PAYE Calculator UK 2026/27 — Take-Home Pay After Tax & NI
Answer first: This free PAYE calculator (Pay As You Earn) is a PAYE tax calculator that works out your take-home pay after the income tax and National Insurance your employer deducts at source. Example for 2026/27: a £30,000 salary on tax code 1257L pays £3,486 income tax + £1,394.40 NI, leaving £25,119.60 take-home (about £2,093/month). PAYE is HMRC's system where your employer deducts income tax (20%/40%/45%) and employee NI (8%/2%) from each payslip before you are paid — the amount depends on your tax code, salary, pension contributions and student loan plan. Updated for the 2026/27 frozen thresholds (Personal Allowance £12,570).
Calculate your Pay As You Earn income tax, National Insurance and net take-home pay. Supports all tax codes and Scottish rates.
Last reviewed: June 2026 by UK Calculator Editorial Team, UK Calculator Editor
PAYE Tax Calculator 2026/27
Enter your gross salary and details to calculate PAYE deductions and take-home pay
Based on HMRC 2026/27 rates. For guidance only.
Enter your salary and click Calculate PAYE to see your payslip breakdown
What is PAYE (Pay As You Earn)?
PAYE — Pay As You Earn — is the system HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) uses to collect Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) from employees in the United Kingdom. Rather than paying a lump-sum tax bill at the end of the year, employees have deductions taken directly from each payslip by their employer, who then pays HMRC on their behalf.
Introduced in 1944, PAYE is the primary method by which the UK government collects the vast majority of income tax. Approximately 84% of all UK income tax is collected via PAYE. If you are employed — as opposed to self-employed — you will almost certainly pay tax through PAYE.
Your employer uses your tax code (issued by HMRC) to determine how much of your pay is tax-free and how much tax to deduct at each pay period. The most common tax code for 2026/27 is 1257L, which gives you a tax-free personal allowance of £12,570 for the year.
How PAYE Works in Practice
- HMRC issues your tax code — based on your circumstances (personal allowance, benefits in kind, previous underpayments etc.)
- Your employer receives the code — either via the P6/P9 tax code notice, or the employee provides a P45 from a previous job
- Tax is deducted each pay period — using cumulative (standard) or week 1/month 1 (non-cumulative) basis
- Employer pays HMRC — on a monthly or quarterly basis, submitting a Full Payment Submission (FPS) via RTI (Real Time Information)
- Reconciliation at year end — HMRC issues P800 letters if you have paid too much or too little
2026/27 thresholds (checked June 2026): GOV.UK confirms these income tax and National Insurance thresholds are frozen and unchanged for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) — the Personal Allowance stays at £12,570, basic rate 20% applies to £50,270, higher rate 40% to £125,140, additional rate 45% above £125,140, and employee National Insurance remains 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 then 2% above. Because they are frozen, these figures are identical to 2025/26, so results from this PAYE calculator on standard tax code 1257L apply equally to both years. Student loan repayment thresholds are uprated separately each April — check gov.uk for the current figures.
PAYE Tax Codes Explained 2026/27
Your PAYE tax code is a combination of numbers and letters that tells your employer how much tax-free income to apply to your pay. Here is a comprehensive guide to the most common codes:
| Tax Code | What It Means | Personal Allowance | Who Gets It |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1257L | Standard personal allowance. Most common code. | £12,570 | Most employees with one job, no untaxed income or taxable benefits |
| 1100L | Reduced personal allowance | £11,000 | Employees with some taxable benefits or untaxed income up to £1,570 |
| 1000L | Further reduced personal allowance | £10,000 | Employees with larger taxable benefits or untaxed income reducing the allowance |
| BR | Basic Rate — all income taxed at 20% | £0 | Second jobs (personal allowance used on main job); emergency tax situations |
| D0 | Higher Rate — all income taxed at 40% | £0 | Second job where all income is in the higher rate band |
| D1 | Additional Rate — all income taxed at 45% | £0 | Second or third job where all income falls in the additional rate band |
| NT | No Tax — no tax deducted | Unlimited | Non-UK tax residents, certain pension/lump sum payments, HMRC agreement |
| K100 | K code — adds £1,000 to taxable income | Negative (−£1,000) | Employees with untaxed income or benefits exceeding personal allowance (e.g. company car, state pension) |
| K200 | K code — adds £2,000 to taxable income | Negative (−£2,000) | Higher untaxed income/benefits, common with larger company car benefits |
| S1257L | Scottish standard (S prefix = Scottish taxpayer) | £12,570 | Scottish residents with standard allowance — Scottish income tax rates apply |
| C1257L | Welsh standard (C prefix = Cymru/Wales) | £12,570 | Welsh residents — same rates as England for 2026/27 |
| M / N | Marriage Allowance transfer | £13,830 (M) / £11,310 (N) | M = receiving allowance transfer from spouse; N = transferring allowance to spouse |
| T | Tax code requires review by HMRC | Varies | Complex tax affairs requiring individual calculation |
| W1 / M1 | Week 1 or Month 1 — non-cumulative basis | Standard PA | Emergency code, new starters without P45, code change situations — no carry-forward of unused allowances |
| 0T | Zero allowance, all bands applied | £0 | No P45, new starters, allowance transferred entirely to spouse |
Year-to-Date PAYE Schedule
PAYE operates on a cumulative basis throughout the tax year. The table below shows how your deductions accumulate month by month. Calculate your salary above first to see your personalised schedule.
