Paycle — Know your real money

We use the standard repayment mortgage formula based on your loan amount, interest rate and term, assuming a capital repayment (not interest-only) mortgage with a fixed rate for the full term.

No — first-time buyers pay no Stamp Duty up to £300,000, and there are different thresholds for home movers and additional properties. The calculator applies the correct band automatically based on your buyer type.

Generally, the lower your LTV the better the rates available — 60% or below usually unlocks the most competitive deals, while anything above 90% typically means higher rates and a smaller lender pool.

A whole-of-market broker can search deals from lenders you wouldn't find on the high street, including broker-only rates, and a free broker like Habito doesn't cost you anything extra since they're paid by the lender, not you.

A common rule of thumb is to save a percentage of your salary equal to half your age when you start (e.g. 5% from age 30) — but the right figure depends on your retirement goals and existing savings.

This calculator projects the growth of your total contributions (yours + employer) but doesn't itemise pension tax relief separately — basic-rate relief is usually added automatically by your provider.

5% a year is a commonly used long-term assumption for a diversified pension fund, but actual returns vary year to year and aren't guaranteed — try adjusting the rate to see how sensitive your result is.

It can make sense if it means lower fees or easier tracking, but always check for exit fees or lost benefits (like guaranteed annuity rates) before transferring anything. A platform like AJ Bell can show you all your pensions in one place so you can compare before deciding.

Simple interest is calculated only on your original amount. Compound interest is calculated on your original amount plus any interest already earned — which is why it grows faster the longer you leave it.

Most savings and investment accounts compound monthly or annually. Compounding more frequently produces a very slightly higher return for the same headline rate.

Yes — the maths is the same for compounding investment growth, though investment returns aren't guaranteed and can go down as well as up, unlike a fixed savings rate.

A Stocks & Shares ISA is the standard tax-free option for compounding investment growth in the UK. Commission-free platforms like Trading 212 let you start from £1, which makes it easy to test the water without committing a lot upfront.

It means HMRC considers you a 'deemed employee' for tax purposes on that contract, even though you're working through a limited company — so your contract income is taxed broadly like employment income.

Since April 2021, medium and large private-sector clients are usually responsible for determining your status via a Status Determination Statement. Small companies are exempt, in which case the contractor decides.

Yes — you can raise a disagreement with the client, who's required to respond within 45 days. A professional contract review can help build the case if you believe the determination is wrong.

A written contract review from an IR35 specialist gives you evidence that you took reasonable care over your status, and IR35 insurance can cover the cost of an HMRC investigation. Qdos Contractor offers both and is well established in the contractor market.

Umbrella gross pay usually includes employer's National Insurance and the Apprenticeship Levy, which come out before you're paid — so it looks bigger than your actual day-rate income.

You're legally an employee of the umbrella company, so you get statutory rights like holiday pay and sick pay — but you typically don't get benefits like a company pension match unless negotiated.

Since 2016, most umbrella employees can no longer claim travel and subsistence expenses for tax relief, unless the assignment is genuinely not subject to supervision, direction or control.

It's worth it — umbrella contracts vary a lot in margin and terms, and a quick professional review can flag anything unusual. Qdos Contractor offers contract reviews alongside their IR35 insurance if you want a second opinion before you commit.

It's an advance payment towards next year's tax bill, usually split into two instalments (31 January and 31 July), each roughly half your previous year's tax liability — it catches many self-employed people off guard in year two.

Only expenses that are 'wholly and exclusively' for business use are deductible — a portion of home office costs, equipment and mileage usually qualify, but personal expenses don't.

Yes — Class 4 NI is paid on profits above £12,570, and Class 2 NI (now largely voluntary below the small profits threshold) can be paid to protect your State Pension record.

Trying to reconstruct a year of receipts at tax return time is how most people overpay or underclaim. Cloud accounting software like Xero logs everything as you go and can estimate your tax bill in real time, which makes Payment on Account far less of a shock.

Paying the highest-interest debt first (the 'avalanche' method) saves you the most money overall. Paying the smallest balance first (the 'snowball' method) can build motivation through quicker wins — this calculator lets you compare both.

Paying down debt faster generally helps your credit score over time by reducing your credit utilisation, though it's normal to see minor short-term fluctuations.

Speak to a free debt charity like StepChange or National Debtline as soon as possible — they can help you find a manageable plan before missed payments affect your credit file.

If minimum payments are becoming hard to meet, or you're using credit to pay other credit, it's time to get free advice rather than struggle alone. StepChange offers confidential, judgment-free debt advice and can help you find a structured plan.

Not necessarily — it depends on how long you plan to stay, local property price growth, mortgage rates, and what you could earn by investing your deposit instead. This calculator compares the numbers for your specific scenario.

