What actually lands in your account?
Most salary calculators skip the hard parts. This one handles Scotland's six tax bands, all five student loan plans (including a stacked postgraduate loan), the £100k personal-allowance trap, and all three pension arrangements — including salary sacrifice, which most tools can't model at all.
£30,880 a year · £593.84 a week · plus £2,000 into your pension
| Gross salary | £40,000 |
|---|---|
| Basic rate · 20% on £25,430 | −£5,086 |
| National Insurance | −£2,034 |
| Pension from pay | −£2,000 |
| Take-home pay | £30,880 |
- Salary sacrifice is the most efficient way inYour contribution avoids income tax, National Insurance — the arrangement most calculators can't even model.
- Income tax shown for England, Wales & Northern IrelandThe same salary in Scotland would mean £45 more income tax under its six-band system.
General guidance based on your figures — not financial or tax advice. Assumes a standard 1257L-style tax code and employee PAYE income only.
How this calculator works
Figures use the 2026/27 tax year: the frozen £12,570 personal allowance (tapered above £100,000), rUK and Scottish income tax bands, Class 1 employee National Insurance at 8% and 2%, and the current repayment thresholds for Plans 1, 2, 4, 5 and postgraduate loans. Salary sacrifice reduces tax, NI and student loan repayments; net-pay contributions reduce tax only; relief-at-source contributions leave pay after tax with basic-rate relief added in the pension. Every rate and source is listed on the How we calculate page.