The site's guides, calculators and reference pages, grouped into 9 sections. Use the filter above, or jump to a section.
Start here 51
Salary & take-home pay 62
Tax & HMRC 42
Working for yourself 49
Pensions & retirement 65
Saving & investing 125
Options trading 53
Home, family & life events 58
Everyday money 52
Not sure where to begin? Routes by situation, plus how this site works.
Routes
5By situation
13- A UK software engineer on £100k + RSUs
- A civil servant Grade 7's full money picture
- A small business owner extracting £80k
- An NHS Band 6 nurse's full money picture
- Becoming a parent
- Caring for family money guide
- Day 1 of your first job
- A UK higher-rate saver's tax picture
- Renting your first home money guide
- The Renters' Rights Act 2025
- UK money guides by role
- Money Journeys
- A UK £150k+ City professional's tax picture
Look something up
9Printables
1About this site
18- About UK Tax Drag
- Advertising Policy
- Contact UK Tax Drag
- Content Disclaimer
- Corrections policy
- Editorial Policy
- Editorial process
- Editorial standards
- How UK Tax Drag makes money
- Independence Statement
- Methodology · How every UK Tax Drag calculator is built
- Open Methodology
- Privacy and Analytics
- Terms of Use
- Who edits UK Tax Drag
- Trust Centre
- UK Tax Drag press kit
- Changelog
Why your payslip says what it says — take-home by salary, tax codes, bonuses and leave.
Take home by salary
21- Salary Hub
- UK Salary Benchmarking
- UK Take-Home Salary Map
- What's the take-home on £100,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £100,000 in 2026/27 (Scotland)?
- What's the take-home on £125,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £150,000 in 2026/27 (Scotland)?
- What's the take-home on £150,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £20,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £200,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £25,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £30,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £35,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £40,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £45,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £50,000 in 2026/27 (Scotland)?
- What's the take-home on £50,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £55,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £60,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £75,000 in 2026/27?
- What's the take-home on £80,000 in 2026/27?
Tax codes and payslips
22- Five P60 mistakes that quietly cost you money
- How to check your tax code online in 2026/27
- How to read a P60
- Why does my tax code start with K?
- P60 vs P45 vs P11D
- Paying HICBC through your tax code
- Second Job and Tax Code Calculator
- Second-job tax code trap
- Why does my tax code end with T?
- Tax code M and N (Marriage Allowance)
- My tax code changed suddenly
- UK Tax Code Decoder
- Why is my tax code W1, M1 or X?
- What is an emergency tax code?
- What is a P11D?
- What is a UK tax code?
- Why is my tax code BR?
- Why is my tax code 0T?
- Why is my tax code 1257L?
- Why is my tax code D0?
- Why is my tax code D1?
- Why is my tax code NT?
Bonuses and benefits
5Leave and redundancy
5NI and student loans
9The rules, the deadlines, and how to deal with HMRC when something goes wrong.
Self Assessment
4Letters and disputes
8- Dealing with HMRC letters, codes and penalties
- HMRC Code of Practice 8 vs 9
- HMRC Letter Decoder
- HMRC compliance check (Section 9A enquiry, 2026/27)
- HMRC phone wait times and the right contact channel by query type
- HMRC settlement opportunities
- How we compare to HMRC's official calculators
- How to write to HMRC
Rates and dates
15- How do company-car tax rates work?
- How to claim work-from-home tax relief for earlier years
- Tapered Annual Allowance
- Tax-Year Transition Checker
- EIS / SEIS Tax Relief Calculator
- UK R&D claims process + pitfalls
- UK R&D tax credits for small companies
- UK salary and take-home pay calculator
- UK Tax Calendar
- UK Tax Rates 2026/27: the complete guide
- VCT Tax Relief Calculator
- UK tax rates and allowances
- UK tax when returning to the UK
- What Changed This Tax Year
- What is the Personal Allowance?
Where tax bites hardest
6Capital gains
5Couples and abroad
2More
2Working for yourself
49Sole traders, side hustles, limited companies, VAT, IR35 and tax by profession.
Sole trader and side hustle
12- Allowable expenses for UK self-employed
- Class 4 National Insurance
- HMRC Gets Your eBay and Vinted Sales Data
- Payments on Account
- Accounting for the Self-Employed
- Self-employed first year money guide
- Self-employed mortgage UK
- Self-employed pension guide
- Side Hustle and Self Assessment Checker
- Side hustle to full-time self-employed
- Sole Trader Tax Calculator
- What is the Trading Allowance?