It factors in your deposit, mortgage payments, Stamp Duty and typically-assumed maintenance costs, compared against rental payments and the opportunity cost of not investing your deposit elsewhere.

You can adjust the assumed annual growth rate — property values aren't guaranteed to rise, so it's worth testing a range of scenarios including flat or falling prices.

Once you've decided to buy, a whole-of-market broker can find deals you won't see by walking into a single bank branch. Habito is free to use and searches the whole market for your best rate.

The annual ISA subscription limit is £20,000 across all your ISAs combined (Cash, Stocks & Shares, Innovative Finance and Lifetime ISA), per tax year.

Yes — all growth, interest and dividends within an ISA are free from UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax, no matter how large your pot grows, as long as the money stays inside the ISA wrapper.

You can pay into one of each type of ISA per tax year (subject to the £20,000 combined limit), and you can hold ISAs from previous years with multiple providers.

Look at ongoing fees, the range of funds or shares available, and how easy it is to withdraw if you need to. Trading 212 is a commission-free option that lets you open a Stocks & Shares ISA in minutes with no account fees.

A common guideline is to keep housing costs (rent or mortgage) below 30% of your net income, though this varies a lot by region — London budgets often run higher.

Saving 20% of your income is a widely cited target, following the popular 50/30/20 rule (50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings) — though any consistent saving habit is a good start.

Irregular costs like annual subscriptions, car maintenance or gifts are easy to underestimate when budgeting monthly — try averaging annual costs across 12 months for a more accurate picture.

An easy-access savings account with a competitive rate is usually the right home for an emergency fund. Comparison services like Raisin UK let you see rates from multiple FSCS-protected banks in one place rather than settling for whatever your current bank offers.

You must register once your VAT-taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period (2025/26 threshold) — you can also register voluntarily below this if it suits your business.

Standard rate (20%) applies to most goods and services. Reduced rate (5%) covers things like home energy. Zero rate (0%) covers most food, books and children's clothes but must still be reported.

It lets eligible small businesses pay a fixed percentage of turnover as VAT, rather than tracking VAT on every purchase and sale — it can simplify admin but isn't always the cheaper option, so it's worth comparing.

Since Making Tax Digital rules require VAT records to be kept digitally, most small businesses use accounting software rather than spreadsheets. Xero handles VAT tracking and MTD-compliant submissions, and is free with some business bank accounts.

Multiply your hourly rate by your weekly hours, then by 52 weeks — this calculator does that automatically and also shows the reverse: what gross salary you'd need to hit a target take-home.

It's useful when negotiating a job offer or planning a career move — instead of guessing, you can see exactly what gross salary clears your bills and savings goals after tax and NI.

Yes — select Scotland as your tax region and the calculator applies Scotland's different bands, which have more tiers than the rest of the UK.

After making sure you've got an emergency fund, investing spare income in a Stocks & Shares ISA is a tax-efficient way to put it to work. Trading 212 is a commission-free option if you want to start small.

That's the upper earnings limit — you pay a higher 8% rate on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, dropping to 2% on anything above £50,270, since NI is designed to be less progressive than Income Tax at higher incomes.

Class 2 is voluntary below the small profits threshold (£6,845 for 2025/26), but paying it voluntarily can be a cheap way to protect a qualifying year for your State Pension.

Yes — employers pay a separate Class 1 secondary contribution (13.8% on earnings above £5,000 for 2025/26), which is a cost to them and not deducted from your pay.

Because Class 2, Class 4 and Income Tax are all calculated from the same profit figure, it helps to track them together rather than separately. Accounting software like Xero calculates your running tax and NI estimate as you log income and expenses.

For 2025/26, it's £3,000 per individual — gains up to this amount in a tax year are tax-free, but the allowance cannot be carried forward if unused.

Since 30 October 2024, both are taxed at the same rates — 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher and additional-rate taxpayers on the gain above your allowance.

You may still need to report a disposal if total proceeds exceed four times the annual exempt amount, even if your actual gain is below the threshold — check current HMRC reporting rules.

The simplest way is to hold your investments inside an ISA, where all growth is completely free of Capital Gains Tax, no matter how large the pot grows. Trading 212 offers a commission-free Stocks & Shares ISA if you want to start sheltering gains going forward.

It's £500 — the first £500 of dividend income each tax year is tax-free, regardless of your other income, though it still counts towards which tax band your dividends fall into.

No — dividend tax rates (8.75%, 33.75%, 39.35%) are lower than equivalent Income Tax rates, but dividends are paid from company profits after Corporation Tax has already been deducted.

No — dividends aren't subject to National Insurance, which is one reason many company directors take a mix of a small salary and dividends rather than a salary alone.

