{"id":54,"date":"2026-06-14T20:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T20:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/payslp.com\/blog\/?p=54"},"modified":"2026-07-03T12:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:45:12","slug":"personal-allowance-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/payslp.com\/blog\/guides\/personal-allowance-2026-27\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK Personal Allowance 2026\/27 Explained (\u00a312,570)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the 2026\/27 tax year, the standard Personal Allowance is \u00a312,570<\/strong>. That is the amount you can earn in a year before you pay any income tax at all. Earn below it and, on income tax alone, you pay nothing; earn above it and only the part above \u00a312,570 is taxed. It is the single most important number on your payslip, and it quietly shapes the take-home pay of almost every worker in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This guide explains exactly what the Personal Allowance is, the figures that apply for 2026\/27, how it feeds into the tax you actually pay, and the handful of situations that can raise or shrink it \u2014 including the \u00a3100,000 trap that pushes some earners into a 60% effective tax rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the Personal Allowance?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Personal Allowance is a slice of tax-free income. Everyone with a standard tax code gets it, and it is applied before any income tax is calculated. Picture your salary in two parts: the first \u00a312,570 sits in a tax-free zone, and everything above it is sorted into the tax bands. Only the second part is ever taxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It applies to income tax only. National Insurance works on its own separate thresholds, which is why you can still see a National Insurance deduction on earnings that feel “tax-free” \u2014 the two systems don’t share the same starting line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Personal Allowance for 2026\/27 \u2014 the key numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Item<\/th>2026\/27<\/th><\/tr>
Standard Personal Allowance<\/td>\u00a312,570<\/td><\/tr>
Standard tax code<\/td>1257L<\/td><\/tr>
Income where the allowance starts to taper<\/td>\u00a3100,000<\/td><\/tr>
Income where the allowance reaches \u00a30<\/td>\u00a3125,140<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The \u00a312,570 figure has been frozen for several years and is currently held until the end of the 2027\/28 tax year. Because the allowance is frozen while wages rise, more income gradually falls into the taxable bands over time \u2014 an effect often called fiscal drag<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How your Personal Allowance affects the tax you pay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here is the allowance doing its job on a \u00a330,000 salary in 2026\/27:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step<\/th>Amount<\/th><\/tr>
Gross salary<\/td>\u00a330,000<\/td><\/tr>
Less Personal Allowance (tax-free)<\/td>\u2212\u00a312,570<\/td><\/tr>
Taxable income<\/td>\u00a317,430<\/td><\/tr>
Income tax at 20%<\/td>\u00a33,486<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only \u00a317,430 of the \u00a330,000 is taxed, and all of it falls inside the basic-rate band, so it is taxed at 20%. The first \u00a312,570 is never touched by income tax. If you want to see this worked through for your own salary, the 2026\/27 income tax bands<\/a> sit directly on top of the allowance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u00a3100,000 trap: how the taper works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Above \u00a3100,000 of income, the Personal Allowance is withdrawn. For every \u00a32 you earn over \u00a3100,000, you lose \u00a31 of allowance. By \u00a3125,140 it has gone entirely and you get no tax-free income at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worked example at \u00a3110,000:<\/p>\n\n\n\n