Two Salaries Comparison Calculator

Resident in Scotland

From April 2017 If you live in Scotland, income tax is calculated differently than if you live in the rest of the UK. The rates and thresholds are set by the Scottish Government.

You are classed as living in Scotland if that is where your main residence is. More information is available here and here.

Job Support Scheme

The furlough scheme was due to be replaced by the Job Support Scheme in November 2020, but the furlough scheme has been extended and the Job Support Scheme may be introduced later in the year. This scheme offers support to employers who bring their staff back to work gradually.

As long as you work 20% or more of your full-time hours, your employer will pay an extra 5% of the remainder of your pay, and the government will pay 61.67% of the remainder as well. The government contribution is capped at £1541.75 per month.

£2,500 per month limit

During the Coronavirus outbreak, the government have said that they will subsidise employers' costs to pay staff who are not working and are instead placed on "furlough". The government subsidy is limited to 80% of the employee's salary, or £2,500 per month, whichever is the lower. To make sure this cap is applied to your calculations, tick the box.

Don't reduce pension contributions when on furlough

For some people, although the amount they are getting paid has been reduced, their pension contributions are still calculated on their full salary. If this applies to you, tick this box and the calculator will use your full salary to work out the pension contributions to apply.

Tax Code

If you know your tax code, enter it here to get a more accurate calculation of the tax you will pay. If you are unsure of your tax code, just leave it blank and the default will be applied.

Learn more about tax codes on the page about The Salary Calculator.

Student Loans

There are several methods for repaying student loans, and more than one may apply to you. If you started your undergraduate course before 1st September 2012, or you lived in Northern Ireland, your loan will be repaid under "Plan 1". If your course started on or after 1st September 2012 and you lived in England or Wales, you will repay your loan through Plan 2. From April 2021, choose Plan 4 if you lived in Scotland (even if you took out your loan before 2021). Loans for postgraduate study are repaid through the Postgraduate Loan plan. Tick the relevant box(es) to see the deductions.

More information is available on the About page.

Bonus Payments

If you are being awarded a bonus by your employer, enter the £ value of this bonus and choose your normal pay period. This is treated as a one-off payment in a single pay period.

Instead of the usual columns in the results table, you will see your yearly totals and a comparison of your bonus period with a normal period.

As most employers do not include bonus payments in the calculation of pension deductions, the calculator also makes no changes to pensions in a bonus period.

Pension Contributions

If you contribute to a pension scheme by having a percentage of your salary deducted by your employer, enter the percentage into the "Pension contribution" field.

If you do not know the percentage that you contribute, you can instead choose to enter the amount, in pounds and pence, that you contribute from each payslip.

Choose the type of pension that you have, either an auto-enrolment employer pension, an other (non-auto-enrolment) employer pension, a salary sacrifice scheme, or a personal pension. For auto-enrolment pensions, the percentage contribution field only applies to your earnings between the lower and upper thresholds (£6,240 to £50,270), not your whole income.

If your pension is not auto-enrolment, you can choose whether your contribution is based on your whole gross salary, or your "Qualifying Earnings", which is the amount you earn between the auto-enrolment thresholds described in the previous paragraph. If your overtime payments or bonuses are subject to pension contributions, tick these boxes (these apply automatically to auto-enrolment pensions).

If you receive cash allowances, like a car allowance or mobile phone allowance, and this is also included in your pensionable pay, tick the "Include cash allowances" box.

Childcare Vouchers

If you receive childcare vouchers as part of a salary sacrifice scheme, enter the monthly value of the vouchers that you receive into the box provided.

If you joined the voucher scheme before 6th April 2011, tick the box.

Salary Sacrifice

You might agree with your employer to contractually reduce your salary by a certain amount, in exchange for some non-cash benefits. From April 2017, most schemes will only save National Insurance on the value of those benefits.

If your scheme is tax-exempt, then you will also save income tax on the amount you sacrifice.

If you take part in such a scheme, enter the amount you sacrifice into the box (choose NI only or tax exempt according to your scheme) and choose whether this is on a yearly, monthly or weekly basis.

Taxable Benefits

Your employer might provide you with employment benefits, such as a company car or private healthcare, known as "benefits in kind". You pay tax on the value of these benefits, but not National Insurance. If your tax code is used to collect the extra tax, you do not need to enter your benefits here.

Alternatively, your employer might provide you with a cash allowance (such as a car allowance) which increases your take-home pay. Both income tax and National Insurance are due on such allowances.

If you do receive such benefits, enter the value of the benefits into the box and choose whether this is on a yearly, monthly or weekly basis.

Other Options

You may not pay National Insurance Contributions, for example if you are over State Pension Age. If this applies to you, tick the "No NI" box.

Those who are registered blind are entitled to an increased personal allowance which reduces the amount of tax you pay. Tick the "Blind" box if this applies to you.

If you are married and were born before 6th April 1938, you receive a tax rebate. Tick the "Married" box to apply this rebate to calculations - otherwise leave the box clear.

Just for your information, you can also see the amount of National Insurance your employer is paying - this is not deducted from your salary so does not affect your take-home pay.

If one or both of these "jobs" is actually a pension that you are in receipt of, you will not pay NI on that income. Tick the relevant box(es) if this applies to you.

Other Deductions

If you have other deductions which are taken out of your pay each month, enter them into the fields provided. Some deductions are made before tax (such as charitable giving or Give As You Earn), others are taken after tax (including Gift Aid contributions, where the charity receives the tax relief from the government).

Deductions before tax should go in the "Pre-tax" box, and those taken after tax should go in the "After tax" box.

Age

Prior to 2016, your age affected your tax-free personal allowance. Since 2016, all ages have received the same personal allowance, so this option only applies if choosing earlier tax years.

Choose your age on 6th April at the start of the tax year you are interested in.

Employer's National Insurance

As well as your own National Insurance contributions, your employer pays National Insurance to HMRC but this is not deducted from your take-home pay.

January 2024 National Insurance change

On 22nd November 2023 Jeremy Hunt announced that National Insurance contributions made by employees would be reduced. The standard rate of NI will change from the current 12% to 10% from 6th January 2024.

Weeks in a year

For most people, 52 weeks in the year is sufficient, but some employers use the more accurate 52.14. This only affects hourly rate and overtime calculations.