The current design provisions on the punching shear strength of reinforced concrete slabs of the ACI Code and the BS Code are based on empirical formulas. Based on the strut-and-tie model, this study proposes a simplified method to predict the punching shear strength of reinforced concrete slabs. The precision of the analytical method was further gauged by the available experimental data. The comparison shows that the ACI Code, the BS Code and the proposed simplified method can all accurately predict the punching shear strength of reinforced concrete slabs.