TAX YEAR 2026/27

UK take-home pay, England or Scotland.

Income tax, employee National Insurance, and student loan on one salary. Wales and Northern Ireland use the England bands. Scotland does not.

2026/27 figures used

Item	Rule
Personal allowance	£12,570, withdrawn by £1 for every £2 over £100,000
England, Wales, NI	20% on taxable income to £37,700, then 40%, then 45% above £125,140 of income
Scotland	19% to £16,537, 20% to £29,526, 21% to £43,662, 42% to £75,000, 45% to £125,140, 48% above
Employee NI	8% from £12,570 to £50,270, then 2%

Buying in the same year? The stamp duty calculator covers England, Scotland, and Wales separately.

£40,000 and £55,000, England, before a student loan

On £40,000 the personal allowance of £12,570 leaves £27,430 of taxable pay, all inside the 20% band, so income tax is £5,486. Employee National Insurance is 8% of the same £27,430, which is £2,194. Take-home is £32,320. None of that is 20% of £40,000. Twenty percent of the salary would be £8,000, and that figure ignores both the allowance and National Insurance.

On £55,000 the allowance is still £12,570. Taxable pay is £42,430. The first £37,700 is at 20% (£7,540) and the remaining £4,730 is at 40% (£1,892), so income tax is £9,432. National Insurance is 8% up to £50,270 and 2% on the rest, about £3,111. Take-home is about £42,457. In Scotland the income-tax bands are different and the same £55,000 produces more income tax, while National Insurance stays on the UK thresholds. Switch the country box rather than adding a percentage by hand.

Salary sacrifice versus a pension you pay after tax

The pension box lowers the pay that tax, National Insurance, and the student loan are calculated on. That is salary sacrifice. A relief-at-source contribution does not lower National Insurance. If your pension is the second kind, leave the box at zero or you will overstate take-home. The thresholds and the Scottish table are written out on the band page, the National Insurance page, and the student loan page.

A Plan 2 loan on the £40,000 salary

Plan 2 for 2026/27 starts at £29,385 and takes 9%. On £40,000 that is 9% of £10,615, about £955 for the year, roughly £80 a month. Take-home falls from £32,320 to about £31,365. Plan 5, threshold £25,000, takes 9% of £15,000, which is £1,350, and take-home is about £30,970. The plan number changes the payslip more than the interest rate on the loan does. Postgraduate at 6% over £21,000 is added as well if you have one, about £1,140 on this salary, on top of the undergraduate plan.

Sacrifice a pension before you read the loan line. The calculator applies the loan to pay after the sacrifice box. A pension you pay from net pay does not work that way.