What salary should my company pay me if I already have a job?
Not nothing, and not always the same amount. Your other income uses up the Personal Allowance and the tax bands first, so what the company should pay depends on how large that other income is. It moves up as well as down.
Why the usual answer stops working
The familiar £12,570 director salary works because it uses the Personal Allowance and stops at the point where employee National Insurance starts. If you have another job, that allowance is already spent, so a company salary is taxed from the first pound.
Two things stop the answer being zero. National Insurance is worked out separately for each employment, so a company salary keeps its own thresholds no matter what the other job pays. And salary, with the employer National Insurance on it, is a company cost that reduces Corporation Tax. Below the £5,000 Secondary Threshold a salary attracts no National Insurance at all from either side.
What the calculator chooses at £40,000 of company profit in 2026/27
| Other job or pension | Company salary | Company dividend | Take-home from the company | Open it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | £12,570 | £21,299 | £31,633 | Calculator |
| £30,000 | £5,000 | £28,350 | £26,086 | Calculator |
| £60,000 | £12,570 | £21,299 | £21,405 | Calculator |
| £90,000 | £4,999 | £28,351 | £16,724 | Calculator |
| £120,000 | £5,140 | £28,220 | £19,368 | Calculator |
Every take-home figure above is what the company produces for you. It excludes the other job entirely: that income is used only to place the company income in the correct tax bands.
Why the answer moves up and down
With no other job, the company pays the familiar £12,570. With a moderate other job, dividends are still partly taxed at the ordinary rate, so the salary drops to the £5,000 Secondary Threshold to avoid employer National Insurance.
With a larger other job the dividends move up to the upper rate, which makes a salary comparatively cheap again, so the salary rises back towards £12,570. Larger still and a company salary would push your total income past £100,000, where the Personal Allowance starts to disappear, so the salary drops back down.
That last one is worth understanding on its own: what the next pound above £100,000 costs.
A low salary has a State Pension consequence
A company salary below the £6,708 Lower Earnings Limit does not earn a qualifying year for the State Pension through that employment. If your other job pays above the limit, you may already have the qualifying year from it. If it does not, this is worth checking before choosing the lowest salary.
What this page does not cover
- The other job's own National Insurance, net pay or workplace pension.
- Employers connected to your company, whose earnings can be added together.
- Student loan repayments, benefits in kind and pension contributions.
The examples use England, Wales or Northern Ireland. Scottish salary rates differ and can change the answer, so use the region selector in the calculator. Read the methodology and official sources, then compare your own figures and enter your other income under the optional inputs.