Income tax and National Insurance, 2026/27

£20,000 a year is £17,920 in your pocket

That's £1,493 a month, or £345 a week. Bottom 25% of UK earners — more than 23% of taxpayers.

Income tax 7.4%National Insurance 3.0%Yours 89.6%

Employee on a standard tax code in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. No pension, student loan or benefits in kind. Assumptions.

Every pound you earn, cut three ways

Where £20,000 goes

Line	Per year
Personal allowanceTax-free	£12,570
Basic rate income tax20% of £7,430	£1,486
National Insurance8% up to £50,270, 2% above	£594
Take-home pay	£17,920

Effective rate

10%

of your pay goes to HMRC

Marginal rate

28p

of your next pound goes to HMRC

Cost to employer

£22,250

Your salary plus £2,250 employer's National Insurance

All-in rate

19%

of the total cost of employing you ends up with HMRC

Working for the Treasury until

7 February

Your effective rate as a share of the year. After that the pay is yours.

For scale

£29,700

Median UK taxpayer income. The top 10% starts at £67,400, the top 1% at £207,000.