UK Payslip YTD 2026/27: How Year-to-Date Tax, NI and Pension Are Worked Out

Short answer: The year-to-date (YTD) figures on a UK payslip add up everything since the tax year started on 6 April 2026: gross pay, taxable pay, Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan. Income Tax is worked out on those running totals, so each payday's tax depends on the whole year so far. National Insurance and student loans are worked out on each payday on its own, and the YTD figure just adds them up. On your last payslip of the tax year, the totals should match your P60.

Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, from GOV.UK's rates and thresholds for employers. The examples use a 1257L tax code, rest-of-UK rates and monthly pay.

The UK tax year

Tax year	Starts	Ends
2026/27	6 April 2026	5 April 2027
2027/28	6 April 2027	5 April 2028

YTD totals go back to zero on 6 April, not 1 January. A payslip paid on 31 March 2027 is month 12 of 2026/27. One paid on 30 April 2027 is month 1 of the next year.

What the YTD lines on a payslip mean

YTD line	What it adds up
Gross pay to date	All pay this tax year before deductions: salary, overtime, bonuses, commission, and statutory pay such as SSP and SMP
Taxable pay to date	The pay Income Tax is worked out on. It's lower than gross if pension is taken under a net pay arrangement or if you use salary sacrifice
Tax paid to date	Income Tax deducted under PAYE this year
NI to date	Employee National Insurance deducted this year
Pension to date	Your pension contributions this year (the employer's are sometimes shown too)
Student loan to date	Student and postgraduate loan repayments this year

Income Tax: worked out on the running totals

With a normal tax code like 1257L, PAYE is cumulative. Each payday, payroll:

1. Adds this payday's taxable pay to the taxable pay to date.
2. Takes off the tax-free pay to date. For 1257L that's £1,048.25 for each month so far (£12,579 a year, because a tax code's number is multiplied by 10 and 9 is added).
3. Rounds the result down to a whole pound and works out the tax to date. The basic-rate band is spread over the year too: £3,141.67 a month for rest-of-UK taxpayers.
4. Takes off the tax already deducted. What's left is this payday's tax.

Example: £2,500 a month with a June bonus

Month (paid)	Gross pay	Gross to date	Tax-free pay to date	Taxable to date	Tax to date	Tax this month
1 (April)	£2,500	£2,500	£1,048.25	£1,451	£290.20	£290.20
2 (May)	£2,500	£5,000	£2,096.50	£2,903	£580.60	£290.40
3 (June)	£3,000	£8,000	£3,144.75	£4,855	£971.00	£390.40
4 (July)	£2,500	£10,500	£4,193.00	£6,307	£1,261.40	£290.40

To keep the numbers simple, there's no pension or student loan in this example.

A common mistake: taking the whole year's £12,570 allowance off the gross pay to date. By July, gross pay to date is only £10,500, so that method says no tax is due at all. In fact £1,261.40 has been correctly deducted, because only four months' share of the allowance (£4,193) has been used so far.

Bonuses don't usually mean 40% tax

Because the bands are spread over the year, a one-off bonus is taxed against the basic-rate band built up so far. Say the same employee gets a £5,000 bonus in December (month 9):

• Taxable pay to date: £27,500 − £9,434.25 = £18,065
• Basic-rate band to date: £37,700 × 9/12 = £28,275, so all of it is still taxed at 20%
• Tax to date: £3,613.00, against £2,322.80 at the end of November
• December's tax: £1,290.20, all at 20%

The bonus only reaches 40% if pay for the year to date goes over the higher-rate threshold to date.

When tax isn't cumulative

Codes ending in W1, M1 or X are emergency (non-cumulative) codes. Each payday is taxed on its own with one period's allowance, ignoring the YTD totals, so any overpayment isn't refunded until HMRC sends a normal code. BR, D0, D1 and 0T codes give no tax-free pay, and NT means no tax is taken.

National Insurance: worked out each payday

National Insurance is not cumulative for most employees. Each payday is worked out on its own against that period's thresholds, and the YTD figure is just the total of what's been deducted.

2026/27 employee Class 1	Monthly	Weekly	Rate
Below the primary threshold	Up to £1,048	Up to £242	0%
Primary threshold to upper earnings limit	£1,048 to £4,189	£242 to £967	8%
Above the upper earnings limit	Over £4,189	Over £967	2%

In the example above:

• A normal £2,500 month: (£2,500 − £1,048) × 8% = £116.16
• The £3,000 June month: (£3,000 − £1,048) × 8% = £156.16
• NI to date after July: £116.16 × 3 + £156.16 = £504.64

Because each month stands alone, you can't check NI to date by applying the yearly thresholds to gross pay to date. That gives £0 for July, against the £504.64 actually due. Check one payslip at a time instead.

The December bonus month shows the same thing. On £7,500, NI is (£4,189 − £1,048) × 8% + (£7,500 − £4,189) × 2% = £317.50. The part over £4,189 is charged at 2% even though the employee's yearly pay is well under £50,270.

Directors are the exception. Their NI is worked out on an annual earnings period, so it is cumulative, like tax. Payslips for company directors explains the two methods payroll uses.

The employer's 15% National Insurance isn't deducted from pay, so it isn't part of NI to date.

Workplace pension

Auto-enrolment contributions are usually worked out on qualifying earnings for each pay period: in 2026/27, monthly pay between £520 and £4,189.17. Employees pay at least 5% of that and the employer at least 3%.

