UK Tax Brackets & Bands 2026-27

England, Wales & Northern Ireland have three bands above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: Basic rate 20% up to £50,270, Higher rate 40% up to £125,140, and Additional rate 45% above that. Scotland uses its own six-band system with rates from 19% to 48%.

Your band depends on your total taxable income. After the £12,570 Personal Allowance (tapered above £100,000), income is taxed at increasing rates as it passes each threshold — you only pay the higher rate on the portion of income within that band, not your whole income.

England/Wales/NI thresholds are frozen at the same levels as 2025-26 — the Personal Allowance, basic-rate limit, and additional-rate threshold are unchanged. Scotland increased its Starter and Basic rate thresholds for 2026-27; Intermediate, Higher, Advanced and Top thresholds are frozen.

The Personal Allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000, reaching zero at £125,140. This creates an effective marginal rate of around 60% on income between those two thresholds, because you lose tax-free allowance at the same time as paying higher-rate tax on the extra income.

Yes. Scotland sets its own rates and thresholds for non-savings, non-dividend income (mainly salary) under devolved powers. There are six bands (Starter, Basic, Intermediate, Higher, Advanced, Top) instead of three, and higher earners in Scotland generally pay more income tax than in England, Wales or Northern Ireland at the same salary.

No. Dividends and savings interest are taxed at their own rates within the same overall band structure. Dividends use a £500 tax-free allowance then 10.75%/35.75%/39.35% by band; savings interest gets a Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 depending on your band, plus a £5,000 0% starting rate for lower earners.