The rates
Personal allowance £12,570 (frozen until April 2031), basic rate 20% to £50,270, higher rate 40% to £125,140, additional rate 45%. Employee National Insurance is 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above. Scotland has six bands from 19% to 48% — see the Scottish calculator.
Worked examples
| Gross | Income tax | NI | Take-home | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | £3,486 | £1,394 | £25,120 | £2,093 |
| £50,000 | £7,486 | £2,994 | £39,520 | £3,293 |
| £80,000 | £19,432 | £3,611 | £56,957 | £4,746 |
| £120,000 | £39,432 | £4,411 | £76,157 | £6,346 |
No pension or student loan in these figures. Between £100,000 and £125,140 each extra £1 costs 60p in tax plus 2p NI because the personal allowance is withdrawn.
Fiscal drag
Thresholds have been frozen since 2021 while wages rose roughly 25%, pulling millions into higher bands. A £50,000 salary in 2021 is worth about £62,500 today, which is now £12,000 into the 40% band.
Reducing the bill
Salary sacrifice into a pension saves tax at your marginal rate plus 8% or 2% NI (and employers often pass on part of their 15% NI saving). Contributions that bring adjusted net income below £100,000 recover the personal allowance and child benefit. Cycle-to-work, electric-car salary sacrifice and the £500 trading allowance are the other mainstream reliefs.
Student loans and other deductions
Plan 2 graduates pay 9% above £29,385; Plan 5 above £25,000; postgraduate loans 6% above £21,000. Auto-enrolment pensions take 5% of qualifying earnings unless you opt out. Use the take-home calculator to layer these on.