Enter your bonus, your annual salary without it and how often you are paid. The calculator works out the Income Tax the bonus adds over the tax year, the National Insurance and any student or Postgraduate Loan deductions on the payslip it is paid with, and what you take home, with each step shown. It uses the 2026 to 2027 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland or for Scotland, and assumes the standard tax code 1257L and National Insurance category A.
Enter the bonus and your salary
A bonus is taxed as pay: there is no separate bonus rate. Your salary decides which Income Tax band the bonus falls into, and your usual pay each payday, on which National Insurance and loan deductions are worked out. Enter your gross salary for the year, before the bonus.
Choose where you pay Income Tax
Scottish taxpayers have six bands, from the 19% starter rate to the 48% top rate. England and Northern Ireland share the same bands, and the Welsh rates are the same as England's for 2026 to 2027: 20% up to £50,270, 40% up to £125,140 and 45% above, with the standard £12,570 Personal Allowance.
Choose how often you are paid
National Insurance is not worked out over the year but on the pay of each pay period, and a bonus is added to the pay of the period it is paid in. On a monthly salary you pay 8% on pay between £1,048 and £4,189 in the month and 2% above, so a large bonus paid in one month is often mostly at 2%. Weekly, fortnightly and four-weekly pay use the weekly limits of £242 and £967, multiplied by 1, 2 or 4.
Add your student loan
Student loan repayments are 9% of your pay above the threshold for the pay period, and Postgraduate Loan repayments 6%, each rounded down to the pound. Like National Insurance they are worked out payday by payday, so a bonus is taken mostly or wholly at the full rate. Choose your plan and tick the Postgraduate Loan box if you repay one as well.
Income Tax on the bonus = Income Tax for the year on (salary + bonus) − Income Tax on the salary alone. Personal Allowance £12,570, reduced by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000.
National Insurance on the bonus = National Insurance on (usual pay for the period + bonus) − National Insurance on the usual pay; 8% between the primary threshold and the upper earnings limit, 2% above, to the nearest penny (an exact half penny rounds down).
Student loan on the bonus = the same difference, at 9% (6% for a Postgraduate Loan) of pay above the period threshold, rounded down to the pound.
Bonus you take home = bonus − Income Tax − National Insurance − loan repayments.
Example: a £5,000 bonus on a £40,000 salary, paid monthly in England
Income Tax for the year is £6,486.00 on £45,000 and £5,486.00 on £40,000, so the bonus adds £1,000.00, all at the 20% basic rate. Your usual monthly pay is £3,333.33; with the bonus it is £8,333.33. National Insurance on that month is £334.17 instead of £182.83, so the bonus adds £151.34: 8% on the £855.67 up to £4,189 and 2% on the £4,144.33 above. You take home £5,000.00 − £1,000.00 − £151.34 = £3,848.66, or 76.97% of the bonus.