It's easy to lose track of dividend vouchers across a tax year, especially if you're also managing salary and expenses. Accounting software like Xero records dividends as you declare them, so the figures are ready when you come to file.

Companies with profits up to £50,000 pay the 19% small profits rate. Above £250,000, the main rate of 25% applies. Profits in between get marginal relief, tapering the effective rate up to around 26.5%.

Companies under common control (e.g. owned by the same person or group) are associated, and the £50,000/£250,000 thresholds are divided equally between them — this can push a small company into a higher effective rate.

Most companies must pay 9 months and 1 day after their accounting period ends, and file a Company Tax Return (CT600) within 12 months of the period end.

Rather than waiting until year-end, software that tracks profit in real time gives you a running estimate of what you'll owe, which makes it much easier to budget for. Xero is built for growing small companies and estimates your Corporation Tax as you go.

Often, yes, in pure take-home terms — but PAYE employment usually includes paid holiday, sick pay, employer pension contributions and job security that a Ltd company contract doesn't, so the comparison isn't purely financial.

If HMRC or your client determines the contract is inside IR35, your take-home would look much closer to the PAYE figure — use the dedicated IR35 calculator to model that scenario specifically.

Many contractors aim to build 3–6 months of expenses in reserve, since contract income isn't guaranteed the way a permanent salary is.

A formal contract review from a specialist looks at the real working practices, not just the wording, since that's what HMRC actually assesses. Qdos Contractor offers contract reviews and IR35 insurance if you want that checked properly before you rely on the numbers here.

Gross yields of 5–8% are often considered healthy for buy-to-let, though this varies significantly by region — city centre flats often yield less than lower-priced properties in the North of England, for example.

No — it calculates your yield and cashflow before personal Income Tax on rental profit, which you'd need to budget for separately, especially given Section 24 mortgage interest relief restrictions.

2–4 weeks per year is a common assumption for a well-managed property, though this can be higher in weaker rental markets or during tenant turnover.

Traditional letting agents often charge a percentage of the annual rent, which adds up fast. Online platforms like OpenRent let you list a property and manage tenant applications from a fraction of that cost.

Pricing depends on the firm's overheads, location, and how the transaction is structured — always compare like-for-like quotes that include all disbursements, not just the headline legal fee.

Usually yes, for work already completed — searches already ordered are typically non-refundable even under a 'no sale, no fee' arrangement, though the main legal fee is often waived.

Leasehold transactions involve extra legal work — reviewing the lease terms, requesting a management pack, and liaising with the freeholder or managing agent — which adds time and cost.

Prices vary a lot between firms for the same work, so it's worth comparing a few instant quotes rather than accepting the first one your estate agent recommends. Comparison services like reallymoving show quotes from regulated conveyancers side by side.

It's a standard feature of Equity Release Council-approved plans that guarantees you (or your estate) will never owe more than your home is worth, even if the loan balance grows larger than the property's value.

It can — a cash lump sum may affect entitlement to means-tested benefits like Pension Credit, so it's worth discussing with a regulated adviser before proceeding.

Many modern lifetime mortgages allow voluntary partial repayments (often up to 10-12% a year) without early repayment charges, which can significantly slow the compounding of interest.

Yes — regulated financial advice is a legal requirement before taking out an equity release plan, not just a good idea. Age Partnership is an FCA-regulated, whole-of-market adviser that can talk you through whether it's right for your circumstances.

Many lenders cap penalty-free overpayments at around 10% of the outstanding balance per year — overpaying beyond that can trigger an Early Repayment Charge, so always check your mortgage terms first.

It depends on your mortgage rate versus likely investment returns — overpaying guarantees a return equal to your interest rate, while investing carries more risk but potentially higher long-term returns.

Reducing the term keeps your payment the same but pays off the loan faster. Reducing the monthly payment eases cashflow now but keeps the original end date — most overpayers choose to reduce the term.

If your current rate is well above what's available elsewhere, remortgaging could save more than overpaying would — it's worth comparing both. A whole-of-market broker like Habito can check whether a better rate is available before you commit to one approach.

It depends on your current tariff — if you're on a supplier's default/standard variable tariff, you're often paying more than fixed deals on the market, so it's usually worth comparing. If you're already on a competitive fixed deal, savings may be smaller.

No — your gas and electricity still come through the same pipes and wires regardless of supplier, so switching doesn't cause any interruption to your actual energy supply, just who bills you.

The price cap limits what suppliers can charge per unit on default tariffs, and it's reviewed quarterly by Ofgem. Fixed deals below the cap can still offer savings and price certainty even while the cap itself moves.

Comparison services can check the whole market for you in minutes and handle the switch itself, which is usually faster and easier than contacting suppliers individually. Uswitch is one of the UK's most established options for this.