Use the calculator above to generate your year-to-date PAYE schedule
The cumulative PAYE method ensures that if you have unused personal allowance from earlier months (e.g. due to starting work mid-year or a period of lower earnings), this is automatically taken into account in later pay periods, potentially resulting in a tax refund through your payslip.
PAYE Thresholds by Pay Period 2026/27
HMRC applies the annual thresholds pro-rata to each pay period. These are the figures payroll software uses for a standard monthly or weekly payroll, per GOV.UK:
| Threshold | Annual | Monthly | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax-free pay (tax code 1257L) | £12,570 | £1,047.50 | £241.73 |
| Employee NI starts (8%) | £12,570 | £1,048 | £242 |
| NI drops to 2% (Upper Earnings Limit) | £50,270 | £4,189 | £967 |
| Higher rate tax (40%) starts | £50,270 | ≈£4,189 | ≈£967 |
| Additional rate tax (45%) starts | £125,140 | ≈£10,428 | ≈£2,407 |
NI per-period thresholds are HMRC's published figures (weekly £242 / £967; monthly £1,048 / £4,189). Income tax per-period figures marked ≈ are the annual thresholds divided across pay periods — in practice HMRC calculates income tax cumulatively across the year rather than period by period.
How PAYE Is Calculated: Step-by-Step (Worked Example £35,000)
Let us walk through the exact PAYE calculation for a UK employee earning £35,000 gross per year in 2026/27, with tax code 1257L, no student loan, and no pension contributions.
Tax code 1257L → Personal Allowance = 1257 × £10 = £12,570
£35,000 (gross) − £12,570 (personal allowance) = £22,430 taxable income
All £22,430 falls within the Basic Rate band (£0–£37,700 above personal allowance)
Income Tax = £22,430 × 20% = £4,486.00
NI is charged on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 = £22,430 at 8%
National Insurance = £22,430 × 8% = £1,794.40
£35,000 − £4,486 − £1,794.40 = £28,719.60 per year (£2,393.30/month)
| Gross Annual Salary | £35,000.00 |
| Personal Allowance (tax-free, code 1257L) | −£12,570.00 |
| Taxable Income | £22,430.00 |
| Income Tax — Basic Rate 20% on £22,430 | −£4,486.00 |
| National Insurance — 8% on £22,430 (£12,570–£50,270) | −£1,794.40 |
| Total Deductions | −£6,280.40 |
| Annual Take-Home Pay | £28,719.60 |
| Monthly Take-Home Pay | £2,393.30 |
| Effective Income Tax Rate | 12.82% |
| Effective Total Deduction Rate | 17.94% |
£60,000 Salary — Crossing into Higher Rate Tax
At £60,000, you pay both basic and higher rate income tax. The personal allowance remains £12,570 (income is below £100,000 so no taper applies).
| Gross Annual Salary | £60,000.00 |
| Personal Allowance | −£12,570.00 |
| Taxable Income | £47,430.00 |
| Basic Rate Tax 20% on £37,700 (£12,570–£50,270) | −£7,540.00 |
| Higher Rate Tax 40% on £9,730 (£50,270–£60,000) | −£3,892.00 |
| Total Income Tax | −£11,432.00 |
| NI 8% on £37,700 (£12,570–£50,270) | −£3,016.00 |
| NI 2% on £9,730 (£50,270–£60,000) | −£194.60 |
| Total NI | −£3,210.60 |
| Annual Take-Home | £45,357.40 |
| Monthly Take-Home | £3,779.78 |
| Effective Tax Rate | 24.4% |
Scottish PAYE Example: £40,000 Salary
Scottish taxpayers pay income tax at different rates. The same personal allowance of £12,570 applies, but the bands and rates differ from the rest of the UK.
