Take-home optimiser
See what each pension and NHF choice costs you in cash today and saves you in tax. The trade-off is yours to make — this tool only shows you both sides of it.
Your salary details never leave your device. This calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us, logged, or stored — there is no server to send it to.
Your pay
Rent
Enter 0 if you own your home or live rent-free.
Deductions and reliefs
8% of basic + housing + transport. Compulsory for most employees, and deductible.
2.5% of basic salary. Compulsory in the public sector, voluntary for private-sector employees — so this is off by default.
Your pension rate
Set to 8% for the statutory contribution and nothing more.
Enter your pay on the left. We will run your figures at several pension rates, with NHF on and off, and show what each choice costs you today and saves you in tax.
How to read this
A naira of pension relief is worth your marginal rate — currently 25% at the top of your income. So of every extra naira you contribute, the tax system gives back that much and you fund the rest yourself. The higher your marginal rate, the cheaper the contribution feels; it never becomes free, and at no rate does contributing leave you with more cash this year than not contributing. Anyone who tells you a pension contribution “pays for itself” is describing the tax saving and quietly leaving out the contribution. Both numbers are in the table above, side by side, which is the only honest way to show them.