How this calculator works
It deducts your pension contribution first (pre-tax, as most systems treat it), then applies one effective tax rate — your total tax and social contributions expressed as a single percentage of pay. That keeps the estimator honest in every country, because it doesn't pretend to know your local tax bands.
Finding your effective rate takes one payslip: divide total deductions by gross pay. Someone with 800 deducted from 3,200 gross has an effective rate of 25%. If you don't have a payslip yet — a new job, a new country — search your country's official tax tables for a rough rate at your salary level, or start with 20–30% as a typical range in many economies.
Common questions
What is the difference between gross and net salary?
Gross is the headline figure in your contract, before anything is taken. Net — take-home — is what reaches your account after income tax, social contributions, and pension deductions. Budgets, savings plans, and affordability decisions should all start from net.
What is an effective tax rate?
Your total deductions as a percentage of gross pay — one number that summarises income tax plus social or national insurance contributions. It is always lower than your top tax bracket in a progressive system, because only the top slice of income is taxed at the top rate.
Why doesn't this calculator have my country's exact tax bands?
Because tax systems change yearly and differ everywhere, a single web form pretending otherwise would quietly mislead. The effective-rate approach is transparent about being an estimate. The Scroll app maintains real, current tax bands for 21 countries if you want the exact figure.
Should pension contributions really come off before tax?
In most systems, workplace pension contributions reduce taxable income, which is why the calculator deducts them first. Some countries and schemes differ — if yours taxes pension contributions, set pension to 0 and fold it into your effective rate instead.
This tool is educational and produces an estimate, not a tax calculation. For precise figures use your country's official calculator or a payslip.
- 1.Understanding paycheck deductions — US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau