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The calculator compares this year's rules (2026/27) with the ones the 28 October 2026 Budget announced for 2027/28. “Budget - 2027/28” is already chosen in the menu above the chart, so once you've entered your figures it tells you how much better or worse off you'd be.

For most people's pay, nothing changes. Income tax and national insurance rates stay the same and thresholds stay frozen, so the 60% trap and the child benefit charge start at the same points as before.

The big change is to savings and property income. From April 2027, savings interest and rental profit are taxed at 24%, 44% and 49%, 4p in the pound more than now, and the tax relief landlords get on mortgage interest rises from 20% to 24%. Someone earning £60,000 with £5,000 of savings interest outside an ISA would pay £180 more a year. Money in ISAs and pensions isn't affected.

Child benefit rises to £28.00 a week for the eldest child and £18.55 for each other child. And a new Pension Tax Allowance means someone over State Pension age whose only income is the full new State Pension (£13,036.40 a year) pays no income tax on it, with the allowance tapering away as other income rises.

These are announcements, not yet law, so they could change before they take effect.

Your effective rate is the share of your whole income that goes in tax. Your marginal rate is how much of your next £1 goes in tax.

Take an employee in England earning £50,000, with no pension contributions, student loan or children. They take home £39,520 a year, so their effective rate is 21%. But they lose 28p of every extra pound to income tax and national insurance, so their marginal rate is 28%.

The marginal rate is the one to watch when you're weighing up a pay rise, a bonus, extra hours or a bigger pension contribution. It isn't on your payslip, and around £60,000 and £100,000 it can be far higher than the headline rates.

Once your income goes over £100,000, you start losing your £12,570 tax-free personal allowance: £1 for every £2 you earn above £100,000. By £125,140 it's all gone.

So in that band each extra pound is taxed at 40%, and also costs you 50p of allowance, which is taxed at 40% too. That's 60%, or 62% with national insurance. A pay rise from £100,000 to £110,000 leaves you just £3,800 better off.

In Scotland the same band costs 69.5%. Above £125,140 the rate drops back to 47% (45% tax plus 2% national insurance), because there's no allowance left to lose.

Yes. Pension contributions reduce the income these rules are based on (your “adjusted net income”), so they can bring you back under £100,000. Add a contribution in the calculator and it shows how much you'd need to pay in, and what it really costs you.

On £110,000, paying £10,000 into your pension by salary sacrifice reduces your take-home pay by just £3,800, because you save income tax and national insurance and get some of your personal allowance back. Paying the same £10,000 into a personal pension or SIPP costs £4,000, as there's no national insurance saving. From April 2029, only the first £2,000 of salary sacrifice each year will be free of national insurance.

Gift Aid donations reduce your adjusted net income in the same way. Bear in mind that pension savings are locked away until at least age 57, so think about whether that suits your plans.

If you or your partner have income over £60,000, your child benefit is gradually taken back through the High Income Child Benefit Charge. You lose 1% for every £200 above £60,000, so it's all gone at £80,000.

It's based on whichever of you earns more, not your combined income. A couple each earning £59,000 keep all their child benefit, while a single parent on £80,000 loses all of it.

Between £60,000 and £80,000 this pushes your marginal rate up, and the more children you have, the bigger the jump. An employee in England with one child loses 49p of each extra pound in that band; with three children, 58p.

If either parent has income over £100,000, the family can lose Tax-Free Childcare (worth up to £2,000 per child a year) and, in England, some or all of the working-parent funded hours.

Unlike the other rules, this isn't gradual: going £1 over £100,000 loses the whole lot at once, so a pay rise can leave a family thousands of pounds worse off. Enter the support your family would lose and the calculator shows the drop. The “Net v gross” chart makes it easy to see.

As with the 60% trap, pension contributions can bring your income back under the line.

They aren't a tax, but while you're repaying they work like one. You repay 9% of your income above your plan's threshold, plus 6% above £21,000 if you have a postgraduate loan.

For 2026/27 the thresholds are £26,900 for Plan 1, £29,385 for Plan 2, £33,795 for Plan 4 and £25,000 for Plan 5. Repayments stop once the loan is paid off or written off.

Scotland has six income tax bands instead of three, with a top rate of 48%. Below about £33,500 Scottish taxpayers pay slightly less than the rest of the UK, at most £40 a year. Above that, they pay more.

Switch “Where you live” to Scotland to compare. National insurance is the same across the UK.

Yes. Under Other income, open “Self-employed” and enter your taxable profit: your profit after allowable expenses, which can differ from the profit in your accounts. Partners and LLP members enter their share of the taxable profit. If you also have a salary, enter both.

If you work inside IR35, enter what the client pays, excluding VAT, and the calculator takes employer national insurance out of it first. Umbrella company fees aren't included.

Usually because the calculator looks at a whole year, while national insurance and student loans are worked out one pay period at a time. If your pay varies, twelve payslips won't add up exactly to the yearly figure.

It also assumes the standard tax code, so you can't enter yours. If your code includes a company car or medical insurance, add them under “Benefits in kind” instead. And if you're a higher-rate taxpayer paying into a personal pension, only basic-rate relief goes straight into your pension; you claim the rest through Self Assessment. The calculator shows how much.

It looks at one person's income for one tax year. It doesn't include your partner's income, Universal Credit or other benefits (apart from child benefit and childcare support), employer pension contributions other than salary sacrifice, or carrying forward unused pension allowance.

Capital gains are covered simply, using the £3,000 tax-free allowance. Council tax, VAT and other taxes aren't included.

Yes. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or anyone else, and it's gone when you close the page. If you download the chart or data, that file stays on your device.

Tax Policy Associates built it and publish its code under the open-source MIT licence. We host it here unchanged, so the calculations are theirs.

It's a guide, not tax or financial advice. For your exact position, HMRC's Self Assessment is the definitive calculation.