Limited company
14- UK Dividend Heroes — 20+ year records
- Director extraction planner
- A UK director-shareholder's tax picture
- Dividend tax stacking
- Dividend vs Salary Calculator
- Sole trader vs limited company
- UK Associated Companies and Corporation Tax
- Director salary vs dividend by profit level
- UK Director's Loan Account explained
- UK Dividend Tax Calculator
- UK Limited Company tax
- UK dividend waivers and anti-avoidance
- Umbrella vs PAYE vs Limited Company Checker
- What is the Dividend Allowance?
VAT and Making Tax Digital
6Contracting and professions
10- An inside-IR35 contractor's full money picture
- An outside-IR35 contractor's full money picture
- Construction Industry Scheme ( CIS )
- IR35 / Employment Status Checker
- UK tax for IT contractors (IR35, 2026/27)
- UK tax for NHS staff
- UK tax for doctors
- UK tax for freelancers
- UK tax for medical locums
- UK tax for teachers
Landlords
4Building a pension, the tax relief on it, the State Pension, and drawing an income.
Pension basics
21- What is a CETV?
- How to open a UK SIPP in 2026/27
- How to transfer an old pension to a UK SIPP
- IHT on pensions from 2027
- ISA vs Pension: which wins for you?
- LSA + LSDBA: the new pension allowances
- Lost pension admin checklist
- UK pension consolidation services compared
- Pension mistakes checklist
- Pension tax traps
- Pensions for beginners, without the fog
- SIPP commercial property: the mechanic
- UK SIPP platforms compared for 2026/27
- Should I pay into a LISA or a SIPP?
- UK DB transfer process step-by-step
- Should you transfer your UK DB pension?
- UK Pension Calculator
- UK Pension Wealth Distribution
- UK Pensions
- Employer pension contributions from your Ltd company
- Workplace pension explained
Tax relief and allowances
9- Higher-Rate Pension Tax Relief Claim Calculator
- How to claim higher-rate pension relief in 2026/27
- What is pension tax relief?
- Pension carry-forward + tapered allowance stack
- Salary sacrifice benefit trap
- Should I salary sacrifice into my pension?
- Pension Carry Forward Calculator
- Salary Sacrifice Pension Calculator
- What is the pension Annual Allowance?
State Pension
12- NI gap year analysis: which to fill
- Should I top up my State Pension?
- State Pension April 2027
- State Pension Class 3 top-up calculator
- What is the State Pension triple lock?
- Derived State Pension entitlements
- UK State Pension
- UK State Pension Forecast Calculator
- Contracted-out years and your State Pension
- Deferring your UK State Pension
- Pre-2016 starting amount explained
- When the State Pension passes the Personal Allowance
Taking your pension
21- Annuity vs Drawdown Calculator
- Drawdown vs annuity vs UFPLS
- Should you drip-feed or lump-sum invest? The UK 2026/27 answer
- A UK early retiree / FIRE tax picture
- How much do I need to retire in the UK?
- How to build a drawdown-aware ETF portfolio
- How to take income from investments in UK retirement
- Loss aversion in retirement drawdown
- Pension drawdown tax calculator
- Planning retirement at 55
- A UK pre-retiree's annuity vs drawdown decision
- Retirement Hub — your complete UK route
- Retirement Interest-Only mortgages
- Should I take the 25% tax-free lump sum?
- The year you retire UK
- When Can You Retire?
- Tax-Free Lump Sum Calculator
- UK annuity types compared
- Gilts in retirement
- What is the Lump Sum Allowance?
- When an annuity beats drawdown
Cash, ISAs, ETFs, digital assets — where to put money and how it is taxed.
Getting started
6Cash and savings
12- Bank of England base rate explained
- Do I pay tax on savings interest?
- Fixed-rate bond tax traps
- Household savings playbook
- How much should I have saved by 30, 40, 50?
- How to read a bank statement
- Savings interest tax surprise
- The £5,000 Starting Rate for Savings
- Compound Interest Calculator
- How to compare UK savings accounts in 2026/27
- Savings Interest Tax Calculator
- What is the Personal Savings Allowance?
