Net to Gross Salary Calculator 2026/27

How to work out gross salary from take-home pay

There is no simple formula, because income tax and National Insurance are charged in bands at different rates and the personal allowance changes the picture at both ends. This calculator solves it by working forwards from a trial gross, comparing the take-home it produces against your target, and narrowing in until the two match. That means the answer accounts for the 20%, 40% and 45% tax bands (or Scotland’s six bands), 8% and 2% National Insurance, any pension or student loan, and the personal allowance taper above £100,000.

Target take-home, and what it costs

Figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland on a standard code, with no pension or student loan. Employer cost adds employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000.

Notice the gap widening as the target rises. Each extra pound of take-home costs more gross than the last, because it is taxed at a higher marginal rate — and inside the £100,000 to £125,140 band, where the personal allowance tapers away, a pound in someone's pocket can cost well over two pounds of salary.

Why employers use a net-to-gross calculation

It answers the offer-negotiation question directly: “I have promised someone a certain amount in their pocket — what salary do I put in the contract, and what does it actually cost me?” The total cost to employ shown above adds employer National Insurance and pension on top of the gross, which is the figure you need to budget the real cost of the hire.

Put the gross figure in the contract, not the net

This is the part worth getting right. If a contract promises a take-home amount, you have agreed to deliver that figure whatever happens to tax — so a threshold freeze, a change of tax code, a student loan starting, or the employee picking up a second job all become your problem, and you top up the difference. Agreeing gross keeps the tax position where it belongs, with the employee and HMRC.

Use net-to-gross to find the number, then write the gross figure into the offer. It is fine to show the candidate the take-home you calculated — just make clear it is an illustration based on their current circumstances.

What the total employer cost includes

• Employer National Insurance — 15% on earnings above £5,000, with no upper limit, so it keeps accruing on every pound.
• Employer pension — at least 3% of qualifying earnings under auto-enrolment, more in a generous scheme.
• Employment Allowance — up to £10,500off your NI bill, but it is claimed once per PAYE scheme per year, not per employee, so it is not deducted from a single hire's cost here.

The employee cost calculator breaks the full cost down, including the allowance and any additional on-costs.

Five things that change the answer

• Tax code. A BR or 0T code changes the gross needed substantially, because the employee gets no personal allowance against that job.
• Student loan. Repayments of 9% above the plan threshold come out of take-home, so the gross has to rise to absorb them.
• Pension arrangement. Salary sacrifice reduces the gross needed, because it cuts tax and NI; relief at source does not.
• Scotland. Six bands rather than three, and higher rates in the middle, so the same take-home needs a different gross.
• Mid-year starts.These figures are annual. Someone starting in month six gets a full year's allowance against part of a year's pay, so their monthly take-home will look higher than the annual maths implies.

Grossing up a one-off payment

The same problem appears with bonuses: “I want them to receive £1,000 in their pocket.” Because a bonus sits on top of salary, it is taxed entirely at the employee's marginal rate, so a basic-rate taxpayer needs about £1,390 gross and a higher-rate taxpayer about £1,725. The bonus tax calculator works that out for a specific salary, and also shows what the same amount is worth paid into a pension instead — which often costs the employer less than grossing up.