How much can I pay myself?
Director Pay Calculator 2026/27
Start with the personal take-home income you want. The calculator works backwards to estimate the company profit needed to fund your salary, dividends and the taxes that go with them.
2026/27 UK ratesRates checked 16/09/2026No sign-up required
What you want to take home
More options
No account. No email required. Your figures stay in your browser.
The mix that does it
Three ways of getting there
Same take-home, different cost to the company.Where the company's money goes
Built and reviewed by Luvero Accounting
- Reviewed by Dan Edwards FMAAT
- AAT licensed accountancy practice, Bawtry, South Yorkshire
- Tax rates last reviewed 16/09/2026
- How the calculators work
What this calculator works out
Most calculators start with the company's profit and tell you what you keep. This one runs the other way. You say what you want to take home, and it finds the salary and dividend mix that delivers it for the least cost to the company, then adds back the Corporation Tax, employer National Insurance and personal tax to show the profit the company has to make before anything is paid to you.
How the calculation works
For each candidate salary the calculator works out the dividend needed on top so that, after Income Tax, dividend tax and employee National Insurance, you keep exactly your target. It then works out the pre-tax profit that leaves that dividend once Corporation Tax has been paid, and adds the salary and employer National Insurance on top. The route with the lowest total is shown first.
The gap between what you take and what the company earns surprises most directors. To put £60,000 in your pocket the company has to earn about £89,000, because Corporation Tax comes off the profit before the dividend is paid, and dividend tax comes off the dividend after it. The gap widens as the target rises. Once your income passes £50,270 the dividends move into the 35.75 per cent band, and above £100,000 the Personal Allowance is withdrawn, so a slice of income around there carries a much higher effective rate than the headline suggests.
An employer pension contribution can be added under More options. Employer pension contributions are often save tax because qualifying contributions reduce taxable company profits and do not normally attract employer or employee National Insurance. Pension limits and your wider circumstances still need considering, and the money is for later rather than cash now, so the calculator adds it to the profit the company must make rather than to your take-home. If the profit figure below looks uncomfortable, that is the conversation worth having.
Worked examples: three common targets
One director, no other income, no Employment Allowance, one company with a 12 month accounting period, 2026/27 rates. In each case the lowest-cost route was a £12,570 salary with the balance as dividends. Figures are rounded to the nearest pound.
| £3,000 a month | £5,000 a month | £100,000 a year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target take-home for the year | £36,000 | £60,000 | £100,000 |
| Suggested salary | £12,570 | £12,570 | £12,570 |
| Required dividend | £26,192 | £59,068 | £131,171 |
| Personal taxes (Income Tax, dividend tax, employee NI) | £2,762 | £11,638 | £43,741 |
| Corporation Tax | £6,144 | £16,195 | £42,191 |
| Employer National Insurance | £1,136 | £1,136 | £1,136 |
| Required company profit | £46,041 | £88,968 | £187,067 |
| Company profit for every £1 you keep | £1.28 | £1.48 | £1.87 |
At £3,000 a month the whole dividend sits in the basic rate band and the company's profit is under £50,000, so it pays the 19 per cent small profits rate. At £5,000 a month the dividend has crossed into the higher rate and the company is in the marginal relief band, so both rates are higher. At £100,000 a year the director's income is £143,741, the Personal Allowance has gone entirely, part of the dividend is taxed at 39.35 per cent, and the company needs to earn almost £100,000 more than at the £60,000 target to deliver £40,000 more take-home.
Director pay questions
How much company profit do I need to pay myself £3,000 per month?
About £46,000 of profit before your salary, on 2026/27 rates with no other income. A £12,570 salary costs the company £13,706 including employer National Insurance, and a dividend of £26,192 needs £32,336 of profit to fund it after Corporation Tax at 19 per cent. Your personal tax on the dividend is £2,762, leaving £36,000 in your pocket, which is £3,000 a month.
How much profit do I need to take home £5,000 per month?
About £89,000. The same £12,570 salary, a dividend of £59,068, and £11,638 of personal tax, most of it dividend tax with the top £21,368 of dividend taxed at 35.75 per cent. The company's taxable profit of £75,263 falls inside the marginal relief band, so Corporation Tax is £16,195, an effective rate of 21.5 per cent.
How much profit do I need to take home £100,000?
About £187,000. Personal taxes rise to £43,741 because total income of £143,741 removes the whole Personal Allowance and pushes the top slice of dividend into the 39.35 per cent additional rate. Corporation Tax is £42,191 on taxable profit of £173,362. For every £1 you keep the company has to earn £1.87, compared with £1.28 at the £36,000 target.
Should I take salary, dividends or pension contributions?
The calculator finds the salary and dividend mix that funds your take-home for the least profit, and for most directors with no other income that is a salary at or near £12,570 with dividends on top. An employer pension contribution entered under More options is added to the profit the company must earn, with no Corporation Tax or National Insurance on it. Employer pension contributions are often save tax because qualifying contributions reduce taxable company profits and do not normally attract employer or employee National Insurance. Pension limits and your wider circumstances still need considering, and a pension contribution is money for later rather than income now.
Which mix suits you depends on what you need to live on, what the company can afford, your other income, your State Pension record and your plans for the business. Those are questions for your accountant and, on the pension side, a regulated financial adviser.
How much Corporation Tax does my company pay before dividends?
Corporation Tax is charged on the company's taxable profit after salaries and employer National Insurance have been deducted, and before any dividend is paid. For the financial year from 1 April 2026 the rate is 19 per cent on profits up to £50,000, 25 per cent from £250,000, and in between the main rate applies with marginal relief, giving an effective rate that climbs from 19 to 25 per cent. Every £1 of profit between the limits is taxed at 26.5 per cent. The dividend can only be paid out of what is left, which is why the required profit in the examples above is so much larger than the dividend.
Why does required company profit rise sharply at certain income levels?
Three thresholds do it. Once the company's taxable profit passes £50,000, each extra £1 of profit is taxed at 26.5 per cent rather than 19. Once your personal income passes £50,270, each extra £1 of dividend is taxed at 35.75 per cent rather than 10.75. And between £100,000 and £125,140 of income you lose 50p of Personal Allowance for every extra £1, which pushes the effective rate on that slice well above the headline. Move the target take-home across any of these and the profit needed jumps rather than climbs.