COUNTRY REFERENCE
United Kingdom income tax rates in 2026/27
- What is the top income tax rate in the United Kingdom (2026/27)?
- The top marginal income tax rate is 45% (2026/27).
These are the 2026/27 brackets a United Kingdom employer withholds against. They tell you the marginal rate on each slice of income — not the amount you will actually pay, which is lower once credits apply.
Brackets for 2026/27
| Taxable income | Income tax | Combined |
|---|---|---|
| £0 — £12,570 | 0% | 0% |
| £12,570 — £50,270 | 20% | 20% |
| £50,270 — £125,140 | 40% | 40% |
| Above £125,140 | 45% | 45% |
Before you use these:These rates apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland sets its own bands and rates. The tax year runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, not from January. The £12,570 personal allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000, so above that point the effective marginal rate is higher than the band suggests. National Insurance is charged separately and is not included in these rates.
What these rates do not tell you
- Reliefs that reduce the bill are not included, because we have not sourced them for this country yet. Nearly every country grants deductions or credits to people in employment, and their shape differs: some come off the tax due, others off the income before the scale is applied at all. Until we have them from the tax authority itself, multiplying your salary by the rate above gives a figure higher than you will actually pay, and we would rather say so than publish the wrong number.
Employer contributions, currency conversion and what a net-pay figure does and does not model: how we work with these numbers.
Photo: Ilya Grigorik · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Stephen JG · CC BY-SA 2.0
More about United Kingdom
- The UK going rate: why the published threshold may not apply to you
The Skilled Worker route has two salary tests, and the one everybody quotes is often the one that does not bind.
- Moving from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands
- Moving from the United Kingdom to Germany
Quoting a figure from this page
Every number here is checked against the authority that publishes it, on the date shown. Those numbers change without announcement — one on this site was correct for three months and then quietly was not. So if you quote a figure, quote the date with it, and check the source before you rely on it.
Career Space, “United Kingdom income tax rates in 2026/27”. Checked 2026-08-11. https://career-space.com/en/salary/united-kingdom
Sources
- 01Income Tax rates and Personal AllowancesGOV.UK — HM Revenue & Customs ·
Every figure here comes from an official source and carries the date we checked it. How we work with data.
This page is information, not advice. We are not an employer, a recruitment agency, a visa centre or an immigration adviser, and we are not affiliated with any government body. Rules change — confirm against the official source before you act.