Salary Needed for £X Take-home 2026/27
Work back from a target UK take-home pay to the gross salary needed, using 2026/27 Income Tax and NI, for Scotland or the rest of the UK.
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 and finds a gross salary whose take-home is within £1 of your target. Choose Scotland for Scottish Income Tax bands; the table below uses England rates.
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 |
The gap between gross and take-home widens above the higher-rate threshold (£50,270) and most sharply in the Personal Allowance taper band (£100,000 to £125,140), where the marginal rate is about 62%. The marginal rate column is measured on the next £1,000 of gross. No pension or student loan deductions.
Related calculators
Other UK tax calculators that pair with the Gross for Net.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out the gross salary for a target take-home?
There is no single formula, because Income Tax and National Insurance have several thresholds and the Personal Allowance tapers away above £100,000 of adjusted net income. The calculator searches instead: it tries a gross salary, runs it through the same take-home engine as the salary calculator, and narrows the range until the take-home is within £1 of your target. That takes about 20 steps.
Why does the gross for £80k net look so high?
Because getting there crosses the Personal Allowance taper. Between £100,000 and £125,140 every extra pound loses 40% Income Tax, 2% NI and another 20% through the lost allowance, about 62% in all. For 2026/27 a take-home of £80,000 needs a gross of about £128,705, above the top of the taper band, on England rates with no pension or student loan.
Does this calculator handle Scottish bands?
Yes. Choose Scotland in the calculator and it solves using the Scottish Income Tax bands; England, Wales and Northern Ireland share the rest-of-UK bands. National Insurance is the same across the UK. The table of common targets on this page uses England rates.
Can I include pension contributions?
Yes. Enter a salary sacrifice percentage and the search finds the gross salary that gives your target take-home after that sacrifice. The model treats the percentage as salary sacrifice, which reduces both Income Tax and NI; a relief-at-source personal pension works differently.
Is there a closed-form formula?
Within a single band you can rearrange the arithmetic: the extra gross needed is the extra net divided by one minus the combined marginal rate. Across several thresholds and the Personal Allowance taper that becomes a set of piecewise cases, so the calculator searches numerically instead, which also adapts automatically when rates change.