In-Hand Salary Calculator (India, FY 2026-27)

Gross pay is what the offer letter says. Net pay — take-home — is what arrives, and the gap is larger than most people plan for. Income tax is only part of it: payroll taxes, pension or retirement contributions, health insurance premiums, and any salary-sacrifice arrangement all come out before the balance reaches you. A headline salary can lose 25–40% before it lands, depending on jurisdiction and benefits.

A higher bracket does not tax your whole salary at the higher rate. Income tax is marginal nearly everywhere: each band applies only to the income falling inside it. Crossing into a 40% band means the pounds or dollars above the threshold are taxed at 40%, not the entire amount. This is the single most common misunderstanding about pay, and it is why a raise essentially never leaves you worse off. Genuine cliff edges exist — benefit withdrawal, childcare thresholds, student loan bands — but they are specific rules, not how brackets work.

When comparing offers, compare total compensation rather than salary. Employer retirement matching, health cover, bonus structure, and paid leave routinely swing the real value by more than the difference in headline pay. A lower salary with a 6% match and better cover frequently beats a higher one without.