Tax and salary

The calculators under Tax and salary work out how much of a gross figure reaches a bank account once income tax and contributions have been taken. On the English pages they follow the payroll rules of the United Kingdom. The take-home pay calculator starts from a gross salary and deducts PAYE income tax and National Insurance, then student loan repayments and pension contributions where they apply. It handles the Scottish bands, a tax code typed from a payslip and the Personal Allowance taper, per year, month, week or hour.

The second tool answers a narrower question that comes up when a job ends: how much statutory leave is still owed under the Working Time Regulations 1998, and what it is worth. The holiday pay owed on leaving covers staff on fixed days as well as those on irregular hours, and estimates the tax and National Insurance taken from the final payment.

A third tool looks further ahead. The State Pension age calculator turns a date of birth into the day State Pension age is reached under the Pensions Act 1995 timetable. It also shows when a workplace or personal pension can first be drawn and gives a rough count of National Insurance qualifying years.

A fourth tool concerns the home rather than pay. The VAT on energy-saving materials page works out the VAT saved when solar panels, a heat pump, a battery or insulation are installed in a home, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant that can come off a heat pump.

Three further tools deal with money outside the regular pay packet. The bonus tax calculator shows what PAYE takes from a bonus in the month it is paid and what the bonus really costs over the tax year. The Bereavement Support Payment calculator works out the payments to a surviving spouse, civil partner or cohabiting parent, or the State Pension a survivor over State Pension age can inherit. The State Pension increase calculator applies the April uprating and shows the Income Tax before and after.

Another tool covers the weeks after a job ends. The New Style JSA calculator shows the weekly Jobseeker's Allowance, its first and last day, and what a pension or part-time pay takes off.

Side work has a tool of its own. The side hustle tax calculator checks gross receipts against the trading allowance, says whether Self Assessment registration falls due and estimates the Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance on the profit.

Every rate, band and threshold comes from the body that sets it: HMRC and GOV.UK for income tax, National Insurance and student loans, legislation.gov.uk for the Working Time Regulations, and Acas guidance for how entitlement is counted. The figures sit in one data file per country rather than in the text, so when a new tax year begins the calculation and the explanation change together. Each tool page lists its sources with links and shows the date its figures were last checked against them.

Before a page goes live, the calculator is run against reference cases. Where an official body publishes a worked example, as Acas does for holiday entitlement, the case reproduces that example; where none exists, it is worked by hand from the published rates. The methodology explains the whole process.

Every result is an estimate for information. It is not tax, financial or legal advice and does not replace a payslip. What counts is what the employer's payroll actually deducts, and any difference over the tax year is settled with HMRC afterwards.

A real payslip can differ because of other income, an adjusted or emergency tax code, or the timing of a final payment. Each tool page lists what its calculation leaves out.