2026/27 at a glance
| England, Wales, NI | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|
| Personal allowance | £12,570 | £12,570 |
| Rates on salary | 20% / 40% / 45% | 19% / 20% / 21% / 42% / 45% / 48% |
| Higher rate starts at | £50,271 | £43,663 |
| Employee NI | 8% from £12,570 to £50,270, 2% above | same |
| Employer NI | 15% above £5,000 | same |
| Plan 2 student loan threshold | £29,385 | £29,385 |
| Plan 4 (Scottish) threshold | — | £33,795 |
| National Living Wage (21+) | £12.71 an hour | £12.71 an hour |
The personal allowance and the England, Wales and Northern Ireland bands are frozen, so wage rises push more income into the higher rate each year. Scotland raised its starter and basic rate bands for 2026/27. Dividend tax rates for basic and higher rate taxpayers rose by 2 percentage points from 6 April 2026.
Find the right calculator
- Take-home pay from a salary: the salary calculator handles tax codes, Scotland, pensions and every student loan plan.
- One payslip: the monthly and weekly pay calculator shows a single month or week the way payroll calculates it.
- Hourly or part-time work: use the hourly rate calculator or the pro-rata salary calculator.
- Leaving a job: statutory redundancy pay and holiday entitlement.
- Running your own business: self-employed tax, dividend tax, the salary vs dividend calculator for company directors and the IR35 comparison.
- Buying a home: stamp duty for England and Northern Ireland, with LBTT for Scotland and LTT for Wales.
How we check the numbers
Each tax year has its own data file with HMRC’s thresholds, the Scottish bands and the devolved property taxes. Tests reproduce the GOV.UK worked examples — such as £4,750 of stamp duty on a £295,000 home — and check the edge cases: the personal allowance taper between £100,000 and £125,140, the switch to the 2% NI rate, and every student loan threshold. Rates are re-checked before each tax year starts on 6 April and whenever a Budget changes them.