What is take-home pay?
Take-home pay, or net pay, is what actually reaches your bank account after everything is deducted from your gross salary. The usual deductions are income tax, social contributions such as social security or national insurance, and pre-tax deductions such as pension or retirement contributions that reduce the income you are taxed on.
Because every country, and often every state or province, has its own rules, this calculator is deliberately generic. You can use a single flat rate for a quick estimate, or type in the tax brackets that apply to you for a precise progressive calculation. For salaried income tax in Pakistan, use our dedicated Pakistan income tax calculator.
How to use the calculator
- Enter your gross salary and choose whether it is per year, month or week.
- Pick Flat rate and enter a percentage, or pick Tax brackets and enter each threshold and rate. Leave the last “up to” box empty for the top bracket.
- Add any tax-free allowance, pre-tax deductions (taken off before tax) and other contributions (taken off gross pay, but not tax-deductible).
- Read your take-home pay per year, month, fortnight and week, along with your effective and marginal tax rates.
How the calculation works
Taxable income = Gross − Pre-tax deductions − Tax-free allowance
Net pay = Gross − Pre-tax deductions − Income tax − Other contributions
With brackets, tax is marginal: each rate applies only to the part of your income that falls inside its band. Moving into a higher bracket never reduces your take-home pay, because only the extra income is taxed at the higher rate.
The effective rate is your total income tax divided by gross pay. The marginal rate is the rate on your next unit of income, which is useful for judging the value of a raise or extra pension contribution.
Example
Take a gross salary of 60,000 a year with a 5% pension contribution, a flat 20% income tax and 7.65% social contributions. The pension takes 3,000, leaving 57,000 taxable. Income tax is 11,400 and social contributions are 4,590. Your take-home pay is 41,010 a year, or about 3,417.50 a month.
The default brackets loaded in the tool are an illustrative progressive schedule. Replace them with the official bands for your country and tax year to get a realistic result.
More worked examples
Simplified UK-style example: a £40,000 salary with a £12,570 tax-free allowance and a flat 20% rate pays 20% on £27,430, which is £5,486 of income tax, leaving £34,514 before National Insurance. Add National Insurance as an “other contribution” for a fuller picture.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Applying the top rate to your whole salary. Brackets are marginal: each rate applies only to the income inside its band.
- Forgetting pre-tax deductions. Pension contributions often reduce taxable income, which lowers your tax bill.
- Using another country's brackets. Enter the official bands for your country and tax year. For Pakistan, use the dedicated Pakistan income tax calculator.
Sources and methodology
The calculations on this page follow these published standards and references. The code is covered by automated tests against known values.
- Your national tax authority's published income tax rates and allowances for the current tax year