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2026/27 payslip checker

Is the tax on my payslip right?

Copy a few figures from your payslip and we work out what payroll should have taken, using your tax code and the year so far, exactly as PAYE does.

These are example figures for a £45,000 salary. Replace them with the ones on your payslip.

About this payslip

This payday

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How payroll works out your tax

Payroll does three different calculations on every payslip:

  • Income tax is cumulative. It adds up all your taxable pay since 6 April, takes off your tax-free pay to date (your tax code number x 10 + 9, spread over the year), works out the tax on the rest using bands spread the same way, then subtracts the tax you have already paid. That is why a single payslip can be much higher or lower than usual.
  • National Insurance looks at this payday on its own. In 2026/27 you pay 8% on pay between £1,048 and £4,189 a month and 2% above. A bonus month is charged separately.
  • Student loans also look at this payday alone, rounded down to the pound, with the threshold split evenly across the year.

Enter the figures from your payslip and we run the same three calculations.

Common questions

Why does my payslip tax not match a salary calculator?

PAYE is cumulative: each payday works out the tax due on all your pay since 6 April and takes off what you have already paid. A code change, a bonus, a pay rise or starting mid-year makes one payslip higher or lower than an average month, even when the year ends up right.

What figures do I need from my payslip?

Your tax code, the tax month or week, gross pay this payday, any salary sacrifice or pension, the tax deducted, and the year-to-date figures for taxable pay and tax paid. They are printed on almost every UK payslip.

Why is 1257L worth £12,579 on my payslip?

Payroll multiplies the number in your tax code by 10 and adds 9, so 1257L gives £12,579 of tax-free pay a year, or £1,048.25 a month. It is a long-standing rounding rule and is why payslips differ from simple calculators by a few pence.

What happens if I am on an emergency tax code?

With W1, M1 or X on the end of your code, each payday is taxed on its own using one twelfth (or one fifty-second) of the allowance. Tax you overpaid earlier in the year is not refunded until HMRC gives your employer a normal code.

Can I get a refund if my payslip took too much tax?

On a normal cumulative code, payroll refunds overpaid tax automatically in a later payday once the code is right. Otherwise HMRC refunds it after the tax year ends on 5 April, usually through a P800 calculation.

Official sources

Every rate and threshold on this page is checked against these official pages. How we calculate

Related

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