Hourly Wage Tax Calculator

Our hourly wage tax calculator converts your hourly pay to an annual salary and shows net take-home after income tax and NI.

National Living Wage 2026/27

• Age 21+: £12.71/hour
• Age 18–20: £10.85/hour
• 16–17 and Apprentices: £8.00/hour

How to Use the Hourly Wage Tax Calculator

Enter your hourly rate and select how many hours per week you work. The calculator annualises your income using 52 weeks per year to produce the equivalent gross annual salary, then applies standard 2026/27 PAYE rates to show your take-home pay. This is useful for comparing an hourly contract with a salaried offer, or for understanding your net earnings if you are paid by the hour rather than a fixed salary.

The National Living Wage for 2026/27 is £12.71 per hour for workers aged 21 and over. For 18-20 year olds, the National Minimum Wage is £10.85; for under-18s and apprentices, it is £8.00. If your hourly rate is close to the minimum wage level, check that your contracted hours reflect paid working time accurately — HMRC has increasingly focused on minimum wage compliance for workers in sectors where unpaid time (travel between sites, waiting time, training) can erode effective hourly pay.

Self-employed contractors and freelancers should note that the calculator uses employed PAYE rates. Self-employed workers pay Class 4 National Insurance on profits (at 9% between the Lower and Upper Profits Limit and 2% above), plus Class 2 NI at a flat weekly rate. Income tax applies on the same basis, but the NI saving versus employment can be meaningful at higher income levels.

For zero-hours contract workers, use an average of your typical weekly hours to get a representative annual estimate. In slow weeks your actual take-home will be lower; in busy weeks, higher. Your employer calculates PAYE on each pay period individually, so your tax is always calculated on actual earnings rather than an average — this means there is no year-end reconciliation needed for hours variation alone.