Salary Needed for £X Take-home 2026/27
Reverse-engineer the gross UK salary you need to hit a target take-home. Useful for budgeting and contract negotiation: "I need to bring home £X, what gross am I asking for?". The calculator uses the same engine that powers the salary calculator, so the round-trip is exact.
Required gross for common take-home targets (2026-27)
| Target take-home | Required gross | Effective marginal rate | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £22,890 | 28.0% | £2,890 |
| £25,000 | £29,834 | 28.0% | £4,834 |
| £30,000 | £36,778 | 28.0% | £6,778 |
| £35,000 | £43,723 | 28.0% | £8,723 |
| £40,000 | £50,763 | 42.0% | £10,763 |
| £45,000 | £59,384 | 42.0% | £14,384 |
| £50,000 | £68,005 | 42.0% | £18,005 |
| £60,000 | £85,246 | 42.0% | £25,246 |
| £70,000 | £103,796 | 62.0% | £33,796 |
| £75,000 | £116,955 | 62.0% | £41,955 |
| £80,000 | £128,705 | 47.0% | £48,705 |
| £90,000 | £147,573 | 47.0% | £57,573 |
| £100,000 | £166,441 | 47.0% | £66,441 |
Note how the gross-to-net gap widens disproportionately above the higher-rate threshold (£50,270) and especially in the £100,000-£125,140 PA-taper band where the effective marginal rate jumps to ~62%.
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Frequently asked questions
- How do I work out the gross salary for a target take-home?
- There is no simple algebraic formula because UK Income Tax + NI have multiple band thresholds and the Personal Allowance tapers above £100,000 of gross income. This calculator uses bisection: it tries a gross figure, computes the take-home through the standard PAYE engine, and adjusts up or down until the answer hits the target net within £1. Twenty-five iterations is usually enough.
- Why does the gross for £80k net look so high?
- Hitting £80,000 net requires a gross around £115,000-£120,000, well into the £100k-£125,140 Personal Allowance taper band. Every gross pound in that band carries an effective 62% deduction (40% IT + 2% NI + 20% PA loss), so you need a lot more gross to lift the marginal net.
- Does this calculator handle Scottish bands?
- Yes - the inverse calc wraps the salary engine, so changing the region to Scotland uses the Scottish Income Tax bands (Starter, Basic, Intermediate, Higher, Advanced, Top) for the underlying gross-to-net step. National Insurance is UK-wide so unchanged.
- Can I include pension contributions?
- Yes - if you sacrifice a percentage of salary into pension, set that percentage in the optional input and the search will find the gross salary that produces the target take-home AFTER the sacrifice deduction. This is the right model for "what salary do I need so that after my 10% pension sacrifice I still net £X".
- Is there a closed-form formula?
- For a single band the algebra is trivial: gross = (net - allowance_relief) / (1 - band_rate). But UK pay crosses up to five bands plus the taper, so building a closed-form solver is more code than just bisecting. The bisection approach also adapts automatically to any future band change without algebra rework.
Related calculators
Other UK tax calculators that pair with the Gross for Net.