| Gross Annual Salary | £40,000.00 |
| Scottish Personal Allowance | −£12,570.00 |
| Taxable Income | £27,430.00 |
| Starter Rate 19% on £2,306 (£12,570–£14,876) | −£438.14 |
| Basic Rate 20% on £9,352 (£14,876–£24,228) | −£1,870.40 |
| Intermediate Rate 21% on £15,772 (£24,228–£40,000) | −£3,312.12 |
| Total Income Tax (Scotland) | −£5,615.45 |
| NI 8% on £27,430 (£12,570–£40,000) | −£2,194.40 |
| Annual Take-Home | £32,190.15 |
| Monthly Take-Home | £2,682.51 |
Note: NI contributions are the same for Scotland as the rest of the UK — only income tax rates differ.
PAYE Take-Home Pay Table 2026/27 — Common UK Salaries
The table below shows annual PAYE deductions and take-home pay at common salary levels for England, Wales and Northern Ireland on standard tax code 1257L, with no pension contributions or student loan. Figures are rounded to the nearest pound — use the calculator above for your exact personalised breakdown.
| Gross Salary | Income Tax | National Insurance | Take-Home (Year) | Take-Home (Month) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £1,486 | £594 | £17,920 | £1,493 |
| £25,000 | £2,486 | £994 | £21,520 | £1,793 |
| £30,000 | £3,486 | £1,394 | £25,120 | £2,093 |
| £35,000 | £4,486 | £1,794 | £28,720 | £2,393 |
| £40,000 | £5,486 | £2,194 | £32,320 | £2,693 |
| £45,000 | £6,486 | £2,594 | £35,920 | £2,993 |
| £50,000 | £7,486 | £2,994 | £39,520 | £3,293 |
| £60,000 | £11,432 | £3,211 | £45,357 | £3,780 |
| £70,000 | £15,432 | £3,411 | £51,157 | £4,263 |
| £80,000 | £19,432 | £3,611 | £56,957 | £4,746 |
| £100,000 | £27,432 | £4,011 | £68,557 | £5,713 |
Calculated from the GOV.UK 2026/27 rates: Personal Allowance £12,570, income tax 20% to £50,270 and 40% to £125,140, employee NI 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 then 2% above. The full Personal Allowance applies at every salary shown — above £100,000 it tapers away by £1 for every £2 of income, so higher salaries lose allowance.
PAYE vs Self-Assessment: What Is the Difference?
Not everyone pays tax through PAYE. If you are self-employed, have complex tax affairs, or earn above certain thresholds from non-PAYE sources, you may need to complete a Self-Assessment tax return. Here is how the two systems compare:
💰 PAYE (Employed)
- Tax deducted automatically from each payslip
- Employer handles all calculations and payments to HMRC
- No annual tax return required (in most cases)
- Tax is spread evenly across the year
- P60 issued at year end showing total tax paid
- P45 issued when you leave a job
- Automatic refunds if you overpay
- Best for single-employer employees with straightforward income
📋 Self-Assessment (Self-Employed / Complex)
- You calculate and pay your own tax
- Two payments on account (January & July) + balancing payment
- Annual Self-Assessment return (SA100) required
- Must register with HMRC by 5 October
- Can claim a wider range of expenses and deductions
- Payments in advance based on prior year liability
- Required if: self-employed, director, income >£100,000, untaxed income >£1,000
- Class 2 and Class 4 NI rather than Class 1
You may need both PAYE and Self-Assessment if you are employed but also have a side income, rental income, or dividends. HMRC may ask you to file a return even if you pay tax through PAYE.
PAYE Calculator — Frequently Asked Questions
Not a Standard Employee?
Calculate tax on property rental income
Salary vs dividend optimisation
Inside vs outside IR35 take-home pay
Optimise your director pay mix
Employer NI & total employment cost
Compare tax efficiency
Related UK Tax Calculators
Explore our full range of free UK tax and salary tools, updated for 2026/27:
Official Sources Used
Official Sources & References
Data verified against official UK government sources. Last checked April 2026.