How much tax will I pay? Income Tax bands for 2026/27
Quick answer: For 2026/27 you pay no Income Tax on the first 12,570 pounds you earn (the Personal Allowance), 20% on income up to 50,270 pounds, 40% up to 125,140 pounds and 45% above. National Insurance and any student loan repayments come on top.
Income Tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is charged in bands, so you only pay each rate on the slice of income that falls in that band. This guide sets out the 2026/27 bands, shows what tax looks like on common salaries, and explains the other deductions that affect your take-home pay.
Last reviewed:
Primary source: https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates
The 2026/27 Income Tax bands
Everyone with income under 100,000 pounds gets a 12,570 pound Personal Allowance taxed at 0%. The next slice up to 50,270 is taxed at 20%, then 40% up to 125,140, and 45% above.
Worked example: on a 30,000 pound salary, 12,570 is tax-free and the remaining 17,430 is taxed at 20%, giving 3,486 pounds of Income Tax. On 60,000, you pay 7,540 pounds at 20% and 3,892 pounds at 40%, totalling 11,432 pounds.
What else comes out of your pay
On top of Income Tax you usually pay National Insurance (8% on most employee earnings), and possibly student loan repayments and a workplace pension contribution. Together these explain why take-home pay is well below the headline salary.
Pension contributions are taken before tax (or refunded through tax relief), so paying into a pension reduces your Income Tax bill as well as building retirement savings.
The 100k trap and your tax code
Between 100,000 and 125,140 pounds the loss of the Personal Allowance creates an effective 60% tax rate on that band. Pension contributions are a common way to manage this.
Your tax code tells your employer how much tax-free pay to give you. A wrong code is a frequent reason take-home pay looks off, so it is worth checking it against your Personal Allowance.
Common questions
How much tax will I pay on 30,000 pounds?
Around 3,486 pounds of Income Tax (12,570 tax-free, the rest at 20%), plus roughly 1,394 pounds of National Insurance, before any pension or student loan deductions.
What is the 40% tax threshold?
The higher rate of 40% applies to taxable income above 50,270 pounds and up to 125,140 pounds for 2026/27.
Why has my tax code changed my take-home pay?
Your tax code sets your tax-free allowance. If it changes, the amount of pay taxed at 0% changes too, which moves your take-home pay up or down.