Required Salary Calculator
Find out what gross salary you need to earn to hit your target take-home pay, after tax, NI, and student loan deductions.
How much you want to take home per year
Employee contribution as a percentage of gross salary
Check your payslip or ask your employer
Annual taxable value of non-cash benefits (e.g. company car, private medical)
Scotland has different income tax bands
Required salary calculator: work backwards from your target take-home
If you know how much you want to take home, this required salary calculator works backwards through HMRC 2026/27 income tax, National Insurance, pension, and student loan deductions to find the gross salary you need to earn. It supports England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
Why gross is so much higher than net
The gap between gross and net widens as you earn more, because higher slices of income are taxed at the higher and additional rates and, between £100,000 and £125,140, the Personal Allowance taper applies. The calculator accounts for all of this when solving for your target.