Scottish income tax
Scottish taxpayers pay income tax on a six-band scale set by the Scottish Parliament, applied through the “S” tax-code prefix. National Insurance and the Personal Allowance stay UK-wide. This page shows the 2026/27 Scottish bands and how the allowance taper produces a 67.5% effective marginal band.
A separate scale, via the “S” tax code
Scottish taxpayers pay income tax on a 6-band scale set by the Scottish Parliament, applied through the “S” tax-code prefix. Everything else stays UK-wide: National Insurance, the Personal Allowance of £12,570, and the rules on student loans and pensions. Only your income-tax bands change.
As with the rest of the UK, each rate applies only to the income inside its band — the rates below are charged on taxable income, the income left after your Personal Allowance is taken off. Switch the calculator’s region control to Scotland to use this scale.
Scottish bands
The Scottish rates on taxable income (above your Personal Allowance).
| Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
| Personal Allowance — up to £12,570 of total income | Nil |
| Up to £3,967 | 19% |
| £3,967 – £16,956 | 20% |
| £16,956 – £31,092 | 21% |
| £31,092 – £62,430 | 42% |
| £62,430 – £125,140 | 45% |
| Over £125,140 | 48% |
What stays the same across the UK
Devolution covers the income-tax scale on earnings, and nothing else in this calculator. National Insurance is a UK-wide charge — the same Primary Threshold, Upper Earnings Limit and rates apply whether you live in Glasgow or Cardiff. Student loans are UK-wide too, collected through PAYE on the same plan thresholds (Plan 4 is simply the Scotland-specific undergraduate plan, available to Scottish borrowers, not a separate Scottish system). The Personal Allowance of £12,570 is reserved to the UK and is identical everywhere; Scotland cannot change it. So switching the region control re-rates only the income-tax slice of your deductions — your NI, student loan and pension are worked out the same way on either setting.
The 67.5% effective band
The same Personal Allowance taper applies in Scotland: above £100,000 the allowance is withdrawn by £1 for every £2 you earn, gone at £125,140. Combined with the Scottish advanced rate, this produces an effective marginal band of about 67.5% across that range — higher than the rest-of-UK 60%, and higher than the top Scottish rate of 48%.
Scotland sets rates for non-savings, non-dividend income only; the Personal Allowance is reserved to the UK. The figures on this page come from GOV.UK and gov.scot and are cited where they are used. If a rate changed recently it may not be reflected here yet — for an official amount, check the cited source or ask HMRC.