What counts towards the £100,000 figure?

The test uses adjusted net income, not your salary. It is your total taxable income for the year, which includes salary, bonus, RSU vests, rental profit, savings interest and dividends, less pension contributions and Gift Aid donations grossed up where the rules require it. Salary sacrifice is different again: it reduces your contractual pay, so the sacrificed amount is never income in the first place.

Do my figures get sent anywhere?

No. The calculation runs in your browser using JavaScript on your own device. Nothing you type is transmitted, stored or passed to analytics. A payslip or P60 you drop in is opened and read the same way: on your device, never uploaded, never sent to an AI. The only thing that ever leaves the page is an email address, and only if you deliberately enter one and tick the consent box.

Can I fill it in from a payslip?

Yes. Drop in a PDF from your payroll portal, or a clear photo of the slip. Figures are extracted on your device — from the PDF text layer when available, otherwise with on-device OCR — for you to check before they are applied. If your pay varies, you can also enter the year-to-date totals by hand and have the rest of the year projected from them.

Does this cover Scotland?

Not for income tax. Scotland sets its own rates and bands, and modelling them badly would be worse than not modelling them at all. If you tell the calculator you pay Scottish income tax it shows a notice instead of a figure. The £100,000 rules that apply UK-wide, such as the childcare limit, still use adjusted net income calculated the same way.

Is this financial advice?

No. It provides information about how UK tax rules apply to the figures you enter. It does not take account of your personal circumstances, it makes no recommendation, and every figure is an estimate. Speak to a qualified adviser or accountant before acting on anything here.

Which tax year does it use?

The 2026/27 tax year, which runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, using the rates and thresholds for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

2026/27 tax year · England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Find out whether your bonus, RSU vest or variable pay is likely to take you over £100,000

Crossing £100,000 of adjusted net income is not a gentle slope. Your personal allowance starts to disappear, the effective marginal rate on the next slice of income reaches 60%, and childcare support ends at a single point with no taper. Enter your figures below to see where you land and what the crossing costs.

Runs in your browser
2026/27 rates
Good guidance

Your figures

Figures update as you type. There is nothing to submit.

Your figures never leave your browser. Payslips are read on your device — not uploaded, not sent to an AI. The calculation runs here too. Nothing you type is stored, logged, or passed to analytics.

Where do you pay income tax?

Scottish income tax rates and bands differ and are not covered by this tool.

England, Wales or Northern IrelandScotland

How do you want to enter your pay?

Drop a payslip to fill year-to-date figures, or enter amounts yourself below. The rest of the calculator appears once you confirm.

Use figures from a payslip

Drop a file below, check the figures, then apply. Or type year-to-date totals by hand.

Drop a payslip or P60 here

or click to choose a file

PDF preferred; a clear photo works too. Read on your device only — never uploaded. One month’s slip is enough to project the year and check the £100,000 line.

Figures are extracted in your browser (text layer or on-device OCR). The file is never sent to us, never passed to an AI provider, and is gone when you close this tab.

Choose how to enter your pay above to see your figures.

Enter figures yourself, or drop a payslip. The rest of the form appears once you confirm.

Why £100,000 matters more than any other number on your payslip

Between £100,000 and £125,140 of adjusted net income, the £12,570 personal allowance is withdrawn at a rate of £1 for every £2 of income. Each extra pound of pay therefore adds £1.50 to the income actually charged to tax, and that £1.50 is taxed at the higher rate of 40%. The result is an effective marginal rate of 60% on income in that band, rising to 62% once employee National Insurance above the upper earnings limit is counted.

Separately, and at the same figure, Tax-Free Childcare and the 30 funded hours stop. That test is a cliff, not a taper. Adjusted net income of exactly £100,000 keeps both schemes; one pound more removes them entirely for the whole household. It is assessed per parent, so one high earner is enough to end it for a family.

None of this is unusual or exotic. It affects a large number of ordinary PAYE employees whose base salary sits comfortably below the threshold and whose total pay does not, because of a bonus or a vesting schedule that nobody plans around a tax year boundary. The same thing happens to anyone whose earnings arrive in pieces: an airline pilot on sector and flying pay, a consultant billing overtime, a nurse or a train driver picking up unsocial-hours shifts, a sales manager on commission. The basic salary looks safe. The year-end total is the number that gets tested.

