Gross to Net Calculator (UK Take-Home Pay 2026/27)

Use the gross to net calculator above

Pop your gross salary into the calculator, choose your region if you're in Scotland, and it returns your net pay instantly. The rest of this page explains the figures behind the result so you can trust the number - and spot when something looks off on your payslip.

Gross vs net explained

Gross pay is your total earnings before anything is taken off - the salary in your job offer or contract. Net pay (your take-home) is what remains after deductions. For most employees the two main deductions are Income Tax and National Insurance, often with a workplace pension on top.

The reason the gap feels large is that the UK taxes income in slices. You keep the first £12,570 tax-free (the Personal Allowance), then each band above that is taxed at a higher rate. National Insurance works on similar thresholds. So someone on £40,000 doesn't lose 20% of the whole lot - only the part above the allowance is taxed.

What gets deducted in 2026/27

For an employee paid through PAYE, a gross to net salary calculation usually removes:

• Income Tax - 20% basic, 40% higher and 45% additional rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, applied to taxable income above your Personal Allowance.
• National Insurance (Class 1) - 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above that.
• Workplace pension - if you're auto-enrolled, your contribution comes off before you see the money. The calculator can factor this in.
• Student loan - 9% above your plan's threshold (6% for postgraduate loans), if applicable.

Income Tax in Scotland uses different bands and rates, but the Personal Allowance and National Insurance thresholds are the same UK-wide. If you live in Scotland, switch the region setting so the result reflects Scottish rates rather than the rest-of-UK ones.

How the gross to net calculator works

The formula in plain words is:

Net pay = Gross salary − Income Tax − National Insurance − Pension − Student loan

Income Tax is worked out like this:

• Personal Allowance = £12,570 (reduced by £1 for every £2 you earn over £100,000, gone entirely at £125,140).
• Taxable income = Gross − Personal Allowance.
• 20% on the first £37,700 of taxable income, 40% on £37,700–£125,140, 45% above £125,140.

National Insurance is calculated as 8% of earnings between the Primary Threshold (£12,570) and the Upper Earnings Limit (£50,270), plus 2% on anything above £50,270. One nuance worth knowing: real NI is worked out per pay period, not cumulatively like tax, so a monthly view applies the monthly thresholds (£1,048 and £4,189). An annual calculation is a close approximation for most steady salaries.

Worked example: gross to net on £40,000

Take Priya, a project coordinator in Leeds earning £40,000. Here's how her gross to net works for 2026/27:

• Personal Allowance: £12,570
• Taxable income: £40,000 − £12,570 = £27,430
• Income Tax: £27,430 × 20% = £5,486
• National Insurance: (£40,000 − £12,570) × 8% = £27,430 × 8% = £2,194.40
• Net pay: £40,000 − £5,486 − £2,194.40 = £32,319.60

That's a monthly net of about £2,693. So on a £40,000 salary Priya keeps roughly 81% of her gross, before any pension contribution.

A higher earner: £55,000

Now take Daniel on £55,000, who slips into the higher-rate band:

• Taxable income: £55,000 − £12,570 = £42,430
• Income Tax: £37,700 × 20% (£7,540) + £4,730 × 40% (£1,892) = £9,432
• National Insurance: £37,700 × 8% (£3,016) + £4,730 × 2% (£94.60) = £3,110.60
• Net pay: £55,000 − £9,432 − £3,110.60 = £42,457.40

Monthly net of about £3,538. Notice the marginal hit: once you're over £50,270, each extra pound is taxed at 40% and NI drops to 2%, so a pay rise feels smaller than the headline suggests.

Net to gross (reverse) calculation

Sometimes you need to go the other way - you know the take-home you want and need the gross to ask for. A net to gross calculator does this by trial: it tests a gross figure, runs the deductions, checks the resulting net against your target, and adjusts until they match. There's no single tidy formula because the tax bands change the deduction rate as the salary rises. If you want £30,000 in your pocket, the gross needed depends on which bands that crosses, so let the tool iterate rather than guessing.

2026/27 rates & thresholds

Source: gov.uk Income Tax rates, checked for the 2026/27 tax year. Scottish income tax bands differ - use the Scotland setting if it applies to you.

How to improve your net pay

A few legitimate levers can widen the gap in your favour:

• Pension contributions - paying more into a pension reduces taxable income and, with salary sacrifice, can cut your NI too. Try the salary sacrifice calculator to see the effect.
• Check your tax code - a wrong code is the most common reason net pay looks low. If you're on an emergency code (like 1257L W1/M1 or BR), you may be overpaying.
• Marriage Allowance - a non-taxpaying spouse can transfer £1,260 of allowance to a basic-rate partner, lifting household net income.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a flat tax rate. People often think "I'm a 40% taxpayer so I lose 40% of everything." Only the slice above the higher-rate threshold is taxed at 40%.
• Forgetting the pension. Auto-enrolment contributions come out before your net figure, so your payslip net is lower than a tax-and-NI-only calculation.
• Ignoring Scotland. Scottish taxpayers have extra bands (19% to 48%). Using rest-of-UK rates gives the wrong net.
• Mixing up gross and net when comparing jobs. Always compare net to net, especially across regions or with different pension schemes.
• The £100,000 trap. Above £100,000 your Personal Allowance tapers away, creating an effective 60% marginal rate between £100,000 and £125,140 - your net can barely move on a pay rise in that zone.

These figures are estimates for guidance only and not personal tax or financial advice. Always check your own payslip and tax code with HMRC.

Who should use this calculator

This converts in the direction payroll works: start with the contractual gross figure and follow the deductions down to what is paid. Seeing the sequence matters, because the order is not arbitrary — pension usually comes out before Income Tax, which is precisely why pension contributions cost less than they appear to.

It is the view to use when you are checking a payslip line by line rather than just the bottom figure. If a deduction looks wrong, working down the same order your employer does is how you find which one.

What this calculator assumes

• Deductions are applied in payroll order: pension first, then Income Tax, then National Insurance and student loan.
• Pension is taken from gross pay, reducing the amount subject to Income Tax.
• You hold the standard tax code for your circumstances.
• Selecting Scotland applies Scottish bands to the tax step.

Limitations — what it does not cover

• Relief-at-source pension schemes, where contributions come from net pay and the provider reclaims basic-rate relief instead — a different order with the same destination.
• Cumulative PAYE, which recalculates against year-to-date figures each period.
• Employer National Insurance, which never appears on a payslip.
• Attachment of earnings orders and their statutory priority.
• Net pay arrangements versus salary sacrifice, which differ on National Insurance.

Related calculators

To dig deeper, try our salary calculator for a full take-home breakdown, the net salary calculator for monthly and weekly figures, and the income tax calculator or National Insurance calculator if you want to see each deduction on its own.