For £2,500 a month: (£2,500 − £520) × 5% = £99.00. After four months including the £3,000 June, pension to date is £99 × 3 + £124 = £421.00.

How the pension shows on the payslip depends on the scheme:

• Net pay arrangement: the full contribution comes off before tax, so taxable pay to date is lower than gross pay to date.
• Relief at source: you pay 80% from your pay after tax (£79.20 instead of £99), and the pension provider claims the other 20% from HMRC. Taxable pay to date equals gross pay to date.
• Salary sacrifice: your contractual pay is lower, so gross pay, tax and NI are all lower. The employer pays the whole contribution.

Student loans

Like NI, student loan repayments are worked out on each payday and rounded down to a whole pound.

Plan	Yearly threshold	Monthly	Rate
Plan 1	£26,900	£2,241.66	9%
Plan 2	£29,385	£2,448.75	9%
Plan 4 (Scotland)	£33,795	£2,816.25	9%
Plan 5	£25,000	£2,083.33	9%
Postgraduate loan	£21,000	£1,750.00	6%

On £3,000 a month under Plan 2: (£3,000 − £2,448.75) × 9% = £49.61, so £49 is deducted.

Checking your final payslip against your P60

Your employer must give you a P60 by 31 May after the tax year ends. Compare it with your last payslip of the tax year (usually March):

On your P60	Should match on your last payslip
Pay in this employment	Taxable pay to date (not always gross pay to date)
Tax in this employment	Tax paid to date
Employee's NI contributions	NI to date
Student loan and postgraduate loan deductions	Student loan to date
Final tax code	The tax code on that payslip

The P60 doesn't show pension contributions. If you joined mid-year, the P60 also shows pay and tax from your previous job (from your P45) separately, while your payslip may show only this employer's figures.

If the figures are different, ask payroll first. If you think the tax itself is wrong, for example because of the tax code, contact HMRC.

Using YTD to check you're paying the right tax

For steady pay, a quick check is to compare tax to date with your expected tax for the year.

At the end of September (month 6), the £2,500-a-month employee has paid £1,742.00 in tax and £696.96 in NI. For the full year, the figures are £3,484.20 and £1,393.92: exactly double, as they should be with no change in pay.

Working out the year from the £12,570 personal allowance gives £3,486.00. The £1.80 difference comes from the 1257L code allowing £12,579 and from rounding, which is normal.

If tax to date is well above or below that pattern, look for:

• A tax code change. On a cumulative code, a new code is applied to the whole year so far, so one payday can bring a refund or extra tax.
• An emergency code after starting a new job without a P45.
• A P45 not used. If your new employer didn't add your previous job's pay and tax, your tax to date will be out.
• Taxable benefits, such as a company car, which reduce your tax code.

Changing job or having two jobs

New job mid-year: give your new employer your P45. It shows your tax code and the pay and tax to date from your old job, so cumulative PAYE can carry on. Without a P45, your employer uses HMRC's starter checklist, and you may be put on an emergency code for a while.

Two jobs at once: your personal allowance usually goes to your main job, and the second job uses a BR code (20% on everything). NI is worked out separately in each job, each with its own threshold. For example, jobs paying £25,000 and £15,000 a year mean NI of about £993.92 and £193.92, which is £1,187.84 in total. One job paying £40,000 would mean £2,193.92 in NI. If you pay too much NI across several jobs, you can ask HMRC for a refund.

Making UK payslips with YTD

Our online UK payslip generator works out tax, NI, student loans and pension with the 2026/27 rates, for rest-of-UK and Scottish tax codes, including K, BR, D0, D1, 0T and NT codes. For YTD, you can:

• let it estimate the totals from the number of paydays since 6 April, which suits steady pay;
• give the number of pay periods yourself; or
• type in the real totals from your last payslip or P45 when pay has varied or you changed job.

Student and postgraduate loans get their own year-to-date lines, and a one-off bonus can be marked so YTD counts it once. The step-by-step guide works through a full payslip, and the requirements guide explains what a UK payslip must show by law.

Frequently asked questions

When do YTD figures reset on a UK payslip?

On 6 April, the start of the UK tax year. The first payslip paid on or after 6 April starts the totals again from zero.

Why does my tax to date not match 20% of my pay above £12,570?

Because PAYE spreads the allowance over the year. By month 4 you've had four months' tax-free pay (£4,193 on a 1257L code), not £12,570. Compare your taxable pay to date with the tax-free pay to date instead.

Is National Insurance worked out on YTD pay?

Not for most employees. National Insurance is worked out on each payday on its own, using that period's thresholds (£1,048 to £4,189 a month in 2026/27). NI to date is just the total. Company directors are the exception: their NI uses an annual earnings period.

Should my last payslip match my P60?

Yes. Taxable pay, tax, National Insurance and student loan to date on your last payslip of the tax year should match your P60 for that employment. Pension contributions aren't on the P60.

Does YTD include bonuses and overtime?

Yes. All pay this tax year, including bonuses, overtime, commission and statutory pay, goes into gross pay to date. A bonus is usually taxed at the rate your year-to-date pay has reached, not automatically at 40%.

Can my tax to date go down?

Yes, if you get a refund through payroll. For example, after a new tax code on a cumulative basis, one payday can show negative tax and tax to date falls. Gross pay to date normally only goes up.