If estimating that total feels like guesswork, skip it. Drop in a PDF from your payroll portal (or a clear photo) and the calculator will suggest the year-to-date figures it can read on your device, for you to check before they are applied. Or enter the year-to-date totals by hand and have the rest of the year projected from them. Either way the file, if you use one, never leaves your browser.

Where people get the number wrong

The threshold is tested against adjusted net income, which is not the number on your payslip and not the number on your P60. Five things commonly go missing:

RSU vests. A vest is employment income taxed at market value on the vest date through PAYE. It counts in full towards the year the vest date falls in, even if the shares were sold immediately to cover the tax.
Variable pay above basic salary. Overtime, shift and unsocial-hours premiums, sector or flying pay, commission, standby and on-call payments and a car allowance are all earnings. They attract National Insurance in the same way salary does, and they count towards the threshold in full.
Taxable benefits. Private medical cover and a company car carry a taxable value that counts towards the threshold even though no cash reaches you. The figure is on your P11D or your payslip. Unlike pay, the National Insurance on these falls on your employer rather than you.
Grossing up. Pension contributions you pay in yourself, and Gift Aid donations, are deducted at their gross value rather than the amount that left your bank account. A £4,000 payment is a £5,000 deduction.
Income outside employment. Rental profit, savings interest above the allowances and dividends all count.

One thing that does not change the figure is which sort of pension you have. Salary sacrifice, a net pay arrangement and relief at source all reduce adjusted net income by the same amount for a given gross contribution. The difference between them shows up in National Insurance and in how much leaves your bank account, not in whether you cross the line, which is why the calculator asks only where the money comes from.

The full explanation of adjusted net income walks through each step, and the calculator above shows its working so you can check every line.

Reading the result

The headline figure is your adjusted net income and how far it sits from the threshold. Below it, three figures: the extra income tax caused solely by the withdrawal of your personal allowance, what the childcare cliff is worth in your circumstances, and the gross pension contribution that would bring adjusted net income back to the threshold.

That last figure is arithmetic, not a suggestion. Whether reducing adjusted net income makes sense for you depends on your age, your access to the money, your annual allowance, and things this tool knows nothing about. That is a conversation for a qualified adviser or an accountant.

Reading the rest of the site

RSU vests and the threshold — how vests are taxed, which tax year they land in, and why sell-to-cover does not help.
Bonuses and childcare eligibility — the cliff edge, what it is worth, and how the per-parent test works.
Adjusted net income — the figure every threshold is tested against, step by step.
The 60% band — where the taper comes from and what it costs.

Common questions

What counts towards the £100,000 figure?: The test uses adjusted net income, not your salary. It is your total taxable income for the year, which includes salary, bonus, RSU vests, rental profit, savings interest and dividends, less pension contributions and Gift Aid donations grossed up where the rules require it. Salary sacrifice is different again: it reduces your contractual pay, so the sacrificed amount is never income in the first place.
Do my figures get sent anywhere?: No. The calculation runs in your browser using JavaScript on your own device. Nothing you type is transmitted, stored or passed to analytics. A payslip or P60 you drop in is opened and read the same way: on your device, never uploaded, never sent to an AI. The only thing that ever leaves the page is an email address, and only if you deliberately enter one and tick the consent box.
Can I fill it in from a payslip?: Yes. Drop in a PDF from your payroll portal, or a clear photo of the slip. Figures are extracted on your device — from the PDF text layer when available, otherwise with on-device OCR — for you to check before they are applied. If your pay varies, you can also enter the year-to-date totals by hand and have the rest of the year projected from them.
Does this cover Scotland?: Not for income tax. Scotland sets its own rates and bands, and modelling them badly would be worse than not modelling them at all. If you tell the calculator you pay Scottish income tax it shows a notice instead of a figure. The £100,000 rules that apply UK-wide, such as the childcare limit, still use adjusted net income calculated the same way.
Is this financial advice?: No. It provides information about how UK tax rules apply to the figures you enter. It does not take account of your personal circumstances, it makes no recommendation, and every figure is an estimate. Speak to a qualified adviser or accountant before acting on anything here.
Which tax year does it use?: The 2026/27 tax year, which runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, using the rates and thresholds for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.