UK Tax Calculator 2026/27

A free calculator for UK employees who want to see exactly where every pound of their salary goes. Built for higher-rate taxpayers earning over £50,270 who are looking to model salary sacrifice, pension contributions, and ISA allocations alongside their standard PAYE and National Insurance deductions. Enter your gross salary once and see income tax, NI, pension relief, ISA capacity, and your real net take-home, all in one place.

What this calculator handles

UK income tax bands including the 60% marginal band between £100k and £125,140
Class 1 National Insurance contributions on earnings above the primary threshold
Salary sacrifice pension contributions and the income tax plus NI saving they unlock
Stocks and Shares ISA allowance of £20,000 per tax year
Personal allowance taper for earnings above £100,000
High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) for households between £60k and £80k

UK Tax Rates 2026/27

These are the income tax bands that apply to earnings in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland for the 2026/27 tax year. Scotland operates a separate set of bands.

Band	Rate	Income range
Personal allowance	0%	Up to £12,570
Basic rate	20%	£12,571 to £50,270
Higher rate	40%	£50,271 to £125,140
Additional rate	45%	£125,141 and above

How Salary Sacrifice Saves You Tax

Salary sacrifice is a formal agreement to give up part of your gross salary in exchange for a non-cash benefit, most commonly an employer pension contribution. Because the sacrificed amount never reaches your taxable pay, it is exempt from income tax and from Class 1 National Insurance. For a higher-rate taxpayer that means a combined saving of 42% on every pound diverted, compared with about 28% saved on a relief at source pension contribution made from net pay.

The structural advantage is the National Insurance saving. A standard pension contribution recovers income tax through your self assessment or your tax code, but it cannot recover the 2% or 8% NI that has already been paid. Salary sacrifice removes the contribution from your pay before NI is ever calculated, so the saving is permanent. Many employers also pass on their own 13.8% employer NI saving as an additional uplift, taking the effective benefit above 50%.

The mechanism is particularly powerful between £100,000 and £125,140, where the personal allowance tapers away and the marginal effective rate climbs to 60%. Sacrificing salary down to £100,000 restores the full personal allowance and produces an outsized return on each pound deferred into the pension.

Calculate your UK tax position