Every example at a glance
6 scenarios, all worked the same way. Tap a row to jump to the full breakdown.
How it is worked out
Income tax is charged in bands, and only the slice of income inside each band is taxed at that band's rate. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland:
- Personal allowance — the first £12,570 is taxed at 0%
- Basic rate — 20% on income from £12,571 to £50,270
- Higher rate — 40% on income from £50,271 to £125,140
- Additional rate — 45% above £125,140
One rule bends the bands out of shape. Above £100,000 the personal allowance is withdrawn by £1 for every £2 earned, so between £100,000 and £125,140 an extra pound of salary is taxed at 40% and also removes 50p of allowance that was taxed at 0% — a marginal rate of 60%. That is why the £120,000 row has an effective rate so much higher than the £100,000 one.
These figures are income tax only. National Insurance, student loan repayments and pension contributions are separate deductions and are not included.
Each example in full
Every card below opens in the Income Tax Calculator with its own numbers already filled in, so you can change one figure and see what moves.
£30,000
£30,000 sits comfortably inside the basic rate, which makes it the clearest illustration of how much of a salary the personal allowance actually shelters.
Open this one in the Income Tax Calculator →£40,000
£40,000 is close to the UK median for full-time work, and it is the last round salary before the higher-rate threshold starts to matter to pay-rise arithmetic.
Open this one in the Income Tax Calculator →£50,000
£50,000 is a few hundred pounds below the higher-rate threshold, so it is the salary where people most often assume they have crossed a line they have not yet crossed.
Open this one in the Income Tax Calculator →£60,000
At £60,000 a meaningful slice of income is taxed at 40% for the first time, and the gap between the band rate and the effective rate is at its most surprising.
Open this one in the Income Tax Calculator →£100,000
£100,000 is the last pound before the personal allowance begins to taper away, which makes this page the baseline for understanding the 60% band that follows it.
Open this one in the Income Tax Calculator →£120,000
£120,000 sits inside the tapered-allowance range, so the personal allowance here is only a fraction of the standard one and every extra pound is effectively taxed at 60%.
Open this one in the Income Tax Calculator →What these figures do not include
- National Insurance, which is a separate deduction on the same income.
- Student loan and postgraduate loan repayments.
- Pension contributions, salary sacrifice and other pre-tax deductions, all of which reduce taxable income.
- Scottish rates, which use different bands entirely. Scotland has its own band structure and these figures do not apply.
- Dividend, savings and capital gains income, which are taxed under separate rules.
Frequently asked questions
Why does £120,000 lose so much more than £100,000?+
Because of the personal-allowance taper. Between £100,000 and £125,140 every extra £2 of salary removes £1 of personal allowance, so that slice of income carries an effective marginal rate of 60% rather than 40%. The £20,000 between the two rows costs £10,000 in tax.
Do these figures apply in Scotland?+
No. Scotland sets its own income tax bands and rates, with more bands than the rest of the UK. Every figure here uses the England, Wales and Northern Ireland structure.
Is this my take-home pay?+
Not quite — this is income tax only. National Insurance and any student loan repayment come out of the same salary, so actual take-home is lower than the figure shown here.