2026-27 tax year
£42,000 after tax
How much room is left below the 40% band on £42,000, and what happens when a rise crosses it?
Covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands, so the tax figures here do not apply to a Scottish taxpayer. National Insurance and student loan repayments are the same UK-wide. See the Scottish rates.
Take-home pay
Take-home pay, monthly
£2,813.30
£33,759.60 a year · £649.22 a week
- Kept from the whole salary An effective rate of 19.6% across everything you earn.
- 80.4%
- Kept from the next pound Tax at 20% and National Insurance at 8% on anything more.
- 72%
- Room before the 40% band The higher rate starts at £50,270.
- £8,270
£42,000 leaves £33,759.60 a year, or £2,813.30 a month, an effective rate of 19.6%.
The more useful number on this page is £8,270. That is how much more you could earn before any of it is taxed at 40%, and it is the figure that decides whether a promotion is worth what it looks like. Up to that point every extra pound is treated the same way as the last one.
Where the money goes
| Gross salary | £42,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Income Tax All of it charged at the 20% basic rate. | £5,886.00 |
| National Insurance 8% of everything above the £12,570 threshold. | £2,354.40 |
| Take-home pay | £33,759.60 |
| Band | Taxable income | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic rate | £0 – £37,700 | 20% | £5,886.00 |
What the next £5,000 is worth
A £5,000 rise leaves you £3,600.00 better off, or 72% of it. Below £50,270 that share is the same at every salary, because 20% tax and 8% National Insurance apply to each extra pound identically. With £8,270 of room left, a rise of this size stays entirely inside the basic rate and none of it is touched by the higher rate.
With a student loan
A Plan 2 loan takes 9% of everything above £29,385, which at £42,000 comes to £1,135.35 a year, or £94.61 a month, or 2.7% of your gross salary. Because the threshold is fixed, the proportion rises as the salary does: the same loan costs 0.2% of a £30,000 salary and far more of this one. A postgraduate loan, if you have one, adds a further 6% above £21,000 at the same time, not afterwards.
What these figures assume
- The figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own Income Tax bands and rates, and this page does not apply them.
- You are an employee under State Pension age, paid through PAYE, on National Insurance category letter A, the category most employees are on.
- You have the standard Personal Allowance of £12,570 and no adjustment from a tax code, marriage allowance, or a benefit in kind such as a company car.
- The pension field uses a net-pay arrangement: your employee contribution is deducted before Income Tax, but does not reduce National Insurance or student-loan earnings. Enter it as a percentage of the whole gross annual salary, excluding employer contributions. Qualifying earnings are not calculated automatically.
- Your salary is the same for the whole tax year. A mid-year pay rise or a change of job produces a different result in practice.
- Income is employment income only: no dividends, savings interest, rental or self-employed profit, each of which is taxed under its own rules and ordering.
What they do not include
- It does not apply Scottish Income Tax. If you are a Scottish taxpayer, the Income Tax figure here is wrong, though National Insurance is the same UK-wide.
- It does not model relief at source. Under that method, you pay after tax and National Insurance and the provider adds basic-rate tax relief; further relief may need to be claimed. Do not enter a relief-at-source payment as a net-pay contribution.
- It does not model salary sacrifice. Sacrifice reduces contractual gross pay itself and can lower National Insurance and student-loan earnings as well as Income Tax; the pension field here does not.
- It does not add employer pension contributions, calculate qualifying earnings, or include separate HMRC payments for pension tax relief.
- It does not read your tax code. A code other than the standard one, an underpayment being collected, or emergency tax will all change what you actually receive.
- It does not handle a second job or multiple employments, where the Personal Allowance is split across employers and the result depends on how the codes are allocated.
- It does not calculate bonuses in the month they are paid. A bonus is taxed for the year, but PAYE deducts it in one period, so a single payslip can look far worse than the annual figure.
- It shows employee National Insurance only. Employer contributions are a cost to your employer and never appear on your payslip as a deduction.
- It does not model benefits in kind, student loan Plan 3 (postgraduate doctoral), the High Income Child Benefit Charge, or the tapering of the annual pension allowance.
Sources
- Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (HMRC) (opens in a new tab)
The England, Wales and Northern Ireland taxable-income bands: 20% to £37,700, 40% to £125,140, and 45% above £125,140.
- Pension tax relief (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The distinction between relief through payroll and relief at source, including claims for further relief.
- Workplace pensions: managing your pension (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
Net-pay contributions before Income Tax, relief-at-source contributions after tax and NI, and checking the method with your employer.
- Adjusted net income (HMRC) (opens in a new tab)
The income used for the Personal Allowance taper and how pension relief affects it.
- Special rules for student loans (HMRC) (opens in a new tab)
Loan deductions use the same gross earnings as employer secondary Class 1 National Insurance, before ordinary net-pay pension deductions.
- Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The £12,570 Personal Allowance, the 20/40/45% band rates and their thresholds, and the withdrawal of the allowance above £100,000.
- National Insurance rates and categories (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The 8% main rate and 2% rate above the Upper Earnings Limit, the £242 weekly Primary Threshold and £967 weekly Upper Earnings Limit, and the category letters.
- Repaying your student loan: what you pay (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
The Plan 1, 2, 4 and 5 thresholds at 9%, and the £21,000 Postgraduate Loan threshold at 6%.
- Income Tax in Scotland (GOV.UK) (opens in a new tab)
Confirmation that Scotland sets separate Income Tax bands, which this calculator does not apply.
- Formula reviewed
- Formula version
- 3
This number moves whenever the formula changes, so a correction cannot be made silently.
Not your salary?
Put your own figure in.
The calculator runs the same arithmetic as this page, and adds a pension contribution, both student loan plans at once, and the marginal rate at any salary.
Open the uk take-home pay calculator