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[anon23]

What is the income tax in UK, and personal pension contribution?
How much of my salary can I expect to take home, after these deductions? Any others I should expect that I left out? Thanks.

[sueenglish]

Hi

Income tax:

The first 5035 of your pay is tax free
The next 2150 is taxed at 10%
Then up to 33300 is taxed at the basic rate of 22%
Anything surplus/over that figure is taxed at 40%

National Insurance (national health care, state pension, benefits) is set at around 11%. Health care is free of course- even if unemployed and not paying NI/tax. Dentists - you pay a standard (cheap) fee but NHS dentists are increasingly hard to register with here. There's also plenty of private health care schemes around.

University Pension Scheme - 6.35% before tax - though you can opt of out of this if you arrange your own private pension.

Union subs if you join the Union.

[anon23]

Thanks for the helpful information. One more question: do I, or my employer, or BOTH (just as in the pension scheme) pay the National Insurance?

[sueenglish]

You pay the 11% and the employer also makes a contribution, but this doesn't come out of your salary.

[anon23]

thanks again. all these contributions and deductions sure take a whole lot out of one's salary. not to mention the rent...

[expatinuk]

thanks again. all these contributions and deductions sure take a whole lot out of one's salary. not to mention the rent...

and let's not forget the VAT on everything you buy... or the stamp duty on buying a house.

[wegie]

But the good point is that National Insurance is only payable on the first £645 per week. All the more incentive to get onto the senior lecturer, reader and professor points of the scale.

Don't forget about council tax as well. Assuming that you're renting a flat/house that'll add about another thousand to the bills, but you pay that direct to your local council out of post-tax income.

If you're renting or in a house share make sure that you've sorted out whether the rent includes utility bills or not. Usually over here the rent excludes electricity, gas, water, phone bills and the above-mentioned council tax.

Oh, and if you're coming from the States, remember that you still have to file taxes at home, even though it's extremely unlikely that you'll earn enough over here to hit the $80,000 exclusion and actually have to give the IRS any money. More information at the American Citizens Abroad website.

[sueenglish]

Sorry - didn't realise you'd be exempt from National Insurance.

Yes, it is expensive in some ways - it's the VAT that is the killer. London is silly in terms of prices.

On the plus side: a free at the point of use health service. Strong(ish) workers' rights - especially around maternity/paternity paid leave.

PS: Don't forget to bring a good umbrella!

[expatinuk]

Oh, and if you're coming from the States, remember that you still have to file taxes at home, even though it's extremely unlikely that you'll earn enough over here to hit the $80,000 exclusion and actually have to give the IRS any money. More information at the American Citizens Abroad website.

HA! not if the dollar keeps tanking!

[anon23]

sueenglish, I'm not exempt from National Insurance, am I? Are foreigners exempt from NI?

[science_expat]

You have to pay National Insurance.

To the Americans in the UK, do you actually file in the US? I haven't in about 10 years and while I'm still under the 80K I'm approaching it now that I'm on the SL scale and the dollar is such a disaster...

[wegie]

According to the ACA website you're supposed to, and up to 1993 the IRS would have stopped your exemption if you didn't, but now they just leave you alone as long as you're below the $80,000.

Some foreign nationals are exempt from NI, but if they're coming over here to take up a job with a UK uni or research institute, the OP is unlikely to be one of them. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/work/ni-uk.htm

[sueenglish]

sueenglish, I'm not exempt from National Insurance, am I? Are foreigners exempt from NI?

I didn't think so - but as I am no expert I was taking my cue from wegie's post about the £645 pounds (or have I msiread?). You should check out the Uk Inland Revenue website, perhaps?

[wegie]

Ah, but notice the "per week" in my post about NI. NI is pretty much the last hangover from the days of the weekly pay packet and is still levied on a weekly basis.

I've now looked up the exact figures at our dear friends HMRC: you pay 11% on anything above £82 and below the first £645 each week and then 1% on anything beyond that (I'd forgotten the one percent, which is ironic given how much my husband swore about it when it came in). As a result, unless you're earning more that £33,540 you'll be paying 11% on all but a small fraction of it.

[science_expat]

This is really interesting. So, at the bottom of the SL scale, I'm paying 40% income tax on some proportion of my salary but 1% of some other proportion for NI?

Cool.