Compare tax years
How does your take-home change between the 2025/26 and 2026/27 tax years? Most thresholds are frozen, so the differences show up mainly for Scottish taxpayers, students and parents.
Your situation
2025/26 vs 2026/27
What actually changed for 2026/27
Compare this year against last and the striking thing is how little moved. The personal allowance stays at £12,570, where it has sat since 2021. The basic and higher-rate thresholds for England, Wales and Northern Ireland are unchanged too. The items that did shift are the quieter ones: student loan thresholds rose with earnings, so a Plan 2 graduate on £40,000 repays £82 less this year than last. Child Benefit was uprated, worth £86 more for a two-child family. Scotland tweaked its bands again, worth about £32 at £45,000, though a Scottish earner at that salary still pays £396 more than an English one.
Frozen thresholds are the real story
A freeze sounds like nothing happening. In a world of pay rises it works as a tax rise that never had to be announced. Every increase your employer gives you is taxed at your marginal rate while the tax-free slice stays exactly where 2021 left it, so year by year a larger share of your income sits above the line. Economists call it fiscal drag. Payslips just call it Tuesday. If your pay rose with inflation and your take-home percentage still crept down, this is where it went; the marginal rate calculator shows the rate the frozen system charges on your next pound.
Who comes out ahead
Graduates gain a little from the loan thresholds. Parents gain a little from Child Benefit. Scottish taxpayers gain or lose depending on band. For everyone else the two years produce the same cash figure from the same salary, which, after a year of inflation, quietly buys less. Run your own before-and-after above, then get the full current-year picture from the take-home pay calculator.
Common questions
What does comparing tax years show?
It shows how your take-home pay changes between tax years as rates and thresholds move, so you can see whether you are better or worse off, and by how much, on the same salary.
Why might my take-home change even if my salary has not?
Frozen thresholds are the main reason. When the Personal Allowance and the £50,270 higher-rate threshold stay fixed while pay rises, more of your income is taxed, an effect often called fiscal drag.
Which tax years does the calculator cover?
It compares the current 2026/27 tax year against 2025/26, using the official rates, thresholds and National Insurance figures for each year.
These results are estimates for general information only and are not financial advice. Check every figure yourself and seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional before making any decision. Read the full disclaimer.