ISAs and wrappers
18- Cash ISA cap calculator: withdrawn
- Cash ISA Over-65 Exemption
- How to choose between Cash ISA, S&S ISA and LISA in 2026/27
- Cash ISA £12,000 Cap Cancelled
- Flexible ISAs: withdraw + replace, same year
- Hargreaves Lansdown vs AJ Bell ISA
- How to do bed-and-ISA without triggering UK CGT
- How to rebalance a UK ISA portfolio
- ISA choices by age: 20s to 60s+
- UK ISA platforms compared for 2026/27
- ISA transfer rules
- ISA vs GIA Tax Drag Calculator
- Junior ISA (JISA): the complete parent guide
- UK Junior ISA platforms compared for 2026/27
- The S&S-to-Cash ISA transfer ban and the charge on parked cash
- The 25% LISA withdrawal charge explained
- The Complete UK ISA Guide
- Lifetime ISA Calculator
ETFs and funds
69- Accumulating vs distributing ETFs
- Autumn Budget 2026
- Bond ETFs for UK investors: how they differ
- Buying gilts directly vs gilt ETFs
- Cautious core
- ESG ETFs: screens, labels and the risk of greenwashing
- ETF ISA vs GIA
- NAV vs market price
- ETF Tools Map
- ETF compare tool for UK investors
- ETF cost comparison calculator
- How the ETF tools’ fund data is sourced and checked
- ETF due diligence
- ETF fund domicile
- ETF income portfolio
- ETF metrics glossary
- ETF model portfolios for UK investors
- ETF overlap checker for UK investors
- ETF portfolio builder
- ETF securities lending revenue
- ETF tax treatment by wrapper
- Emergency fund calculator
- Emergency fund guide
- Excess Reportable Income
- FX-hedged vs unhedged ETFs
- UK Fiscal Drag Tracker
- Fixed vs tracker mortgage
- Fractional ETF investing in the UK
- Gilt ETFs vs global bond ETFs
- Global bond ETF comparison
- Global equity ETFs
- How ETF creation and redemption actually works
- How to build a 2-fund portfolio
- How to build a 3-fund portfolio in a UK ISA
- How to claim foreign withholding tax on US ETFs
- How to compare bond ETFs by duration and hedging
- How to compare income ETFs without yield traps
- How to read an ETF factsheet
- Income ETFs
- Inflation-linked gilt ETF vs direct gilt ladder
- Leveraged and inverse ETFs
- One-fund global
- One-fund vs modular ETF portfolio
- Premium Bonds: are prizes really tax-free?
- Are Premium Bonds worth it vs savings?
- Recency bias in fund picking
- S&P 500 ETFs for UK investors
- Sequence-of-returns risk + gilt ladder
- Sinking funds guide
- Small-cap and emerging markets tilts
- Synthetic vs physical ETF replication
- The 10 biggest ETF mistakes UK retail makes
- Tracking difference vs tracking error
- UCITS vs US-domiciled ETFs
- UK 7-Year IHT Gift Tracker
- UK ETF portfolio patterns
- UK ETF Reporting Fund status
- UK ETF platform comparison
- UK ETF types explained
- UK gilts deep dive
- Investment trusts vs ETFs
- UK tilt vs market-weight global portfolio
- VWRP vs SSAC vs FWRG
- How to use Vanguard ETFs as a UK investor
- Vanguard LifeStrategy vs HSBC Global Strategy
- Vanguard Invest vs Trading 212
- What happens when an ETF closes?
- Why your tracker isn't matching the index
- How to use iShares ETFs as a UK investor
Digital assets and crypto
9- A UK crypto investor's full tax picture
- Crypto CGT in the UK
- Crypto in an ISA or SIPP? The UK access routes and how each is taxed
- Crypto staking tax UK: income vs CGT
- DeFi tax UK
- NFT tax UK: buying, selling, royalties
- Crypto Tax Calculator
- UK crypto: trader vs investor
- What are digital assets? The UK guide to cryptoassets
Strategy and behaviour
7The three-level options curriculum, the strategies, and how UK tax treats them.
Learn the basics
27- The biggest options mistakes for UK investors, costed in pounds
- Covered call and option-income ETFs in the UK
- Earnings and IV crush
- FTSE 100 options
- Hedging a UK portfolio with options
- UK options tax worked examples
- How the options worked examples are built
- Implied volatility for options, worked in pounds
- Listed options versus spread bets and CFDs
- Options Greeks, pricing and put-call parity
- Options Level 1 — Foundation
- Options Level 2
- Options Level 3 — Exposure
- Assignment, dividends and expiry risk
- Options for beginners
- Options glossary — UK retail context
- Options in an ISA, SIPP or general account
- Options income strategies for UK investors
- Reporting options on Self Assessment
- Options planner
- Position sizing for options
- Options strategy builder
- Rolling and adjusting options
- Trading US options from the UK
- UK options CGT calculator
- UK options brokers compared
- UK options trading
Strategies
26- Backspread for UK investors
- Bear call spread for UK investors
- Bear put spread for UK investors
- Broken wing butterfly for UK investors
- Bull call spread for UK investors
- Bull put spread for UK investors
- Calendar spread for UK investors
- Cash-secured put
- Covered call
- Diagonal spread for UK investors
- Iron butterfly for UK investors
- Iron condor for UK investors
- Jade lizard for UK investors
- LEAPS
- Long butterfly for UK investors
- Long call for UK investors
- Long straddle for UK investors
- Long strangle for UK investors
- Long put: what a floor under UK shares costs, in pounds
- Poor man's covered call for UK investors
- Ratio spread for UK investors
- Short straddle for UK investors
- Short strangle for UK investors
- The Collar
- The Wheel
- Uncovered short call for UK investors
Home, family & life events
58Property, children, divorce, bereavement, inheritance and estate planning.
