Estimate your UK income tax using the personal allowance and basic/higher/additional rate bands.
Everyone gets a tax-free personal allowance (which tapers away above £100,000). Above that, income is taxed at 20% (basic rate), 40% (higher rate), and 45% (additional rate) as it crosses each threshold.
Illustrative estimate only, using simplified/rounded 2026/27 UK figures — not tax advice. Always confirm with HMRC or a qualified UK tax adviser.
Every UK taxpayer gets a tax-free Personal Allowance of £12,570 for 2026/27 before any income tax applies. Above that, income is taxed at 20% up to £50,270 (basic rate), 40% up to £125,140 (higher rate), and 45% above that (additional rate) in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland — Scotland runs its own separate set of bands and rates. Like the US federal system, this is progressive: only the slice of income within each band is taxed at that band's rate, not your whole income.
One quirk catches many people out: once income exceeds £100,000, the Personal Allowance is withdrawn at a rate of £1 for every £2 earned above that threshold, disappearing entirely by £125,140. That creates an effective marginal tax rate of 60% on income in that band, which is why pension contributions are often recommended specifically to bring taxable income back under £100,000.
Not necessarily. It reduces once total income passes £100,000 and is also affected by certain allowances like the Marriage Allowance transfer, or reduced for very high earners to zero by £125,140. Most taxpayers below £100,000 keep the full amount.
Scotland sets its own income tax bands and rates under devolved powers, currently with more bands than the rest of the UK and different thresholds — a Scottish taxpayer's bill on the same income can differ noticeably from someone in England on an identical salary.
Yes, self-employment profits are taxed through the same Income Tax bands as employment income, though they are reported and paid differently, through Self Assessment rather than PAYE, and are also subject to separate National Insurance rules.
Both have their own separate tax-free allowances and rate structures layered on top of the main Income Tax bands — the Personal Savings Allowance for interest and the Dividend Allowance for dividends — so income type matters, not just total amount.