Private doctor on £180,000

Personal Ltd Co. Age 46. Pension preference: aggressive.

Every figure on this page is computed at build time by the same engines that power the live salary–dividend split, take-home and SIPP optimiser calculators. Inputs come from a single CSV row; outputs come from the engines. No static lookup tables, no hand-coded numbers.

Net cash

£76,282

Pension

£60,000

Effective rate

24.3%

Marginal rate

33.8%

Worked example: Private doctor, 46, £180,000 of company profit

Picture a private doctor aged 46 for the 2026/27 tax year, operating through a personal Ltd Co outside IR35, with £180,000 of profit before director pay. The optimisation goal for this profile is maximum net wealth (treating £1 of pension as £1 of cash today).

Running the engine for this exact profile:

Optimum salary: £12,570
Optimum dividend: £81,876
Optimum pension contribution: £60,000
Net cash to the director: £76,282
Net wealth (cash + pension): £136,282
Total tax + NI through the chain: £43,718 (24.3% effective on gross profit)
Money left on the table by the £12,570-salary rule of thumb: £34,049

The vignette is hypothetical but the numbers are not — every figure above was produced by the same engine code that powers the live BracketMath calculators, run at build time on inputs drawn from a single CSV row.

The numbers, line by line

Optimum salary	£12,570
Optimum dividend	£81,876
Optimum pension	£60,000
Net cash (optimum)	£76,282
Net wealth (cash + pension)	£136,282
Rule-of-thumb net cash	£102,233
Rule-of-thumb net wealth	£102,233
Saving vs rule of thumb	£34,049
Effective rate on profit	24.3%
Marginal rate (next £1 dividend)	33.8%
Years to age-57 pension access	11
Annual pension contribution (this row)	£60,000
Projected pot at 57 (5% real, single-path)	£852,407
Sustainable income @ 4% SWR	£34,096/yr

Why this scenario is different

Compared to the closest peer profile — Software contractor at £180,000 — this scenario sits £0 higher on gross income. That moves net cash by +£0, the pension contribution by +£0, and the effective rate by +0%. The effective rate moves only modestly — both scenarios sit inside the same binding tax band. The optimiser shifts £0 of the extraction out of the dividend slice, and £0 out of pension contributions.

Questions this scenario raises

Is this calculation valid for the 2027/28 tax year?

Only partially. Thresholds (PA, basic-rate, higher-rate, NI thresholds) are frozen through April 2028 per the Autumn Budget 2024. Some rates may change at the Spring 2027 Budget. The figures here are accurate for 2026/27 and will be re-run after any future Finance Act changes — check the published-date footer of this page.

What is the Personal Allowance and how is it used in this calculation?

The Personal Allowance is the first £12,570 of non-savings, non-dividend income on which no income tax is charged. It is consumed from the bottom up: salary first, then dividends. Above £100,000 of adjusted net income the allowance tapers at £1 lost for every £2 of income, fully eroded at £125,140 — producing the well-known 60% effective marginal rate inside that £25,140-wide band.

How much can I put into pension this year?

The 2026/27 pension Annual Allowance is £60,000. Below £260,000 of adjusted income the full £60,000 Annual Allowance is available. Carry-forward of unused AA from the last three tax years is available subject to membership-in-each-year rules.

Does this include the High Income Child Benefit Charge?

No. HICBC is not in the engine. If you or your partner earn over £60,000 and either of you claims Child Benefit, HICBC tapers the Child Benefit at 1% for every £200 of income over £60,000, fully eroded at £80,000 (2026/27 thresholds). This adds an effective 11% marginal between £60,000 and £80,000 for a one-child household, ~22% for two children, etc.

What is the £500 Dividend Allowance and how is it used?

The first £500 of dividends in 2026/27 is taxed at 0%. It does not reduce taxable income — it sits as a 0% slice within the band schedule. So a basic-rate dividend recipient with £500 of dividends pays £0; with £600 of dividends pays 8.75% × £100 = £8.75. The £500 is consumed in band order (cheapest band first).

Methodology

Income tax, National Insurance and Corporation Tax bands taken from HMRC's 2026/27 rates and allowances tables (gov.uk/.../income-tax; corporation-tax). Pension Annual Allowance and taper rules from Finance Act 2004 / 2023. Trading allowance per ITTOIA 2005 s.783A. Voluntary Class 2 figure (£179.40/yr = £3.45/wk × 52) from HMRC voluntary NI guidance.

Style: 2026/27 tax year throughout; figures rounded to whole pounds in the user-facing prose; effective rates computed as (deductions / gross). The voice is methodological — no first person, no claimed credentials, no marketing fluff.

This page is not personalised advice; for advice regulated by the FCA, consult an adviser registered with the Financial Conduct Authority. See the full disclaimer.