Property and mortgages
17- 2026/27 mortgage cliff edge
- A UK second-home buyer's tax picture
- Buying a home with parents’ help
- Buying your first home
- How to claim back the 5% SDLT surcharge after selling
- Mortgage affordability stress test
- Offset mortgage vs overpayment
- Remortgage break-even calculator
- SDLT on inherited property
- SDLT on mixed-use property
- Stamp Duty Land Tax Calculator
- The 2% non-resident SDLT surcharge
- The 5% SDLT surcharge
- The First-Time Buyer's Guide
- Capital Gains Tax on Property
- Mortgage Calculator with Overpayments
- Stamp Duty Second Home Calculator
Children and childcare
15- A primary school teacher's full money picture
- An NHS junior doctor's full money picture
- Child Benefit and HICBC Calculator
- HICBC
- HICBC for separated and divorced parents
- HICBC: opt out, or claim and pay it back?
- Having your first baby
- A higher-rate earner with 2 children
- New baby money checklist
- Nursery-age children and the £100,000 childcare cliff
- Paying HICBC via Self Assessment
- Tax-Free Childcare and Free Hours Chooser
- University funding
- Which partner pays HICBC when both earn?
- A UK £45k middle manager's full money picture
Life events
13- Career break or sabbatical
- Cohabitation finances
- Divorce financial planning
- Getting married - UK money guide
- How does Marriage Allowance work?
- How to claim Marriage Allowance retrospectively
- Illness and income drop money guide
- Life Events Money Academy
- Marriage Allowance Checker
- Marriage Allowance after divorce or separation
- Moving out budget guide
- Separation and divorce money checklist
- When Marriage Allowance isn't worth claiming
Inheritance and estates
13- Bereavement money admin guide
- CGT vs IHT: the comparison and interaction
- Deed of variation
- A UK inheritance windfall money picture
- Trusts in plain English
- The IHT 7-year gift rule
- IHT Business Property Relief (BPR) explained
- IHT gifts out of normal income explained
- IHT transferable nil-rate band
- UK Inheritance Tax
- Inheritance Tax Calculator
- UK probate process — step-by-step for 2026/27
- Will writing UK — complete guide
Bills, energy, debt, consumer rights, scams and the cost of living.
Bills and energy
10- Broadband and mobile switching guide
- Energy price cap: October 2026
- Energy switching calculator
- Fixed vs variable energy tariff calculator
- Fuel duty explained
- How to dispute a tax bill in the UK
- Priority bills guide
- Water meter calculator
- What to do if you cannot pay a bill
- What to do if you can't pay your tax bill
Debt and credit
7Consumer rights and scams
14- APP scam refund checker
- Are my UK investments actually safe?
- Critical illness cover
- Emergency Tax and Refund Checker
- FSCS savings protection checker
- Family income benefit
- How to claim a UK tax refund
- Income protection — UK complete guide
- Investment scam checklist
- Lasting Power of Attorney
- Life insurance in trust
- Section 75 and chargeback guide
- Term life insurance
- Whole-of-life vs term life insurance
Budgeting
19- Autumn Budget 2025: what changed for 2026/27
- Budgeting for beginners
- Consumer rights and refunds hub
- Cost of living in Birmingham
- Cost of living in Bristol
- Cost of living in Cardiff
- Cost of living in Edinburgh
- Cost of living in Glasgow
- Cost of living in Leeds
- Cost of living in London
- Cost of living in Manchester
- Cost of living in Newcastle
- Energy and household bills, without the panic
- Free UK budgeting Excel template
- Money Basics Academy
- Money Protection Hub
- Scam and fraud defence centre
- The UK Cost-of-Living Comparison Tool
- UK cities compared by cost of living
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Pages are checked against the primary sources listed on each page and reviewed by the Editor; corrections are logged in the changelog. Pages are drafted with the help of AI tools (how AI is used). No affiliate revenue. No sponsored content. No paid placements.
UK Tax Drag is an independent publication by Finsolve Consulting Limited, not affiliated with or endorsed by HMRC, GOV.UK or any government body.