UK Salary Calculator 2025/26

How UK Income Tax Works

Income Tax in the United Kingdom is levied on your taxable income — your gross earnings minus your Personal Allowance. For the 2025/26 tax year the standard Personal Allowance is £12,570, meaning you pay no Income Tax on the first £12,570 you earn.

Above that, tax is charged at three rates for residents of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland:

• Basic Rate (20%) — taxable income up to £37,700 (earnings of £12,571–£50,270)
• Higher Rate (40%) — taxable income of £37,701–£112,570 (earnings of £50,271–£125,140)
• Additional Rate (45%) — taxable income above £112,570 (earnings above £125,140)

If your income exceeds £100,000, your Personal Allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 you earn above that threshold. At £125,140 your Personal Allowance is completely withdrawn, creating an effective marginal rate of 60% in the £100,000–£125,140 band.

National Insurance Explained

National Insurance (NI) is a separate contribution that funds the state pension, NHS, and other benefits. Unlike Income Tax, NI has its own thresholds and rates.

For 2025/26, employees (Class 1 contributions) pay:

• 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 per year
• 2% on all earnings above £50,270

Employers also pay Class 1 NI at 13.8% on employee earnings above £9,100 — this is a cost to your employer and does not come out of your take-home pay. You stop paying employee NI at state pension age (currently 66).

How to Use This UK Salary Calculator

Enter your gross salary and select the frequency (annual, monthly, weekly, or hourly). The calculator updates your results in real time as you type. You can also:

• Select the correct tax year — rates and thresholds change each April
• Enter your tax code (find it on your payslip or P60) — the default 1257L applies to most people
• Toggle Scottish taxpayer if you live in Scotland
• Add pension contributions to see how salary sacrifice or relief-at-source schemes affect your net pay
• Add Student Loan plans, childcare vouchers, salary sacrifice benefits, and bonuses
• Use the Share results button to copy a link encoding all your inputs

Results are shown for annual, monthly, four-weekly, two-weekly, weekly, and daily periods.

Scottish Income Tax Rates 2025/26

Scotland has its own income tax rates and bands, set by the Scottish Parliament. Scottish taxpayers pay tax at different rates to the rest of the UK — but still pay UK National Insurance at the same rates.

Scottish Income Tax bands for 2025/26:

• Starter Rate (19%) — £12,571 to £14,876
• Basic Rate (20%) — £14,877 to £26,561
• Intermediate Rate (21%) — £26,562 to £43,662
• Higher Rate (42%) — £43,663 to £75,000
• Advanced Rate (45%) — £75,001 to £125,140
• Top Rate (48%) — above £125,140

Student Loan Repayment Thresholds

Student loan repayments are collected via PAYE alongside tax and NI. You repay 9% of earnings above your plan threshold (6% for Postgraduate Loans). Multiple plans can run simultaneously.

• Plan 1: £24,990 threshold — English/Welsh pre-September 2012 loans
• Plan 2: £27,295 threshold — English/Welsh post-September 2012 loans
• Plan 4: £31,395 threshold — Scottish loans from April 2021
• Plan 5: £25,000 threshold — new English loans from August 2023
• Postgraduate Loan: £21,000 threshold — Master's and Doctoral loans

Repayments are not fixed amounts — they automatically increase as your income rises, and stop when you earn below the threshold.

Pension Auto-Enrolment and Contributions

Since October 2012, employers must automatically enrol eligible employees into a workplace pension. Eligible employees are those aged 22 to state pension age who earn more than £10,000 per year.

The minimum contribution rates for auto-enrolment in 2025/26 are 5% from the employee and 3% from the employer, both calculated on qualifying earnings — the band between £6,240 and £50,270.

Salary sacrifice is the most tax-efficient way to make pension contributions because your gross salary is reduced before tax and NI are calculated — saving both Income Tax and employee NI (and also reducing your employer's NI bill, which some employers pass back to you as additional pension contributions).

Understanding Your Tax Code

Your tax code tells your employer how much Income Tax to deduct from your pay. The most common code is 1257L — the number (1257) times 10 equals your tax-free allowance (£12,570), and L means you have the standard Personal Allowance.

Other common codes:

• BR — all income taxed at Basic Rate (20%), no Personal Allowance
• D0 — all income taxed at Higher Rate (40%)
• D1 — all income taxed at Additional Rate (45%)
• K codes — negative allowance, used when you have untaxed income or owe tax from a previous year
• M / N — Marriage Allowance (M = receiving, N = giving)
• NT — No Tax deducted

If your tax code looks wrong, contact HMRC or check your Personal Tax Account at gov.uk. An incorrect code means you may be overpaying or underpaying tax all year.