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Income Tax & NI · England, Wales & NI

Take-Home Pay Calculator

See what actually lands in your account after Income Tax, National Insurance, and pension contributions — banded the same way HMRC and your payslip calculate it.

2026/27 tax year, effective 6 April 2026

£
£0£100k£200k
Workplace pension
Your contribution5% of qualifying earnings

5% is the statutory minimum employee contribution. Your employer adds at least 3% on top — that doesn't reduce your take-home pay.

Take-Home Pay (Annual)
£33,982
Effective tax + NI rate: 20.2%
Monthly
£2,832
Weekly
£653
Basic rate£6,486
Where your salary goes
Gross annual salary£45,000
Personal Allowance£12,570
Income Tax−£6,486
National Insurance−£2,594
Pension contribution (5%)−£1,938
Take-home pay£33,982
+ Employer pension contribution (3%, not deducted)£1,163

Figures use 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (6 April 2026 – 5 April 2027). Scotland has different income tax bands and isn't covered by this calculator.

This is an estimate for a standard tax code (1257L) with no student loan, no benefits in kind, and no other income. Actual take-home pay can vary based on your specific tax code and circumstances.

How Income Tax bands work

Everyone gets a tax-free Personal Allowance of £12,570 for 2026/27. Above that, income is taxed in bands: 20% on earnings up to £50,270, 40% between £50,270 and £125,140, and 45% above that — and like any banded tax, only the portion of income in each band is taxed at that band's rate.

If you earn over £100,000, your Personal Allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2 you earn above that threshold, disappearing entirely at £125,140. This creates an unusually high effective tax rate on the slice of income between £100,000 and £125,140, since you're paying 40% tax while also losing tax-free allowance at the same time.

National Insurance

National Insurance is calculated separately from Income Tax, on its own threshold. For 2026/27, employees pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on anything above that. Unlike Income Tax, there's no equivalent to the Personal Allowance taper — the rate just drops to 2% once you cross the upper threshold.

Workplace pension auto-enrolment

If you're eligible for auto-enrolment, contributions are calculated on "qualifying earnings" — the slice of your salary between £6,240 and £50,270, not your whole salary. The statutory minimum is 8% of that band in total, at least 3% of which has to come from your employer, leaving 5% as the typical minimum employee contribution.

Your employer's contribution doesn't reduce your take-home pay — it's paid on top of your salary into the pension directly. Only your own contribution comes out of what you'd otherwise take home.

What this calculator doesn't cover

This estimate assumes a standard tax code (1257L), one source of income, and no student loan repayments, benefits in kind, or salary sacrifice arrangements. It also doesn't cover Scotland, which has its own income tax bands set separately by the Scottish Parliament. If any of that applies to you, treat this as a starting point rather than an exact figure.