home pay, also called net pay.
Income Tax
Income Tax is charged in slices called bands. The first slice is your Personal Allowance, which is £12,570 a year for most people. You pay no tax on that part. After that, each slice of pay is taxed at a higher rate than the one before it.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are three rates: 20% basic, 40% higher and 45% additional. Scotland sets its own rates and has six bands, from a 19% starter rate up to a 48% top rate. Scottish rates only apply to pay from work and pensions, not to savings or dividends.
If you earn over £100,000, your Personal Allowance drops by £1 for every £2 above that line. Once you reach £125,140, the allowance is gone.
National Insurance
National Insurance (NI) helps pay for the State Pension and other benefits. Employees pay Class 1 NI at 8% on pay between £12,570 and £50,270 a year, then 2% on anything above that. You stop paying NI once you reach State Pension age, and you pay none if you are under 16.
NI is worked out for each job on its own. If you have two jobs, each one gets its own threshold, so you may pay less NI than someone earning the same total from one job. Income Tax does not work this way. It looks at your total income.
Tax Codes
Your tax code tells your employer how much tax-free pay you get. The most common code is 1257L, which means £12,570 of tax-free pay. Other codes you may see:
- BR taxes all pay at 20%, often used for a second job.
- D0 / D1 taxes all pay at the higher or top rate.
- 0T gives no tax-free pay at all.
- NT means no tax is taken.
- K codes add extra income or work benefits to your taxable pay.
- S or C prefix means Scottish or Welsh rates apply.
- W1 / M1 is an emergency code that looks at one pay period at a time.
Pension Contributions
Paying into a pension lowers your tax bill. With salary sacrifice, you give up part of your pay before tax, so you save both Income Tax and National Insurance. With relief at source, you pay from your net wage and the pension provider claims 20% back for you. Relief at source also stretches your basic rate band, so higher earners get more relief.
Student Loans
Student loan repayments come straight out of your pay once you earn over a set amount. You pay 9% of the pay above the threshold on Plans 1, 2, 4 and 5, and 6% on a Postgraduate Loan. You can be on more than one plan at once. You only repay on the part above the line, not on your whole wage.
Other Allowances
Marriage Allowance lets you move 10% of your Personal Allowance (£1,260) to a husband, wife or civil partner. The partner who gets it saves up to £252 in tax. Blind Person's Allowance adds to your tax-free pay and is never cut back, no matter how much you earn.
Effective Rate vs Marginal Rate
Your effective rate is the share of your whole income taken in tax. Your marginal rate is what the next pound you earn gets taxed at. The marginal rate is almost always higher, and it can spike to 60% or more between £100,000 and £125,140 because of the lost Personal Allowance.
The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. Rates and thresholds can change each April, so always check the year you are working with.