Required Salary Calculator

Work backwards from the take-home pay you want to the gross salary you need to earn.

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About this calculator

Budgeting works in take-home pounds, but salary negotiations happen in gross. This calculator inverts the tax system for you: enter the monthly, weekly or annual take-home you need and it finds the gross salary that produces it under the 2026/27 rules, accounting for income tax (including Scottish rates), National Insurance, your pension percentage and student loan plan.

The formula

Finds the Gross where: Gross − Tax(Gross) − NI(Gross) − Pension − Student loan = Target take-home (solved numerically — the tax system can't be inverted algebraically)

Worked example

You need £2,500 a month take-home (England, no pension or loan):

Target = £30,000/year net
Required gross ≈ £36,780
Check: £36,780 − £4,842 tax − £1,937 NI ≈ £30,001 ✓

Common mistakes

Negotiating with a net figure — recruiters and employers only deal in gross, so convert before the conversation.
Forgetting that a pension contribution means you need a higher gross for the same take-home (but you're saving the difference).
Using this year's answer for a job starting after April — rates and thresholds can change each tax year.

Frequently asked questions

Around £100,000 gross the personal allowance taper creates a 60% effective marginal rate, so each extra net pound needs £2.50 of gross.

The result is the base salary needed with no bonus. If you expect a bonus, you can target a lower base and check the combined picture in the take-home calculator.

It solves to within a penny of the forward calculation, under the same assumptions (standard tax code, net pay pension).