Pension take-home calculator

Enter your State Pension and any workplace or personal pension to see what you keep after income tax in the 2026/27 tax year. The sum is shown step by step under the result.

Pension after tax a month

£1,542.98

£18,515.80 a year after £1,484.20 income tax

Your details

State Pension a year

Per year, in pounds

Other pension income a year

Workplace or personal pension, per year

Where you pay income tax England Wales Northern Ireland Scotland Scotland has its own income tax rates

CalculateReset

Where your pension goes

	A year
State Pension	£0.00
Other pension	£20,000.00
Income tax	£1,484.20
Take-home	£18,515.80

The State Pension is paid without tax taken off, so any tax due on it is collected through the tax on your other pension.

How this was worked out

1. State Pension: £0.00
2. Other pension: £20,000.00
3. Total pension income: £0.00 + £20,000.00 = £20,000.00
4. Personal allowance: £12,570. Payroll applies it as tax code 1257L, which gives £12,579 of tax-free pay.
5. Taxable income: £20,000 − £12,579 = £7,421
6. Basic rate: £7,421 × 20% = £1,484.20
7. Income tax: £1,484.20
8. Take-home: £20,000.00 − £1,484.20 = £18,515.80

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What the calculator assumes

• The 2026/27 tax year, which runs from April to April.
• Your only income is the pension income you enter. Earnings from work, rent, savings interest or taxable benefits are not included.
• You have the standard personal allowance of £12,570 and a tax code that gives it to you in full.
• The figures you enter are what your pensions pay before tax, for the whole year.
• The sums are worked out for the whole year at once. A pension provider works out tax on each payment, so a month can be a few pence different.

How it is worked out

Pension income is taxed in the same way as pay from a job. The State Pension and any other pension are added together, and income tax is charged on the total above your personal allowance. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the first £37,700 of taxable income is taxed at 20%, income above that up to £125,140 at 40%, and anything more at 45%.

Scotland uses its own bands for income tax, with rates from 19% to 48%. Choose Scotland in the calculator if you live there. The personal allowance is the same across the UK.

If your total income is over £100,000, the personal allowance goes down by half of the amount above that figure. The calculator applies this when it is needed.

No National Insurance is taken from pension income. This is true for the State Pension and for workplace and personal pensions, so the only deduction in the sum is income tax.

The State Pension is paid without any tax taken off. When you have another pension as well, HMRC usually sets the tax code on that pension so that it collects the tax due on your State Pension too. This means the tax taken from your other pension can look high for its size. When the State Pension is your only income and it goes over your personal allowance, HMRC usually sends a Simple Assessment bill after the end of the tax year.

The calculator shows the result as one figure for the year, split into months and weeks. It does not show which payment the tax comes out of. Our take-home pay calculator covers income from a job.

Every rate on this page comes from GOV.UK. The sources page lists each one with a link to where we found it and the date we checked it. The methodology page explains the rounding and the other choices behind the sums.

What it leaves out

• Tax-free lump sums. You can usually take part of a private pension without tax. The calculator treats every pound you enter as taxable income.
• Emergency tax codes. A new pension, or the start of the State Pension, can put you on an emergency tax code for a time. The tax taken from each payment is then different until HMRC sends the correct code.
• Other income. Pay from work, rental profit, savings interest and dividends can move part of your pension into a higher band.
• Allowances that change the personal allowance, such as the Marriage Allowance and the Blind Person's Allowance.

Official guidance

• Tax when you get a pension on GOV.UK
• Tax-free parts of a pension on GOV.UK
• Emergency tax codes on GOV.UK
• The new State Pension on GOV.UK
• Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances on GOV.UK

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