Work backwards from the take-home you want to the gross salary you need · 2026/27
Net = Gross − Tax − NI − Pension − Loan − HICBC
Only valid while you stay a basic-rate taxpayer (rUK) or no higher than the Scottish intermediate rate. Disabled automatically if Married Couple’s Allowance is ticked.
10% tax reducer on £4,530–£11,700, tapered above £39,200 adjusted net income. Cannot be combined with Marriage Allowance.
Models the High Income Child Benefit Charge on the higher earner (1% of Child Benefit per £200 over £60,000; 100% at £80,000). Child Benefit itself is paid separately and is not added to take-home.
Your entries are stored in this browser only and restored next time you open the page.
| Item | Annual | Monthly | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enter a take-home target to see results | |||
| Tax / NI band | Slice | Rate | Charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band working appears after a calculation | |||
This free calculator works in the opposite direction to a normal take-home tool. You enter the net pay you actually want in your bank, and it searches for the lowest gross PAYE salary that produces that result after 2026/27 Income Tax, employee National Insurance, optional pension, student loan and the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
Results update live. The highlighted figure is the contractual gross salary required. The chart shows how that gross splits, and a curve of take-home versus gross around the answer. The tables give a three-period payslip and the band-by-band tax and NI working.
find the lowest Gross where take-home(Gross) ≥ target
A closed formula breaks down at the Personal Allowance taper, the NI upper limit and student-loan thresholds, so the page uses a binary search on a full forward PAYE engine.
Goal: know the headline salary that leaves £2,500 a month after tax and NI, with no pension and no student loan.
Required gross ≈ £36,778 a year (£3,065 a month). Income Tax ≈ £4,842 · Employee NI ≈ £1,937 · Take-home £30,000.
Goal: see how the six Scottish bands change the gross you must ask for.
Scotland takes a little more tax around this income, so the required gross is slightly higher than the rUK figure for the same take-home.
Goal: model a typical graduate role with auto-enrolment.
Sacrifice lowers taxable pay (helpful) but 5% of a larger salary still leaves your bank. Plan 2 then takes 9% of earnings above £29,385, so the search has to lift gross further to hold take-home at £2,500.
Not professional advice: this is an educational estimate for a standard UK PAYE employee in 2026/27. It is not tax, payroll or financial advice. Confirm figures with your payslip, HMRC or a qualified adviser before making job or budget decisions.
Assumptions: one employment, Category A National Insurance, no other taxable income, no benefits-in-kind, no Gift Aid, no marriage-allowance donor side modelling, and pension percentages applied to contractual gross rather than qualifying-earnings bands. Relief-at-source higher-rate extra relief is not deducted through payroll. HICBC is treated as a deduction from employment take-home; Child Benefit paid to the household is not added.
Out of scope: self-employment, umbrella / IR35, director salary-and-dividend mixes, employer NI on-costs, tax-free childcare, company cars and tax-year comparison.
Please email all suggestions for improvements and any bug reports to: requiredsalarycalc@personalfinances.me, thank you.