Your Pay Details
£
£5,000 – £250,000
%
0% – 20%
Standard tax code for 2025/26
Enter your salary details and click Calculate Payslip to see your full breakdown.
Enter your gross salary and see a full payslip breakdown — Income Tax, National Insurance, pension, and net take-home pay — calculated for any pay period.
Standard tax code for 2025/26
Enter your salary details and click Calculate Payslip to see your full breakdown.
Your payslip starts with your gross pay — the salary you agreed with your employer before any deductions. From that gross figure, HMRC requires your employer to deduct Income Tax and National Insurance (NI) before paying you. The amount left after all deductions is your net pay, the money that actually reaches your bank account.
Income Tax is calculated on your gross salary minus your Personal Allowance (£12,570 for most people in 2025/26). The standard rates for England and Wales are applied in ascending bands — you only pay the higher rate on the portion of income that falls within each band:
| Band | Income Range | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | Up to £12,570 | 0% |
| Basic Rate | £12,571 – £50,270 | 20% |
| Higher Rate | £50,271 – £125,140 | 40% |
| Additional Rate | Above £125,140 | 45% |
Scottish taxpayers pay different rates set by the Scottish Parliament — from 19% (starter rate) up to 48% (top rate). Tick the "Scottish Taxpayer" box or use a tax code beginning with S to apply Scottish rates.
Employee NI is charged on earnings above the Primary Threshold of £12,570 per year. For 2025/26 the rates are 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% on earnings above £50,270. NI is calculated on your actual gross pay — it is not reduced by your personal allowance in the same way as Income Tax.
When your pension is set up as a salary sacrifice arrangement (the most common workplace scheme), your pension contribution is taken from your gross pay before Income Tax and NI are calculated. This means a 5% pension contribution effectively reduces your taxable income by 5%, lowering both your tax bill and your NI liability. For a basic-rate taxpayer, every £100 contributed to pension costs only around £67 from take-home pay.
If your adjusted gross income exceeds £100,000, your Personal Allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of income above that threshold. At £125,140 or above, the Personal Allowance is reduced to zero entirely. This creates an effective 60% marginal tax rate for income between £100,000 and £125,140.
All examples below use a standard 1257L tax code, 5% salary sacrifice pension, and no student loan.
Emergency or non-standard tax codes such as BR (basic rate on all income), D0 (higher rate on all income), or 0T (no personal allowance) will result in higher deductions than expected. If your payslip shows an unusual code, contact HMRC or your employer's payroll team to have it corrected.
This calculator models a salary sacrifice pension arrangement, where your contribution is deducted before tax and NI are applied — reducing both. Under a relief at source scheme (common with personal pensions and some workplace NEST plans), contributions are taken from net pay and HMRC adds basic-rate tax relief directly into your pension pot, but your NI liability is not reduced. Check your workplace scheme type to get the most accurate result.
Your tax code tells your employer how much tax-free income you are entitled to each year. The most common code, 1257L, means you have a Personal Allowance of £12,570 (1257 × 10). The letter indicates how the allowance should be applied: L means you get the standard allowance, M adds the transferred marriage allowance, N subtracts it, BR means all income is taxed at the basic rate (20%), D0 at the higher rate (40%), D1 at the additional rate (45%), and NT means no tax is deducted at all. If your code starts with S, Scottish rates apply; if it starts with C, Welsh rates apply (which currently mirror England's). Codes ending in W1 or M1 are emergency codes calculated on a non-cumulative basis.
Your first payslip may show higher tax deductions if you are placed on an emergency tax code (such as 1257L W1/M1 or BR) while HMRC processes your new employment details. Once your correct code is applied, tax is recalculated cumulatively over the tax year and any overpayment is typically refunded via a reduced tax deduction in a later pay period. If you have previously been self-employed or have multiple income sources, the tax calculation may also differ until your employer receives an updated tax code notice from HMRC.
Under a salary sacrifice arrangement, your pension contribution is deducted from your gross salary before Income Tax and National Insurance are calculated. This means your taxable income is lower, so you pay less tax and NI. For example, if you earn £40,000 and contribute 5% (£2,000) to pension via salary sacrifice, you are taxed as though you earn £38,000. A basic-rate taxpayer saves £400 in income tax (20% of £2,000) plus approximately £160 in NI (8% of £2,000), meaning a £2,000 pension contribution costs only around £1,440 from take-home pay. Higher-rate taxpayers save even more.
With salary sacrifice, your gross salary is formally reduced by the pension contribution amount before your employer calculates tax and NI — so both are reduced. With relief at source, your contribution is taken from your net (post-tax) pay and your pension provider claims basic-rate tax relief (20%) from HMRC on your behalf, adding it to your pot. Higher- and additional-rate taxpayers can claim extra relief through a Self Assessment return. Relief at source does not reduce your NI contributions. Most auto-enrolment workplace schemes use one of these two methods; check your employment contract or payslip to confirm which applies to you.
The Personal Allowance taper begins when your adjusted net income exceeds £100,000. For every £2 you earn above £100,000, your Personal Allowance is reduced by £1. At £125,140 the allowance reaches zero entirely. This creates an effective marginal tax rate of around 60% on income between £100,000 and £125,140, because you are paying 40% higher-rate tax on each extra pound earned while simultaneously losing a pound of tax-free allowance for every two pounds earned. Making additional pension contributions above £100,000 can be very effective as they reduce your adjusted net income and can restore some or all of the tapered Personal Allowance.
Employee National Insurance in 2025/26 is charged at 0% on earnings up to the Primary Threshold (£12,570/yr), 8% on earnings between £12,570 and the Upper Earnings Limit (£50,270/yr), and 2% on any earnings above £50,270/yr. NI is calculated per pay period — your employer works out the NI threshold and limits for each weekly or monthly pay period individually. Unlike Income Tax, NI is not calculated cumulatively across the year, which means it does not self-correct if your earnings vary month to month. Employer NI (at 13.8% above the Secondary Threshold) is a separate charge paid by your employer and does not appear as a deduction on your payslip.