Net pay on a UK bonus.
Net bonus in pocket
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PAYE on bonus
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NI on bonus
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Your breakdown
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Why a bonus rarely lands as a round number
A bonus is taxed at your marginal rate, the rate that applies to your next pound of income, not at some special bonus rate. This calculator works that out properly by computing your PAYE and National Insurance on salary alone, then on salary plus the taxable bonus, and taking the difference. That marginal method is the only honest way to do it, because a bonus is stacked on top of your existing pay and can be taxed across more than one band. It also lets you model sacrificing some or all of the bonus straight into a pension.
The constants come from the 2026/27 figures: a £12,570 personal allowance, the 20 percent basic rate to £37,700 of taxable income, 40 percent above that, and 45 percent over £125,140. On the National Insurance side, employee Class 1 runs at 8 percent between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2 percent above. This tool is for an employee who has just been told a bonus number and wants to know what actually hits the bank account.
A £10,000 bonus on a £60,000 salary
Take the defaults: a £60,000 salary, a £10,000 bonus, nothing sacrificed. At £60,000 you are already a higher-rate taxpayer, so the whole bonus sits in the 40 percent band, and because £60,000 is above the £50,270 NI upper earnings limit, the bonus only attracts 2 percent NI.
The chart breaks the £10,000 into the three slices that leave your pay: tax, NI, and what you keep.
The 60 percent trap a bonus can spring
If a bonus pushes your total income across £100,000, watch out. Above that line your personal allowance tapers away at the rate of £1 lost for every £2 earned, which creates an effective marginal rate of around 60 percent on income between £100,000 and £125,140. A bonus that straddles £100,000 can therefore be taxed at a far harsher rate than you expect on the slice above the threshold. Enter a salary near £100,000 and a sizeable bonus into this tool and the effective rate jumps, which is the calculator quietly flagging the taper. The classic fix is to sacrifice enough of the bonus into a pension to keep income under £100,000 and rescue the full allowance.
Why your payslip may withhold too much
People often panic when a bonus arrives and the deduction looks brutal, sometimes well over half. That is usually PAYE over-withholding, not the real tax. The payroll system can treat the bonus month as if you earned that much every month, annualising it and briefly assuming a higher tax band. PAYE is cumulative across the tax year, so in later months the system corrects itself and you get the excess back through reduced deductions, or via a refund after year end. The figure this calculator shows is the true annual cost, which is what you should plan around rather than the alarming single payslip.
Does sacrificing my bonus into a pension really avoid all the tax?
It avoids the income tax and the employee NI on the sacrificed amount, because the money never counts as your taxable pay. On a £10,000 bonus a higher-rate earner sacrificing the lot keeps the full £10,000 working inside the pension instead of receiving £5,800 in cash. The trade is access: pension money is locked away until at least age 55, rising to 57 from 2028. Set the sacrifice field in the tool to see your net cash fall while the pension contribution rises pound for pound.
Is the calculation different for a Scottish taxpayer?
The income tax part is, yes. Scotland sets its own bands and rates, so a Scottish higher-rate taxpayer pays 42 percent rather than 40 percent on a bonus in that band, and there is an advanced rate of 45 percent and a top rate of 48 percent higher up. National Insurance is identical across the UK because it is not devolved. This tool uses the England, Wales and Northern Ireland bands, so a Scottish taxpayer should treat the PAYE figure as a close approximation and expect to pay a little more.