Practical guides to help you understand your payslip, tax codes and take-home pay in the United Kingdom.
Published 15 January 2026
Be honest: do you actually read your payslip, or just check the bottom number? Those other lines matter. About two million people in the UK are on the wrong tax code right now. This guide breaks down every section so you can spot errors and understand exactly where your money goes.
Read more →Published 28 January 2026
New job, first payday, and your pay is way less than expected? You've probably been hit with an emergency tax code. Here's what W1, M1 and X codes actually mean, why HMRC assigns them, and how to get it sorted fast: without paying a "tax refund company" a penny.
Read more →Published 10 February 2026
Got a pay rise? Brilliant. But depending on your salary, you might keep as little as 38p of every extra pound. We break down the real marginal rates at every income level, with worked examples showing exactly what happens to a raise after HMRC takes its cut.
Read more →Published 3 June 2026
It looks like a second income tax, but it runs on different rules. Why NI is worked out per pay period rather than cumulatively, what your category letter means, and the qualifying year rule that lets someone on £10,000 build a State Pension without paying a penny.
Read more →Published 24 June 2026
Between £100,000 and £125,140, sacrificing £10,000 into a pension costs you £3,800 of take-home pay. At basic rate the gain is far smaller. Here is the arithmetic at both ends, plus the situations where sacrifice quietly costs you maternity pay or a mortgage offer.
Read more →Published 22 July 2026
Thresholds and rates for 2026/27, which plan applies to you and why, and the pay period quirk that takes a repayment out of your bonus even when your annual income is below the threshold. That one is refundable, but only if you ask.
Read more →Published 19 August 2026
A BR code on your second job is usually correct, sometimes expensive, and occasionally leaves you £746 short. Worked examples of both, how to split your Personal Allowance across two jobs, and where the £1,000 trading allowance stops.
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