Take-home pay is your gross salary minus income tax, National Insurance contributions, pension contributions (if paid via salary sacrifice), and student loan repayments. For 2025–26, the standard personal allowance is £12,570, basic-rate tax (20%) applies to income between £12,571 and £50,270, higher-rate (40%) from £50,271 to £125,140, and additional-rate (45%) above that.

The standard UK personal allowance for 2025–26 is £12,570 (tax code 1257L). If your adjusted net income exceeds £100,000, the allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 over that threshold. By £125,140, the personal allowance is fully lost, meaning you pay income tax on every pound earned. This creates an effective 60% marginal tax rate in the £100k–£125,140 band.

Class 1 employee National Insurance is charged at 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on anything above £50,270. You do not pay NI on the first £12,570 of earnings. From April 2024, the main NI rate was cut from 10% to 8%, and that lower rate remains in force for 2025–26. Employers pay their own NI on top of your salary — that is not deducted from your pay.

A £50,000 salary with the standard 1257L tax code and no pension contributions gives a take-home pay of approximately £37,630 per year, or £3,136 per month. That breaks down to £7,458 in income tax and £2,990 in National Insurance. A £60,000 salary drops to roughly £43,220 net (£3,602 monthly) due to the higher-rate band kicking in.

Plan 1 is for English and Welsh students who started before September 2012 (9% over £22,015). Plan 2 is for English and Welsh students who started after September 2012 (9% over £27,295). Plan 4 is for Scottish students (9% over £27,660). Plan 5 is for new English borrowers from 2023 onwards (9% over £25,000, 40-year term). Postgraduate loans are repaid at 6% over £21,000. If you never took out a student loan, select ‘None’.

The default figures use the rest-of-UK (rUK) tax bands. Scottish taxpayers have a different six-band structure set by Holyrood — Starter (19%), Basic (20%), Intermediate (21%), Higher (42%), Advanced (45%), and Top (48%) rates, with lower thresholds for higher bands. If you live in Scotland and pay Scottish Income Tax, the results will be slightly different — use HMRC’s Scottish tax calculator for the exact figures, or check your SA tax code on your payslip.

If your pension is paid via salary sacrifice, the contribution is removed from your gross salary before income tax and National Insurance are calculated, saving you both tax and NI. For standard relief-at-source schemes (most workplace pensions), contributions come from taxed pay and you receive basic-rate tax relief automatically, with higher and additional-rate relief claimed via self-assessment or a P800 adjustment. A 5% contribution on a £50,000 salary saves roughly £563 in tax.

BR means “Basic Rate” — all your income is taxed at 20% with no personal allowance (usually used for emergency tax on a second job). D0 means “higher rate on all income” (40%), and D1 means additional rate (45%). K codes are negative allowances used when your tax-deductible allowances are smaller than your untaxed income (such as taxable benefits) — they actually add taxable income to your salary. If you see a K code, speak to HMRC.

This calculator uses standard UK bands and assumes a clean tax position. Your payslip may differ because of salary sacrifice arrangements, benefits in kind (company car, medical insurance), childcare vouchers, cycle-to-work schemes, charitable giving via payroll, previous employment tax codes carried forward, or HMRC adjustments. Always use your actual P60 or March payslip as the source of truth.