On a £30,000 salary, you take home about £2,093 a month after income tax and National Insurance (NI). The calculator works this out for any salary, using the bands for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It shows the year's income tax, NI and take-home pay. The marginal rate is the income tax on your next pound. The effective rate is the share of your salary that tax and NI take together.
Does it use this year's rates?
Yes, in effect. The calculator is set to the 2025/26 thresholds, and every one of them is unchanged for 2026/27. That's the tax year running from April 6, 2026, to April 5, 2027.
The Personal Allowance, the part of your income that's tax-free, stays at £12,570. The House of Commons Library notes that it's due to stay there until 2030/31. The rates haven't moved either: 20%, 40% and 45% for income tax, and 8% and 2% for employee NI.
What you take home each month
Here's the calculator's result for five salaries, divided by 12:
| Salary a year | Income tax a month | NI a month | Take-home a month | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £124 | £50 | £1,493 | 10.4% |
| £30,000 | £291 | £116 | £2,093 | 16.3% |
| £45,000 | £541 | £216 | £2,993 | 20.2% |
| £75,000 | £1,453 | £293 | £4,505 | 27.9% |
| £100,000 | £2,286 | £334 | £5,713 | 31.4% |
At £20,000, only £7,430 is taxed, the part above the allowance. At £45,000, tax and NI take 20.2% of your pay. At £100,000 they take 31.4%, because everything above £50,270 is taxed at 40%. Paid weekly? Divide the yearly take-home by 52 instead.
Your payslip may still differ. The calculator leaves out pension contributions, student loan repayments and taxable benefits, and each one changes what you're paid.
Two deductions, two sets of bands
In the calculator, both start at £12,570 but work differently above it:
GOV.UK states the NI bands per pay period: 8% on £1,048.01 to £4,189 a month, and 2% above that. The calculator uses yearly thresholds, so a monthly payslip can differ by a few pence.
At £50,270 the two move in opposite directions. Income tax jumps from 20% to 40%, while NI drops from 8% to 2%. Your combined rate on extra pay goes from 28% to 42%.
So on a £1,000 raise, you keep £720 below that line and £580 above it. The calculator's marginal rate shows the income tax part only, so add NI to it. The pay raise calculator works out the gross side of a raise.
Between £100,000 and £125,140, you keep 38p per pound
Above £100,000, your Personal Allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income. At £125,140 it's gone completely.
In that range, each extra pound costs 40p in tax. Another 20p goes because 50p of allowance becomes taxable at 40%. That's 60p, and NI takes 2p more.
The calculator doesn't apply this taper. In that range, it overstates your take-home by 20% of your income above £100,000. At £110,000, that's £2,000. From £125,140 up, it's out by a flat £5,028, which is 40% of £12,570.
Living in Scotland? Different income tax bands apply
You pay Scottish Income Tax if you live in Scotland. It has six bands, and the calculator doesn't model them. For 2026/27, GOV.UK lists these:
| Band | Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | Up to £12,570 | 0% |
| Starter | £12,571 to £16,537 | 19% |
| Basic | £16,538 to £29,526 | 20% |
| Intermediate | £29,527 to £43,662 | 21% |
| Higher | £43,663 to £75,000 | 42% |
| Advanced | £75,001 to £125,140 | 45% |
| Top | Over £125,140 | 48% |
The Scottish Government estimates that below about £33,500, you'll pay slightly less income tax than elsewhere in the UK. Above that, the 21% and 42% rates cost more, so the calculator will understate your tax.
The NI figure isn't affected by these bands. For NI on its own, try the National Insurance calculator.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (2026 to 2027)
- GOV.UK, National Insurance rates and categories (2026 to 2027)
- House of Commons Library, Direct taxes: rates and allowances for 2026/27 (April 7, 2026)
- GOV.UK, Income Tax in Scotland (2026 to 2027)
- Scottish Government, Scottish Income Tax 2026 to 2027: technical factsheet (January 13, 2026)