Based on current HMRC guidance and UK PAYE rulesUpdated for the current UK tax year

TaxDecod

UK salary and take-home guidance

Payslip / YTD check

Check whether your payslip deductions look broadly right

This is one of TaxDecod’s strongest differentiators. Use it when PAYE, National Insurance, or year-to-date totals feel off and you want a first-check reading before going deeper.

Current tax-year framing

This payslip checker uses 2025/26-style UK salary assumptions and annualised pay to estimate whether your year-to-date Income Tax and National Insurance look broadly on track.

Last reviewed: 16 April 2026

Using 2025/26 UK tax assumptions

Annualised year-to-date estimate

Best with payslip YTD values

Built for first-check PAYE clarity

Built for first-check payslip interpretation

Why this page matters

This is where salary tools become more useful than generic calculators

A salary number can look fine while a real payslip still feels wrong. This route exists to help users test whether tax and National Insurance paid to date look broadly aligned, instead of guessing from one payslip line in isolation.

YTD payslip checker

Check if your payslip deductions look right so far

This tool uses your gross pay to date and compares your paid tax and National Insurance with an estimated year-to-date reading.

Best use

Mid-year payslip check

Best inputs

YTD gross, tax, and NI

Step 1

Enter your year-to-date payslip numbers

Use your payslip year-to-date values where possible. This works best once you already have a few months of payroll history.

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Step 2

Read the year-to-date signal

This is a first-check PAYE signal, not a payroll or HMRC ruling.

Headline reading

Your deductions may be running low

Based on your year-to-date pay, one or more deductions look lower than the estimated year-to-date amount. This can happen when tax catches up later, or when payroll timing and cumulative PAYE have not fully evened out yet.

Worth checking

Income Tax check

Paid vs estimated year-to-date Income Tax

Running low

Paid to date

£2,100

Estimated YTD

£2,743

Difference

-£643

National Insurance check

Paid vs estimated year-to-date NI

Running low

Paid to date

£950

Estimated YTD

£1,097

Difference

-£147

Annualised salary run-rate

£40,000

Estimated net pay YTD

£15,160

This is a year-to-date estimator using annualised pay. It is useful for a first check, but PAYE timing, bonuses, tax code changes, salary sacrifice, and irregular income can make actual payslips differ.

Decode your payslip

Understand PAYE, NI, pension, and tax code labels in plain English.

Open calculator

Check the full take-home pay picture behind your salary.

Compare salaries

See whether a higher salary really changes monthly life.

Best inputs

  • Gross pay to date
  • Income Tax paid to date
  • NI paid to date
  • Correct tax code

Decode the tax code first

Use this when the payslip feels wrong and the tax code may be the reason deductions look unusual.

Check for refund or underpayment

Use this when the year-to-date tax paid may be too high or too low overall.

Return to the full salary calculator

Use this when you want the broader salary and deduction picture behind the payslip route.

Follow-up and saving

Send your payslip check to your email

Keep the year-to-date reading for later if you want to compare it with a later payslip, P60, or another salary setup.

Send payslip checkKeep the result without relying on email delivery

For now, the most reliable way to keep this result is to save the route where available, bookmark the page, or return through the same salary path later. This keeps the experience calm and avoids promising a delivery step that is not central to the product.